It is a known fact that the two of the biggest social networking companies in the world, Facebook and Snap Inc. are currently involved in a Silicon Valley tech battle, which is referred as ‘The Battle of the Stories.’ It was Snapchat that first introduced the stories feature to Snapchat in October 2013, which allowed the users to upload an endless number of videos or photos that would be visible to the individual’s followers for a period of 24 hours. When Evan Spiegel, the CEO of Snap Inc. turned down the offer by Facebook’s CEO Mark Zuckerberg to buy Snapchat for 3 billion USD; not many would have seen the step as the first step that would beckon the Stories battle.
After Facebook failed to tap into Snapchat’s audience, in August 2016, Instagram, the popular picture sharing platform, which is owned by Facebook rolled out its own version of Stories, which was almost an exact copy of Snapchat’s feature. It not only took the Snap’s model and introduced its wide users’ base but also continued to evolve and expand the feature by adding new elements like live-streaming. With the addition of the new features, by April 2017, roughly about eight months after the launch, Instagram announced that their stories options had overtaken Snapchat in terms of daily active users.
To add to the drama in the battle of the stories, Facebook also introduced the stories option to its other products including Facebook proper, Facebook Messenger and WhatsApp with a view to ape the success of Instagram stories and propel Facebook as the leader in all things social media. In the ongoing war of the stories, others too are joining in. While some want to pick a side to join the find, others just want to know, which of these platforms would yield the best results for all their marketing endeavours. So as a marketer if you have been wondering how to make the best use of these platforms, here is what you would need to know.
Why Stories?
First and foremost, you need to know what purpose stories serve for the marketers. Well, the stories are mostly used to share the most creative updates in real time, and for marketers and brands it can be a great way to add a little human touch and build a rapport with both their existing and potential customers. Stories can be used to portray the brand transparency and it can also be used as space where you can creatively share your brand’s messages and at the same time connect with your targeted customer group. Marketers can also use the story option to provide the users with an inside view of the businesses and promote brand awareness and loyalty.
Now that you know how stories can be helpful, you would also want to the right ways to use it. Just like any other social media platform, while posting any content on stories, you need to have a good strategy in place so that you can connect to the most relevant audience and create maximum impact. Here is a little to do thigs or rather thins to consider while creating stories.
Know which platform is most suitable for you
It would be best to first do a bit research on the demographics of the users of the different platforms; the average age of a Snapchat users is between 18-24 years, out of which majority of them are females. Also, Snapchat users mostly post fun, casual and creative kind of content. On the other hand, the average user age for Instagram ranges from 19-29 years old. The Instagram users also (mostly) expect pretty, visually-pleasing and clean and sophisticated content. So depending on the audience you are looking to target and the kind of message you want to convey, you need to choose the platform carefully.
What kind of content are you sharing?
No matter, the kind of content you choose to share, you need to ensure that the content is in alignment with your already social media brand personality and it should complement the type of content you share on your already existing social pages. Just make sure that the content you share adds context to the kind of posts you share regularly and it doesn’t confuse the audience.
Is the advertising space a worthy investment for you?
You may already have a good presence in the social media circle with a huge base of loyal followers but for others buying an ad space on these platforms would be effective to reach out to new audience. Know if it would be worthy putting your money in advertising on these platforms.
Influencer marketing
Having a social media influencer to promote your brand has proved to be an effective marketing technique. The stories provide the marketers with a new space to promote their brand and get the most of the power of influencers.
