Source: Buffer

Instagram stories were launched in 2016 and immediately received the hits from the users. Users started to love this feature as it was one of the most convenient ways to exhibit what you want your followers to see. The story was available for viewing for 24 hours and it could be also added as a highlight in the user’s account.

From posting various images, videos and more, Instagram stories became the main highlight to reach out to multiple users from a business front. For instance, you could click a snap of your product and add the additional features which Instagram stories provide which can help you to sell better to your prospects.

The greatest thing is Instagram stories are a great choice when it comes to higher engagement with your prospects. If your business hasn’t been using this tactic or are incorporating it in a lesser medium, the following factors will be able to alter your actions better.

1 . Wider reach of your solution

Instagram stories will be displayed to all the prospects that are following you. Even the prospects that are visiting your account your stories will still be visible to them. When you create Instagram ads the benefits are your stories can appear to multiple users hence increasing the exposure of your solution. This is a great technique as it helps you to capture more leads and increases your conversion rates better.

2. Engages your prospects

Another great thing about Instagram stories is that its features help you to engage better with your prospects (more details on this topic in the next category). Instagram has various features such as text writing, adding smileys, stickers, location, polls, and much more which would compel your prospects to answer any questions being asked or to simply give their opinion to your questions. For instance, in Instagram stories, you have an option for a poll, where you could show a picture and ask a question like which would your prospects pick from the picture to purchase. Your prospects would then click either this or that and you will be able to receive the insights needed. This action can help you to not only sell better but also give you a good knowledge of what your prospect's needs are.

3. A modern way of marketing

Selling to prospects is still a priority to businesses but the way you should sell them should be conducted according to how your prospects want it to be sold. For instance, you cannot just conduct sales on calls and capture your prospects in such a manner, when you are aware that social media is where your prospects are hanging out at this very moment Hence it is wiser to engage with your prospects in the road they are walking in which in this case is Instagram.

4. Applying updated solutions

Now you are well aware that the market keeps changing. Today’s trend may not be as effective as it would be 5 years from now, so when you are aware that something is getting trendy you need to make use of it. With Instagram stories, this same theory applies. Instagram stories are the new trend and honestly, it is a great way to sell to your prospects. It captures the interest of your prospects, retains their interest ad instantly makes them want to explore more about your brand. This is great as of now, Instagram stories are a big hit and incorporating such solutions is exactly what will push your business towards a successful road of growth.

It is very easy to set up Instagram stories, all you need to do is:

Source: Quicksprout

1 . Go on your Instagram account and click on the ‘Camera’ icon.

Source: Quicksprout

2. You have an option where you can either click a new photo or choose one which is present in your gallery already. The white circle is to click a new picture and the small black box is to choose the images from your gallery.

Source: Quicksprout

3. Once you have chosen the image, your next option would be to select how you would like it to be seen by your prospects. You can choose the options of format available such as boomerang, normal, rewind and more.

Source: Quicksprout

4. You have an option to even include your location status, the day of the week, the weather and time as well for your prospects to get a better insight about you.

Source: Quicksprout

5. If you want to speak about your solution your selling, you can even include texts written by you and can change the font and colour of the text as well.

Source: Quicksprout

6. Lastly, you can choose any filters to make your visuals more appealing and eye-catching and once completed you hit the next button and your story will be posted. You even have the option to either delete the story or save it in the screen above. You can also add more than two stories as well.

Did you know that there is also another way you can enhance and sell better to your prospects via Instagram stories? That way is called web scraping.

Web scraping is the process of extracting information from any source which contains valuable information. With reference to Instagram stories, you can use web scraping to scrape through information from any source including your competitors so that you can easily gather all the information and improvise the way your current strategy is.

Web scraping is a modern solution to capturing data. All you need to do is select which source you to conduct web scraping, choose which data you need, apply the scraping code and then find all that information in your system which can be viewed in the format you wish to see it which could be CSV file and more. Web scraping can give you all the insights which can help your business to sell better to prospects.

For instance say if your prospects want to view more videos from you, you could use that information to create a good video strategy and garner more attention from your prospects. When you are able to sell in the way your prospects expect you to, it becomes easier to convert them into a sales lead.

But despite such an advantage being provided by web scraping, conducting it on a more regular basis would risk your brand to being considered as suspicious activities, hence to avoid such risks from appearing it is ideal to conduct such an action with the help of a reliable support solution, one such like a proxy server.

Proxy servers work as a middleman between a user and the information it wants to access. For instance, say if you want to access how your competitors are conducting their Instagram stories, you can do so by ensuring that your identity is not being revealed.

Proxy servers ensure that your IP address is never revealed because that is the main reason why the blocking happens in the first place. IP address gives way to your location which the restricted website you wish to access can identify. Hence proxy server ensures that your IP address is hidden so there are no chances of your IP address to be blocked. So then you conduct regular and multiple times of web scraping activity, there will be no risk attached to it.

As you are aware of how Instagram stories do and how you can conduct it in a more efficient manner, you should now understand how you can actually take advantage of it to successfully make use of Instagram stories in an efficient manner.

1 . No restrains on posting timings

The greatest thing about Instagram stories is that you can post it anytime. When it comes to posting regularly on Instagram the post is being viewed but soon it fades away when it comes to stories it is different. You can share the story late night or early morning and a time span of 24 hours is given for each story before it fades away which means that no matter how busy your prospect is they will still b able to view your story anytime in the last 24 hours. This allows you to capture the interest of your prospects and compel them to explore more about what you have to offer.

2. Let’s your brand engage better

As mentioned earlier, Instagram stories have many features in it such as you can decide on which location you want to put, you can change filters, you can add smileys and polls and rake a vote on things. All of this is a great measure to engage better with your prospects. Engagement on Instagram stories should be taken as a priority because with its multiple features it becomes easier to connect with them. With the polls and all you will be able to understand what your prospects like, what would they prefer, you will be able to get an idea of their preferences which can help you to create a better Instagram story.

3. Link your business

Another great feature of Instagram stories is that you can add links to it. For instance say if you are hosting a contest or want your prospects to learn more about you, you can add the option of placing your link or a CTA option such as ‘swipe up’ or more so that your prospects can easily click and land up on your website. This will drive more traffic and will also help you to cater to multiple genuine prospects more often.

4. Increases prospects interactions

As mentioned earlier, Instagram stories have many features such as polls, voting options and all, this can help your brand to engage with them better. For instance say if you launch a new product and want a recommendation from your prospects, you can easily post a picture and two question options for your prospects to choose from. With the majority of the answer your receive you will be able to improvise on your solution. This is an excellent option as it helps your prospects to learn more about what you have to offer. They will be able to get a brief knowledge about your brand and what you do and how well you deal with prospects' suggestions. The more you engage better with prospects the more they will want to be drawn towards learning about your brand.

5. Make use of Instagram ads

Another great way to sell better on your Instagram stories is to indulge in ads. When you create ads, you appear in the stories of multiple users from your target audience, which means that your outreach will be more. When this happens you capture many user's attention and help them to revert to you much quicker. Instagram ads are a great way to capture the interest of prospects and then convert them into sales leads. Instagram ads on stories will appear more times during your prospect scrolling activities and will help to shift their attention towards clicking what you have to offer to them.

6. Sell better with Instagram story analytics

Source: BloggingWizard

Instagram stories also provide meaningful insights that can help your brand to understand how well a story of yours has worked am0ong the prospects. It gives you an idea of what stories you are putting, whether it is converting their impressions towards your brand for the better or the worse. Getting such insights can help your brand to create a good Instagram story strategy that will confidently push your prospects towards exploring your business more. Instagram story analytics is a great way to understand how your brand is performing when it comes to prospect engagement and what changes and improvisations can be done so that your brand can sell better.

7. Promote other brands

The best way to grow better on social media is by engaging with other brands in order to promote their story and asking them to do it for you as well. When you are able to tag them in the stories, you are also giving them an opportunity to share that tagging on their page as well. For instance, say if you have shared a post of another brand on your Instagram story, what happens is the brand you shared will in turn share that story on its page where its users will see your name. So what happens here is you get more prospect attention which can help your business to grow better.

8. Empathize with your prospects

The market will keep changing and technology will keep developing but what needs to remain intact is the way you humanize with your prospects. Use Instagram stories to engage with them in a more humane manner. Show them what your business is about, who is the team, what makes your brand different. Join Instagram Live and let your prospect know more about what you have to offer. Always remember that you need to understand that for your prospects to invest in you, they first need to develop that trust with your brand and the only way to do it is when you show your side to them so that they believe in the service you want to offer them. The more humane you function it your prospect the better they will trust you and even more will they invest in your solution confidently.