Using Facebook Stories in Your Marketing Strategy: Pros, Cons & Best Practices

These days, it's rare to find a business that isn't using Facebook to promote products or services. Facebook reports there are over 90 million small businesses globally with a presence on the platform. Closer to home in Aotearoa, as of 2022, 59% of New Zealand businesses with six or more employees had an active social media presence.

Marketing on Facebook

Facebook offers a variety of post types, each effective in its own way. One particularly powerful option is Facebook Stories. These should absolutely be part of your social media strategy, as they can be highly effective in sharing content — when used the right way.

Just like any tool, Stories have their pros and cons:

Pros of Facebook Stories

High Visibility & Priority Placement

Stories appear at the top of the Facebook app — often the first thing users see — increasing the chances of engagement.

Authentic, Behind-the-Scenes Content

Perfect for casual updates, behind-the-scenes footage, or quick highlights that don’t require polish. Ideal for content that’s not urgent or detailed. 52% of users prefer Stories that are quick & easy to understand; 50% want to see new products; 46% appreciate tips/advice. Source

Increased Engagement

Stories often generate quicker, more immediate interactions than standard posts because they're designed for fast, frictionless engagement. Interactive features like polls, emoji sliders, question boxes, and clickable stickers make it incredibly easy for users to respond with just a tap. These tools aren’t just fun — they’re highly effective at capturing attention and encouraging low-effort participation.

Cross-Platform Sharing

Stories can be shared across both Facebook and Instagram, saving time while maintaining content consistency. Just ensure it's suitable for both platforms!

Urgency and FOMO

With a 24-hour lifespan, Stories create urgency — ideal for flash sales, limited-time offers, or event countdowns. Because they disappear after a day, Stories naturally prompt your audience to “watch now” or risk missing out.

Insights and Analytics

Business pages on Facebook have access to built-in insights for Stories, which provide a valuable window into how your audience is engaging with your content. You can track key metrics like the number of views, forward and backward taps (which show how quickly people are moving through your content), replies, exits, and overall completion rates. These metrics help you understand what’s working — and what’s not.

Great for Mobile Users

Stories are built for vertical, full-screen mobile viewing — which is great considering 81.8% of Facebook users access the app via mobile. - source

Cons of Facebook Stories

Short Lifespan

The 24-hour window means content can be easily missed. Stories also lack an “anchor” — It's difficult for users to revisit or easily share the content later. Top Tip: If someone responds to a Story, it shows up in your Page inbox without context, which can be confusing.

Not Reader-Friendly

To re-read a Story, users must hold their finger on the screen. If multiple Stories are posted, they have to wait for the loop to restart — not ideal for dense info. In a Root Cause Analysis, view completion for Stories dropped from 85% to 45%, highlighting how users may start a Story but abandon it midway—a sign of diminishing viewer engagement.

Time-Intensive

Stories must be updated frequently to stay relevant, and creating engaging daily content can be a strain on resources. Vertical video ads with audio see 12% higher conversions than those without - source

Not Ideal for All Content

Stories work best for light, snappy updates. They’re not suited for detailed announcements or complex narratives. When to Use Facebook Stories: Promoting an event or sale, Sharing behind-the-scenes footage, Showing a “day in the life” or quick tutorial, User-generated content or shoutouts, Driving urgency or teasing a new product or Promotions or events.

Algorithm & Privacy Issues

Here’s something to keep in mind: not everyone who follows your Page will actually see your Facebook Stories. That’s because, like everything on the platform, Stories are filtered through Facebook’s algorithm. This algorithm prioritizes content it thinks users want to see — based on things like what they’ve liked, commented on, clicked, or watched in the past. If someone hasn’t interacted with your Page much, or has never viewed your Stories, Facebook probably won’t push your content to the top of their feed.

On top of that, there’s a built-in privacy feature — anyone can mute your Stories without you knowing. It only takes a couple of taps, and once it’s done, your Stories just quietly disappear from their view.

Fewer Long-Term Benefits

Because Stories vanish, they don’t contribute to your long-term content library or SEO the way posts or blogs do.

Unlike blog posts or webpages, Stories aren’t indexed by search engines like Google. That means:

• They can’t be discovered via search later.

• They don’t drive organic traffic over time.

• You lose out on keywords, backlinks, and discoverability.

TOP TIP: Always have a balance — think of Stories as the spark, and long-form content as the foundation.

Before Committing to Stories: Test First

Run A/B tests comparing organic feed posts, Story ads, and feed ads. Watch for completion rates and early drop-offs. Adapt based on feedback and data. Ask yourself: What does success look like? Awareness, clicks, conversions, engagement, or retention?

To gain insight, Use Meta Business Suite or Ads Manager to pull the following data:

STORIES	FEED POSTS
Impressions Forward/Backward Taps Exits Clicks on Links/CTAs View Completion Rate	Reach Reactions/Comments/Shares Link Clicks Engagement Rate (% of viewers who interacted)

Always keep reviewing your strategy!

If Stories generate views but low completion, try shorter clips with clear hooks.

If feed posts drive better clicks, repurpose that content into Stories.

If Story ads perform well, lean into vertical content with strong CTAs.

If you're looking to build daily engagement in an authentic, low-pressure way, Facebook Stories can be a valuable asset — but only if they're part of a broader strategy that includes long-term, evergreen content.