Instagram stories are a fun way to increase brand awareness and grow your Instagram account. But what if you could gain more targeted exposure from using Instagram Stories? In this post, we’ll go over Instagram location stories and take a look at how you can use them for more exposure.
Why Use Instagram Location Stories?
Instagram location stories are a great way to get more local exposure for your brand on Instagram. This is great for businesses with brick and mortar locations or those trying to target a specific area. Instagram location stories can make your story discover-able under the location tag search to new users.
Using location stickers can also help your story get pulled into the larger location story which is found on the explore feed. For example, a few weeks ago I used a location sticker when sharing an Instagram Story at a client’s location. My story got pulled into the “New York, New York” location story which gave my stories 3x more views!
Image via Instagram blog.
Photo via Instagram Blog
How to Use Location Stickers to Get Noticed
There are two types of location stickers. The first is the literal location sticker, which allows you to tag an address or physical location in your story. The second, and lesser known variation, are the city-specific stickers which show up based on your location.
Yep. These cute stickers do more than show your followers what city you’re in. They’re clickable and can help your story become a part of the get larger location story that appears on the explore page. Think of how many extra eyes this can draw to your story.
Add location stickers to your story
Adding location stickers is super easy.
- Snap a photo, video or boomerang.
- Click on the “sticker” icon (that little smiley face on the upper right.)
- Click on the “Location” sticker or the more artsy-looking city sticker.
- The sticker will pop up on your screen. You’ll be able to tap and customize it from there.
Using location hashtags and hashtag stickers to get noticed
Another way to add a location to your Instagram stories is to use the hashtag sticker (or regular hashtag within your story) to hashtag a location. With the ability to follow hashtags on Instagram, this is an extra way to gain more exposure for your brand on Instagram.
5 Irresistible Ways to Use Instagram Location Stories
Now that we know how adding a location to your story work, time to see how we can put it into practice.
1. At events
Take advantage of any industry events you attend and share Instagram location stories from the event. It can be fun behind the scenes content for your followers.
2. To highlight local happenings
If you are a local business, it can be useful to highlight events or things happening in your neighborhood, city, and other places nearby. This will not only help you connect with your local audience– it will open up the doors to reaching a much wider audience. Just imagine the exposure you can get from creating Instagram location stories with the location stickers and local hashtags.
3. Tag your own location
Don’t forget to create Instagram location stories for your own business. Use a combination of tagging your location with a fun location sticker or local hashtag. In addition, anyone who looks up your location will be able to see your stories as well.
4. Combine location stories with poll stickers
While we’re on the subject of combining location stickers and hashtags in your location stories, why not combine location stickers with Instagram poll stickers? Get your audience to interact with you by asking questions about a specific location.
5. Connect with creators of awesome location stories
One last way to use Instagram location stories to your advantage is to watch stories posted to your city. You can even reply to stories from brands and users posting to your city or town. This can be an easy way to use direct messages to get in front of people who are likely to visit your location and increase brand awareness.
As you can see there are so many ways you can use Instagram location stories for exposure and to increase your Instagram engagement.
Do you plan on using Instagram location stories in your marketing? Let us know in the comments!
