Want to run Instagram Stories ads, but want more exposure? Consider teaming up with an influencer!

Influencers not only give you brand awareness, but they also help you gain more followers and improve your sales. And with Instagram Stories, exposure with influencers help you get the job done. In addition, influencers can give you powerful insights into what your audience wants.

So, if you don’t have an influencer to work with your brand, then now is the time to get one! Here are 5 ways to ensure that your sponsored Instagram Stories are successful:

Pick Influencers That Produce High-Quality Content

“Before you launch a sponsored Instagram Stories collaboration, you should be sure that your influencer will post high-quality content consistently,” says Charles Steele, a marketing blogger at Paper Fellows and State of Writing. “Before launching a sponsorship, first, look at how influencers perform. Vetting allows you to choose the right influencers for your brand. Look at how they post on Instagram, and look at the value of their posts.”

Know How To Highlight Your Product Or Service

Your brand should let influencers know how your product or service will be presented. Once influencers get to know your product or service, they can put out high-quality content, regarding your brand. Therefore, be sure to answer influencers’ questions about your brand, and give them the most accurate information about it, so that it’s being presented properly.

Utilize Free Design Resources

While you should still allow your influencers to have creative control over their postings, you should still be there to offer any assistance that they might need. 

Fortunately, there are several Instagram Stories tools that let businesses and influencers create many templates with a consistent style and aesthetic. Even if your brand doesn’t plan to use these tools, you can still share them with influencers who will be designing unique Stories.

Here are some of the best tools that influencers can use in sponsored Stories:

Unfold helps create lifestyle, fashion, and travel content for a multi-page Story.

Easil lets you pick from a variety of templates, to which you can customize and edit.

Quik is a fun tool that lets you convert photos into a video Story. And, it comes with easy-to-use video editing options to help you create.

Hype Type lets you add designed motion typography and music clips to Stories.

CutStory lets you edit, design, and save videos to your camera roll for future uploads.

Create A Call-To-Action With “Swipe Up” Feature

“Instagram Stories draws viewers, and will eventually lead to building brand awareness,” says Lara Slater, a business writer at OX Essays and Lia Help. “So, you must have a clear call-to-action. And, you have to let your influencer know to implement CTA in their posts.”

One of the best ways to do this is to use the “Swipe Up” feature in Stories. Here are some good examples of “Swipe Up,” which can drive traffic directly to an optimal landing page without the users leaving Instagram:

Watching videos

Shopping on-site

Booking appointments

Reading a blog

Freebies

Giveaways

Request Insights From Influencers

It’s important to know how sponsored Stories are doing on your influencers’ end. Insights can help you find out how your influencers’ sponsored posts are doing, and what can be done for improvement. 

Here are some examples of how you can gain insights from influencers:

Tell your influencers to send screenshots showing the reach and impressions per Story and or segment.

Enable Bitly links to show how many people click on the influencers’ links.

Be open to any suggestions that your influencers might have to improve postings.

And, as a rule of thumb: Ask for insights before your influencers launch their Stories, so that they know what type of data you want to see. And remember: Full reporting won’t be available until 24 hours after initial Stories are uploaded.

Conclusion

Although using Instagram Stories is a saving grace for your brand, having influencers to back and promote your product or service is even better. As Instagram continues to be fundamental for brands trying to reach more audiences and customers/clients, don’t be afraid to sponsor influencers with large number of followers by using these 5 tips. Once you and your influencer(s) start working together, you’ll see higher traffic to your site, and more brand awareness.

So let’s get started in growing your business today by experimenting with these 5 tips on designing sponsored Instagram Stories!

Kristin Herman is a writer and editor at UK Writings and Thesis writing service. She is also a contributing writer for online magazine and blogs, such as Pay for essays.  As a marketing writer, she blogs about the latest trends in digital advertising.