Written by Ellie Coverdale
Instagram Stories is an innovation on the social media channel which allows users to post to a particular album, with those videos then disappearing after a 24-hour period. Like any social marketing tool, this is used to increase exposure and engagement for a brand, and in this case is done in Instagram’s unique and trademark way.
Furthermore, Instagram Stories is based upon the algorithm that the social media giant uses to focus content depending on the traits of the user (namely the type of content that they usually follow, what they engage with, the number of likes and so on).
Quite simply, by diversifying content and posting regularly throughout the period, Instagram Stories enables the brand to build an engaged audience in real time, and push the brand to the forefront of its audiences’ thoughts.
For a school, using Instagram Stories to market to the target audience can be achieved in several unique ways. Here are six such examples:
A day in the life
The 24-hour limit on Instagram Stories lends itself brilliantly to a marketing ploy that can reveal to users a typical day in the life of the school. This will expertly reveal a typical day to those who are most interested in knowing what that would be like (namely prospective students and their parents).
From reveals o preparations before the school bell alarms, to students arriving, to morning registration and beyond, this is a fanatic way of giving a seamless introduction, through images and videos, of what a typical day at the school looks like. It’s marketing at its best, because it gives an insight to ‘behind the scenes’.
Repurposing
Instagram Stories is also a great way to repurpose content that you have already produced, so you do not have to reinvent the wheel, so to speak. For example, previous blog posts can be broken down into a series of images which can engage parents and kids and give renewed focus to your homepage and to your school brand. These don’t even have to be linked directly to the school itself, but activities and events that would be of interest to your target audience.
Publicize live events
You may be running a live event, or even a live event over another social media channel, and you need to generate exposure for that. Instagram Stories can help drum up interest in a particular event and you should make sure that you share any relevant links in order to generate traffic to where you want it to go. Instagram Stories is a great way to increase interest in a particular school event, and promote across channels.
Celebrate important days
As a school there are plenty of days on the calendar that are meaningful to you and your followers. As well as school anniversaries and important dates in the school schedule, think of other relevant international celebrations (such as World Book Day, or World Student’s Day) that you can piggyback onto and use to help create engaging and eclectic content. There are so many relevant dates that this can help shape your whole social media content strategy, of which Instagram Stories will be an integral part.
Show your school
This one is obvious but the very visual nature of Instagram and Instagram Stories means that you can really give your audience a taste of what happens at your school, form inside the classroom and on the sports field to celebrations, live events and even the dinner hall. Use a diverse array of content to maintain interest, and really give followers a taste of your school.
Use a hashtag strategy
A hashtag strategy will allow you to release and focus content on particular topics, which is really helpful if you are trying to promote or bring awareness to a particular subject, which could be a road safety campaign for example, or an awards day a the school, or even an competition that the school has entered (and maybe even won). Instagram Stories can help highlight particular topics that are meaningful to you as a brand, and which are likely to improve engagement, so generate those hashtags and fun-focused campaigns which will bring attention to the topics that are important and relevant to your brand.
Takeaway
Use Instagram Stories as a fine method of increasing your social engagement with your target audience. Remember to use a blend of materials, repurpose content that has already worked for you elsewhere, and have fun with it to bring further exposure to your school brand.
Ellie Coverdale is a technical and social media writer at Oxessays.com and Bigassignments.com. She loves contributing new researches and knowledges to her industry and teaches content writing and Eliteassignmenthelp.com online writing service.