Instagram is one of the largest platforms after Facebook and it continuously keeps on growing. To engage more audience daily, Instagram launched short Instagram Stories. Over the past year, Instagram stories have grown with huge users from all over the world.
Report by Conviva
Instagram stories increased to 150 million daily active users in 2017. After three years since the launch, more than 500 million people use Instagram stories every day. Last week a streaming-video measurement company named Conviva published a report about its analysis of 300 Instagram accounts and 13,000 stories.According to the report, most users are not utilizing Instagram stories in a way that could help them engage more audience. The Instagram stories are a huge opportunity for advertising companies if they utilize the length and duration of each story accurately. Instagram stories are gaining more potential audience every day and this can be used as an advantage for brands to engage more audience.
During the earlier year, the average competition rate for the disappearing stories was 73% and within a half year, it rose to 84% despite the new features introduced by Instagram for users.
"As the competition among businesses grows on Instagram, it’s important to have an in-depth understanding of what content works for your specific audience, and the overall Instagram audience as well. Our research suggests that organizations should treat IG Stories viewers differently from those who interact with the Instagram feed content.", explained Conviva team in a blog post.
Revenue growth for Facebook
Users spend less time on Facebook these days and prefer watching short Instagram stories. Facebook has seen its failure in revenue due to less time spent by users on the app instead of watching Instagram stories. This can be used in the benefit of Facebook because the more ads users see on Instagram stories, the more revenue will generate for parent company as well.- Also read: Top Publishers are having a Hard Time in Trusting IGTV as their Go-To Social Network for Longer Videos
According to Mary Meeker’s report on Internet Trends, users spend less time on all social media platforms except Instagram and YouTube and it has been the same since 2018.
Ways businesses can benefit from Insta-Stories
The growth of users in Instagram stories means more opportunities for business to attract potential customers. According to the report of Conviva, most brands are not utilizing this short story feature in a way they should be in terms of its format, ideal length, upload time or the duration of the story.To gain more potential customers, companies should utilize stories in a way that last 15 to 25 frames to maximize their reach. Usually, only 11% of the stories last between 11-15 frames and 6% stories last 16-20 frames. Majority of the stories around 53% last under 6 frames and make the below- average reach.
According to the report, 66% of the accounts also had their direct replies turned off. Stories with replies off have an average reach rate of 3.2% as compared to the stories with replies on had audience reach about 9%. The replies turned on can help make the account more visible on Instagram as compared to others.
- Related: Study Of Over 300K Accounts Reveals Engagement Rate on Influencers Posts is Dwindling
Bottom Line: There is a huge market of competitors, and to make products stand out companies and brands to need to build strong strategies for IG stories that make them unique in comparison to the feed of others.
Read next: Influencers with Fake Followers Will Cost Advertisers $1.3 Billion in 2019 [Report]
