Here is a 2500+ word guide on how to get more views on Instagram stories:
Instagram stories have become a critical part of any social media strategy. With over 500 million daily active users, stories allow you to connect with your audience in an authentic and engaging way.
But getting views on Instagram stories can be challenging. The competition for attention is fierce.
In this comprehensive guide, you‘ll learn:
- The importance of Instagram stories
- How the Instagram algorithm works for stories
- 10 proven techniques to get more Instagram story views
- The best story optimization tips
- How to analyze your Instagram story performance
Let‘s get started!
The Rising Importance of Instagram Stories
Since launching in August 2016, Instagram stories have skyrocketed in popularity, pulling attention away from the main Instagram feed.
Stories have 3 key benefits:
- Reach new audiences. Your followers aren‘t the only people who see your stories. Stories get their own section at the top of users‘ feeds, increasing discoverability.
- Drive engagement. Followers perceive stories as more raw and authentic than curated feed posts. Viewers also feel more personally connected, commenting and messaging at higher rates.
- Get meaningful insights. When you ask questions or run polls in stories, you gain valuable feedback from highly engaged viewers.
Brands using stories effectively have seen tremendous results:
- 90% of viewers focus all their attention on video stories vs. feed video (only 15%).
- 1 in 5 stories generate a direct message from viewers.
- Shoppable stories shoppers have a 7x higher average order value (AOV).
Clearly, mastering stories is crucial for reaching audiences and driving conversions in 2023.
But getting consistent views remains a significant challenge.
In the next section, you‘ll learn how to cracked the Instagram story algorithm works to maximize reach.
How the Instagram Stories Algorithm Works
Many people assume Instagram stories show randomly in users‘ feeds.
That‘s a common misconception. Just like the feed post algorithm, Instagram‘s story algorithm decides which stories viewers see based on predicted interest and engagement.
Instagram personalizes every user‘s story feed by factoring in:
- Account relationships – Stories from accounts you actively follow and engage with show up first.
- Past interactions – If you commonly view, like, comment on or message certain story creators, Instagram will prioritize them.
- Timeliness – More recent stories usually get priority over older ones.
Reposting feed posts as stories won‘t do much. Only posting fresh, exclusive content to your story will drive meaningful engagement.
You also need to use Instagram story tools (e.g. polls, questions, etc) to generate comments and messages. This signals to the algorithm your content is relevant.
While views from followers are important, you also want to get viewership from non-followers who discover you in the "Stories" banner. Using relevant hashtags and locations are key for this.
Optimizing your actual story content for engagement is crucial. But you also need distribution and promotion tactics to share your story with high-intent users.
Next, we‘ll explore 10 proven methods to get more eyes on your Instagram story.
10 Tactics to Get More Instagram Story Views
Here are the top 10 techniques used by experienced influencers and brands to drive Instagram story views:
1. Cross-Promote on Your Other Channels
Don‘t just publish your Instagram story and hope viewers come. Actively promote your story across channels to drive viewership.
Some easy cross-promotion tactics include:
- Post story previews on your Instagram feed.
- Share Instagram story links or screenshots in Snapchat and TikTok.
- Add Instagram story highlights to your Instagram and Facebook bios.
- Embed Instagram story links in your email newsletters or web banners.
Cross-channel promotion brings new viewers from your other audiences, multiplying your potential reach.
2. Run Instagram Ads to Your Story
Consider running Instagram story ads to give your content a sponsored boost.
You can create Instagram story ads right in the Instagram app or via Ads Manager.
Benefits of Instagram story ads include:
- Showing up in the feeds of your target audience beyond just your current followers.
- Getting your content seen by more of your existing followers.
- Further optimizing your future organic reach by driving engagement metrics on promoted stories.
The downside is that obviously story ads cost money to run. Start with small daily budgets to efficiently get more story views.
3. Post at Peak Times for Your Audience
Timing matters hugely for Instagram stories. Pay attention to when your target audience is most active on Instagram.
Some best practices for timing include:
- Post morning updates when users scroll through Instagram over breakfast or commuting to work.
- Share lunchtime recommendations as midday browsing spikes.
- Engage nighttime lurkers before they go to bed.
Test posting at different cadences to determine optimal times. Just avoid bombarding viewers by posting too often.
Analysis tools like Iconosquare make it easy to pinpoint audience usage patterns. You can even schedule stories in advance to match viewer habits.
4. Go Live to Alert Followers
Instagram Live is an extremely effective way to get instant views of your current story.
When you go live, Instagram sends alerts to your followers urging them to tune in. Even if fans miss the live broadcast, many will still check your story afterward.
Some best practices for driving story views with Live include:
- Tease your upcoming story content at the start/end of your video.
- Keep broadcasts short to retain audience attention (under 10 minutes).
- Add an eye-catching cover frame with relevant text overlays.
Sprinkle in occasional Lives instead of solely relying on this tactic. Follow up each live by posting strong stories that deliver on what you promoted.
5. Collaborate With Nano-Influencers
Collaborating with relevant nano-influencers (5k-30k followers) represents an easy way to tap into new audiences ripe for your content.
Some creative collaboration approaches include:
- Co-creating a fun story poll, game or challenge.
- Having them takeover your Instagram story for a day.
- Interviewing each other or swapping content from your stories.
Make sure to thoroughly vet any potential partners and align on content direction beforehand. Clarify promotion plans upfront so both parties drive cross-traffic.
When identifying influencers to work with, prioritize audience quality over follower count. 5k highly engaged followers often drive better results than 500k disengaged zombie followers.
6. Run an Instagram Story Takeover
Story takeovers, also called Instagram story guest posting, involve handing your account‘s story access over to an industry peer for a set timeframe.
Ideal takeover partners might include:
- Leading experts in your niche.
- Brands in complementary verticals.
- Loyal customers with strong personal brands.
Takeovers provide a nice change of pace for your audience while exposing your content to new sets of viewers.
When coordinating takeovers:
- Vet partners thoroughly and give them clear content guidelines.
- Time takeovers to avoid conflicts with your own promotions.
- Have them add relevant location/hashtag mentions and follow calls-to-action back to your profile throughout stories.
7. Show Behind-the-Scenes Looks
People love insider access. Giving BTS glimpses into your products, office culture events generates high engagement.
Fans eat up sneak peeks into things like:
- Product photoshoots or commercial filming.
- Prepping for a conference booth.
- Daily team meetings and culture.
These authentic inside looks make your brand more approachable, driving loyalty and story views long-term.
8. Spotlight Loyal Customers
User-generated content reigns supreme in stories. 71% of consumers are more likely to make a purchase after seeing UGC of a product.
Repost happy customer stories using the new re-share sticker. Or add their UGC stories as highlights on your profile.
When reposting others‘ content, always ask permission first. Make sure to properly credit them using tags and mentions in your versions.
This user spotlighting wins customers‘ hearts while showing first-hand social proof of real results. Their own networks will engage with their reposted story too!
9. Use Interactive Stickers Strategically
Leveraging Instagram‘s interactive sticker features has been shown to boost story completion rates 2X over regular image/video content.
Some sticker types perfect for driving story engagement include:
- Questions – Boosts comments by prompting viewers.
- Quizzes – Creates fun challenge while allowing you to add calls-to-action to each choice.
- Emoji Slider – Lets fans rank products/services on custom scale.
- Poll – Quick reactions to multiple choice questions.
Only stick to one sticker type per story. Adding multiple on the same screen creates clutter and lowers response rates.
10. Personalize Content for Audience Interests
Even with cold targeting, personalized story content reigns supreme.
When possible:
- Tailor captions/visuals to location (e.g. major cities vs rural areas).
- Localize language and terminology used per country/region.
- Show imagery and scenes reflecting viewers’ demographics.
You likely don‘t have the resources to manually customize every story. Instead, rely on audience insights from past content analytics to adapt your overarching strategy.
Let‘s now shift gears to optimizing the actual content within your Instagram stories…
How to Optimize Your Instagram Story Content
Simply getting views of your Instagram story is just the first step. You also need viewers to actually engage with your content once they arrive.
Here are some best practices for creating stories that convert viewers into active engagers or traffic:
Hook Viewers Within the First 2 Seconds
You only have a tiny window to grab viewers‘ attention in Instagram stories. If the opening slide or first 2 seconds of video don‘t intrigue fans, they‘ll likely just tap over to the next story.
Some proven hooks to open strong include:
- Eye-catching visuals
- Shocking or controversial statistics
- Cliffhanger preview text (e.g. "You‘ll never guess what hapened next!")
- Call-to-action to engage (e.g. "What do you think we should…"
Once attention is grabbed, now you need to add enough substance to content so viewers stick around…
Stories should feel "behind the scenes" in ways your main Instagram feed doesn‘t. Give viewers content they can‘t access anywhere else to appear more authentic.
For example, show things like:
- Raw first-looks at new products.
- Quick interviews with team members.
- Funny outtakes and bloopers.
These sneak peeks add the FOMO factor that marketers dream about!
Educate and Entertain – Don‘t Just Promote
Sure, include some promos. But avoid making stories just pure advertising. Nobody wants to feel constantly sold.
Find ways to educate and entertain instead:
- Share mini tutorials and explainers on your space.
- Highlight relatable experiences and behind the scenes daily realities.
- Ask for engagement by prompting opinions in polls/surveys.
Think 80/20 in terms of promotional vs value-added content. Too frequent selling is a quick way to tank engagement.
Add captivating visuals and text overlays
Stories live and die by visual appeal. Use templates, animations and graphics to make imagery pop instead of lower quality selfies.
Editing tools like Canva, Over and Splice make it fast to take basic photos/clips up a notch.
Text overlays help call out key messages. Keep font choices, sizes and colors consistent with your profile‘s aesthetics. Too much text overwhelms, so stick to 1-2 sentences max per slide.
Close Strongly with Calls-to-Action
End every story with a clear call-to-action based on what you want viewers to do next:
- Check your profile?
- Buy from your shop?
- Read a particular blog post?
- Sign up for your webinar?
Some effective tactics to drive actions include:
- Swipe up links.
- Location/hashtag references.
- Mention your next event with details.
- Coupon codes or special discounts.
Without specific direction, great stories might entertain fans but fail to convert them into customers. Tell viewers exactly what you eventually want them to do after watching.
Check back in with viewers
Don’t end your Story and move on right away. Quickly check back in with a few more Stories asking for feedback and opinions on what they just saw.
Even just by posting some reaction selfies to their responses, you reinforce connection while keeping your content top of mind as they continue browsing stories.
Analyzing Your Instagram Story Performance
It’s crucial to track Instagram story metrics to know what content resonates most.
Monitor key data like:
- Impressions – Number of total views.
- Reach – Total number of unique accounts that saw your story.
- Exits – People who exited without finishing.
- Replies – Total comments.
- Shares – Number of story reshares.
Compare performance by day of week, time posted, post type, etc to spot trends. Look at both aggregate and per-story metrics.
Tools like Facebook Analytics, Iconosquare and Sprout Social make analysis much easier than trying to decipher Instagram’s native metrics alone.
Let hard data guide your ongoing Instagram approach instead of guessing. Optimize future stories based what engages best.
Put It All Into Action
Improving Instagram story views requires multiple layers of strategy:
- Distribution – Getting your story seen by ideal new viewers.
- Engagement – Optimizing content to convert views into reactions.
- Analysis – Tracking data to inform ongoing improvements.
With 500 million daily story viewers, the rewards clearly outweigh the effort involved.
Start small by implementing just a few of the tactics covered at a time. As you master each technique, stack them together into an optimized Instagram story funnel.
Commit to continually testing new ideas while staying nimble based on learnings – that‘s the key to long-term Instagram stories success!
I‘d love to hear which story strategies you plan to try first. Ask any other questions below!
