Content plan for Instagram Stories. What is it needed for?
Instagram stories are the first thing a user sees when they open the app. The peculiarity of Stories is that they are displayed above the news feed and have a short lifespan (24 hours).
Stories can include both photos and videos. If your account has more than 10 thousand subscribers, you can insert a clickable link (with a call to swipe up) to your website, publication, telegram channel, Facebook page, and more.
Reasons to post Stories:
- Stories are the perfect platform to introduce users to business owners. It is very important for consumers to know who is behind the brand.
- Users are watching Stories more and less often the Instagram feed. Therefore, if you want to be noticed more often, you should not ignore the regular posting of Stories.
- Polls, questions, polls are quick tools that will help you better understand your audience, its interests and characteristics.
- Stories has more opportunities to make content interesting and dynamic, engage the audience, and encourage them to interact with the brand.
- You can create promotions and special offers for a limited time.
What does a Stories content plan include?
1. Create an Excel document and spreadsheet.
1.1. Creating required fields:
- date of;
- day of the week;
- publication time;
- heading;
- format (photo, video, animation, poll, repost);
- visual;
- customer comment;
- artist comment.
1.2. Filling in the “Day of the week” column and selecting the appropriate dates, distributing Stories by headings.
1.3. At this stage, we determine how many posts of which type of content will be.
2. Thinking through the content and the concept of creating Stories for each selected heading.
3. Implementation of item 2.
Depending on the rubric, this item may include:
- search for images for Stories on photo stocks;
- selection of photos / videos for Stories provided by the client;
- processing of selected pictures / photos / videos in Adobe Photoshop, mobile applications, directly in the Instagram application or other editors.
Processing may include creating animations, adding frames or templates, adding or replacing music, adding text, creating a vote or poll, and more. The specifics of processing depends on the chosen strategy.
4. Checking the developed editorial plan smm for grammatical and spelling errors (if there is text).
5. Sharing access and transferring the content plan to the client for verification in the form of a link to a Google Spreadsheet.
6. If necessary, make changes.
7. Schedule the publication of Stories by the SMMplanner service
Variants of headings on the example of the account Expert PC (@expert)
- Entertainment Stories:
- Interesting facts about popular games, tournaments, campaigns that are engaged in the production of components.
Number of Stories at a time: 4 – 5 slides.
- Congratulations on thematic holidays.
Number of Stories at a time: 1 slide.
- Bright announcements of online and offline events (for example, tournaments)
Number of Stories at a time: 1 slide.
- Stories with themed humor
This type of content is needed so that the audience does not get bored. But it improves brand communications with subscribers and increases their interest and loyalty.
2. Useful:
- Step-by-step instructions for registering for tournaments (such as CS:GO), instructions on how to place an order through the website, and more.
Number of Stories at a time: up to 5 slides.
- Bright animated announcements of online and offline events (for example, tournaments)
Number of Stories at a time: 1 slide.
This type of content will allow you to train subscribers to perform targeted actions (registration at an event/tournament, site testing, etc.)
3. Involving:
- Surveys related to your product and brand.
Number of Stories at a time: 4 – 5 slides.
Example: post a photo of a PC and invite subscribers to guess whether it costs less than UAH 25,000 or more, etc. It will be especially relevant for the presentation of new gaming blocks. An example of what it might look like
- Organize open surveys.
Number of Stories at a time: 1 slide.
- Tests for knowledge of games or characteristics of components with answer options.
Number of Stories at a time: 4 – 5 slides.
- Quizzes “Click on the screen and determine which hero you are in the game”
Number of Stories at a time: 1 slide.
- Competition announcement.
Number of Stories at a time: 1 – 5 slides.
Example
- Repost post from feed.
Number of Stories at a time: 1 slide.
The third type will allow you to engage and retain the existing audience, stimulate the activity of subscribers, and increase the number of views of Stories. This will affect the level of engagement of the account as a whole, allow Stories to go to the Recommended, increase the loyalty of the existing audience and increase brand awareness.
4. Commercial
- Presentation of system blocks.
Number of Stories at a time: 1 – 3 slides.
(Instead of the price, you can write the characteristics of game blocks. With Stories, it is more convenient for the user to write in Direct, and, therefore, this can help increase the number of leads).
- How the product is made: video or animations from PC assemblies.
- Backstage from photo shoots and testing game blocks.
- Photos of followers with your product.
- Photos of employees/team.
- Photo of the office / store / production.
- Photos and videos from events.
Number of Stories at a time: 1 – 2 slides.
In this format, we will tell you in more detail about the brand, about what and how it is going, we will motivate you to subscribe, call or contact in any other way. This will bring the company closer to potential customers. It will give the brand more transparency. Also, this type of Stories will help increase the number of applications.
Are you preparing a separate content plan for Stories?
FAQ
What is a content plan for stories?
A Stories content plan is a plan that defines the content that will be posted to Instagram Stories for a specific period of time. It includes choosing topics, creating content, defining formats (photos, videos, polls, etc.) and scheduling the publication of stories.
What is an example of a content plan for stories?
An example of a content plan for stories might look like this: Mon – publication behind the scenes of the work and the process of creating a product; W – video with tips and tricks in the industry; Wed – question-answer with subscribers, where you can ask questions and get answers; Thurs – a short video with news and updates about the company or brand; Fri – drawing or contest for subscribers with prizes or discounts; Sat – publication of customer or partner reviews; Sun – motivational quote or inspirational success story. A content plan can be tailored to specific goals and audiences, and helps you organize and structure your Instagram Stories content.
Internet marketing expert. Head of marketing agency MAVR.
Business degree “Master of Business Administration” (MBA).