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Utilizing Instagram TV for Your Business! (Part Two!)

8/12/2020

 
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We enjoyed talking about IGTV so much that we had to split up our most recent blog into two parts! Enjoy finishing up learning more about this incredible resource, and how to use it to your advantage!

As we mentioned in our last blog, IGTV has a lot of different advantages that can make using Instagram a lot easier than ever before. One of them is the use of live links when you share and post them to your feed. For companies and individuals who have over 10k followers, they get a nifty tool in their Instagram stories that allows them to attach a link to their post. This creates a call to action to invite their followers to swipe up and visit whatever link has been connected to that post and it will automatically take them there. Without this number of followers, this tool isn't offered. The great thing about IGTV is that you can post live website links within their description just like the 10k users can in their stories. This is a great tool for newer, smaller, and growing companies and is a much easier call to action for your followers. Have you noticed that even when you put a link in the body of your Instagram post, you can't just click on it? You have to copy and paste it into a browser or copy it letter by letter to visit the suggested website. Now, how many of your audience members will spend the time to do that? This gives you an easy way to promote the website you want your followers to visit and a more guaranteed chance that they will follow through with it! These IGTV videos are also permanent. Unlike going live and posting in your stories that disappear after 24 hours, you will have these videos for as long as you want to have them. It's a place to repurpose and a place that you can use to refer back to for your new followers who join you along the way.

One of the greatest tools we love using social media for is the opportunity to introduce you, your brand, your products, and your services to the world in a very honest and open way. It's endearing and an automatic draw, because it's an outlet people connect to. They aren't seeing a stiff and planned commercial, they're seeing you, your products, and what your company stands for. Live videos are great for this, but if you're giving a tutorial about how to use your products or introducing an important topic that will be relevant to your company for a long time, you might not reach the audience you want to right away.

With every other option outside of IGTV leaving you with videos that only last for a limited amount of time, you might be faced with remaking the same video over and over again. This won't be an issue if you use IGTV to your advantage. You can now have a much longer video that is easily accessible to your Instagram presence, and available to use as often as you'd like. It's convenient and a time saver. It's also a wonderful tool to take your users behind the scenes without having to edit or worry about a video that is too long or too short. You have so much room for creative freedom. You can put your products and services at the forefront of each video and show them off, and what makes you so unique and special.

The biggest thing we want you to take away from this blog series and using IGTV is the ability to connect to your demographic of customers and followers in one of the freest and proficient ways possible. It's much more aesthetically pleasing to its viewers and gives you so much time that your creative freedom and individually as a company never needs to be limited. With this tool your options are, quite literally, endless! As Instagram even says "We are all watching less TV and more digital video" now than ever before. Be apart of that, and compete with the important digital videos that are out there. Your content is needed, and it is very valid. IGTV is a very exciting platform for all of us. Through quarantine and the world, as it is now, we have seen a huge flux of more and more people use this incredible tool, and we are excited to watch it grow. Do you like this aspect of Instagram? Share your opinion with you - we'd love to hear from you! Be well, Summerville!
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Utilizing Instagram TV for Your Business! (Part 1)

8/5/2020

 
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Social Media has more tools than many of us realize. We've talked about a lot of them here in our blog, and enjoy using them for our own company. IGTV - Instagram TV - is one of the last platform resources that we have yet to talk about!

We have talked in-depth and at length about using social media platforms and their analytical tools to your business' advantage. There are so many different and unique ways of using social media to your advantage, as long as you know what all they offer and you're brave enough to take the leap to implement them. There is one aspect that we haven't jumped into yet, and that is Instagram TV - or IGTV. We aren't sure about you, but when IGTV became popular and prevalent in our Instagram feeds, we kept thinking it was HGTV. Which was perfect because we love those creative shows! Who doesn't want to spend hours watching a show about tiny homes?! But, no. This is a new tool all on its on that one of our favorite social media platforms is now offering to its users.

IGTV videos are different from your stories and highlights on Instagram and they are different from going live on Facebook. You can use it as a stand-alone application or through Instagram itself. It allows you to make much longer videos than what your feed or highlights allow in one video. You can make videos that are up to 15 minutes long! You are also able to have verticle and horizontal videos when you use IGTV, which is exciting for viewers and users alike. Unlike your Instagram highlights, these videos will appear in your feed, just like they would if you posted a picture or video. If you want, they can appear in your story highlights as well. With this new advantage of having longer videos and another tool to use on Instagram, there must be an advantage available to your company by using this new tool, right? That is what we are going to be discussing in this next two-part blog. According to Instagram, they estimate that by 2021 mobile video will make up 78% of all total mobile traffic. Younger audiences are now being drawn towards these more amateur viral videos than more professional and polished ones. Just with that information alone, you can only imagine what power IGTV could hold your business and its growth.

One of the many reasons why we love IGTV is that it allows the user to reuse and repurpose already created content on a whole new platform. Just seeing your already created content in a whole new light can make such a huge difference! You can now show your videos in much bigger and vertical fame, giving your followers a much bigger and in-depth view of what was created. It also gives you another platform to post your YouTube videos. Before the introduction of IGTV, you could only give a small teaser preview of your videos on Instagram. Having 15 minutes to play with is huge! Gone are the days of the call to action of asking your followers to visit your YouTube channel! As important as we consider calls to action, we recognize that social media users want to stay on one platform at a time. Hopping from platform to platform can lead to a loss of interest or not following through. Having the video right there guarantees a much higher rate of views. Also, if your Instagram audience is much bigger than that of your YouTube channel, a brand new audience will now be introduced to excellent already made content. You also don't have to worry about your Facebook live posts getting lost or only being seen by a limited amount of your followers. This can be a new home for them as well, along with any videos or interviews you made for your blog or advertisement purposes. Plus, it helps your videos stay organized while maintaining a professional look within your Instagram feed.

Have you started to use IGTV in your own business workflow or platform? Have you been having fun with so much freedom at your fingertips? Let us know! We want to know what you think of this extended and exciting arm of Instagram. Make sure to follow up with the second half of this blog the next time we post, we can't wait to share more wonderful information about IGTV with you!

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Popular Instagram FAQ

6/16/2020

 
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When Instagram becomes a regular part of your workflow, make sure you know what resources they offer and where you can find out more information when you run into a dead end. 

Now that you've become more comfortable with using Instagram, Instagram Stories, and IGTV after reading our last few blogs, it's time to check back in and take a moment to refresh. Instagram, just like any business, has a dedicated (albeit a very long and detailed) page for all of its frequently asked questions. Sometimes, these pages can get frustrating because they don't answer what you need to know outright. Sometimes you have to go digging into the provided list of FAQs to see if someone has already asked your question before or not.

As we know, Instagram has become very popular since its introduction and it is now one of the most popular social media platforms out there. But, even with its popularity and the basic ease of using it, you can still run into a lot of questions and loose ends. Thankfully, Instagram has now been around long enough that your questions have probably already been asked. Luckily for you, this blog is going to be dedicated to five of the most frequently asked questions. So, you can start your search here, and hopefully find all the answers you need. 
  • When wanting to take the plunge to turn your personal page into a business page, what's the best way to go about doing that? First, you must switch your account to be public if it isn't already. Visit your profile and select the settings gear icon. It will give you the choice to switch to a business profile; go ahead and do that. You will then be asked what Facebook page you would like to link your business page too. You will also be prompted to fill out more information about your company including your website, contact information, address, and more. Always make sure you double-check your information and select done. Congratulations, you did it! 
  • Blocking Followers and other accounts can sometimes become a reality. Sometimes, things can get a little troublesome online. There are just those people (and bots controlled by people) who just want to cause an issue. Sadly, it can sometimes get inappropriate or violent. Dealing with this issue is not a fun one, but you can easily block them. All you need to do is select their username, which when clicked takes you to their profile. Tap the 3 dotted symbol in the top right corner of your screen (they will appear differently, depending on the platform you're using to do this.). It will walk you through prompts to block this user, and once you push this selection, Instagram will ask you again if this is what you want. Once you hit yes on both prompts, this user will be blocked and unable to contact you or to see your profile. They will not be notified that they have been blocked, and any likes or comments they made on your profile will be removed. 
  • Sometimes, and we've all be there, we lose our login information. It happens! What happens if you have walked through the prompts to recover your password or change it directly through the email address connected to your account, but it's still not working? What do you do? If you get to this point, just in case, try and request another new password reset email. The email you might have received could have been expired, and that's why it's not working. Once you open this email, make sure you're clicking the option to reset your password, not choosing to log into Instagram. This should get you squared away. If not, there is the potential that your account has been hacked. Dealing with being hacked is a much different set of steps. You will need to verify and secure your account right away if this does happen. 
  • Running a business - or two! - on Instagram requires attention and care. If you have multiple Instagram accounts that you're in charge of, it's important to stay on top of and address any comments, messages, and follows. It's a good idea to keep your notifications on so you can keep track of everything. But, what notifications will you get and from which of your multiple accounts? You could get notifications from any account, it just depends on when you last logged into each specific account and how many devices are logged in to that account at one time. A quick way of seeing how many notifications you have total is by visiting your personal account first. That number in the red circle next to your username will be the total amount of notifications you will need to investigate. 
  • One of the biggest questions you might hear is how can I continue to grow my account and how can I get more followers? Make sure you know your target audience and who you're addressing when creating posts. All of this information will be stored in your insights tab on your Instagram Business account. Based on the location of your followers, their gender, age, and what time they are most often online can help you determine the best kind of posts you need to be creating. Create content that will speak to your most popular target audience and make sure you are posting when your largest audience is online. To see your insights, go up to the right hand corner of your account page and select the drop-down menu. Select insights from the pop up that will appear. When you select insights, another screen will pop up with more important analytics based on the posts you've already made. At the top right part of your screen, you will see an option for "audience". Once you click on this, it will take you to the page that lists who is looking at your page and when. It is so important to pay attention to this information and to follow it every day.  

Instagram has a fantastic support system, and almost every question imaginable has been asked. If you are still stumped after reading our blog, don't hesitate to visit their FAQ page. If you would like some more in-depth training and someone to help you walk through your issues, we can help you with that. We offer individual social media training to walk you through on how to use each platform. If you or your company wants to take another step up in your online business world, we are here to make that happen. Don't hesitate to reach out. We are here and excited to help your company grow. Thank you for continuing to follow us, learn with us, and support us. We are here for you Summerville, no matter what! 

To visit Instagram's FAQ page, follow the link below: 
https://help.instagram.com/
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The Time To Go Live!

5/19/2020

 
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In our most recent blog posts, we've talked about the importance of why you should be using stories and live streaming in your company's workflow. This blog is going to be dedicated to actual tips on how to make these videos and what you need to be thinking about while you do! 

We've made it to May, Summerville! Our quiet little town turned into a ghost town as the pandemic set it, but it is turning back into a vibrant and beautiful city as we all slowly open our doors again. We are so thankful to see so many of our fellow small businesses open their doors again and return to full operation. We know this has been a difficult time for our amazing town, but getting back to a sense of normal proves just how tough Summerville is! While we work to get back up to speed, we do encourage you to continue to stay safe and smart. We are still in this together! 

Have you been playing with adding Facebook and Instagram videos into your workflow since we shared so much information on why you should be doing so in our last few blogs? Have you been even more daring and tried live streaming on either platform? Remember, now is the perfect time to use these tools to your advantage. You can stay in touch with your followers, keep them up to date with when you might be reopening, what safety precautions are going to be taken, what might be changing, and check-in them in real-time! This gives them a true sense of connection when they get to see the real you in a very real, not directed or perfectly edited, live video. Let them fall in love with all the reasons why they love your company and brand all over again! So, throw away your fears and worries that your videos or live streams won't look right, that they won't look good enough, or you'll look funny. That will never be the case. You are a professional who is passionate about your company and brand. The rest just takes a little planning, practice, and care. Follow these tips and suggestions to make seamless and effortless Livestream videos that you will be proud of and will no longer dread doing them! 

  • Let's Get Started
Some of the biggest things that can affect your Livestream videos on Facebook and Instagram are things you might not even think about until one pops up and ruins a video. These little details can pop up and destroy the quality of the video or could abruptly stop the video in the middle of the broadcast, wasting all of the effort and connection you've made. If you don't think about these very important little details before you even press record, then it'll be too late. When setting up and preparing, remember to: 
  • Turn your phone on silent.
  • Put your phone on do not disturb. 
  • Make sure it's charged with plenty of battery. 
  • Make sure that you have a good wifi connection. 
  • Be aware of the sights and sounds around you that could disrupt the video or distract your audience. 
  • Choose a good location that provides a professional and comfortable setting for you and those watching. 
  • Decide ahead of time if it will look better and be more appropriate for the subject of your Livestream for you to hold your phone while recording or for someone else/a stand to hold it while you are recording. A hands-free approach will give you more options, less to worry about, and a more relaxed feel throughout the recording of your Livestream. 

  • Attention to Detail 
Like we've said time and again, going live is a great opportunity to show your audience who you are in real life. The lighting and the backdrop don't have to be expertly executed. But, that doesn't mean you shouldn't have a plan for the Livestream. You need to know what you will be talking about, why you're talking about it, and have a goal of what you want from your audience during this Livestream. Also, it never hurts to practice. Even though you will be recording and streaming in real-time, being well rehearsed in what you're saying and being comfortable on camera is very important. Looking uncomfortable, constantly stumbling over your words, and rambling until you finally reach your point turns your audience off very quickly. Remember to promote the fact that you will be going live. Post about it a few days in advance on all of your social media platforms. Remind your audience multiple times about when you'll be going live and what you'll be talking about. This builds your audience for the Livestream. Just showing up on their feeds as a live video without any warning could run the risk of not being seen at all. 

  • Action! 
It can be very strange and awkward to talk on camera, even more so if it's live. But try as best as you can to treat your time on camera like a comfortable conversation. The more relaxed and relatable you are, the more you'll draw in your viewers. Don't plant yourself in front of the camera and blast through facts and information like a news broadcast. One of the greatest things about Livestreaming is the fact that your viewers can interact with you. You, in turn, need to respond to them just like anyone would in a real-life conversation. Laugh, joke with them, and answer and acknowledge the questions they're asking during your stream. The less painful you can make it for yourself, the better! Also, always give context throughout the entirety of the stream. Don't dump the topic and the purpose of the going live right at the beginning and then push past it, never touching it again. It's a good refresher to people who turn in late to the Livestream, and it helps those who have been with you the whole time to reconnect and stay focused. Don't forget, it never hurts to get creative! Have a theme to your videos (like Hawaiian day!), have a happy hour with your viewers, have live music, or have a pet join you in your Livestream. The more you invest in the topic and the video, the more your audience will enjoy the stream, and the more likely they will follow your requests to buy something on sale, follow them online, join them for an event, and so on. 

Livestreaming is accessible for everyone and is an incredible tool to connect you with your audience in seconds. You want to inform them, connect with them, and converse with them on a real human level. You need to put in a little work and practice before you press record, making sure that your phone is charged and that your mom's call won't disrupt the video. But if you follow these simple steps, your Livestream videos will be outstanding. Don't hesitate! We are starting to make moves towards some sort of normalcy, so get back to what you're good at - running your business! Use this tool to show off what you do best, and why you enjoy doing it. We are here for when you need us, Summerville! We are so impressed with your resiliency and are proud to be apart of the Summerville family. Stay safe and be well everyone! 
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Instagram Stories; Use Them or Lose Them (Part Two!)

3/30/2020

 
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With so much information to share about Instagram stories, we couldn't put all of the information in just one blog. We had to split them up! More information is always good, especially now since we all have a little more time to sit and read. Let's keep learning about Instagram! 

Hello Summerville! As our quaint little town continues to get quieter, and we all start to settle into our homes, we wanted to continue our blog about the importance of Instagram stories, and how they can be beneficial to you and your company. Remember, as many of us are starting to work from home or remotely (some for the very first time!) it's easy to get overwhelmed with everything. Take this information as your daily dose of education, and see what joy it can bring to your social media campaigns! These tips are to help your followers increase, keep your engagement up and active, and to reach your audiences like you never have before. This is a wonderful time for that! We are all on our phones and computers more than ever before, why not do a little good with all this time? Sit back and relax. Have that second cup of coffee you've been craving, you've earned it. Let's get our minds off of everything and talk about Instagram! 

Don't Repeat Yourself 
Using the same business techniques over and over again can get a little old for both you and your followers. Why not shake up what you're doing in your marketing? Using stories or videos in your stories can be a fun opportunity for you and your team to create and work together. It can help build a fun and closer working relationship together, let an employee out of their shell or let them shine in ways you might not know they could. Think about it, this is a form of advertisement. This new type of advertisement can help keep the attention of your audience in this ever-changing world. You already have so much to work with that you don't have to spend a ton of time or effort to build a social media platform from the ground up like many companies did when they first started using Facebook or Instagram. You are just learning a new tool inside the application that is fun, exciting, and unique. There is a little extra fun in Instagram Stories than what a picture-perfect profile can offer. While your feed may be portfolio perfect, you can add fun stickers, emojis, text, drawings, music, and more to your stories and videos. While this additive might not be as professional or have the look for your feed, it has the fun and real quality people want to see! 

Hashtags Me Not
Hashtags have been a controversial topic for social media for some time now. How many should you use? How many are too many? Am I using them correctly or am I going to get in trouble? Are they drawing in the attention I want? Hashtags were created and are used to bring followers of certain topics together and for that group of people to see each other's pictures. But, as hashtags have become more popular, there are some new downfalls. If you use too many, post them in the comment section of your profile post, or use a very popular hashtag, you and your company could see some harsh repercussions. Your account could be frozen for over a week and you wouldn't be able to post, comment or follow anyone back. Your posts might not be seen or could get buried in the shuffle by the app itself. Your posts could even get removed. As of now, Instagram stories are neutral ground. Along with all the fun additives you can put on top of any posts in your stories, you can add hashtags and tag others and your post won't be pushed for doing so. Doing this can bring even more attention to your account, and invite more of your dream demographic you're trying to reach to follow and see what you're all about. Also, if your account does get frozen and you're unable to post to your feed, you are still able to post on Instagram stories with no issue. This will keep you in touch with your followers and their algorithms. 

Thoughts For The Road
Are you still not convinced about Instagram Stories? I think we may have a few other things to add to finally convince you! 
  • Think about it in terms of numbers. Over 200 million people view Instagram stories every day. This tops their competitor, Snapchat, of how many views per day these posts are getting seen. 
  • You can add a link to every post on your Instagram stories and a call to action for your follows to swipe up on the post to visit whatever website you reference in each particular story. This action is so much easier than asking them to try and copy and paste a website into their browser that was posted into the body of your post. This call to action where they can just swipe up is instant gratification and will easily draw more people into following through to look at the website attached to your posts. You do need to have 10k followers to unlock this particular action, but the work leading up to getting 10k followers is worth getting to achieve this action. 
  • You don't have to worry about posting your Instagram stories at any particular time. Posting times can become very stressful in any social media manager's day. You have to make sure you are posting at the perfect time so you can keep up with your algorithms and making sure as many people as possible are seeing the posts you worked so hard on. The stories you post are available for 24 hours. As long as your optimal timing hits within 24 hours of your posting, you don't have anything to worry about. You can just post it, and it will be seen by your followers when they are online at the optimal time, and you don't even have to worry about it. This action will still bring you all the benefits we've been discussing in this blog, no matter when you post it! 
  • You can flesh out your brand in brand new ways!
  • Instagram stories can be a blank canvas for you and your company. It gives you a safe space to try out new marketing ideas and to see if something works or it doesn't without hurting what you have found to work in your normal posting schedule in your profile. 

We hope that this blog has shed a wonderful light on Instagram, Instagram Stories, and the wonderful tools that this exciting and useful app can bring you and your company. This is a great time to start brainstorming, playing with the app, and seeing what specialized things you can make and create for your company. That is the great thing about these apps - you have so much freedom to make it your own. So go out and create! Stay safe Summerville, we are here rooting for you and all of our small business friends! 

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Instagram Stories; Use Them or Lose Them? (Part 1)

3/16/2020

 
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Social media can be overwhelming. Each platform is starting to offer more to each of their applications. Sometimes those bells and whistles they keep adding on can add to your frustration. Thankfully, if you just take a moment to understand why these little additives are so important to you and your company, you can stay ahead of the times and right in front of your followers with no difficulty.

2020 has been an interesting year, to say the least. To keep you distracted from the news and the hours of scrolling we have all been doing this past week, we wanted to keep on chugging with business as (mostly) normal. We want to give you something to think about while you're working remotely from home or while you're focusing on the next step of what to do. So let's get right into it, and talk about one of our favorite social media platforms; Instagram!

Instagram can be a place of joy, frustration, confusion, and an amazing advertising tool. We've talked about the importance of staying on top of digital marketing trends and how they can truly benefit you and your company if you stay on top of them. One of the biggest trends happening on Instagram right now is the use of the story option. You can add pictures or videos to your story, and it's an interesting and unique tool that more and more companies are starting to take advantage of. Companies are posting pictures and videos of things at the moment and connecting to their followers in ways they never have before. What's exciting about them is that they give your audience and your followers a real behind the scenes look into the heart of your company. Stories give your followers a sense of humanity because they can see the people at the heartbeat of the company and product they care about so much. It's comforting and endearing. In a world drowned out by social media and that is taking away our human connection from one another, this incredible tool and trend are turning us into beings that crave this insight and are pushing us to be apart of it all. In this two-part blog post, we are going to be discussing why using Instagram stories can be very helpful to your online business, and why you should be using them in your Instagram account.  

Ready, Set, Engage!
Are you still skeptical about using stories on Instagram? Does it make you a little uncomfortable to think about as an option for your social media, or you see no point in it? Well, the first huge benefit of this particular tool, is that it will give you page top-notch engagement, and allow that engagement to be consistent. Stories aren't something that lasts forever on your profile, they only stick around for 24 hours and then disappear. You can decide to keep them on your Instagram page as a Permanent Highlights if you so choose to (which, if it's great content - then we encourage you to place it into your permanent highlights. The key is to reuse content!) they'll be around as long as you want them to. You can use Instagram Stories to get your followers excited about your product and to stay in contact with you. It's a great storytelling tool, and a great way to add excitement to what's happening right now. You can build up the excitement for every story by mentioning in your Instagram profile that if you watch these videos or look at pictures, your followers might receive special deals, get exclusive looks at new products, and be the first customers to hear new information. Automatically, your followers get excited about being a part of this "in crowd" and will keep them coming back for more. They will check in on your actual profile more often to see when the next video will appear, and while they're visiting they will get to know you and your brand better. Even though not everyone will get a chance to see these Instagram stories, everyone who will see them will get excited.

No Point in Perfect
The great thing about going posting in your stories is that every video or picture you post to it never has to be perfect. They still need to follow proper business etiquette, but if the video quality isn't the best, if the lighting isn't perfect, or the weather didn't turn out that day to do an outside shoot, that's ok! These imperfect moments shows real humanity to the whole situation and in your company. You are just like your followers, posting videos and content that comes from the heart and is going with the flow of life. Do you know how refreshing that is in comparison to perfectly cut little videos that took hours and cost tons of money to make? You can find those everywhere! But where is the heart in those?

These videos and pictures can also be seen and will be seen as real-time moments and action shots. Plus, if this is fun or important information and it doesn't look quality perfect, that's also ok. It's the heart of the content that matters and what your customers, followers, and viewers will remember. The message will still be delivered without messing up the flow of your profile, too. Your Instagram profile can be kept picture perfect and on-brand with the consistent and professional flow you've built, all while still using the stories to show off your brand in a more personal style.

Algorithms of My Heart
Instagram has been seeing a lot of big changes in the last year or so. Now that Facebook owns Instagram, we are very confident that there will still be many more changes to come. One of the biggest changes we've seen is how posts are displayed and what determines the order that they are displayed in. They used to be shown in the order of when they were posted. Now, they are shown in order based on what the built-in algorithm believes you will enjoy the most. This is based on your interests, what you look at regularly on your Instagram page, and what you have created as your personal demographic. If your company doesn't fit into this algorithm, then your posts and account could go unseen for some time, or maybe not even at all. The great thing about using stories or going live in this situation is that they are posted in real-time and are posted in the order that the users post them in. Your followers will have a better opportunity to see you pop up on their feed without getting lost in the shuffle if you use Instagram stories. The more you post in your stories, and the more they're clicked on, the more often your posts will be seen in your follower's feed. This will help click you into their algorithms, and help to become a permanent part of what they see every time they open the app.

That's all for now! What do you think about Instagram stories so far? Are you already using them and this blog post made you appreciate them a little more? Are you getting excited to try out an Instagram story for the very first time? Or are you still a little confused about what it all means?  Keep all of this in mind until our next blog, and please feel free to reach out and ask any questions you might about this topic. We are here to start that conversation with you. Until then, stay safe, healthy, and smart. We love you, Summerville!
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