Having high viewership for your Facebook Stories can be a great way to increase engagement and reach for your Facebook Page. With over 1 billion daily active users on Facebook, tapping into the Stories feature is a huge opportunity. But getting your Facebook Stories seen can be a challenge. Here are some tips to increase views of your Facebook Stories.
Optimize Your Story Content
The content you share in your Stories is the biggest factor for getting views. Post Stories that are relevant, interesting and engaging for your target audience. Here are some content tips:
- Show behind-the-scenes glimpses at your business, brand or personal life. Give viewers a look at something they can’t see anywhere else.
- Feature your products or services in action. For example, show how customers interact with your product.
- Post user-generated content like re-sharing customer Stories about your brand.
- Create entertaining or funny content like memes, challenges and polls to grab attention.
- Educate your audience on topics relevant to your niche like tips, how-tos and list-style content.
- Ask questions to encourage engagement in the form of replies or emoji reactions.
- Go live to announce sales, events or anything timely your audience would be interested in.
Post a mix of these different types of engaging content to see what resonates most with your audience.
Use Interactive Features
The interactive stickers, questions and polls available in Stories can help boost viewership. Here are some ways to use interactive Stories features:
- Add polls to get input from your audience for things like product feedback, event themes, etc.
- Use the “Ask Me a Question” sticker to generate engaging question prompts for your followers.
- Stickers like trivia quizzes and would-you-rather questions can be fun ways to increase interaction.
- Leverage the slider and countdown stickers for giveaways, promotions and more.
Post Daily
Posting consistently is key for being top of mind and reaching more people with your Stories. According to Sprout Social, brands that post Stories daily gain more views and engagement. Make it a goal to post at least one Story per day.
Cross-Promote on Other Channels
Don’t keep your Facebook Stories isolated on Facebook. Cross-promoting your Stories on other channels can help drive more viewers to check them out.
Share Stories Links in Feeds
One easy way to promote your Facebook Stories is by sharing links to them in your Facebook feed posts. Try writing compelling captions that give your followers a reason to click through to your Story like “Go behind the scenes of our photoshoot in my newest Story!” or “Check out my Story to see how I made this cake step-by-step.”
Cross-Post on Instagram
You may not realize that you can re-share your Facebook Stories as Instagram Stories and vice-versa. Cross-posting makes it easy to get more eyeballs on your content. Your Instagram followers who don’t follow your Facebook may see your cross-posted Stories on Instagram and decide to check out your Facebook profile.
| Platform | How to Cross-Post |
|---|---|
| Facebook to Instagram | Tap the “Send to” icon, choose “Instagram Story” and post to your connected Instagram account |
| Instagram to Facebook | Tap the “Send to” icon, choose “Facebook Story” and post to your connected Facebook account |
Share Story Links in Emails
Include links to your latest Facebook Stories in your email newsletters and marketing messages. Let subscribers know they can get exclusive content by viewing your Stories.
Collaborate with Others
Partnering up with others can introduce your Stories to new audiences. Look for relevant businesses, brands and influencers to collaborate with on Story content.
Do Takeovers
Let an influencer or brand take over your Story for a day. Give them creative freedom to post unique content to your audience. In exchange, you can take over their Stories. This swap introduces both of your followers to new accounts.
Cross-Promote
Team up with another brand or influencer in your niche to cross-promote each other’s Stories. For example, you could each create Stories saying “Check out [their account’s handle]’s Story to see our collaboration!” Then share behind-the-scenes footage of working together in both accounts’ Stories.
Go Live Together
Joint live videos can help you tap into a collaborator’s audience. Generate buzz by announcing you’ll both be going live at a specific time for a Q&A, interview or other must-see event.
Use Hashtag Challenges
Facebook’s Hashtag Challenges feature lets any Page create a public challenge or meme for people to participate in with their own Stories.
Starting a Hashtag Challenge can exponentially increase how many people see your Story if it catches on. Come up with a branded hashtag phrase, creative direction and compelling prompt to inspire user-generated content.
Promote your Hashtag Challenge to your followers and encourage sharing to get it trending. Facebook will also showcase trending challenges on the Stories tray to boost visibility.
Run Ads to Your Stories
Run Facebook Stories ads pointing to your organic Stories to maximize viewership. You have several ad format options:
Story Ads
Create a Story-like video ad with polls, stickers and more that clicks through to your profile or Page’s current Story.
Story Links in Feed Ads
Include a link to your latest Story in a Facebook feed photo or video ad unit.
Story Mentions
Boost the reach of an existing Story by promoting it as a Story mention in the audience you want to target.
The benefit of advertising your Stories is you can target exactly who sees your ads. Then retarget viewers of your ads to increase Story views from your prime audience.
Analyze Insights
Check your Facebook Story insights regularly. This will show you total views, completion rate, responses, taps forward and other data.
Use these insights to identify your top-performing Stories as well as underperforming ones. Figure out what content, types of Stories and posting strategies resonate best. Then make data-driven decisions to optimize your future Stories for maximum reach and engagement.
Some best practices based on insights could include:
- Posting your Stories at the times when most viewers watch them.
- Creating more Stories with interactive elements if they perform better.
- Developing Stories focused on your most engaging topics.
Conclusion
Leveraging Facebook Stories is a smart way for brands and businesses to drive more engagement on Facebook. While getting high viewership for your Stories takes effort, implementing tactics like optimized content, strategic cross-promotion, collaborations, Hashtag Challenges and ads can all help increase eyes on your Stories.
Pay attention to your Story insights, continually test and refine your strategy, and work to create Stories your audience genuinely wants to see. With a savvy and consistent approach, you can master the art of getting your Facebook Stories noticed.