Social media is supposed to be fun. It’s designed to create a sense of community within an audience. To propagate the feeling of belonging and community, what better way than to play games?
Long before Facebook became Meta and Facebook “wall” was a thing, they incorporated the platform with a ton of fun features. Soon after came Instagram, which completely changed the social media world in terms of picture sharing.
In 2016, the audience saw the “stories” feature incorporated into the platform, which became one of the key features of the already popular app. While Snapchat has heavily inspired the story feature, Instagram went a step ahead and made them interactive, thus offering its consumers several reasons to use it.
Through interactive stories came the phenomenon of Instagram games as we now know them. Insta story games include anything from book challenges to picking out the right answer between a few choices and even fun polls.
Source: Instagram
So Instagram is pretty fun. If you’re following the right people, scrolling through the app can get you hooked for hours on end.
What if there was a way for you to enjoy the platform and engage your audience at the same time?
When COVID initially hit, Instagram stories story and post games rose to huge popularity. Quarantine brought out the best in people and they came out with the most interesting games and challenges to keep themselves entertained.
These challenges were simple to follow and easy to execute and ranged from having a “song calendar” for the entire month to “art challenges” and, of course, the classic “tag 5 friends to share similar pictures” and a lot more.
These games require no additional software, or challenging skills but easy execution and that too within the app. Easy access to them is one of the primary reasons that makes these games popular.
A business only needs a good idea to get going and they’re halfway there!
Source: Instagram
Since its inception, they have designed Instagram games in a way that encourages promotion. As the game or challenge is shared, more people notice you.
For example, tagging influencers to take part in a game will start a cycle of continuation. They will share the game with their followers and if they choose to take part and tag other people, the word about your brand will inevitably spread.
Not to mention, it’s always better to boost your brand name in a playful manner rather than sales-y.
A tip: make sure to always watermark your original game challenges.
An increase in engagement is perhaps the quickest benefit that a brand can see by optimally using trendy insta story games.
Magnetic Marketing recently held a fun Q&A and though the activity wasn’t strictly in the games category, we saw a whopping 900% increase in engagement!
A tip: Tag influencers in your games to ensure optimal engagement levels!
Another significant benefit that these games offer is product promotions. These can vary from unique challenges, for example, sharing pictures of the product at different locations, alternative use for it, etcetera.
Arguably, the “this or that Instagram” game is the most played amongst all that we’re going to be talking about. Why? Because they’re interesting, require minimum effort and allow people to express their preferences.
To play this game, you can compile a list of opposites, ask (would you rather / this or that) and have your audience members engage. They can screenshot your story, mark their answers, re-upload and tag you.
To make this game more engagement intensive, you can also ask them to share the game with their friends or insert a simple one-liner like, “share your answers with friends and see what they pick!”.
The list of items can either be industry specific or completely generic. For example, makeup companies can have their audience choose between mascara/liner, lipstick/blush, brow gel/pencil, etc.
Source: Instagram
The game Instagram story questions is another popular engagement magnet that entails a business asking a question and leaving a few options (you can go up to 4) for the audience to choose from.
The questions can be funny, generic, or even industry-specific.
For example, if you’re a food business owner, you can ask your audience, “What’s the most important meal of the day?” with the options:
To aid creators, Instagram also enables the page owner to choose the correct answer. Therefore, audience members can view if their answer was right or wrong right as they click on one option.
You can prepare a questionnaire by first selecting a picture from your camera roll/taking a fresh one. Go to the creators' options in the top right corner. Once the menu opens, choose the “Quiz” tab and proceed.
Step 1: Click the tab shown below
Step 2: Choose the “Quiz” tab at the bottom.
Instagram story games poll are the third most enjoyable and easily executable on our list. This can also be another version of the ‘this or that’ game.
One of the most popular Instagram accounts that use the format is fashion blogs, where they have their followers to choose between looks/accessories, etcetera.
Source: Instagram
Need some help to come up with your own Instagram games? Have a look at the list below.
Turn your followers into artists by having them draw a specific image as per your brief and have them tag you in their artwork!
This game can be a real brain teaser! Ask a question and have your followers choose the correct answer. Influencers mostly played three truths and a lie
The GIF challenge entails creating a template. The phrases could be anything! Your audience will need to screenshot the template, edit it with their desired GIFs and post it on their stories (and tag you, of course).
You can post the winner in your stories!
In conclusion, Instagram is a super fun social media platform and in the end, the purpose of Instagram story games boils down to human interaction. While people love scrolling through it and enjoy looking at curated feeds, these games play a key role for which they created these apps; communication.
Add Instagram story games in your next social media marketing plan to reap the benefits of this strategy. The best part? They are just as interesting to make as they are to play!
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