'Ephemeral Marketing' aka 'Stories' is by now a tool that most users know on Instagram. I've always been adverse to Snap Chat, and Facebook still hasn't really grabbed me, but Instagram had me from day 1.
And when stories came out, I have to say, I was pretty captivated. And as a consumer, and a self-titled consumer analyst, I've been watching companies weave their way into the Stories I personally watch, right along side the hair-stories, or dog-stories, or travel-stories of my friends.
And I really love making Stories :)
NPR's Marketplace, in case you missed it, did a brief piece on the 'Stories' tool yesterday. They interviewed a few people with interesting points:
"Branded stories appeal to users who are watching family and friend updates along side [the brand story]." - Katie Talbot, author, content marketer, entrepreneur.
"I think [stories are] the future of content marketing...
"According to the recent Facebook Conference, more people are using Instagram stories than posting on the grid itself...[Users] like stories because they’re true and they’re authentic."
And this: The Fear of Missing Out (FOMO) theory, which may be a cheap tactic to capitalize on people's inherent fear-nerve, but that's another 'story':
"Platforms [like Stories] that provide ephemerality - a sense of scarcity - get people to move. Hence flash sales...When you know that door is closing you feel a sense of loss aversion so you do what you can to avoid that.
Same with stories. If you miss it, you're disconnected, you're not a part of the network - from an anthropological perspective, your survival is low." - Marcus Collins, at Doner Ad Agency
And if that's not enough, about some figures:
They are currently an estimated 400 million daily users on Instagram stories.
100 million brands are creating stories.
And on average, companies are reportedly allocating 8% of their marketing budget to Stories.
- If you want a most basic Story how-to-tutorial, give Alex Tooby’s a try. She’s Canadian, so you can trust her :)