The one Instagram Stories Tactic that got us X5 organic leads.

Instagram can be great for lead gen if you use it right.

Most marketers, for some reason, still live under the notion that Instagram is only for lifestyle loving millennials, while the truth is that it’s evolved much further than that.

In the past few months we’ve started experimenting with a new method to get leads through Instagram organically – and so far, it has been working quite amazingly.

Using a 3k followers account, with no massive previous engagement rates – were able to get 8-12 leads per time we use this tactic.

In this post, I want to share the tactic with you as long as the step by step on how you can implement it too.

It’s a bit long and detailed, but trust me – you’ll be able to master it after reading this post.

How this technique works (step by step)

I’m going to start with an overall summary of the flow and how it works, and then I’ll go into details on how you can implement it yourself.

The idea is quite simple, you choose a topic you can both give value on, and that is aligned with a product or service you sell.

You write a meaningful tip in a conversational voice, add a few questions as you go and eventually send the right offer to a well-segmented audience.

Sounds simple enough right?
Well, the truth is – that it is.

Now let’s get practical:

This technique is built on 3 layers:

1. Teach / give value
2. Segment
3. Make an offer

Layer 1: Teach

Teaching and giving value is always a great social media strategy, this one, is no different.

The key here is to choose a topic that is:

1. A clear pain point for your target audience
2. A topic that aligns with a product or service you want to sell
3. A topic you can focus and narrow into a micro tip/ lesson.

For example:
A marketing agency can write a tip about “How to use push notifications to increase retention.”
A motivational app can create a ‘:3 traits that will make you a better manager’ tip
And a food app can create a “How to bake a blueberry pie” tip.

For the first step – you just want to lay down the actual tip.

I’ll use the first example and break it down to these main messages:

1. Push notifications are a great tool to increase product retention if you use them right.
2. Push notification is a fast and straightforward way to engage with your user and get them back after they left your product
3. 4 effective push notification strategies
   1. FOMO – push notification based on “what you’re missing.”
   2. Push value – “make sure your notifications give value.”
   3. Use behavioral triggers – send push based on what people did and can do.
   4. Emojis evoke emotion

So now we have the necessary info for our tip.

Remember, that eventually this will go into a Story format, so keeping everything short is essential.

Step 2 is all about the tone of voice.

Social media is all about creating great stories, connecting with your audience and having the right narrative.

In this step, I’ll focus into turning my “tip” into a conversational micro-content piece.

I’ll be “translating” my tip into Instagram Story Slides; you’ll be able to see how I break them down – I’ll refer to each “single story” as slides.

This part is crucial; it’s critical to nail down the second layer in a compelling way.

1. Slide 1: Can we talk for a second about increasing user retention using Push notification?
2. Slide 2: Push notifications are a great way to retain your audience, but only if you use it right.
3. Slide 3: If you’re looking to increase user retention, trust me. You don’t want to miss out on push notification.
4. Slide 4: Luckily, if you follow these 4 push notification strategies – you’re likely almost always to get it right.
5. Slide 5: Strategy 1# FOMO it up
   Push notifications that require an instant response or trigger curiosity are a great way create urgency.
6. Slide 6: Think “someone liked your post” style. + screenshot of IG notification
7. Slide 7: Strategy 2# Push Value
8. This should be a given, but if not, I’ll repeat it.
9. Slide 8: Think twice: If your push notification doesn’t give your user value, it’s spam. Super easy.
10. Slide 9.Etc. Etc.

You get the point.

See how this is all written in a very benefit focused and conversational tone?

It has to feel like a friend is talking to you and it has to have clear value.

If you’re worried about design, we literally had tips looking like this and still work:

Once you’ve got this right – it’s time to move to the second layer.

Layer 2: Segmentation

The previous layer wasn’t anything you haven’t heard before, or maybe you’re already doing for sure.

But now, this is where it starts to get interesting.

What I want to do in this next step, is to start segmenting my followers based on different parameters, that’s how I’ll know what offer do I want to send out.

But how do you segment your audience using Instagram stories?
Glad you asked.

Simply by adding additional story slides and using the poll feature + psychological trigger.

What I want to do, is ask strategical questions throughout my story sequence where people can choose an answer.

Based on that answer, I’ll be able to create my value proposition later and offer them help or my services.

There are 2 things you need to do well here:

1. Ask the right question at the right time
2. Position your answers in a way that people will want to answer honestly.
   This means – “yes” / “no” aren’t good enough.

Let’s get back to our example.

I’ve bolded the new slides I’ve added to the sequence I showed you before

• Slide 1: Can we talk for a second about increasing user retention using Push notification?
• Slide 2: Push notifications are a great way to retain your audience, but only if you use it right.
• Slide 3 Have you annoyed anyone with push notifications? Poll: Everybody loves me!! / Well
• Slide 4: If you’re looking to increase user retention, trust me. You don’t want to miss out on push notification.
• Slide 5: Luckily, if you follow these 4 push notification strategies – you’re likely almost always to get it right.
• Slide 6: Do you want me to share these 4 strategies? Poll: Yes, please! VS. Nah, my retention rate is off the charts.
• Slide 7: Ok, here we go:
• Slide 8: Strategy 1# FOMO it up
• Push notifications that require an instant response or trigger curiosity are a great way create urgency.
• Slide 9: Think “someone liked your post” style.
• Slide 10: Every product has either a curiosity/urgency related feature. Do you know what yours is? Poll: Yes sir! VS. MMM Maybe…?
• Slide 10: Strategy 2# Push Value
  This should be a given, but if not, I’ll repeat it.
• Slide 11: Think twice: If your push notification doesn’t give your user value, it’s spam. Super easy.
• Slide 12: Do you spam your users? Poll: I don’t think so. VS. Never!
• Slide 13 Etc. – you get the point
• The last slide: Do you need help in defining your push notification strategy? DM right now to talk about your business.

2 things you need to notice in this sequence:

1. I always ask questions in either a knowledge crossroad or a past experience crossroad.
2. My possible answers are never “yes or no.”

For example:
Slide 3 “Have you annoyed anyone with push notifications? Poll: Everybody loves me!! / Well…”

Slide 3# comes right in at the point where somebody needs to confess if they’re good or not in using Push Notifications.

Regarding the available answers- one of the things I’ve learned is that almost no one will ever go for the “absolute” answer.

So most people wouldn’t choose “Everybody loves me!!” – unless they are sure, they’re amazing at it (and nobody is).

“Well….” on the other hand is saying “I can do better,” but it’s not written a way that will make you feel as if you’re not good at what you do.

And everybody feels they can do better.

What I’m trying to get here is a good conversation starter, not necessarily 100% accurate answer. This is why getting the text to be written in a very conversational tone of voice  was so crucial. 

Another 2 important examples are in slide 5:

Slide 5: Do you want me to share these 4 strategies? Poll: Yes, please! VS. Nah, my retention of off the charts.

Now, the idea here is to see in general who’s open to get help and learn more. And again – no one is going to choose the “my retention is off the charts” – but it’s a good engagement point.

The next important slide is

Slide 10: Every product has either a curiosity/urgency related feature. Do you know what yours is? Poll: Yes sir! VS. MMM Maybe…?

This, and the following questions slides – will always come at the end of a “tip” or “Strategy” – the idea is that by asking a question there – I can see where they stand on that specific strategy.

Most product marketers haven’t done this inspection of their product, or at least don’t call it that – Most chances they’ll go for “MMM maybe” than “Yes sir!”.

Again, remember – my main focus here is conversation starters.

Before we go into the 3rd layer, here, you can see an example of a real story we posted to see how it looks, feels and fits in.

Layer 3: Make an offer

Now it’s time to get those leads coming.

Most people will concentrate on the results of the last slide, the one asking followers to DM you if they need your help.

That slide can drive quite a lot of leads all by itself.

The real gold mine here actually lies in the questions we asked.

These questions segmented our followers based on the challenges they face, or insecurities they have in their product’s push notification strategy.

What we want to do next, is going to our Story analytics, and for each question – see which followers voted and what for.

Based on their voting you can DM them with a relevant offer.

Going back to Slide 10# example:

“Slide 9: Every product has either a curiosity/urgency related feature. Do you know what yours is? Poll: Yes sir! VS. MMM Maybe…?”

You’d want to click on the analytics by swiping up, see who voted for “ MMM Maybe…?” and send them a DM saying:

“Hi, saw you weren’t 100% sure on your product’s curiosity/urgency related feature, I’ve done this discovery process with several product teams, would love to jump on a call with you to talk about your product”.

Now you go and do this for every “poll” question you had on your story sequence and do the same.

In Conclusion

A lot of B2B startups dismiss Instagram as a legit or profitable marketing channel, while in reality – it’s about the content you create and the audience you attract.

Using this technique – you can be sure you’re attracting the right audience, with the correct narrative to make sure they’ll be more qualified leads.