There are so many reasons for small business owners to utilize Instagram Stories. Stories offer a quick, convenient way to share short-form content on-the-go to easily engage with your customers on a daily basis.

But when it comes to Instagram Stories, there are several common mistakes we often see small business owners making. We’ve rounded up the nine most common mistakes small businesses are making with their Instagram Stories, along with tips on how to fix them.

1. Not using Stories at all

One of the biggest mistakes small businesses can make when it comes to Instagram, is not using Instagram Stories at all! There are so many benefits for small businesses when it comes to Instagram Stories – Stories are an easy way to engage with your customers daily, drive more traffic to your website and create quality content quickly.

2. Not branding your Stories

Just because Stories don’t have a permanent spot on your feed doesn’t mean that they can’t be customized and beautifully branded! The simplest way to make your Instagram Stories feel on brand is to always use your brand colors. Did you know that you choose any color you want on Instagram Stories? Simply upload an image that has your brand colors to your Instagram Story, then use the drawing tool to tap and hold to select custom colors.

Read Next: ‘5 Ways to Make Your Instagram Stories Stand Out’

3. Not using Instagram Shopping

If you are a product-based small business, you should definitely be using the Instagram Shopping feature. This enables you to tag your products in your Instagram Stories to make it super easy for your customers to shop your products  directly through Instagram. In order to use the Instagram Shopping feature to tag your products in posts and Stories, you’ll have to get your Instagram account approved then set up a catalogue of your products through Facebook. Learn how to set up Instagram Shopping here.

https://www.instagram.com/p/CFsG70iHxOu/

 4. Not posting videos

Short-form video content is extremely popular and highly engaging – which is why it’s a huge mistake if your small business isn’t sharing videos on your Instagram Stories! Photos might seem like the easiest type of content to create and share but a tool like Boosted makes it simple to create high-quality videos, quickly and easily. Boosted has tons of beautiful templates and stock footage to choose from. And you can easily customize the colors, fonts and logo to create a branded, custom video for Instagram Stories in just a few minutes!

Read Next: ‘7 Creative Ways to Use Video on Social Media’

5. Not including Instagram Stickers – When you upload a photo or video to your Instagram Stories, there’s a wide variety of Instagram Stickers you can choose from. Instagram Stickers are easy to include in your Stories and can make your Instagram Stories more engaging for your customers. So, which stickers are the best for your small business to use? Try using the question and quiz stickers to ask your followers a question – this is a great way to get feedback directly from your customers!

6. Not using hashtags – One mistake small businesses make when it comes to Instagram Stories is thinking that hashtags are just for feed posts. However, using hashtags on your Stories is an important step that many business owners forget! There are two ways to include hashtags in your Instagram Stories and you should be using both.

The first is the Instagram Hashtag Sticker – this is a sticker that your followers can click to view more posts under that hashtag. (This will help your Instagram Story reach even more people too!) And the second way is a great Instagram Story hack that every small business owner should know about – you can copy and paste a paragraph of related hashtags into the font option and make the font the same color as the background or hidden behind a GIF. These ‘hidden hashtags’ are another way to help boost your Instagram Stories to more potential customers.

Read Next: ‘7 Secrets For Entrepreneurs to Get The Most Out of Instagram Stories’

7. Not sharing your feed posts – Once you’ve shared a post to your feed, you should be sharing it to your Instagram Stories as well! Many small business owners forget to promote their content and sharing your posts to your Instagram Stories is a free way to help boost both the reach and engagement on all of your Instagram posts. By sharing your post to Instagram Stories, your followers will be more likely to see and engage with your post right after you’ve posted it (which is an important strategy when it comes to the Instagram algorithm!).

8. Not posting daily

As a small business owner, it isn’t realistic for you to post on your Instagram feed every day, but you also don’t want to make the mistake of not posting daily to your Instagram Stories. The beauty of Instagram Stories is how simple it is to create and share content. Some days you might post more often on Instagram Stories than others, but you should make an effort to post something to your Instagram Stories every single day, even if it’s just a quick check in to say hi to your followers, an inspirational quote or even sharing a relevant past Instagram post.

Read Next: ‘How Many Times a Day Should You Post to Instagram Stories?’

9. Not saving Stories to Highlights

Last but not least – the final mistake that small business owners are making when it comes to Instagram Stories is forgetting to save their Stories to their Instagram Story Highlights. The Story Highlights feature allows you to organize Stories you’ve previously posted into easy-to-access collections directly under your Instagram bio. When you’ve created great Instagram Stories with helpful info for your customers, it’s a shame to let them disappear forever after 24 hours. Utilizing Instagram Story Highlights helps your customers quickly find the content they are looking for, drive more traffic to your website and provide another way to engage your followers.

Read Next: ‘How to Use Instagram Story Highlights Strategically as a Small Business Owner’