Who’s Invested in Instagram ￡tories?

Since launching in August 2016, Instagram Stories has grown rapidly, with reports suggesting its popularity now eclipses the original newsfeed; swiping across is the new scrolling down.

And using Stories isn’t just limited to consumers, with brands increasingly favouring what’s arguably a ‘broadcast format’ inside a social network. In light of this we analysed how 10 consumer-facing UK banks and building societies are using the feature. Interestingly not all of the high street banks and building societies are present on Instagram yet.

The results don’t make particularly happy reading. Our research discovered that most of the brands aren’t using Stories (organically at least) and those that do, struggle on some of the basics. Our observations included:

• The use of content that isn’t optimised for Stories, for example subtitle text gets cut off
• Too much text being included on a single frame, requiring the viewer to keep tapping back to read it
• Interactive features such as Polls not being used

Here’s what we found…

What's your experience of using Stories within an enterprise?