Social Media Stories as Content of the Future

In recent years, many social media platforms have introduced so-called story functions, social media stories, and Facebook is already being traded as the social media content format of the future. In this blog post, we have summarized what this means and how companies can use the function for themselves.

What distinguishes the Story function?

The Story feature allows social network users to share pictures or short videos with their followers. Depending on the platform, emojis, text, gifs or interactive elements can be integrated. This content disappears after a certain time, usually 24 hours. Stories offer the possibility to show everyday life in an authentic and unadulterated way, which is well known to the social media community. According to Facebook, the use of this function has risen by 842% since 2016, indicating a current trend. The Snapchat, Instagram, WhatsApp, Facebook and Facebook Messenger networks currently have a story function. According to Facebook, the stories will replace the news feed as the primary means of communication in social networks over the next year.

Social Media-platform	Current story user figures per day
WhatsApp	450 mio
Instagram	300 mio
Facebook (Messenger)	70 mio
Snapchat	191 mio

What trends are emerging in social media stories?

The fact that the story function is becoming more and more important can be seen from various tendencies. On the one hand, the stories are placed and highlighted in prominent places on many social media platforms and on the other hand, new, partly interactive features are constantly being developed. In addition, stories can no longer only be consumed on mobile devices, but also on the desktop. Like any format that is popular with users, the stories will soon be monetized, and Story Ads are even possible on Instagram. According to Facebook, these ads are as popular as they are in the feed.

How can companies make the most of the story feature?

Companies that want to use social media stories for themselves can do so on their own accounts, for example on Facebook and Instagram. Alternatively or additionally, advertising, so-called ads, can be placed in order to reach even more users. With the help of the story function, cross-platform cross-media storytelling strategies can be implemented. For example, the story reports on the progress of a project, and blog entries and social media posts are published to match. In general, the story serves the purpose of community building! Developing advertising formats suitable for the medium and addressing users can increase brand awareness, generate more traffic and boost sales.

How does the story reach increase?

Anyone who invests time and resources in good story content naturally wants to reach as many users and potential customers as possible. Even if your own account is not yet one of the big ones on Instagram, you can achieve a considerable reach with a few tricks, as your own tests have shown. A major role is played, for example, by well thought-out storytelling, which makes the community curious and binds it to the account. In addition, marking locations can increase the range many times over if your own picture or video is displayed in the location story. Relevant hashtags also increase reach and reach interested users. The additional reach generated by location markings and hashtags has a positive effect on the community, as new potential followers become aware of the account.

Is Social Media Story Marketing Worth It?

In an increasingly digitalized world, it is advisable for companies from a wide variety of industries to use social media stories and use them as a marketing tool. Stories are not only the social media content format of the future, they can also form an important part of the communication strategy and contribute to the achievement of corporate goals.

Keywords: Facebook, featured, Instagram, Snapchat, Social Media Stories, Social Media, WhatsApp