Instagram Stories are a fantastic opportunity for anyone looking to connect with a social audience. The feature now has over 500 million daily active users and according to a recent Facebook Business Webinar, 58% of Story viewers became more interested in a brand after watching them featured within a Story.

In that webinar, Facebook also shared its key insights into what makes an amazing and impactful Story. Here are the key elements to consider:

• Creative elements - Facebook says that 56% of the brand’s sales lift can be attributed to the quality of the creative.
• Grab Attention - An impactful first frame is a must, and you should consider using speed as an element to maintain their attention.
• Sound on - Facebook found that 80% of Stories with voice-over or music drove better results than ads without.
• Begin with your brand - Due to the speed users to through Stories, Facebook found that top-performing ads integrated branding and key messages at the start
• Call your audience to action - Facebook found that there was an 89% chance of campaigns which emphasized a CTA (like ‘swipe up to shop’) would drive more conversions than those that did not.
• Mix static with motion - Campaigns with a mixture of static image and animation have an 86% chance of driving higher value for lower-funnel metrics than video or static-only assets.

Facebook's team were keen to point out that, despite these learnings, there is no single formula for a universally impactful Instagram Story. What’s right for you will vary on your brand and audience.

Try out these tips, and keep a close eye on your Instagram Business analytics so you can gauge the impact they're having, and further refine your strategy.