Social media platforms have grown both in size and popularity over the years. In today’s digital environment, it’s hard to imagine a business without a social media presence on at least one platform.
Instagram quickly became one of the most popular and prominent social media networks after its launch in 2010, especially after it was acquired by Facebook.
So why did this platform skyrocket in popularity? Because Instagram is purely a visual platform.
Unlike Facebook which combines text and images or Twitter, which is primarily text-based, Instagram focuses on sharing images and videos with your friends and followers.
Visual content, especially in video format, has gained a lot of momentum in recent years, which allowed Instagram to quickly become the primary platform for video content marketing.
This is especially true for Instagram stories where businesses can quickly share information with their followers using various visuals.
However, when it comes to boosting engagement, Instagram stories have certainly made their contribution.
If you’re looking to go above and beyond on your business Instagram to increase engagement, it’s time to consider Instagram story games.
We’ll explain what they are and offer six different options to choose from.
What Are Instagram Story Games?
When people think of games they immediately assume that something playable is involved. Unfortunately, Instagram story games aren’t actually games per se.
They are more like challenges designed to engage your audience and encourage them to participate on your page.
These Instagram challenges became very popular during the recent COVID pandemic lockdowns. It was a fun way to kill boredom when you had little else to do while stuck in your home.
Today, these story games are ideal for boosting audience engagement as this trend has gone mainstream.
How successful and effective these story games will be depends on how creative and innovative you are.
If you get creative enough, you can quickly make your audience show interest in your offers and encourage them to convert.
Let’s look at six different Instagram story game options.
#1: Bingo
Bingo is a timeless classic. Your grandparents likely love it and you’ll certainly enjoy it.
Businesses usually pick a topic related to their products or services or their audience’s preferences.
They encourage followers to fill in the squares with things most relevant to them and then share it further on their stories.
The person who has the most squares filled in wins the game. The prize can be anything from a free trial to a coupon, discount or anything you deem worthy of a prize.
Designing a bingo game requires a proper approach.
You want your audience to recognize your brand so consulting with one of the best digital branding companies would be a good idea before you create this challenge.
The purpose is to generate as much interest and engagement as possible.
#2: Favorites
This is a simple challenge where you create a list of questions, such as favorite actor, food, song, etc. You ask your followers to fill in the gaps and share the story.
This is a great way to boost engagement as many people love these kinds of questionnaires and they’re easy to share.
However, the actual value here is that you get to find out a bit more about your audience and their personal preferences or interests.
This information can prove to be invaluable when creating your next marketing campaign.
#3: Fortune Roulette
This story game is actually fun to play, even more so than bingo. The idea is to create an animated Instagram story. it can be a GIF that flips through various images or animations.
Ask your followers to screenshot which image they managed to capture so that you can reveal their fortune prize in the comments. For this game to work it needs to be well-designed.
Therefore consulting with a professional web design and development company can be a great start. The prizes you choose are entirely up to you. Just make sure the prizes are actually valuable to your audience in some way.
#4: Challenge Games
Challenge story games can quickly go viral thus creating a lot of exposure for your brand. The idea is to challenge your audience to do something.
The safest bet is to draw something then nominate a few audience members to guess what it is. The first one to guess correctly wins.
You can even challenge your followers to come up with their own challenges, but then again, you never know what people might come up with!
#5: 30-Day Song Challenge
This one is pretty amazing because it can truly bring people together and foster a lot of engagement.
As the name suggests, the 30-day song challenge encourages followers to post a song based on the criteria you specified for that day.
For example, the first-day challenge can be to post a favorite song from the 90s. On the second day, followers have to post one of their guilty pleasure songs.
The more creative you are the more fun this game will be and the more engaged your audience will be.
#6: Three Truths and A Lie
Another fun story game to play is three truths and a lie or vice versa.
This is a great way to share your story, reveal things about your brand and encourage followers to reveal something about themselves as well.
The challenge is to post three truths about you or your business and one lie or three lies and one truth so that followers can guess which is which.
It encourages people to engage in this fun game and open up. It strengthens the bond between you and your community, and it helps people get to know each other better.
Instagram is certainly one of the most popular social media platforms today, and it offers numerous possibilities for engagement.
Utilizing its full potential can help boost your business in more ways than one.
If you use Instagram story games the right way, you can establish a more personal and more meaningful relationship with your target audience.