Last updated on April 27th, 2023
Instagram is a leading social media platform that lets users upload images and videos. With billions of daily users, the platform has turned into one of the most effective marketing tools for businesses. Instagram’s two key features — Instagram Stories and Instagram Reels, provide distinct benefits for brand marketing. While Instagram Stories allows businesses to engage with their target audience personally, Instagram Reels offers an opportunity to grab the attention of a wider audience through creative and entertaining content.
All successful business owners in today’s digital world know the importance of social media marketing, especially on giant platforms like Instagram. With over a billion global users, Instagram is a marketing platform businesses should consider in their social media marketing strategy.
However, with the introduction of Instagram’s two notable features – Stories and Reels – marketers have been left wondering which is the better option for their brand. Both offer unique benefits, but which should you use to reach your target audience and promote your products or services?
In this blog, we will compare Instagram Stories and Reels to help you decide which is the best fit for your brand marketing strategy. So, buckle up, and let’s dive into the world of Instagram marketing!
Use of Instagram Stories For Brand Marketing
Instagram Stories is a popular feature that allows users to post photos and videos, and that can disappear after 24 hours. This transient nature of Instagram Stories is meant for brands to be more frequent and consistent with their content and stay on top-of-mind of their audience.
As for brand marketing, Instagram Stories is considered one of the best ways to promote everything your audience needs to know about a specific product or service. The Stories’ potential to market your brand is enormous since it has over 995 million users.
For effective brand marketing, brands can also use Instagram’s built-in analytics to track their views, engagement, and click-through rates to optimize their content in a much better and result-oriented way.
Regarding brand marketing, however, make sure your company’s different visuals are unique and impressive. Especially your logo design must be simple and impressive, as it is your brand’s core identity.
Benefits of Instagram Stories
Instagram Stories offer several benefits to businesses, particularly for emerging ones looking to establish their brand identity within their niche markets. From increased engagement to tracking marketing performance, the Stories have immense potential to promote your small businesses.
Key Benefits of Using Instagram Stories
01. Brand Awareness
The Instagram app displays Instagram Stories at the top, making them more visible to users. By consistently posting Stories, brands can increase their visibility and brand awareness among their followers.
02. Showcasing Brand Personality
Instagram Stories allow brands to showcase their personality and culture more informally and authentically. It helps humanize the brand and build stronger connections with the audience.
Along with creating unique Stories, your company logo must reflect your brand personality. Do not worry if your small business cannot afford to hire expensive designers. Instead, explore an online logo maker that will generate unique ideas based on your brief. You can pick one promising idea that stands for your brand.
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03. Driving Traffic
Brands can use the “link” feature on Instagram Stories to direct traffic to their website, product pages, or other social media platforms. It can help increase website traffic and generate more leads and sales.
04. Promotions and Exclusives
Brands can use Instagram Stories to offer their followers exclusive promotions, discounts, and giveaways. It helps build brand loyalty and increase customer retention.
05. Tracking Analytics
Instagram’s built-in analytics for Stories help brands track engagement, reach, and impressions, optimizing their content and strategy. Stories offer benefits like increased engagement, brand awareness, promotions, exclusives, and analytics. Brands can leverage these benefits for a more effective social media strategy and meaningful audience connection.
06. Increased Engagement
Instagram Stories offer an interactive experience where brands can use polls, quizzes, and questions to engage their audience and receive feedback. Try scheduling stories using tools like Hootsuite to boost engagement further and save time.
However, you can boost engagement further, even with a small budget. Here’s a fantastic Hootsuite alternative that provides the same great features at a more affordable price.
Use of Instagram Reels For Brand Marketing
A relatively new but ever-so-popular feature on Instagram is the Instagram Reels, which allows users to create short, 15-30 second creative videos with music and filters of their choice.
The popularity of Reels can be easily judged by the stats showing that over 2 billion people use Instagram Reels every day.
Benefits of Reels
As a brand owner, you can utilize Reels to create engaging content that showcases your products, services, and brand culture in a unique and fun way. Using music and filters in Reels can also help you establish your brand’s identity and create a more memorable experience for your audience.
You can also use Instagram’s built-in analytics to track their Reel views, engagement, and share rates to optimize your Reel content accordingly.
Here Are Some More Incredible Benefits of Reels
01. Boost Engagement
Like Instagram Stories, Reels provides users with an engaging and interactive experience. In addition, reels allow brands to showcase their creativity and unique products and services in a short, shareable format that boosts user engagement.
While planning to increase your customer engagement, remember to have a business logo design that effectively conveys your brand message and values. Your Stories and Reels also will display the logo to make the desired impression. So, first, have one such unique logo as your brand’s identity.
02. Reach New Audiences
Instagram Reels are displayed on the “Explore” page, giving brands a higher chance to reach more potential customers and a wider audience quickly. It also helps brands gain new followers and increase brand awareness.
03. Showcase Brand Culture
Instagram Reels allow brands to showcase their culture and personality creatively and entertainingly. Brands can use Reels to market their products or services, highlight their employees, or offer a behind-the-scenes look at their company.
04. Build Brand Identity
Reels offer innovative features to add to your videos, such as music and eye-catching filters. These elements of Reels allow brands to establish their unique brand identity and create a more memorable experience for their audience.
05. Boost Conversions
Brands can use Instagram Reels to present their products and services creatively and engagingly. This measure can help boost conversions and ultimately drive more sales.
06. Track Progress with Analytics
Instagram offers built-in analytics for Reels, allowing brands to easily track ad analyze their engagement, reach, and impressions. In fact, measuring Instagram marketing success using Instagram analytics is crucial for businesses to know their audience and optimize content accordingly and enhance their social media strategy over time in a much more hassle-free way.
By leveraging these benefits, brands can create a more effective social media strategy and connect with their audience creatively and entertainingly.
Instagram Stories vs. Reels: Which One is Better?
Now that you know the key features and benefits of Instagram and Instagram Reels, you would like to know which is better for brand marketing. Of course, the answer to this depends on your specific needs and goals as a brand. Overall, both Instagram Stories and Reels are practical tools for brand marketing, but they serve different purposes and cater to different audience segments.
Still, choose these platforms as per your immediate marketing requirements.
Instagram Stories are:
- Best For Creating Short, Brief Content: You can opt for Instagram Stories to show the audience some interesting behind-the-scenes aspects of your brand or provides a sneak peek into new products or services.
- Share User-Generated Content: The Stories is also helpful for brand promotions and engaging with your audience through polls, quizzes, and interactive stickers.
Instagram Reels are:
- Perfect For Creating Short Videos: Instagram Reels is a great choice when you want to market your brand with short videos of, say, 15 to 30 seconds. But create visually engaging content that can reach a wider audience beyond your followers.
- Longer Content Lifespan: The content remains there for viewers to see for longer. This is because Reels are discovered through the Explore page or the Reels tab on the Instagram profile.
So, both Instagram Stories and Instagram Reels are potent marketing tools for small businesses. But brands should first understand the strengths and limitations of both formats. Then, they should create a more comprehensive social media strategy that effectively engages their audience and achieves their marketing objectives.
Bottom Line
In conclusion, Instagram Stories and Reels offer unique features and advantages for brand marketing. While Stories offer more immediate engagement and customizable content, Reels provide a wider reach and potential for viral content. Ultimately, the best option for a brand will depend on its specific goals and target audience.
