They can now be seen everywhere. The “Story” format has gained immense popularity on social networks around the world. But what are Stories, and why are they so popular?
What is a story on social medias?
A story is content that is shared on social networks. It can take the form of a photo or a simple short video. It only lasts 24 hours. That’s all the interest and advantage of a story: no one could keep the content, use it to hijack it or make any personal use of it. (although there are techniques used to record the stories of a third person). It means that you must always be vigilant about what you post.
it is also possible to add it in a specific category for example on Instagram and on Snapchat to record it directly in the application.
Where does it come from ?
Snapchat was the initiator of this format, a small revolution at the time since it was still new in the digital ecosystem, launching its stories in October 2013. The company had a monopoly on the format for nearly 3 years, until Instagram took its turn. Following this, all major Western social networks have started to offer this format to their users. The latest one being Twitter on this year 2020.
Few facts and figures about the stories
- 500 million Instagram stories are posted everyday.
- 1/3 of the most viewed stories are published by companies (Hootsuite figure)
- When a post published on the wall reaches only 3% engagement rate, it is twice as strong with stories.
- 62 % des utilisateurs affirment qu’ils se sont davantage intéressés à une marque ou à un produit après l’avoir vu dans une Story (Hootsuite figure)
How the stories are used by the brands?
From highlighting backstage and events: telling what goes on behind the scenes, introducing team members, to tutorials, tips and interviews. Brands can also choose a more business-oriented approach by communicating about promotions and special offers: i.e. talking about the different stages of a product launch, highlighting sales and promotional campaigns. With Stories, it is also possible to generate traffic on a website, merchant or not, directly in store or on a blog. Influencers, especially micro-influencers, frequently use this format to redirect to their blog, some even prefer Stories to traditional articles. They are more and more solicited by brands to establish paid partnerships based on the creation of this kind of content.
A lot of content opportunities
Here is a list of possible contents that can be published in stories. This list can vary between different socials that do not always offer the same features. This list is subject to change and no doubt that other features will be added over the coming months/years.
- Videos
- Infographics
- Texts
- Gifs
- Images or photos
- Visuals
- Surveys
- Questions
- Lives
- Tutorials