In what could be an exciting new marketing opportunity for artists and bands, the popular photo sharing platform Instagram will soon allow user to share links to their entire stories.
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Guest post by James Shotwell of Haulix
A new Instagram update will empower artists, brands, and everyday consumers to promote their Story content on other platforms.
Instagram is reportedly in the final stages of testing an update that will give users the ability to share links to Stories, thus furthering the potential reach of Story content. The feature, initially spotted last week by Lindsey Gamble, gives users a new “Share Link to Entire Story” option in addition to ones already available to users in the app’s ‘More’ menu below a story.
Some readers might remember that Snapchat introduced a similar feature for its Stories in summer 2018. The idea of Instagram offering something similar makes sense, especially considering that 500 million users are interacting with Stories daily, but it’s strange it took so long for the company to plan such an update.
Given their popularity and ease of creation, artists should see the impending update to Stories as an opportunity to grow their audience and further engage with fans. Stories make sharing news updates a breeze, but it also allows artists to offer fans an insider look at their careers one photo or short video update at a time. Artists can even add polls, perhaps to decide their new single or to perfect setlists, with a few quick clicks.
The new update has an added bonus for business accounts. Labels and similar industry businesses also get the option to “Promote” their Stories through the next option on the menu. It allows brands to further the return on their Stories by empowering them to drive traffic to their websites, send people to their profile, or get people to DM them in Direct.
A release date for the update has not been revealed, but with testing already underway a launch in the near future is likely.
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James Shotwell is the Director of Customer Engagement at Haulix and host of the company’s podcast, Inside Music. He is also a public speaker known for promoting careers in the entertainment industry, as well as an entertainment journalist with over a decade of experience. His bylines include Rolling Stone, Alternative Press, Substream Magazine, Nu Sound, and Under The Gun Review, among other popular outlets.