Benjamin Franklin once said, “If you fail to plan, you are planning to fail.” This is applicable to every area of our lives, and well, even in social media marketing as it turns out. Businesses, brands, marketers and bloggers need to plan out their content instead of just posting anything when pressed for time. Whether it’s regular posting or Instagram Stories, everyone wanting to boost engagement need to have some content prepared.

For Stories, Instagram Story templates are a big help in content planning. Although there are probably thousands of templates you can choose from, it’s best to select those that are optimized for engagement because that’s what brands and businesses should aim for.

I compiled some suggestions for you, but you can easily find more on Hootsuite, Easil, Pinterest, or on other websites. You can usually download most of these templates for free, but make sure to check the cost and license requirement.

Direct message templates

Direct messages are the most powerful form of engagement that you can get from followers. Most marketers and influencers even see direct messages as better than when followers swipe up since DMs allow them to hit two birds with one stone: Give them the links and start a conversation.

Here are some examples from Easil, and you don’t even have to add anything to these templates anymore. They already look very professional.

This or That templates

If you’re a regular Story viewer like me, you’d know that This or That posts are very popular. Whoever started this craze is a genius because This or That posts boost engagement in a fun way.

Just post a template and ask your followers to either DM you their answers or post them on their Stories. Here’s what you can do:

Tap on your profile photo with the plus icon to create a new Story. Select the template with your answers from the gallery. You can encircle or underline your answers, or you can also use emojis and stickers to make it more fun. In the captions, tell your followers that you’re sharing your answers on the next screen, and encourage them to do the same. Post the blank template and tell your followers to take a screenshot of it, answer, and put it on their Stories.

Once a connection between you and your followers is established, it will be easier to reach out to them and deepen the relationship further. You can also tell them to tag you in their Stories so that their followers can check your profile out. It’s a great way to rack up Instagram Story views.

You can also tell your followers to DM you their answers so you can have a one on one chat.

Poll templates

Instagram poll stickers are great ways to boost engagement too. When used with a professional-looking template, your followers are sure to participate.

You can take a poll based on any topic. If you’re managing a restaurant, for instance, you can ask your followers which of two desserts from your menu they prefer. The following week, you can change the poll to feature your soups, and so on.

For marketers in the tourism industry, you can post a picture of a landmark or tourist destination and let your followers guess what place it is.

AMA templates

Instagram question stickers have made AMA or Ask Me Anything posts popular. What you’ll be doing is simply to invite your followers to ask you anything. You can use Instagram Story templates for this, just position the question sticker correctly on the Story background. Viewers can simply tap the question sticker to ask you anything. You can also do a variation where you ask the question and your followers will send in their answers.

You can see all of your followers’ replies, and you can respond to each follower by tapping on them. You can create a conversation by using this type of template.

Challenge templates

By the name itself, this type of Instagram Story challenges your followers to name or identify specific things. It’s a variation of This or That since your followers need to take a screenshot of the template and edit it to answer. Instead of just giving them two options, however, you’re giving them the freedom to answer anything they can think of.

Take a look at these example templates are from Pinterest.

Aside from letting your followers have fun, you are also getting to know them better, especially when you ask the right questions related to your brand and industry.

You can start the ball rolling by also posting your answers together with the blank template, and encourage your followers to do the same.

Date: August 1, 2019 / Categories: Marketing, / Author: solmae