5 Accounts That'll Inspire Your Instagram Stories
Now that Instagram Stories has survived for around two months in the ever-congested social marketplace, it doesn’t look like the network’s Snapchat clone is going anywhere any time soon. As we’ve seen with Snapchat, some brands come up with super creative ways to use their disappearing content to further push their message, their products and services and their brand personality. Here are some of our favourite brands and companies who just might give you some inspiration for your Instagram Stories.
1. Gary Vaynerchuk (@garyvee)
It’s no secret that the team here at High Season Co. are Gary Vee Stans. His unique brand of marketing meets motivation has caught on worldwide and he only seems to be getting bigger as he pushes his hustler mentality message to aspiring entrepreneurs and business owners. As with his Snapchat, Gary’s Stories are a fun blend of behind-the-scenes snippets, selfies with a message, inspirational messages, promo and his travels. They’re super entertaining and motivational, just like the rest of his content.
2. Taco Bell (@tacobell)
Whether you’re a fan of their food or not, Taco Bell are fantastic at Snapchat and they’ve brought their fun feed to Instagram Stories. They were one of the first brands we had seen to really integrate the drawing function into their disappearing content, which kept their Snaps and Stories as bright and colourful as their Instagram feed. Recently they started getting their employees involved and continued their engaging posts that really pushed community involvement.
3. Stone Brewing (@stonebrewingco)
We’re huge fans of craft beer, and San Diego’s Stone Brewing make some of the finest brews on the planet, with an awesome social feed to boot. Recently, Stone did a fantastic ‘reverse history’ of all their beers on Instagram Stories, with a hit song from each year playing as the video slowly pans to the beer in question in various Stone-related environments. They included some funny captions that really showed the personality of the brand, and while it seems they were double dipping on their Snapchat content and uploading to Stories, it was still super engaging and worked really well.
4. blogTO (@blogTO)
blogTO is one of the premier websites for all things Toronto. From the hottest cafes, restaurants, bars, clubs, retail stores, breweries and events, blogTO has it covered. Their Stories feed is an extension of the rest of their social feeds, providing a less polished yet super engaging, personalized, behind-the-scenes view of other stories they’re already covering. Their recent posts at a new Toronto cafe just made us hungry.
5. Culture Kings (@CultureKings)
All the way from Australia, Culture Kings are a chain of urban-focused retail stores, incorporating live DJs, barbers and regular celebrity appearances. They now have stories in almost every major market in the country, and their social media presence is on point. As with some other brands, their Stories look somewhat like it could be a copy of their Snaps, however, they include innovative presentations of new items in store, vibes from the DJ booth, employee spotlights and even an up close and personal view when touring artists pay them a visit.
Instagram Stories has already proven to be a valuable addition to any brand's social media strategy. Need some guidance integrating it in your content calendar? Let's talk.