It has never been more important for brands to stay connected and engaged with their audience.

And as we know, social media presents itself as an excellent way for an organisation to engage with its community and customers, plus reinforce any key messages.

One of the ways to do this most efficiently is through utilising Instagram Stories – and with over 300 million users every day, it is a great tool to reach a wider audience.

Instagram Stories allows you to post temporary photos and videos that disappear 24 hours after you’ve shared them. Much like Snapchat, photos and videos on the platform can be edited with doodles, stickers and text.

Here are our top five reasons why your organisation should be tapping into Instagram Stories right now:

1.     COVID-19 awareness

Instagram has some great features which allow you to raise awareness of COVID-19 and remind people the importance of staying safe during the pandemic.

There are many stickers which can be added to stories encouraging individuals to wash their hands more often and to stay home for example.

There is even a sticker dedicated to the ‘thank you hour’, collating posts which are about celebrating and being thankful for those working and putting themselves at risk in this difficult time.

2.     Learn more about your audience

The platform offers a number of tools that allow you to engage with your audience on a deeper level. You have the ability to create polls, share what music you are listening to and even ask direct questions.

These options allow you to produce great interactive content which not only enables you to increase engagement, but also discover more about your audience.

Fashion brands such as Motel Rocks have been using the poll feature to discover which of their products are preferred. Other brands have also been using the question button to identify what new items their customers would like to see in the future.

This is such a great way to get consumer feedback and improve your overall offering.

3.      Traffic

Lockdown means that most people are at home during the day, many of which are choosing to spend their time scrolling through social media. This means that the duration people are spending on the platform is likely to be much higher.

As a result, the content you are producing is likely to be seen more frequently and potentially by more people. This provides brands with a great opportunity to create engaging content which will allow them to really connect with their audience.

Through spending a little extra time researching and planning content, brands could gain a larger, more engaged audience.

4.     Innovative features

As a result of COVID-19, Instagram has innovated to provide businesses with new features to help them during this difficult time.

Gift card and food ordering stickers that can be applied to Instagram Stories have just been announced as a way to minimise the commercial impact of the virus on small businesses.

These features can allow individuals to purchase gift cards from businesses whilst they are unable to physically go out and spend money at the establishment. The ordering sticker also allows people to order food for delivery, another way to encourage individuals to stay home.

A tool which will great support local and smaller businesses.

5.     They do NOT have to be perfect

As stories leave your account after 24 hours – unless saved to a highlight – they do not have to be time intensive of perfect. They’re a ideal for reacting quickly to new trends or distributing key information fast.

The ability to connect with your audience in a quick and simple way is a great way for a business to be seen as current and adaptive of the changing situation.

So if you are not using Instagram Stories as part of your Social strategy yet, you need to get experimenting and start engaging with your audience in a new and innovative way.