How to use Instagram Lives and Stories to grow your business

The other day, I hopped on Instagram and did and Instagram Story all about my new sunglasses. I asked my followers if they were ridiculous or fun. And guess what, they answered.  70% thought they were fun and 30% said ridiculous. That isn’t the amazing thing.  The amazing thing is that I can get real life and real time responses from my audience.  That response is the power of Instagram Stories and Instagram Lives.  Today we are going to dive into how to use Instagram Lives and Stories to grow your business

Not sure what Instagram Stories and Instagram Lives are or the process of using them? Check out my Instagram Stories and Instagram Lives tutorial here.

Insta Story vs Insta Live

Why you need to infuse you into your brand.

Your Instagram feed is the new resume, that can feel a little intimidating and hard when you want to show the real-life aspect of your business.  This is where Instagram Stories and Instagram Lives come in.  They last only 24 hours and aren’t posted to your feed.  This is less pressure for you and it is great news for your followers because they want to get to know the real, unscripted you.

What is the difference between Instagram Stories and Instagram Lives?

Instagram Stories are broken up into 15-second video clips and pictures.  I use stories to tell the story of my every day.

Instagram Lives are live videos where you can interact with your audience and do long-form videos.

 

How to make killer Instagram Stories

The goal of Instagram Stories

-Tell a story

My daughter just started the kindergarten dual immersion program at school.  It was a tough few days for her adjusting to a new school and a new language.  The first day was hard and there were a lot of tears.  After I dropped her off at school that first day, I jumped on my Instagram Stories and shared my first day of school experience. The next day got a little better, but it was still hard.  I got on my Instagram stories and shared again.  By day 3, I had my followers asking about my daughter because guess what, they cared about her and the story I was telling.  This kept people watching and engaged for three days.

When you are using Instagram Stories, make sure that you are not just posting random pictures, but rather telling a story with your pictures and videos.  These should include a beginning, middle, and end.

-Summarize with text

When creating videos for Instagram Stories, keep in mind that not everyone will be able to listen to every single video.  To help get your message across, use the text feature to summarize the video contents. This helps your followers who want to know and learn about you, but don’t have time to watch every video.

-Encourage engagement:

The Instagram Algorithm rewards engagement, so the more people that are engaging with your content, the more people Instagram will put your content in front of people. Engagement also keeps your followers around and makes them active viewers instead of passive viewers.  Instagram has stickers that you can use on Stories that help with engagement.  You can ask a question, take a poll and have people rate things.

How to make Killer Instagram Lives

There are a few things that set Instagram Lives apart from Instagram Stories.  First is that it is a long video format with no break in the video like in Stories.  You can also have people watch you live and interact with you during your video.

How to prepare for Insta Lives

-Know what you are going to talk and teach about.  Write down an outline of your Live so that you can stay on task.  (I made a worksheet just for you with all of the steps.  Click here to get it.)

-Do you have all the tools.  If you are doing a makeup tutorial, make sure you have all of your brushes and makeup handy.  If you are cooking, have all of your ingredients there ready to go.

-Let people know in your posts and stories when you are going to go live

During your Live

 

-Take a deep breath.  Once you hit that “Live” button, it can be a little scary.  Once that button is pushed, take a deep breath and then go ahead and start talking and welcoming your viewers in.

-Ask questions as you go.  Have a list of questions beforehand.  You want to constantly be engaging with your viewers.  Have a list of questions and stories prepared to use when there is dead space.

-Have a clear call to action.  Know what you want your viewers to do when they are done watching the video and then tell them.  People won’t go to your website unless you tell them to.  Make sure they know what you want them todo.

-Get out of there. Don’t linger on your video. As soon as you have finished with your content and given a clear call to action, say goodbye and get out of there.

After Your Instagram Live

Promote your Live in your stories and in your posts.  Use all your platforms to get people to watch your content.  Remember, it disappears after 24 hours.

And that is it!  You are ready for your Instagram Live!  If you are like me and you like to have an organized paper to help you plan your next live, click here to get your free Instagram Live Printable Planner.

And if you are a Maskcara Artist (or any MLM business) and want to hear how this applies to your business, make sure that you check out my Maskcara Artist Podcast.

And make sure you are following me on Instagram here.

For my Maskcara Artist friends, I have a new episode of the podcast that goes into depth about this.  Check it out here: