What are Instagram location stories?
Instagram location stories are stories that have been posted with a location sticker.
Location stickers are related to real venues: it could be a restaurant, a bar, an hotel, a monument, an arena and much more. basically anything physical.
Every story that includes the same location sticker will be added to the same 'reel' - a collection of public stories from people who posted at the same place.
In what ways do location stories differ from classic stories?
Location stories are similar to classic Instagram stories in a sense that you can post pictures, videos, boomerangs and polls. The only difference is that location stories will be added to a reel of stories from people who posted from the same place, with the same location sticker.
As someone posting stories, why should I use location stickers?
By tagging your story with a location, your story will added to the reel of the venue.
Let's be honest: On Instagram, most people post stories for one main reason: to tell their followers they are enjoying a fantastic experience: eating at a Michelin-star restaurant, staying at a magnificent hotel in Bali, or skiing in Courchevel.
Having tagged your story with a location sticker, and if your profile is public, you might gain new followers from users that like to check locations.
Furthermore, those new followers should be highly engaged with your content since they specifically searched for the venue you tagged.
As someone browsing Instagram, why should I watch stories from venues or places?
Get the vibe of a place
Suppose you are like me and don't post any story, or you do it on your private Instagram account. In that case, location stories still have a significant advantage: they show you what real people think and do at a venue.
It becomes a way to discover new places and get honest feedback about their vibe.
You could see this feature as "behind the curtain". If you need advice about a place, since it's harder and harder to trust reviews on Tripadvisor, or even Google Maps, Instagram location stories are a solid alternative to those sites.
Discover new places with the Instagram map
You may have read that the genZ uses more and more Instagram and Tiktok to discover new restaurants, bars, and other venues.
It's real, and one great feature that comes with Instagram location stories is the Instagram map. It helps us do precisely that: discovering new cool places to spend our Friday nights.
Let's take a real example: you will visit New York in a few days and want to discover cool restaurants in Williamsburg.
What do you do:
- You open your Instagram map
- Search for Williamsburg
- Filter to only display restaurants
- You get a list of restaurants with posts, reels and stories
As posts and reels can be edited or posted by the restaurant's owner, it's much less the case with stories. So you can watch stories and check if the place and the vibe are what you want.
I would trust these location stories much more than Tripadvisor reviews.
How to leverage location stories for your business?
As a venue owner or working in the social media team of venues, leveraging location stories can be very beneficial.
1 * Through location stories, you can discover celebrities or famous influencers who tagged your place without getting invited (yep they still exist).
This is a great way to get your business noticed and can help you gain followers.
2 * You can see what guests share about your place. If you own a restaurant, you may notice that one dish is shared more than others, giving you valuable insights into what dishes customers like best.
3 * You can know how many stories are posted per day and their cumulative reach can help you gain valuable metrics and data to analyze. This information can be used to better understand your audience and refine your marketing strategies.
4 * You can also see what stories are being posted from competitors' places, giving you an idea of what work for them and how you can improve upon it.
5 * Finally, you can use location stories to identify who is visiting your competitors' places and invite them to visit yours as well. By doing this, you are actively engaging with potential customers and gaining awareness for your business.
A tool to help you to deal with location stories
One of the best ways to work with location stories without spending all your day on your phone is to work with Story Story For Venues which will automate everything for you: from collecting stories, visualizing them and get key figures about your audience.
Story Story, a tool that automatically downloads and saves location stories.