Instagram Stories: A Better Option For Non-Snapchatters

In my previous post blog you can read my discontent with the Instagram Stories feature that Instagram brought to its audience. No, discontent isn’t the word…more like straight up pissed off.

But, to give it a fair chance, I decided to dive in and see what it was all about. Needless to say, I have changed my mind and I am actually quite happy with what I can do with Instagram Stories, with both, my personal Instagram and the one for the company I work for.

I am an avid Instagram user. I personally think it’s one of the most usefully diverse social media tools for brands, businesses big or small, and for social media personalities.

For some brands, it makes no sense to be on snapchat just yet. Snapchat has a specific audience that want frequent live updates and for some of us, that is just not feasible. It also takes quite the effort to build your snapchat following, at least that’s been the case in my experience.

Here are some reasons I believe Instagram Stories to be the perfect tool for social media marketers who have yet to swim in Snapchat waters:

1. Easier to build an audience, especially for us older folks with semi-boring lives. It seems the younger crowd loves Snapchat, and it’s for good reason. The constant updates of their lives as they happen attracts other youngsters. Celebrities also have the upper hand on this platform as us “normies” and fans want to know what happens in just about every minute of their lives. It’s what’s “in”. But, for some of us regular folks, this isn’t something we can, or want to do. Having a Snapchat that isn’t updated frequently is useless and pointless.
2. Instagram presents the visual content that allows a person to decide immediately whether they want to follow an account or not. Rather than having to follow an account to later see their content, Instagram gives us somewhat of a preview by using its grid format. What you see in photos will likely be
3. Instagram Stories is easier to manage. Rather than having 2 separate platforms, you can have the convenience of adding short-live video feeds and sharing photos all from one platform. This is particularly useful for those of us who aren’t on Snapchat adding frequent updates and stories. Brands can continue to create their visual content for social media marketing while humanizing their brand with Instagram Stories when appropriate. It’s a win-win. I had the opportunity to do this for Driven Sports and it turned out great!
4. Ability to connect to other platforms – this is a huge plus for me and I’m sure for others as well.  The Fitness and Sport Supplement industries are big on advertising on Instagram – I often use it as my “hub” and share the content from there on to Facebook and Twitter with a few tweaks. Having the ability to share content on Facebook and Twitter has its perks – the main one being that it improves SEO.
5. Easier to follow and find your “friends”. Snapchat makes it a bit of a difficult task to find users. While they’ve improved slightly on the means in which one can find people to follow, for the technically challenged this can become a pain in the butt. Since Instagram is linked to an individual’s Facebook account, it is way easier to find your friends’ Instagram accounts. Again, the Instagram grid display of photos in their “discover” page also makes it super easy to find content you find relevant or useful.

The only disadvantage I see from Instagram Stories is the lack of the filters. I’m okay with that because that is what makes Snapchat unique.

That’s my update. Don’t be too hard on my findings. I admit to not being an avid Snapchat user which makes me love Instagram even more. Let me know if you agree or disagree with my list!