5 Pittsburgh Businesses Killing the InstaStory Game Daily
Leah Rowan
When InstaStories were first brought to the market by Instagram in 2016, the backlash as a result of the similarities to Snapchat was endless. But while people were complaining, businesses figured out InstaStories were the perfect partner - helping them to promote their business and products.
These 5 Pittsburgh businesses use their InstaStories particularly well to engage with their followers and customers - bringing attention to their products, hours, and announcements.
@relish.pgh – a vegan bakery known for providing donuts to local food and coffee spots posts daily so their followers can find them. When they are at 330 Pearl Street, they make sure to post their hours with a potential food item you can grab. They also post purely for promotional reasons. Not only do they sell sweet vegan treats, but they also experiment with local chefs to make plant based food items. Their InstaStory is an excellent way for them to be able to show off all of their items they provide and allow viewers to build up their appetite while also being extremely informative.
@no14boutique – a chic little boutique is what they call themselves in their Instagram bio and they could not be more correct! They do almost all, if not all, of their business through Instagram. The owner posts a story daily self-modelling various items and even selling those items right off of her own body! She talks about the posts on her Instagram feed in her story and showcases different pieces from it, giving all of the details. She typically sells out of every product she posts about that day. Trying on different pieces and being able to talk about them from personal experience is a great technique for promoting products and she kills it!
@bramblerboutiquepgh – This boutique, specializing in a wide array of products for families - from pregnancy through toddlerhood - catches your eye when you are going through your InstaStories! They have the cutest toys for all different types of playing. Their InstaStories target many different audiences and the captions grab your attention. Brambler Boutique shows groups of different types of toys together that might intrigue a parent. They also promote products that have been doing well and that are almost out of stock - so you can be sure to get yours!
@vintagealleyrentalspgh – a Pittsburgh business providing vintage rentals for special events uniquely promotes their products through their InstaStories. They make use of tagging other businesses they are working with that day and will usually take a picture of one of the available products you can rent from them as the backdrop for the post. This is an excellent technique to show items that you may not think of when you think of Vintage Alley Rentals. Tagging other businesses is a great strategy that will help each company!
@highwayrobberyvintage – a vintage apparel shop for men and women sell many of their items directly from their Instagram page. Their brick and mortar storefront was recently shut down due to some structural issues and they never let that stop them! They used Instagram and their InstaStories to inform their customers of the issue while also still selling their products. They have selling through InstaStories down to a science. For each product they post they give a short description including the type of clothing, decade it’s from, the size, and the price you’ll pay to have it in your collection! They also let viewers know when something has been sold, using the original photo with simple lettering over it informing their followers of the sale. This technique of selling through their InstaStories makes their customers coming back daily for more!
These companies are proving the necessity of being open to new social media updates and figuring out how to use them for their benefit. Using just one of their techniques can help a company build their social media presence.