If you are considering this question, then you must already know what Stories and Posts are. Nevertheless, let’s recapitulate and then launch into the finer points.
Posts are the more traditional and older format of the two. The videos and images that you ‘post’ and are listed on your main feed are called Posts. Underneath each, you can write captions, add hashtags and tag other accounts. Posts remain on your main feed until you archive them or delete them.
Stories, on the other hand, is a younger invention. Gossip: Instagram’s Stories feature was introduced in response to Snapchat’s growing popularity. In effect, Instagram’s Stories are what Snapchat in entirety was. Stories share some similarities with Posts. Stories too can be images or 15-second-long videos, but they exist for only 24 hours. After the 24 hours elapse, the system automatically deletes them. Ofcourse, you can save the stories as highlights. You can also overlay the story images and videos with text, plus the usual tagging can be done. Note also that most users consume Stories with sound ‘on’, while Posts are consumed mostly with sound ‘off’.
But are Stories more effective than Posts?
We’ll answer your question with a question of our own. What are your goals? Goals could be one or more of reach, traffic to your site, establishing a digital presence, creating an excitement about your brand, creating a sense of urgency around a campaign or product. Once you (or your agency) have identified your goal you can decide on what you should do.
When should you use Stories and when should you use Posts?
If you want to share a lot of information with your audience, Posts are a better choice. Posts are also searchable. With the use of hashtags and location information, these Posts can be easily ‘found’ by potential users. Given that Posts are pretty much permanent content, you can plan them in such a way as to make your account look visually stunning, if you so please. Given all of this, Posts should be used for increasing reach.
Stories have a limited time span and hence can be used to convey a sense of urgency. They also tend to a bit more spontaneous, both from the brand’s perspective as well as from the user’s. Stories are therefore perceived as being the more authentic self of the brand. You might also use Stories as laboratories for future Posts. And seen purely from the operations standpoint, stories are easier to craft and are often not hampered by analysis-paralysis that sometimes people and teams encounter while trying to figure out what to post on their feed.
How should you use Stories and Posts?
We think that you should use both Stories and Posts in the right balance to achieve the greatest impact and an agency, such as our’s, can help you find the right balance. Facebook own research showed that users use the feed (and hence Posts) to discover new things and they use Stories to feel connected to the brands that they follow.
Here are some of the ways in which Stories and Posts can work together: use Stories to test out new concepts and (post) formats and convert the successful ones to Posts (or implement it in your wider content strategy/tactic), and use Stories for engaging users (the format automatically incites the users to want to respond given that it has a limited lifespan of 24 hours). In effect, you should consider Posts as your official and formal face of your brand and consider Stories as the unofficial face of the brand that your can interact with in a more relaxed setting.