Facebook Stories have been around for some time and you’ve probably viewed other people’s and companies stories…and maybe even created some yourself.
But have you considered how Facebook Stories can benefit your business? They can engage your audience, grow your list and even sell more products, services and books.
Facebook Stories are not quite what we usually think of as “stories”. They’ve based on visuals rather than written content (images, video and some text) and they have a limited run of 24 hours. Plus, your story will only show for 20 seconds before the next story is shown, unless the user decides to pause your story. Therefore, it’s important that you learn as much as possible about creating and using these visual Facebook stories to drive brand awareness, grow your list, and increase sales.
As you create your stories, it’s essential you ensure that they are well-planned, eye-catching, and actionable. But let’s start by looking at Facebook Stories can be so important to your business.
Why Use Facebook Stories
You know that visual content is steadily gaining in popularity among potential customers and subscribers, as well as business owners and marketers. So, it’s probably no surprise that Facebook Stories are becoming more popular too. As new visual marketing options develop, try each one out to find out which ones your audience responds better to. Here are a few reasons you may want to try and then implement Facebook Stories in your marketing plan.
Facebook is also actively encouraging videos, memes, and stories rather than written content. In fact, their CEO has predicted that the majority of content on Facebook will be video by the year 2020, putting them head to head with the extremely popular YouTube.
Facebook does have some drawbacks. It does not show content to all of your followers, only a certain percentage (such as 10%). In order to get more visibility, the post has to get engagement, such as Likes, Comments, and Shares. If it does receive some type of response or acknowledgement, it will be posted more widely. Those sharing it will also help spread the content.
Your Facebook Stories also have a lineup of content, so it will show the most recent thing you have published, even though you might have published several items since your followers were last online. Facebook Stories can be a good format to publish in because they are attention-grabbing, as compared to other types of posts. The downside is they only last 24 hours before they vanish.
Knowing the advantages, disadvantages, and business benefits related to Instagram and Facebook can help you make the right choices for your business needs as well as your audience’s needs. With that in mind, let’s take a look at your goals to assist you in making your decisions.
Meeting Your Facebook Story Goals
Start by setting goals for each story, such as driving traffic, gaining new subscribers, making sales, promoting brand awareness, and much more. Knowing what attracts your audience, visually, and what info or solutions they want from you, will help your stories stand out from the others.
Traffic Goals
Getting traffic to your site often includes providing a clickable link to learn more. A story can work well for this, especially if it is breaking news or a special sale that will be here today and gone tomorrow. Add text and a link to photos and videos (the links are not clickable, so ensure that you created an easy-to-type URL for your follower). Track your results. Without those, you won’t know exactly what you did right or what worked best.
Subscriber Goals
A lot of marketers rely heavily on social media. This can result in neglecting to build a solid mailing list. Yet, the two strategies can work well together. Email marketing is extremely effective when it comes to reaching your target audience, building long-term relationships, and compelling readers to take action. However, before you can accomplish all of that, you need to get them to opt-in to your list with an offer they can’t wait to get.
There was a time when offering newsletter updates or notifications excited potential subscribers enough to sign up to mailing lists. However, that is definitely not the case now. Your prospective subscribers want and expect more value. You can provide this valuable, free item in multiple ways.
A free ebook download, a free multi-lesson eCourse, are both attractive incentives to gain subscribers. In this case, your story would be all about the benefits of the item, with a link to sign up for the list and then receive their item.
Sales Goals
Let’s face it. Sales help you keep the lights on. Whether you offer your own line of products and services or recommend affiliates’ items, you need to make sales. Creating a story for each offer enables you to showcase the item’s features and benefits.
Many business owners automatically plan to incorporate visual social media stories into new product launches and promotions. This is because they can create a huge buzz when shared on multiple social sites, albeit short-term.
However, when you use social story offers with other marketing methods, such as social media posts, ads, and email marketing, you increase your chances of meeting your goals and making more sales.
Brand Goals
You need to see and be seen. Maintaining a social media presence and embracing new marketing methods keeps you in your audience’s mind. Social media marketing is a way to put yourself on the map. Every social network specializes in a specific content type, even though they may offer other options. Right now, stories are hot and growing in popularity.
On Facebook, stories are currently receiving greater visibility. When you add relevant, interesting, problem-solving stories, your brand reach increases, as does your brand recognition. Publish great content regularly and you will soon have everyone talking about you, and your products/services.
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You can use these templates for your own business, help your clients with getting clients or even include the templates in products you provide to your customers. The choice is yours!
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