The age old conundrum, we know stories look ‘better’ when they’re designed to fully align with a brand’s creative identity, but we also know that Instagram favours content made in-app. So how much difference does it really make? We put it to the test with one of our clients, Mark Hill.

In order to grow reach and tailor content to suit Instagram's algorithm, we reviewed and adapted our story designs for Mark Hill, moving away from a heavily graphic/ designed style of stories.

Instead, we updated our story strategy to be predominantly built in-app, leveraging interactive Instagram  features such as polls, emoji sliders and in app fonts, which drives audience interactions and boosts engagement, as well as curating a look and feel of a consumer Instagram story rather than a brand, so that the click-through rate for users is reduced

The results?

Well, the proof is in the results and not only did we see story exits decrease but profile visits and link taps increased dramatically. Showing a resounding thumbs up for in-app content.

However, we know that some brands may feel that the Instagram fonts and styles are not ‘on-brand’ and that's why as standard we create ‘in-app’ design guidelines for our clients.

Ensuring consistency and attention to detail our guidelines become an extension of their brand guidelines, meaning better performing content that still feels on brand.