Instagram Stories are a Temporary Win for Brands on the Network

If there's one truth about social media, it's that younger generations tend to flock to the networks older generations have yet to discover. This is certainly one of the appeals of Snapchat at the moment, so is Instagram's copycat version failed to doom?

Instagram took a "story" from Snapchat's book by announcing users can now post clips of their days, which will be compiled into a slideshow and disappear after 24 hours. These stories will not stay on a person's profile (unless specifically noted) and will not appear in the news feed, rather on a bar on top of their feed so there is no worry of "over posting." 

Sound familiar? It's the same concept as Snapchat, really. On one hand, it's smart of Instagram to try and steal some of the thunder from Snapchat (and win back some users). On the other, it's a little dirty. For brands, however, it's a temporary win.

There is currently no word that some stories are prioritized over another. If a person wants to follow a business profile's story, they can by simply selecting it from the horizontal bar on top their feed. It's important for brands to get in on stories early, as organic reach in the feed is slipping and by being an early adopter, their followers may actively seek their stories once Instagram publicly puts an algorithm on them. The other brand advantage is that companies have likely already built an Instagram following, so if stories catch on, they may not have to start organically building a fan base on Snapchat, which currently does not have that many business options, although there is potential.