Did you get the chance to watch my latest Youtube video about Instagram stories rules for Instagram stories engagement?
So, in my latest video, I talk about my top 3 rules for Instagram stories engagement.
These 3 rules have helped me get more interaction and engagement on Instagram stories tremendously. The video was inspired by one of my BossGram Academy’s students who asked me the questions of:
How did I mix and blend my personal life, my sales, my marketing, and my business?
How did I mix everything so effortlessly on the Instagram story?
And I thought about it and her question encouraged me to drill down to three things that I do.
So, I responded with a comment, and that comment that I shared which included three methods that I am about to break down to you in this blog post, gained so many likes from my students.
And because of this, I was inspired to record a Youtube video talking about Instagram stories and the methods that I have been using. These methods have allowed me to get a lot more engagement and a lot more views. But most importantly, the methods continue to convert those views into DMs that lead back to my business.
If you are curious to find out, keep on scrolling to read, and if you prefer to watch the video, click play on the video down below!
Instagram Engagement Stories and Rookie Mistakes
The first thing that I want to talk about when it comes to Instagram stories are the rookie mistakes that has been happening a lot. People tend to overthink and over plan their Instagram stories. What you should know about Instagram stories is this:
Posting Instagram stories is the easiest thing to do because it should be organic.
When it comes to Instagram stories, you should aim to make it completely real instead of focusing on coming up with a content strategy or a content plan. If I have one short piece of advice that I can give to you, it would be to just post whatever you want to post during the day.
For example, if I see something interesting happening in my business, I just share it. If I have something on my mind that I want to share, I will just share it like that.
There is no content strategy when it comes to posting on Instagram stories versus my Instagram feed post. For my Instagram feed, yes, I have a plan for that and it is more structured and strategic.
But when it comes to Instagram stories, I love keeping it organic.
However, I don’t necessarily post random things that have no values. As much as I enjoy keeping my Instagram stories as organic as possible, I do have rules for Instagram engagement stories that I follow.
What these rules do is they help keep me consistent with the goal of my Instagram stories.
These 3 methods ensure that whatever I post on my Instagram story, it is still going to be relevant for my audience.
Whatever I post on Instagram stories, they should still add values to people who are following me and watching my Instagram stories because I never want my audience to feel like I am just another girl who posts random stuff on her Instagram stories all the time.
The KCR Method For Instagram Engagement Stories
My goal is to always make sure that everything that I post on Instagram is internal, valuable, and purposeful.
So, by following the rules, it allows me to continue to provide values to my audience and help them feel relatable. And that’s what we are going to break down today.
The three main rules of the KCR methods are:
- Key Takeaway
- Call to Action
- Relatability
Each of these rules serves different purposes that eventually will help in connecting with my audience on a relatable level.
KCR Method #1 - Key Takeaway
Once I have identified what I want to share that day or something random that I want to post, I will always ask myself the main question: “What is the key takeaway?”
Then, I continue to question myself. “How can I make this a learning lesson? How can I add value to my audience?”
Let me give you a quick example.
A couple of months ago, I was going through my bookkeeping and I saw that in February, I was at a negative profit and I couldn’t even believe it myself. I later found out that my expenses were super high and that situation motivated me to share it with my audience because I thought it was interesting.
But before I shared my financial numbers, I had to take a step back and ask myself what would be the key takeaway here? I couldn’t just share my number and experience randomly just because I thought it was interesting.
My Instagram story has to mean something and my audience has to earn values from what I posted.
The relevancy of me putting my Instagram stories has to connect with my audience. So, when I thought about it, I realized that I wanted my key takeaway to be the fact that it takes money to run a business. And if you think that having a six or seven-figure business doesn’t cost any money, it’s simply not true.
Not only this, but I wanted my key takeaway to also be the fact that you should save money for taxes because the only reason why my expenses were that high is that I had to pay my corporate taxes that month.
And that was the key takeaway for that particular Instagram story.
‘And even if your Instagram story is about you getting your hair done, or of you working, or just a cup of coffee, always identify what your key takeaway is.
KCR Method #2 - Call to Action
It’s a different thing telling your audience but it’s another thing directing them to something. Because at this point when you shared a key takeaway, those people who are watching your story are interested.
These are the kind of people who are interested in learning more and they are more likely to take action when you build enough sense of urgency or motivation in them.
So, this call-to-action step is supposed to be natural and as organic as possible.
For example, when I was talking about my bookkeeping experience and what my thoughts are about saving for taxes, my call-to-action for that Instagram story was,
“Hey, if you want to learn more about this topic, I have a Youtube video that covers how to prepare for taxes as an entrepreneur and the importance of bookkeeping.”
This way, my Instagram stories about sharing my financial experience didn’t go to waste. It was not random, it was strategic but still organic and it was inspired by a real situation that was happening in that week.
It could be something like, “Hey, I just recently posted an Instagram post about this. Go check it out or DM me if you need help.”
This simple call-to-action will help encourage more DM conversations that can eventually lead to more sales, too.
Always make sure that whenever you are posting your Instagram stories, you are also going to give a massive takeaway and back it up with a call-to-action to encourage more traffic are led to the right places.
KCR Method #3 - Relatability
When it comes to the third rule, you need to ask yourself how can you relate your Instagram stories to your audience?
Of course, you don’t need to make all Instagram stories relatable but making sure your audience understands the relevancy is important.
Back to the story of my negative profit where I posted on my Instagram story. For me, it was relevant for me to share it because I know most of my audience is business owners who are probably thinking about their taxes because they are just starting their businesses.
My Instagram story helps in informing my audience about the importance of paying taxes. I shared my experience and told my audience about it. And when I did this, I was already thinking about these things, and that allows my Instagram stories to relate to my audience organically.
In a Nutshell
As mentioned in the beginning of this blog post, I don’t have a content plan for my Instagram stories.
All that I am doing is making sure I am using the KCR method to continue to help me develop strong and good engagement with my audience. I have found that these 3 rules have been very helpful to me.
Even if it means posting about my cat or behind the scenes of my Youtube channel, I always make sure that there are key takeaways from my Instagram stories.
I also make sure there is some sort of call-to-action and before posting, I check the relatability of my Instagram stories to my audience.
I would love to hear what your thoughts are when it comes to Instagram stories! Do you have certain rules or methods you are following?
Let me know if you found this post helpful. And if you haven’t already, make sure you check out our FREE resources!
- Follow me on Instagram: @vanessalau.co
- Check out my YouTube HERE for more tips
- Listen to my latest Podcast Episode
Rooting for you, Boss!
– Vanessa
PS: Have you attended my free masterclass yet to help you turn your followers into clients, just like I did? If not, CLICK HERE to register before seats fill up!
