They were born on Snapchat, but with Instagram, they boomed even on Facebook, Twitter and recently Linkedin. We are talking about Stories, the most loved digital format on social media, allowing creators to have a more engaging and direct experience with their audience and followers.
Since the past few months, Google introduced Stories too. They are called Google AMP Stories, with a format used on websites, blogs and online magazines, outside of social media, with some differences.
What are AMP Stories, and how can they be useful for event content marketing?
This article will explain to you all the above, starting from how AMP stories work, to how they can improve your event’s engagement.
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What are Google AMP Stories
They are a new format created by Google in their AMP technology (Accelerated Mobile Pages), which are the pages that upload more easily, like Google News, visible on both mobile and desktop.
Essentially, for what concerns the usage, there is no difference with stories we all know: they split into pages, you can skip them, and they are a way to storytell content to your audience in short episodes.
They are in a vertical format and thought for users that want to consume quick content but equally enjoy nice pictures with a short text. In regards to this, Google gave the following suggestions: text should be between 24 characters (with spaces) up to 200, and every AMP story should be between 4 and 30 pages.
Therefore, Google AMP Stories are content, divided into episodes, with text, images and even audio and video. These features are the same as Instagram Stories.
Here’s a video on how to create a Google AMP Story and a few opinions about it:
The Pros of Google AMP Stories for event organisers
Compared to other social media’s stories, Google AMP Stories have several advantages for event professionals, but we can focus on two main ones:
- they have a URL; therefore, they are easily reached on Google if working efficiently with SEO (Search Engine Optimisation). To make that work, you should always rely on a professional or keep in mind how search engines work to rank content in answer to users queries. Therefore, a person could potentially find your event through a Google AMP Story, a blog article or the website itself.
- That’s why this format interests meeting planners in particular: it’s an additional tool to be found by your target audience. Google search engine will find it not through the event name itself but more through the subject, location or skills involved.
Google AMP Stories Pre-event
The above Pros stand for the pre-event phase too. You can create AMP stories that talk about your event schedule and take advantage of this alternative tool to attract your target audience. For example, remember to include a CTA (Call To Action), guiding them to register for the event.
Google AMP Stories During events
Google AMP Stories can be used during the event too, especially if you want to share your event’s highlights or news, for example in the health industry, as updates are always needed (and they may be searched online later on).
Google AMP Stories Post-event
Based on your event outcome, you can create content such as “10 key takeaways”, made in 10 AMP stories episodes. You can even post an interview in an AMP story format and much more. What matters here is how your AMP stories flow, so that users are engaged to watch the next one without skipping or leaving altogether. And don’t forget your CTA.
If you use your Google AMP Stories properly, they will increase your website or specific pages website (depending on your Call To Action), and they will increase time spent on your website too, helping you rank even further on Google.
Some excellent examples of Google AMP stories are from the Washington Post and the CNN.
What people are saying about it
Neilpatel.com explains AMP stories quite in-depth. On the page stories.google, which is the AMP stories search engine, you can find more examples worldwide.
Pleased to see changes to #Google AMP (Accelerated Mobile Pages). The new feature will use AMP HTML to deliver ‘stories’ to your audiences. We love this as a way of delivering interactive #content with rich visuals https://t.co/3PRvZ7Z0Gt #DigitalMarketing #Macclesfield #Cheshire
— Gumpo (@GumpoGumpo) March 2, 2018
Thilina Heenatigala @CAPconference : Social media trends to watch in 2018 include Instagram stories, astronomy influencers to lead engagement, and Accelerated Mobile Pages (AMP) stories. @ThilinaH #CAP2018
— SKA SA Outreach (@skasa_outreach) March 24, 2018
What do you think of Google AMP Stories? Let us know in the comments below, or reach out to us.
About Rox Event Staff, Event Staffing Agency in London
Rox Event Staff is the only event staffing agency in London that helps you take the headache out of staffing and event marketing in one place.
We operate nationwide across the UK with over 2,000 dynamic COVID-19 trained events staff on our growing roster. We have dedicated account management, event marketers, staff’s right-to-work checks, training and skills tests on all workers, taking care of payroll too.
HIRING A PROFESSIONAL EVENT STAFFING AGENCY LEAVES YOU FREE TO FOCUS ON YOUR BUSINESS!
Get in touch to let us know your requirements. We will let you know how we can make that happen.
