If you have been told that you need to “show up on Stories every day” to make sales, you have probably tried it. You post your morning coffee. Share a little behind the scenes. Repost your latest Reel. Add a poll because someone told you engagement stickers are good. Later, you remember you are supposed to actually sell something, so you add your product link. And then… not much happens. Maybe people watched the first few slides. Maybe you got a couple of poll votes. But by the time you finally mentioned your offer, most of those viewers had disappeared. It is easy to look at that and decide that Stories simply do not work for you. But often the problem is much simpler: you are posting Stories, but you are not actually taking your viewer anywhere. That is a very different problem. ## Stories need more than consistency 👀 Consistency matters. If you disappear for weeks at a time, it is obviously difficult to build familiarity with an audience. But simply posting every day does not automatically make your Stories effective. You can be incredibly consistent at posting **disconnected updates** that give somebody absolutely no reason to tap to the next slide. This is where I think a lot of the usual Story advice falls short. We are told what to post, behind the scenes, polls, tips, proof, lifestyle, offers, without necessarily being shown how those pieces should work together. So we end up treating Stories like individual posts. Coffee. Poll. Quote. Reposted Reel. Product link. Technically, you showed up. But what connected those things? Nothing. A stronger way to think about Stories is as a **sequence** rather than a collection of random slides. ## The first Story has one very important job Your first Story does not need to explain everything. It needs to give the right person a reason to watch the second one. That might be a thought they recognise, a problem they are experiencing, something that happened to you, an opinion, a question or even a little curiosity about what comes next. For example, imagine your audience is made up of new digital marketers who are posting consistently but struggling to make sales. You could start with: “You know what’s frustrating? Finally getting people to watch your Stories… and watching the views disappear the second you start talking about your offer.” Someone experiencing that problem immediately knows the Story is relevant to them. Now they have a reason to keep watching. Compare that with opening with a generic motivational quote or an unrelated repost. Neither is necessarily bad content, but neither creates much curiosity about what comes next. That little difference matters. ## Every slide should make the next one make sense 🧩 This is where Stories become much easier to create. Instead of asking yourself, What else can I post today?, ask: What naturally comes next? If the first Story introduces a problem, the next one could explain why it happens. The next could show something you changed. Then you might share a result, example or small solution. If you have an offer that helps solve the bigger problem, now there is a natural reason to mention it. The viewer is following a thought rather than watching a collection of unrelated updates. That does not mean every Story sequence needs to become a sales sequence. Sometimes the destination is simply a conversation. Sometimes you want somebody to reply. Sometimes you are building connection or sharing something useful. But when you do want to sell, **sequencing gives the offer context**. It stops feeling like you suddenly remembered halfway through the day that you have something to sell. 😅 ## You can sell without making every slide a pitch One reason people avoid selling on Stories is because they do not want to annoy their audience. And I understand that. Nobody wants to open somebody's Stories and see 14 consecutive slides screaming about the same product. But the alternative should not be hiding your offer so well that nobody knows it exists. Selling can simply be part of the conversation. Imagine you sell a course teaching people how to create an AI avatar because your audience wants to build a faceless business without spending hours filming content. You could start by talking about the frustration of wanting to create Reels but not wanting to get camera-ready every day. From there, you could talk about how much time filming actually takes, show how an AI avatar changes that process and then introduce the course that teaches someone how to create one. The product did not appear randomly. It became relevant because of the conversation that came before it. That is what **good Story selling** should feel like. ## Your everyday Stories can still have personality 🤍 None of this means you need to turn your Stories into one giant marketing funnel. Please keep the coffee. Share your day. Share what you are working on. Show the ridiculous thing that happened while you were trying to get something done. Talk about what you are learning. Share opinions. Ask questions. Those things help people get to know the person behind the account. This is particularly important for faceless creators. You may not be showing your face, but that does not mean your Stories need to feel anonymous. Your humour, thoughts, opinions, experiences and way of communicating can create just as much personality. The difference is being a little more intentional. Instead of sharing something simply because you feel like you “need another Story,” think about what it gives the person watching. Does it create connection? Start a conversation? Build curiosity? Show proof? Teach something? Introduce a problem? Lead somewhere? Not every Story needs a business purpose, but your Stories overall should support the business you are trying to build. ## One of the biggest Story problems is drop-off 📉 This is something worth paying attention to. Look at the number of people watching your first Story and compare it with the number still there several slides later. Some drop-off is completely normal. People get distracted, close Instagram or simply decide they are not interested. But if your views consistently fall away long before you reach your offer, that is useful information. Instead of immediately deciding that you need more followers, look at what happens between those slides. Did you take too long to get to the point? Did the Story suddenly change topic? Was there anything creating curiosity about what came next? Did you use eight slides to explain something that could have been said in three? Sometimes the problem is not the size of the audience. It is what happens to their attention after they arrive. ## A simple way to think about a selling sequence 🎯 You do not need 15 slides or some enormous complicated Story funnel. Start by thinking in four simple stages. First, name the moment. Talk about something your buyer is currently experiencing. Make it specific enough that the right person recognises themselves. Then, help them understand it. Explain what might actually be happening or challenge the assumption they have about the problem. Next, give them something useful. This could be a small shift, example, insight or thing they can try. Finally, show them the next step. If your offer genuinely helps with the bigger problem, this is where it belongs. The sequence works because each part earns the next. You are not holding back all the value until somebody pays you. You are helping them with one small piece while also showing them that there is a bigger problem worth solving. ## This is exactly why [The Story Plug](/recommends/the-story-plug) makes sense 🔌 If you understand the idea of selling through Stories but still find yourself staring at a blank screen wondering what to actually post, this is where [The Story Plug](/recommends/the-story-plug) comes in. The problem it solves is not simply “I need more Story ideas.” It is the disconnect between showing up on Stories and knowing how to use those Stories strategically. Because coming up with random slides is relatively easy. Creating Stories that hold attention, create connection, build towards an offer and still sound like a normal human being is the harder part. That is why I would look at [The Story Plug](/recommends/the-story-plug) if you already know Stories should be part of your selling strategy but you need help actually putting that strategy into practice. Instead of waking up every morning thinking, What the hell am I supposed to put on Stories today?, you have something to help you plug that gap. 🔌 ✨ ## Your Stories do not need to be perfect You do not need cinematic B-roll. You do not need to show your face. You do not need to spend an hour designing every slide. And you definitely do not need to turn your entire day into content. What matters much more is whether the person watching has a reason to stay. Start with something they recognise. Keep the idea moving. Give them something useful. And when there is a natural connection to what you sell, make the offer. Because the goal is not simply to be able to say: “I posted on Stories today.” The goal is to make those Stories actually do something. 💸 And if you are tired of guessing what to post, how to structure it and how to move naturally from everyday content into selling, [The Story Plug](/recommends/the-story-plug) is the resource I would look at next.