If you are looking to create a community of highly engaged followers on Instagram and ensuring that the number of your followers rises steadily, the Instagram Stories Chat Sticker is your ticket to ride!
This cool sticker has been created for you to host and participate in real chats with your audience. No bots, please!
With the chat sticker, a private group chat can be enabled with as many as 31 followers. It is you that decides who can join the chat, and how long the group chat will remain open. And it is you who will steer the flow of the conversation on a topic that focuses on your business goals. The objective of this chat is to bring you closer to your viewers and convert them to your dedicated followers. This is a lifesaver for brands that are keen on establishing a stronger connect with their followers and building real-life communities.
How to kick-start the sticker
- Begin by creating your Instagram story. Do this by uploading an image from your camera roll, or by taking a picture in the app.
- After that, add text, GIFs or other stickers to make your Instagram Story sharable.
- Add the Instagram Stories chat sticker by tapping the sticker icon on the top-right corner of your screen and selecting the Chat sticker from the list.
- Add a title for Chat.
- Find the colour wheel at the top of the screen to change the colours of the chat sticker from the 12 colour options available.
- To resize the chat sticker, pinch the screen. You can also tap and drag it to a different position on the screen.
- Tap the “Your story” button on the bottom left corner of your screen, or tap the “Close Friends” if you want to share it only with those on your Close Friends list.
- The moment your followers join by tapping the Join Chat sticker, you will receive a request to accept them. There! You are ready to chat with your followers on your very own Instagram Stories chat!
The goal of the Instagram Stories chat sticker is to create a stronger community and to have meaningful conversations with your followers. But if you are a business or a brand, you need to approach this strategically as your sole objective should be brand building and community building by using the chat sticker.
Here are 5 creative and strategic ways for you to use the Instagram Stories Chat sticker for your business.
1. Invite local customers to an IRL event
Are you about to host a gathering, conference, or any other event? Get your community together with the help of the Instagram Stories chat sticker. Answer queries about the event and invite followers and their friends. For example, if you are an L.A. based hotel owner branching out by opening a hotel in Nashville, you can ask your followers in Nashville to join your chat. This gives them the opportunity to ask questions they might have including pricing, availability of a pub, etc. Bring communities together!
2. Host a focus group for customer feedback and insights
The chat sticker helps you get the much-needed feedback and insights from customers after you’ve launched a new product. As you can choose who can join your chat room, you can create a focus group and ask these chat group members for their feedback and insights about your brand with the help of conversation via chat. For example, if you are a brand into making baby cradles, you would definitely want to create a focus group of new moms to better understand their needs in terms of a baby cradle. Hosting a chat is a great idea!
3. Share a promo code or exclusive info
Grab the attention of your followers with the Instagram Stories Chat Sticker and convert them into shoppers. Invite them to be part of an exclusive chat where you will make an exclusive announcement or share a promo code. Apart from building an aura of exclusivity and creating a sense of privilege, this also rewards your most engaged users. It might be a good idea to have a time frame for the promo. For example, it can be used only once or within a period of the next 7 days. But it incentivizes your customers to shop, and more importantly for your brand.
4. Target an ultra-niche group of users
You can tap a specific group of followers by inviting them to chat with a Close Friends list. This list will have handpicked followers who will receive private Instagram Stories Posts. This special group will have access to select stories, which will be hidden from other followers. To do this, all you have to do is share an Instagram story with a chat sticker invite sent to your Close Friends list. For example, you might want to launch an influencer marketing campaign that revolves around your brand. For this, you want to tap 10-15 influencers to be your brand ambassadors. Send them a chat sticker invite with a Close Friends Story, inviting them to chat and share information about your proposal.
5. Create mini-communities with your IRL clients
Suppose you are a business professional who has to be regularly in touch with clients, either physically or online, it’s a great idea to create a mini-community with the clients that have common interests. Having an Instagram Chat then becomes even more interesting. For example, you could be a professional football coach who hosts chats on football with your players. You could be a spa owner who has her own community of clients. Not only are you sharing your knowledge and tips with your clients but you are also bringing like-minded people together on a platform.
At the heart of the matter, Instagram is a social network more than anything else. So, your brand must have social ambitions and you must build a community around it for it to thrive and prosper.
