4 original ways to use your web stories

Web stories are slowly but surely becoming a widespread marketing tool. Whether it is short videos, animated content, or static images web stories have proved time and time again how effective they can be in capturing and maintaining viewers' attention. But, we are still surprised to see that few companies actually use web stories to their full potential. Most stick with standard methods of posting web stories on social media, or placing them in their emails. Fortunately, there are other, more creative ways to use web stories to boost your brand and improve your marketing. So, let's explore 4 original ways to use your web stories.

4 original ways to use your web stories

Web stories are simply a type of content. As such, there is essentially no limit to how creative you can be when using them. The better you understand your brand and how it is perceived by customers, the more ideas you'll find on how to use web stories.

Landing pages

The landing page of your website is effectively the first impression your customers will have with your brand. They might get an idea of what your brand is like through your content. But, once they decide that they are interested in your brand, they will head to your landing page. And only there will they get your full brand impression. As such it is necessary to make your landing page as engaging as possible. In this regard, web stories shine as an integral part of your website.

‍

What you ought to set out to do is to consider the core message you are trying to convey to your customers. Know that once they notice a web story, their attention will be glued to it. Therefore, web stories are ideal for presenting the core idea of your brand. Outlining and properly verbalizing the core idea of your company is essential for proper branding. This is why, if you haven't done it so far, we would advise you to research branding in general and develop your core idea. Once you do that, you can easily add web stories to your website, and ensure that they encompass the core idea of your brand.

Featured products on a website

Another option for web stories is to use them for product promotion. While this is often the case in online stores and apps, few marketing managers actually use them for websites. But, even if your website isn't strictly a commercial one, you can still use web stories to feature products.

Keep in mind that web stories are a dynamic type of content. Therefore, you can pick and choose which products you will push to different customers. This is mostly done for personalization. By monitoring customers' behaviour on your website you can effectively deduce what type of products they would be interested in. Once you know that, you can look to personalize their experience on your website and ensure they enjoy your brand.

Cart abandonment reminders

Since we've already covered how you can use web stories to improve your store, we won't get into much detail here. Instead, we will give you one example where we feel web stories shine. Namely, it is by no means uncommon that people to put items into carts and forgo finalizing their purchases. This is usually due to them getting sidetracked. They either keep scrolling through your website to find out more. Or they postpone their purchase due to not being sure. Whatever the case, it is in your best interest to periodically remind them about their cart.

‍

‍

Web stories, as the type of dynamic and engaging content, works wonders here. While reminding your customers about their cart, you can look to recommend further products that they would find interesting. If you've run your online store for any notable amount of time, you've probably noticed that certain items go well together. By tracking what your customers have put in their carts, you can easily use web stories to recommend such items.

Product backgrounds

We live in an age where people like to know that they are getting their money's worth. Everyone knows that brands (no matter how well known they are) are no indication of quality. Especially if they cannot explain what makes their product better than the rest. Unfortunately, it can be tough to find decent ways of presenting product backgrounds and keeping your customers engaged with your brand. If your explanation is too long, you will likely bore the customer and lose them. If your explanation is too short, the customer might feel as if you are trying to hide something from them. So, what are you to do? Well, web stories give you an easy solution.

Firstly, web stories are engaging by design. Modern viewers prefer to see content in web story format. That is one of the main reasons why so many social media platforms place story content front and centre. Secondly, with web stories, you have a ton of options when it comes to design. For various visual elements, to different types of animations and transitions. With these, you can look to make your product background interesting, and help excite customers about their purchase. Finally, with web stories, you won't clutter up your website. Web stories can easily stand alone as content. You can have QR codes leading to them. Or you can have them featured on a specific page. Since customers see them as standalone content, they won't clutter up your page, regardless of how big they are.

‍

‍

Creating web stories

These are just some of the many original ways to use your web stories. The reason why web stories can be used in so many different ways is that they are quite flexible when it comes to design. Keep in mind that there is no set of rules that dictate how long a web story should be, or what it should contain.

‍

‍

You can create a story content with 20 pages outlining in detail the steps of creating a product. And you can have single-page web storytelling your customers that their cart is waiting for them. Your web stories can contain paragraphs explaining the ins and out of your products. And it can solely use visual elements to excite your viewers about your brand. The only limitation is how creative you are, and how well you are able to incorporate your web stories with the rest of your online presence.

Final thoughts

The one thing we would recommend is that you first grow to understand what web stories offer, and then pinpoint the aspects of your web presence where they shine. While they are potent, web stories cannot be the end-all of your brand. Their best use is when you highlight the aspects of your online presence that you deem important. If you need some inspiration to find original ways to use your web stories, we would advise you to check Google and Shopify. There you can find a ton of examples of what web stories can be, and how they help their brand find and maintain a decent audience.

‍