5 Ways You Can Leverage Instagram Stories Before an Event

September 20, 2019

Olivia Kuban

Digital Content Coordinator

The benefits

Instagram Stories is a feature on Instagram that allows users to post content that will vanish after 24 hours. While it is mainly for posting videos and photos, Stories goes a step further by enabling engagement through features like polling, Q&A and live video.

Stories are archived on your account for your eyes only unless you feature the content in Story Highlights. Here, you can categorize stories under a title so they are featured on your profile.

Build anticipation and encourage participation

By posting stories leading up to the event, you are building excitement while also reminding users of the event coming up. You can show photos of the venue, keynote speakers and encourage people to use the designated hashtag on their posts. 

Ask for feedback with Q&A and polls

Instagram Stories has polling and Q&A abilities. These are simple tools to ask your audience their thoughts and increase engagement. Through Q&A, you can answer their questions and post their anonymous answers on the story. Using polls, you can have a vote on various topics such as t-shirt styles and event hashtag names or do a quiz/trivia. 

Do a takeover

Have the sponsors and keynote speakers do story takeovers on your account. This allows the speakers and sponsors to introduce themselves and show their excitement for the event. A takeover gives them the opportunity to answer questions, feature their topics, and thank the audience for coming.

Do a giveaway

On the story, offer a giveaway. Post guidelines to follow that will further promote the event. An example could be to instruct users to follow the account, tag three friends and repost the story to their own story. You can select a winner and give away two VIP passes, a night in a hotel near the venue, event tickets or a useful event-theme-related package. Get creative and think of what your audience would enjoy!

Show behind the scenes

Give the audience a behind-the-scenes look of event setup, backstage and the green room. This allows users to see parts of the event that they normally would not see and lets them see what goes into the making of an event. 

Visit Premiere Speaker’s event planning YouTube playlist for more event-planning tips.