Estu Do Stories in Stag Ram

JUNE 2019
[INSTAGRAM
STORIES
RESEARCH]
WE ANALYZED 135,976
INSTAGRAM STORIES. HERE'S
WHAT WE'VE LEARNED
INSTAGRAM STORIES // JUNE 2019
02
ABOUT THE STUDY
If you have Instagram, you have Stories.
Stories are available on every Instagram account
and the number of users using this feature has been
increasing exponentially.
More than 500 million accounts on Instagram were

using stories as of January 2019, according to data
from Statista.
We're excited to share our first Instagram

Stories research with you as well as proven best
tactics on how to create strong, engaging content
for Instagram Stories and increase their viewership.
THE PREMISE
Within this study, almost 135,976 Instagram Stories
were analyzed from a total of 2,548 business
accounts (different profile sizes) to understand how
brands are using Stories to promote their business,
drive conversations, and generates leads.
Let's dive in ⇣
03
Instagram Stories Research
We Analyzed 135,976
Instagram Stories.
Here's What We've Learned

04
TABLE OF CONTENTS
A. Summary
B. Key findings
1. Half of brands are using videos in Stories
2. Brands are publishing Stories 7 days within a
month
3. The optimal number of Stories within a day is up to
6 Stories
4. Brands with a small audience reach more than 9%
of their followers with Stories
5. Impressions and reach are influenced by the
Stories posting length
6. Images underperform videos by having a higher
tap-forwards rate of 5.65% than videos on Stories
7. Brands with a small following don’t succeed at
retaining their audience's attention with Stories
8. Pictures in Stories get more drop offs compared
with videos
9. The highest drop in Stories happens between 2 and
3 stories within a day
10. 6 people out of 10,000 Stories viewers reply to
Stories
C. Methodology
05
A. SUMMARY
Reading this study, you’ll discover:
What type of content increases the Stories'

viewership - we reveal what type of content brands
are creating for Instagram Stories that both
engages, and converts.
How many days per month brands are publishing

Stories - we discover how many days within a
month brands post Stories.
What's the retention rate across all profile sizes -

we unveil what's the optimal Stories length within
a day.
What's the reach rate for brands on Instagram - we

explore what profile size succeeds at keeping their
audience engaged with Stories.
When people drop off in Stories - this section

reveals when people tend to leave the Stories
within a day.
How many people reply to Stories - we explore if

people reply to Stories and if it's a key metric.
06
B. KEY FINDINGS
Here’s what you learn reading this report:
The future lies in video Stories. 51% of brands are

using video in Stories. Brands created more video
content in Stories over the past nine months.
Videos create authenticity, which ultimately
results in better retention as compared to photos.
People spend a longer time on it which influences
Instagram’s algorithm on how many people your
story is shown to. Videos generates better tap-
forward rates and exit rates.
On average, brands are publishing Stories 7 days

within a month. Even though the Stories are
increasing, only Instagram handles with more than
100,000 followers are posting Stories every two
days, while brands with less than 1,000 followers
are publishing every four days.
The optimal number of Stories within a day is up

to 6 Stories where brands are keeping more than
70% of their Stories viewers engaged. There is a
strong correlation between number of Stories per
day and the reach and impressions. The more
Stories you publish, the more viewers you get.
07
B. KEY FINDINGS
Brands with less than 10,000 Instagram followers

succeed at reaching more than 9% of their
followers with Stories. Engaging with people in
Stories is becoming a challenging for handles with
more than 100,000 followers which have a median
reach around 5%.
People tend to drop off more on photos than video

Stories. The highest drop in Stories happens
between 2 and 3 stories within a day.
6 people out of 10,000 Stories viewers reply to

Stories. Brands should focus more on increasing
the retention rate as opposed to the reply rate.
Continue reading, and you’ll discover 15+ charts that

uncover some fascinating findings.
08
1. HALF OF BRANDS ARE USING

VIDEOS IN STORIES
If you have Instagram, you have Stories. If you

have Stories, you have video.
Brands have adopted video as a key component in

Instagram Stories over the past 9 months.
There are several reasons for the success of

Instagram video stories. Depending on the type
of content created, video Stories have better
authenticity, which ultimately results in better
retention as compared to photos.
Moreover, the video story could be up to 15

seconds while the photo is only visible for no
more than 7 seconds.
Based on our Instagram stats - more than 135,000

Stories were analyzed - we observed that 51% of
brands are using video Stories across all profile
sizes in the past nine months.
09
51% of brands are using video Stories across all

profile sizes in the past nine months.
10
However, there is a difference between brands

with bigger followings on Instagram.
Brands with more than 100,000 followers posted

60% more photos as compared to 40% for video.
On the other side, brands with less than 100k

followers had the same posting pattern.
11
If you haven’t used videos in Stories, the

following tips could come in handy:
Users view Instagram Stories in the vertical

position – The most successful videos for
Stories are created in the vertical format.
9:16 is the standard aspect ratio for Instagram

Stories – Otherwise known as full portrait, they are
usually wider than a video shot from the mobile
phone or regular photos. Since videos may be
cropped when uploaded, it is important to keep
that in mind while shooting.
Keep in mind the Stories interface – Video

stories should not have any text at the bottom
or at the top as they may overlap the video.
The video length is limited to 15 seconds –

Users get to make videos of no longer than 15
seconds. Nonetheless, Stories will chop videos
longer than 15 seconds into 15-second pieces.
Stories expire after 24 hours – Content needs

to be kept fresh through timely updates at least
every 24 hours.
SOCIAL MEDIA REPORT // JUNE 2020
12
SUE B. ZIMMERMAN
INSTAGRAM EXPERT & BUSINESS COACH
""The Instagram feed is highly curated and high quality -

while stories are meant for more real time, authentic, less
polished content.
Because everything disappears, you don’t have to perfect.

Given the timely nature of most stories and the amazing
engagement stickers that Instagram continues to add - it is
a place where people are comfortable to interact with you
which helps you start a conversation and build
community."
13
2. BRANDS ARE PUBLISHING STORIES

7 DAYS WITHIN A MONTH
Our Stories database shows that the average

brand regardless of the audience size is posting
about seven days within a month, which averages
to about one every four days.
14
A deeper analysis of the data reveals that brands

with more than 100k in followings are recording
an average of Stories every two days as compared
to four days for brands with at least 10k
followers.
We know that Instagram accounts with more than

10k followers have more Stories features such
as link in Stories which can be a driver to create
stories at a higher pace.
However, one of the three most viewed Instagram

Stories are from businesses and you shouldn’t
miss this opportunity. Posting a story every few
days can be an effective way to ensure you keep
your community engaged.
15
3. THE OPTIMAL NUMBER OF STORIES

WITHIN A DAY IS UP TO 6 STORIES
One of the most important metrics for marketers

using Stories is the retention rate.
The more of a brand’s Stories are viewed by a

viewer, the higher the chance that there will be
engagement and connection. As such, the
marketer needs to focus their attention on their
Stories.
The retention rate is computed as a percentage of

the impressions of the last Story divided by the
impressions of the first Story within the given 24-
hour time period.
According to our Stories insights, we noticed that

brands are losing about 15% of their audience
moving into the second Story of the day.
The optimal number of Stories within a day is up

to 6 Stories where brands are keeping more than
70% of their Stories viewers engaged.
After six Stories, the completion rate drops to
below 70 percent.
16
However, if you decide to post longer Story

lengths of up to 15 a day, you still succeed at
engaging with more than 50% with your viewers.
As long as the stories are uploaded at different

times of the day rather than in bulk, they still
manage to get some good engagement.
As such, it is important for marketers to

experiment with different time of postingsand
Story lengths.
17
4. BRANDS WITH A SMALL AUDIENCE

REACH MORE THAN 9% OF THEIR
FOLLOWERS WITH STORIES
We calculated the reach rate as a percentage of
the Story viewers on any given day divided by
total followers.
Handles with less than 10,000 followers have a

reach rate of about 9%, which is almost double
than of accounts with between 10,000 and
100,000 followers that get no more than 5%
average reach rate.
Accounts with relatively more followers tend to

reach a lower percentage of their followers with
their Stories. Instagram is increasingly becoming a
pay to play business model for them.
Brands that have more than 100,000 followers

have a lower reach rate on their video Stories on
any given day. Their reach rate is around 5% with
4% lower than Instagram accounts with fewer
than 10,000 followers.
18
But Stories is increasingly becoming the most

popular way of sharing on social media.
In fact, Mark Zuckerberg speaking to Business

Insider asserted “that Stories should overtake
posts in the feed as the most popular ways of
sharing on all social apps in the near future.”
19
DR. NATALIA WIECHOWSKI
LINKEDIN EXPERT
Make your instagram stories interactive.

Make them social. Make them fun.
How? Use polls, ask questions (especially “AMAs”) and

quizzes.
Also, experiment with the rating bar function and ask

people how beautiful, yummy, awesome, fun etc.
something is. My audience seems to love such insta
stories.
20
5. IMPRESSIONS AND REACH ARE

INFLUENCED BY THE STORIES
POSTING LENGTH
Digging deeper, we wanted to correlate the
Stories posting length with the reach rate and the
impressions rate across all profile sizes.
Data on Instagram Stories indicates that a brand

stands to increase its reach by posting more
content to Stories. Regardless of profile size, it
appears that audiences have a higher threshold
for consuming content posted in Stories
.
Posting more Stories within a day influence the
reach and impression metrics and you get more
people engaged with your Stories.
21
Based on the graph below, you can see that

posting more Stories tends to a higher reach rate
in Stories.
22
The trend line is pretty much similar when Story

length in a given day is correlated to the
impressions rate.
My recommendation is that if you want to

establish the ideal Story length for your brand on
Instagram, make sure you correlate these metrics
with the retention rate.
Once you have aggregated the data, you’ll get a

better understanding of your audience’s behavior
within Stories.
23
6. IMAGES UNDERPERFORM VIDEO BY

HAVING A HIGHER TAP-FORWARDS
RATE OF 5.65%
The tap-forward rate represents the percentage of
your users who saw your Story and they are ready
to move to the next one. This metric is calculated
as a percentage of your impressions that have a
tap forward to see the next photo or video in your
Story.
Based on our Stories data, images have a forward

rate by about 5.65% higher than videos across all
profile sizes which can be both good or bad for
retain your audience's attention.
24
Profiles with less than 10k followers have a 5.16%

average tap forward rate.
25
Accounts which have an audience between 10k

and 100k followers have a 5.79% average tap
forward rate.
26
Accounts with followings greater than 100k

register 6% average tap forward rates.
27
Since videos stay on the screen for 15 seconds as

compared to the seven seconds for images,
coupled with the fact that they are more dynamic
as compared to static photos, videos tend to do
better in Stories as people are more likely to tap
to move forward on video.
Keep in mind that a higher tap-forward rate

indicates that people are not so interested into
your Stories so keep an eye on this metric too.
28
7. BRANDS WITH A SMALL FOLLOWING

DON’T SUCCEED AT RETAINING THEIR
AUDIENCE'S ATTENTION WITH
STORIES
Another important metric for the marketer is
the exit rate, which indicates the engagement
levels of the audience with the content posted in
Stories.
Instagram calculates the exits rate as a

percentage of the impressions that leave the Story
by closing out of Stories in Instagram.
Take into account that users have three ways to

close out stories. They can either hit the “x”,
swipe right or swipe down to go back to the post
feed on Instagram.
According to our Instagram Stories stats, brands

with less than 10,000 followers which we classify
as small have less success creating Stories that
result in engagement. Small brands recorded a
7.43% exit rate which is nearly two times the
median rate.
29
Moreover, brands that have profiles with more

than 10,000 followers tend to have exit rates near
the median.
30
To improve the exit rate in Stories, you can invite

your audience to:
Spend more time watching.

Watch the Story all the way to the end without
exiting stories or swiping right on it.
Reply to Stories by using these Stories features:
questions, quiz, polls, countdown or gifs.
These are some of the most critical factors that

Instagram tracks to determine how many people it
will show your Stories too.
Luckily for brands, there are several ways to

improve the viewership of Instagram Stories.
By taking advantage of the features on the

Instagram platform consistently, it is possible to
add a lot of personality to Stories, which helps to
build brand loyalty and authority.
31
JENN HERMAN
SOCIAL MEDIA STRATEGIST
Use the location tag on Stories. BUT, the key is to use the
smallest possible location. Tag the actual building,
business, venue, or other small area.
Instagram knows that the specific location is in a certain

neighborhood, in a certain city, near other places, and
within a larger geographic area.
As a result, tagging the small location could land you in

multiple search results for various locations.
32
8. PICTURES IN STORIES GET MORE

DROP OFFS COMPARED WITH VIDEOS
Our analysis was aimed at determining what type
of Stories users on Instagram loved.
We found that people tended to drop off more on

photos as compared to video Stories across all
profile sizes.
This insight is quite understandable because

videos are more dynamic, and people spend a
longer time on it which influences Instagram’s
algorithm on how many people your story is
shown to.
33
9. THE HIGHEST DROP IN STORIES

HAPPENS BETWEEN 2 AND 3 STORIES
WITHIN A DAY
For profiles with more than 10,000 in following,
exit rates of 10% are common on days when the
brand posts single Stories. Profiles with less than
10,000 followers have exit rates of about 17% for
single Stories posted in a single day.
The highest drop happens around 3 and 4 Stories

per days. The decline is relatively flat with 6
Stories or more per day.
34
10. 6 PEOPLE OUT OF 10,000

STORIES VIEWERS REPLY TO STORIES
We computed the reply rate as a percentage of
your Story viewers who reply to your Story on any
given day. Instagram provides this metrics as
people who send a direct message - no comments,
quick reactions, interactions are included here.
6 people out of 10,000 Stories viewers reply to

Stories which is a small metric compared with the
retention rate.
Therefore, it is more important for brands to

increase Story viewership rather than the replies.
35
C. METHODOLOGY
To identify the best content strategies for Instagram

Stories and how to increase your viewers, we
analyzed more than 135,976 Instagram Stories from a
total of 2,548 business profiles.
Within this report, we provide a representative

Instagram handles, which had an active presence on
Instagram between August 2018 to April 2019. These
business profiles had more than 1,000 Instagram
followers as of the same date.
36
C. METHODOLOGY
We used Socialinsider to find out the retention rate,

the reach rate, the impressions rate, the post types,
Stories posting length, exit rates, and tap-forward
rate, and much more Stories metrics.
We chose to follow the Instagram API guidelines and

defined Story - as a type of content: photo or video
which brands can upload it.
To conclude what’s the optimal Stories length within

a day we used Stories within a day, Stories per day or
number of Stories per day as definitions.
Discover more studies on our blog!

Dive deeper into Instagram Stories analytics and keep all your
metrics in check with the help of Socialinsider.
Start a 7-day free trial!
www.socialinsider.io

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Estu Do Stories in Stag Ram

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JUNE 2019

More than 500 million accounts on Instagram were

We're excited to share our first Instagram

Instagram Stories Research

Here's What We've Learned

Reading this study, you’ll discover:

What type of content increases the Stories'

How many days per month brands are publishing

What's the retention rate across all profile sizes -

What's the reach rate for brands on Instagram - we

When people drop off in Stories - this section

How many people reply to Stories - we explore if

Here’s what you learn reading this report:

The future lies in video Stories. 51% of brands are

On average, brands are publishing Stories 7 days

The optimal number of Stories within a day is up

Brands with less than 10,000 Instagram followers

People tend to drop off more on photos than video

6 people out of 10,000 Stories viewers reply to

Continue reading, and you’ll discover 15+ charts that

1. HALF OF BRANDS ARE USING

If you have Instagram, you have Stories. If you

Brands have adopted video as a key component in

There are several reasons for the success of

Moreover, the video story could be up to 15

Based on our Instagram stats - more than 135,000

51% of brands are using video Stories across all

However, there is a difference between brands

Brands with more than 100,000 followers posted

On the other side, brands with less than 100k

If you haven’t used videos in Stories, the

Users view Instagram Stories in the vertical

9:16 is the standard aspect ratio for Instagram

Keep in mind the Stories interface – Video

The video length is limited to 15 seconds –

Stories expire after 24 hours – Content needs

""The Instagram feed is highly curated and high quality -

Because everything disappears, you don’t have to perfect.

2. BRANDS ARE PUBLISHING STORIES

Our Stories database shows that the average

A deeper analysis of the data reveals that brands

We know that Instagram accounts with more than

However, one of the three most viewed Instagram

3. THE OPTIMAL NUMBER OF STORIES

One of the most important metrics for marketers

The more of a brand’s Stories are viewed by a

The retention rate is computed as a percentage of

According to our Stories insights, we noticed that

The optimal number of Stories within a day is up

However, if you decide to post longer Story

As long as the stories are uploaded at different

As such, it is important for marketers to

4. BRANDS WITH A SMALL AUDIENCE

Handles with less than 10,000 followers have a

Accounts with relatively more followers tend to

Brands that have more than 100,000 followers

But Stories is increasingly becoming the most

In fact, Mark Zuckerberg speaking to Business

Make your instagram stories interactive.

How? Use polls, ask questions (especially “AMAs”) and

Also, experiment with the rating bar function and ask

5. IMPRESSIONS AND REACH ARE

Data on Instagram Stories indicates that a brand