Instagram’s new Stories feature has done nothing short of blow up in the short amount of time since its launch this week. The new addition to the platform has already been snapped up by a handful of beauty brands eager to expand on the success they have experienced on the similar Snapchat. Heavyweights Benefit, L’Oréal and Maybelline have been quick to jump aboard the Stories feature.
L’Oréal utilised the new development to showcase its offices, as well as debut a selection of new products. According to the brand, it got more than 100,000 views on its first Instagram Story and will apply lessons it has learned from Snapchat to Instagram. The brand’s assistant vice president of integrated communications Mora Neilson says: “Influencer takeovers and inside peeks into its offices have worked particularly well for L’Oréal on Snapchat,” with Neilson continuing that L’Oréal will employ a similar strategy with Instagram’s Stories.
Benefit is equally enamoured with the new addition: “Instagram as a whole is a priority for us as a brand because it’s where our girl goes to learn about beauty trends, watch quick make-up tutorials, see new products and follow her favorite brands and creators,” says Benefit social media manager Ginger Pelz.
Dash Hudson brand strategist Mariana Rittenhouse told Glossy that Instagram is an easier minefield for brands to navigate. She says the new feature places all of a given business’ content in the one place, without the annoyance of having to start from scratch when it comes to audience. “Brands were trying to convert their fans to Snapchat for a while but Snapchat is difficult from both a discovery and a strategy perspective. Now they can directly tap into their already established audiences on Instagram to do the same thing, and the analytics make it even more of a draw,” she explains.
