When Instagram Stories were launched in 2016, they provided new opportunities for brands and users alike to be more authentic and creative on the platform. Today, this ephemeral media format has become a cornerstone in most Instagram marketing strategies, complementing the posts you permanently share on your feed.
What are Instagram Stickers?
Instagram stickers are dynamic graphic elements that can be added to photo and video stories. Some are animated, some are clickable, and others allow users to interact directly with your Instagram story. Simply put, they make your stories more engaging, increasing the likelihood that users will interact with them.
How to Use Instagram Story Stickers
Tap the sticker icon in the upper right corner of the editing options. Browse through customizable and interactive stickers. Scroll down to find additional sticker options. Click on the sticker you want to add. Position and resize the sticker on your story.
Cute Instagram Stickers
While functional stickers like hashtag stickers and link stickers are very useful, sometimes it’s nice to add a cute sticker for aesthetic appeal. Cute and playful stickers can help enhance your brand identity or express a more spontaneous interaction in your Instagram story.
Types of Instagram Stickers
While some stickers help make your stories more fun, others contribute directly to your Instagram marketing goals. There’s no shortage of options available, but the following customizable stickers are particularly relevant for marketing:
- Hashtag Stickers: Add a clickable hashtag to your Instagram story to reach more users. When users click on the hashtag sticker, they will be taken to the hashtag feed, just as if they were searching for it manually. You can add only one hashtag sticker per story.
- Poll Stickers: Ask users a question and give them two answers to choose from. You can ask a yes or no question by default or customize up to four answer options. Users click on the sticker to respond, and the results are calculated in real-time. You can see who voted and what they voted for, allowing you to interact directly with them.
- Question Stickers: Allow you to gather ideas, comments, and responses from your audience using an open-ended question. Answers can be shared directly in later stories as user-generated content.
- Location Stickers: Attach a location to your Instagram story to expand your reach. When users click on the location sticker, they will see other content feeds tagged with the same location. You can add only one location sticker per story.
- Tag Someone Else Stickers: Tag another user in your stories, notifying them that you’ve done so. When someone clicks on the sticker, they will be taken to the profile of the tagged user.
- Music Stickers: Add background music to your photos or videos, allowing you to choose a track from Spotify.
- Countdown Stickers: Add a countdown timer towards a specific time and/or date (useful for product launches or events).
- GIF Stickers: Display animated graphics from GIPHY that you can add to your stories. GIF stickers can be used not only for fun and dynamism but also to add animated calls to action to your stories (for example, “Follow us”).
- Shopping Stickers: Available through the “Shopping on Instagram” integration. Business accounts that have enabled this channel will be able to tag products in their stories. Users can click to see the price, description, and name of the product, and click again to go directly to the product page for purchase.
- Emoji Slider Stickers: Ask users a question they can answer using a slider (for example, “On a scale of 1 to 10…”), such as “How do you like our new collection compared to last year?” You can choose an emoji to represent their answer, and users will see the average after they vote.
- Sticker
- Date: The date the image, video, or story was created will be displayed. Use it to post nostalgic content or build excitement for an upcoming event by showcasing today’s date.
- Link Stickers: Replaced swipe-up stickers, allowing you to link content outside the Instagram app in your story.
- Impressions: Total number of views your story received.
- Reach: Total number of unique accounts that viewed your story.
- Profile Visits: Total number of times viewers visited your profile from your story.
- Forward: Users who skipped to different images or videos within your story.
- Back: Users who returned to different images or videos within your story.
- Exits: Users who exited completely from stories after viewing your story.
- Replies: Number of users who replied to your story.
- Next Story: Number of users who moved on to the next story, skipping your story altogether.
- Link Clicks: Number of clicks on your link stickers.
- Contact Button Clicks: Number of people who clicked on the contact button from your profile page.
- Business Address Clicks: Number of people who clicked to view your business address from your profile page.
- Message Button Clicks: Number of users who clicked to send a text message to your business from your profile page.
- Website Link Clicks: Number of users who clicked on your website button from your profile page.
Instagram Story Stickers: A Fun and Functional Feature
Instagram stickers are not just a fun addition that adds smiley faces to your stories. They can play a crucial role in marketing on Instagram, allowing you to generate social proof, increase engagement, reach, brand awareness, traffic to your profile, and even your website.
Here, we explored various ways to use Instagram story stickers creatively for marketing. Make sure to leverage each sticker effectively to optimize the performance of your content.
Creative Ways to Use Instagram Story Stickers for Marketing
1. Ask for feedback and test ideas
2. Host an “Ask me anything” session to connect with your followers on a personal level
3. Share user-generated content and encourage others to create their own content
4. Add music to give more depth to your stories
5. Promote your brand’s hashtags
6. Comment on events you are attending
7. Ask customers to choose between different products
8. Use date stickers to remind of past events or to build excitement for upcoming ones
9. Boost sales for your latest products
10. Use the “Turn on sound” sticker to encourage users to enable sound
11. Collaborate with other brands
12. Use seasonal Instagram stickers
13. Use the link sticker to drive traffic
14. Fundraise for charities using the donation sticker
15. Encourage user-generated content using the “Add Yours” sticker
Tracking Instagram Sticker Performance
Instagram stickers are a great way to boost engagement, traffic, and social proof for your stories, as well as increase brand awareness. To understand the impact of different stickers on your content, it is essential to monitor their performance.
The best way to do this is by using Instagram analytics. Instagram’s native analytics reports offer a special section under the “Content You Shared” tab dedicated to Instagram stories, where you can view the performance of each story based on key metrics.
Metrics related to Instagram stories analytics include:
You can also monitor the following metrics from the same place:
You can track Instagram stories data in Instagram’s native analytics for only 14 days, so you need to monitor the data carefully. If you find this cumbersome and want a broader view, third-party Instagram tools can provide you with the same information and store it for much longer periods.
Look for patterns here. If some of your Instagram stories achieve the highest impressions and reach but have low engagement, explore why. Do some stickers seem to affect engagement rates like replies or returning to view a story? Are people ignoring stickers due to position or size?
You will start to see how different stickers affect the performance of your stories, which can influence how you use them in the future.
An important part of your Instagram marketing tools, and with the right strategy, can help you get the most out of every story you post.
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