Buliding empathy with Instagram Stories

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The Pitch

Many social media platforms are now offering new posting options such as ‘Stories’ or ‘social videos’.   Instagram ‘Stories’, for example, function differently than the regular feed.  Stories appear at the top of the feed on your follower’s page, visibility is controllable and stories disappear after 24 hours.  By creating ‘Stories’ for Instagram a not-for-profit can create content that evokes empathy, promotes their vision, highlights their cause and engages their volunteers and donors (both existing and potential).

Business Cases

Instagram Stories is new, and because it is new it is currently under-used.  A well-planned, well-targeted, engaging campaign will build a following for all the right reasons, potentially gaining traction quite quickly.  Here are four business case uses to consider:

• Promotions – Stories are a unique opportunity to create a ‘call to action’.  Sending out a promotion via stories gives you the opportunity to ask your followers to act.  Share with 3 people, upload their own video, tag a friend! 
• Highlight Events - Event coverage can quickly fill up a feed.  Following an event through multiple phases can be exciting and engaging but it is also limiting.  Utilizing ‘Stories’ creates a narrative around the event.  Daily ‘stories’ about the lead up to an event and targeted ‘stories’ during the event will provide a narrative for followers without crowding out all other content.  The regular feed can be updated with key moment ‘photos’ but the ‘stories’ will be a hands on, in the action, play-by-play of the event.  Potentially, the stories will promote volunteer and donor involvement in future events.
• Keeping the Account Active – Lack of posts equal lack of followers.  To stay top of mind stay engaged.  ‘Stories’ pop up at the top of the feed of followers so capitalize on this to ensure you are being seen by followers on a regular basis.  Stories are short lived content but done well they will drive people to view the regular feed content.
• Show the Human Side – Shape the brand, even a not-for-profit is a brand.   Show the human side of the organization.  Stories about volunteers and the work they do, about clients and the impact on their lives, about donors and what brought them to donate will all support the intent of showing what you do and your cause.

With every new development and every new feature comes a list of pros and cons.

Pros

• The target demographic - The largest demographic of Instagram users are young and female.   Known as a group of influential buyers this younger demographic of consumers tend to support brands they feel are promoting or sponsoring social responsibility.   Brand donors will view following and partnering with your organization as a ‘good will’ marketing opportunity.
• Reveal the human side of the organization - Behind the scenes of the branded image is a group of volunteers and people doing great things.  Instagram stories will allow you to have two ‘threads’ of content within their social media platform.  The curated images of the regular feed will tell followers about your vision and your cause.  The stories thread will bring the human touch to the organization by revealing the people behind the cause, the dedicated volunteers and the staff.
• Opportunity to test content with readers - See in real time who is viewing their content and how often.  Gauge reaction to campaign ideas without committing to permanent content.
• More discoverability – Use targeted hashtags and geotags to ensure the story is discoverable and searchable.

Cons

• Content disappears after 24 hours - Yes, this is both a pro and a con.  If posts are driving users to your feed and the post is no longer there to be found the follower may be disappointed.
• Analytics and data are lost - The post disappears after 24 hours and so does the data.  Track the stories closely or you will not benefit from the data being generated.
• A successful campaign will send users to the  brand website - Success on social media will lead viewers to the website as the end point.  Without a strong website and clear messaging all of the traction and brand awareness built on social media will be lost.  Consider a thorough content audit of your brand website to ensure messaging and vision is consistent across all platforms.

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Best Business Practices

For every organization doing social media well there are dozens if not hundreds doing it poorly.  To stay on the right side of statistics follow a few best business practices.

• Be discoverable - Use a catchy hashtag that is consistent and discoverable.  The hashtags, tags or labels make the stories searchable.  Ensure all tags are relevant, consistent and broadly used. Include tags found in your donors' posts!
• Get followers excited – Create content that builds up to an event or build in actionable content.  Engage the followers in the campaign whenever possible.
• Share your campaign progress – Put the progress of the campaign right in the stories.  Post how many donations you have accumulated or how many volunteers have signed up or how much money has been raised.
• Thank donors – Always remember to thank your donors, volunteers and followers for their support.  Include your thanks right in the story!  Use the stories as a chance to connect with your donors, tag your donors directly so that they can easily find a thank you post and like or follow you in return!
• Make it easy – when creating a campaign make sure that followers can easily understand what you want them to do; create a story of their own or use your hashtag and tag 3 people to do the same.

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Summary

The takeaway, in order to build a presence and define yourself as a not-for-profit with vision, compassion and action be sure to make social media work for you.  Implementing a stories campaign and following a social media posting schedule will keep your organization top of mind and draw followers to your cause.  Make sure to fill the screen!