No matter what niche or industry you work in, Instagram is a great way to build brand awareness and drive sales in a visual and engaging way.
Every day, billions of people use it to connect with friends, explore interesting content, and find inspiration. So why not use it to connect your customers to your brand, as well?
If you’re looking for Instagram story ideas for small business, we’ll be exploring 15 creative and engaging ones in this blog post.
1
INTERACTIVE “THIS OR THAT” POLLS
Polls are a great way to learn about your customer’s opinions and interests that are relevant to your niche. Even though polls only allow 2 options, this makes it easier for viewers to answer your questions without getting overwhelmed by the number of choices.
If you make it visually appealing and engaging, your audience will gladly answer your survey and will likely enjoy doing so. So use high-quality pictures to display each of your options and use the Poll sticker on Instagram Stories. Don’t forget to make sure the sticker is big enough for your audience to see and for their fingers to tap!
These Stories are perfect for businesses like clothing boutiques. You can ask your followers questions like “Which do you prefer for winter? Cozy sweaters vs. Stylish jackets”
2
WEEKLY CHALLENGES
A good interactive challenge can motivate your followers to achieve a goal alongside you, which helps you cultivate a community around your brand. Depending on your niche, you can decide what sort of challenge to create or join with your audience.
For example, a fitness studio could start a Move Monday challenge every week and ask followers to copy a simple routine. Challenge your followers by creating a special hashtag and asking them to use it on their posts while tagging your account.
As their submissions come in, you can keep sharing their content, engaging and motivating them through comments or direct messages, and promoting your services.
3
FAVORITE PRODUCTS HIGHLIGHT
Here’s another creative way to gather valuable insights from your customers while engaging them at the same time. Using the “Add Yours” sticker on Instagram Stories, you can ask your customers about their favorite products from your brand (or even other brands!) to help you gauge which of your products your followers like the most.
The “Add Yours” sticker acts as a prompt for Instagram Stories, so users know exactly what video or picture to post, depending on what’s written on the sticker.
For example, if you have a beauty brand, your prompt can be “Your favorite lipsticks at the moment” and post a picture of your bestselling lipstick or a collection of all your lip products. Your followers can reuse your prompt and post their own pictures or videos and share it on their profiles.
Because Instagram allows you to see every post that used your “Add Yours” prompt, you’ll see which products people like most and what they recommend to other people.
4
TUTORIALS WITH SLIDERS
Tutorials are great for sharing your expertise with other people while building trust with your audience. But don’t just post a series of pictures and videos. Make your tutorials more engaging with Instagram’s interactive stickers for each step of your tutorial.
For example, if you own a bakery and want to share a simple recipe, you can post a series of videos to show each step of your baking process. You can use the slider sticker or polls to ask how well your audience followed the instructions (“Nailed it? Or Need more practice?”)
At the end of your tutorial, you can add a questions sticker to ask your viewers if they have additional questions or comments. You can then respond to them directly or use their responses as prompts for your next Stories.
5
FLASHBACK STORIES
Everyone loves a good flashback! No matter how nostalgic or, sometimes, embarrassing they are, they can be a great way to pique interest and engage with your followers.
Post a throwback picture or video on your Instagram Stories and add stickers, GIFs, or bold texts and a #Throwback.
Here are a few throwback photo ideas:
Your first sale
Your first product
Your team then vs now
Your first office or store
Your first customer
6
TRIVIA GAMES
Here’s one of my favorite Instagram story ideas for small business that even big brands use to engage with their customers: trivia games!
You can use the quiz sticker to help you share fascinating trivia about your brand or industry.
For example, if you own a coffee shop, you can ask “How many cups of coffee are consumed daily worldwide?”
With the quiz sticker, you can give your audience a few options to choose form and see whether they know the answer, then reveal the correct one in the following Story. You can also briefly discuss the answer by posting a video and adding a question sticker to allow people to ask additional questions to link to your product or service that helps them solve a related problem.
7
SPOTLIGHT YOUR COLLABORATIONS
Instagram is a great platform for collaborations and partnerships. You can use your Stories to give them a shoutout and introduce them to your audience.
For example, if you’re a sustainable fashion brand collaborating with a company that sells eco-friendly laundry detergent, you can post pictures of your products together or a video of both of them in action. You can then tag each other on your Stories and link directly to your shops or products.
8
CREATE A MOOD BOARD
Because Instagram is a visual platform, a lot of people use it to find inspiration for aesthetics, design, and other creative projects.
If your business involves a lot of creativity, you can post mood boards on your Instagram Stories to inspire your followers. You can create collages and add GIFs and texts to make them more eye-catching. You can also share visuals that align with your brand and tag pictures of your products to link viewers directly to your shop.
If you own an interior design studio, for example, you can mood boards for different aesthetic themes (e.g. cozy, minimalist, etc.) or color palettes.
9
COUNTDOWN TO A PRODUCT LAUNCH/EVENT
Want to build excitement and anticipation for a new product and a special event?
Use the countdown sticker on Instagram Stories and post sneak peeks of your products or event plans. You can also make it more engaging by using polls, questions, and quizzes, asking your followers to make guesses about your launch.
For example, if you own a restaurant or food truck, you can tease your audience about your new menu by posting sneaky pictures of your food or videos of you tasting and enjoying your new food items.
If you’re opening in a new location, you can post fun facts about the location or tease iconic places while asking them to guess. Once it’s revealed, you can use the location sticker to help your followers know exactly where you are.
10
SEASONAL DECOR/STYLE INSPIRATION
The changing seasons can bring different opportunities for different businesses. Why not use the new season to provide value to your followers and engage with them?
If you have seasonal products or a seasonal collection, you can showcase them on your Instagram Stories and link to the products directly while giving your customers inspiration.
For example, if you own a fruit stand, you can show off the seasonal fruits available in your store by tagging each photo and linking to its product page. Then post quick recipes for your customers using your seasonal products.
If you own a cafe, you can post your seasonal drinks and provide recommendations for the perfect snack or meals to go with them.
11
FAQ (QUESTIONS)
Social media is a great way to establish your expertise in your field and share relevant information about your industry and brand. You no doubt have encountered plenty of questions from customers and shop visitors alike, so take advantage of Instagram Stories to address commonly asked questions and concerns.
You can type the question and use it as an overlay for a quick video of you explaining the answer. Or you can even gather questions from your audience by using the questions sticker and allowing your followers to submit their queries.
For example, a skincare brand can answer “What are the top essential steps for a basic skincare routine?” You can answer this question through photos and texts, tagging each product. Or you can post a video explaining the answer while giving product recommendations and using the swipe-up feature to link to a consultation or to your website.
12
MAPS FOR LOCATION-BASED BUSINESSES
If you have a mobile business or if you frequently hold booths at fairs or conventions, using the location sticker can be a great way to let your followers know where to find you next.
You can post a video of you packing and preparing for the travel or as you’re on the way. You can give clues about your next location and ask your followers to guess where you’re heading.
Once you’re there, you can use the location sticker to your pinned location to show where you are on the map. If you’re a mobile food business, you can post a video of you setting up your stall or food truck, giving a tour of the location, and a video of customers lining up to get their orders.
13
PACKAGING PROCESS
Showcasing packaging in your Instagram Stories is an excellent way for businesses to highlight their attention to detail and branding.
Start by sharing a "packaging process" Story, showing how orders are carefully wrapped, labeled, and prepared for shipping. Use close-up shots of custom packaging elements like branded boxes, tissue paper, stickers, or thank-you cards.
Add a poll asking, “What’s your favorite part of our packaging?” to boost engagement. Include a quick video of the unboxing experience, either from your perspective or reposted from a happy customer.
End the Story series with a call-to-action sticker, such as “Shop now” or “Order today,” to encourage viewers to make a purchase.
14
TREND SPOTLIGHTS
Help your audience stay updated on the latest industry trends with your Instagram Stories. You can highlight a trending topic or item with images, videos, GIFs, and stickers, then ask your audience with a question sticker: “What do you think?”
For example, if you own a tech brand, you can post “The hottest gadget of the season” with a photo of the product. Then you can post an unboxing video and videos of you testing it out and showing off its features. If it’s already available in your shop, you can tag the product and link it to your store so customers can buy it directly from your Stories.
15
EVENT COVERAGE
If you’re hosting a special event or taking part in one, you can use your Instagram Stories to share live footage, updates, polls, and countdowns to boost excitement, invite people to join, or book clients.
For example, a wedding planning company can post pictures or videos (with content) of the preparation or planning stage for a wedding. You can add romantic music in the background, a link to products you used for the event, and the swipe-up link to encourage customers to book your services for their events.
As you use Instagram’s different features, keep experimenting and monitoring your engagement to see which feature works the most. You can use Instagram Insights to help you monitor engagement, views, likes, and other key metrics and adapt your strategy accordingly.
No matter how big or small your business is or what field you specialize in, there are many creative ways to use Instagram Stories for your brand. These Instagram story ideas for small business can help you thrive online by driving engagement, building brand awareness, and helping you cultivate a strong community of followers.
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Let me know if you want me to cover one of these topics in more depth, and I’ll make sure to create a blog post about it in the future.
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