If you use Facebook for personal or business purposes, you’ve seen the Facebook Stories feature that appears at the top of your newsfeed. Though Facebook Stories have been around since 2017, many business owners and marketers have not yet incorporated them into their marketing strategy. Some don’t understand how to use them while others believe they are for personal use and have no value when it comes to marketing. This couldn’t be further from the truth. Facebook Stories offer business owners a powerful marketing opportunity if you know how to use them correctly.
What Are Facebook Stories?
Facebook Stories are user-generated video and photo collections that can be viewed twice and then disappear after 24 hours. They do not appear on your newsfeed and they cannot be accessed or viewed after the 24 hours are up. The feature uses Facebook’s in-app camera and lets you overlay fun lenses and filters to your content. You can also add geolocation tags. Once you post your story, it will appear at the top of viewers’ newsfeeds and others can see it by tapping on the circle at the top of the app.
Why to Use Facebook Stories for Your Business
While Facebook Stories are always fun to use personally, they can be effective marketing tools for your business as well. Here’s why:
They have prime positioning in the app As we’ve mentioned, stories appear at the very top of viewers’ news feeds, meaning they are the first thing people see when they log in to Facebook. This exposure boosts your visibility and keeps your brand top of mind.
The use of them continues to grow More than 150 million users view Facebook stories on a daily basis, and that number continues to grow. More viewers look at Stories than at their feeds. To stay on their radar, you need to post stories frequently.
It’s perfect for real-time marketing Because stories don’t linger on your feed, they’re the perfect place to engage in some real-time marketing. Use your stories for limited-time sales, event promotion, or updates on what’s going on in your business.
How to Best Use Facebook Stories to Market Your Business
Facebook Story marketing is all about being creative, transparent, and unique. Here are some ideas on how to use Stories to best market your business—but remember that thinking outside the box and being original is really the name of the game!
Host competitions and giveaways
Make exciting announcements
Show behind-the-scenes peeks at your office or store’s operations
Promote an event with image slideshows and videos
Post discount codes or promotions
Team up with influencers who will share their stories
Post a quote or pic of the day
Create an educational tutorial
Give a visual tour of your office
Introduce new team members
How to Create Facebook Stories
There are a few different options when it comes to creating Facebook Stories.
- Sharing your Instagram Story. If you are already using Instagram Stories, you can simply share to your Facebook Story. Though this arguably the easiest way to create a Story, it’s not always the best as unique content on each platform is the gold standard.
- Use your camera. You can create a Story with your Facebook camera by swiping right on your page to open the camera. Create your story element, then click next. Then click change next to your profile picture and select the page you want to add your story to, then click the send icon.
- From your page. Simply go to your page on your mobile app and scroll down to “add to story”. Click this, then create your story and click the “add to story” button.
Using Facebook Stories to market your business is trendy, fun, and very effective when done correctly. If you want to use this platform to grow your business but aren’t sure how, please reach out! The talented team at Pixel Fire Marketing would love to help you out!
Stories have proven to be a popular format, which is why Facebook has been keen to push it across all of their apps. To create a Story on Facebook, click the “Create a Story” icon on the left side of the Stories Bar. You can add text, music, selfies, or take a poll – play around and have fun with it!
Do you need help incorporating Facebook Stories into your social media strategy? Our dedicated Marketing team is here for you!
