Web Stories: How to embed them on the Website [+Examples]

Web Stories offer brands an immersive way to capture attention, boost engagement, and drive action. Unlike social media stories, which disappear after 24 hours, they live permanently on the brand’s website.

However, creating the stories on social media is just the first step. To maximize its impact, you need to strategically embed them across your website.

In this article, we’ll explain what Web Stories are, how they differ from social media stories, and where you should embed them on your website. Plus, we’ll show you why tools like Flowbox can help you to embed Stories easily.

What Are Web Stories

Web Stories are a mobile first visual content format. They can be embedded directly on your website and are inspired by the familiar Stories format from social media platforms like Instagram and Snapchat. Web Stories are designed to be owned content, hosted by you and fully indexable by search engines like Google.

Web Stories are a mobile first visual content format that can be embedded directly on your website and are designed to be owned content.

Unlike Social Media Stories, Web Stories don’t expire after 24 hours and can drive continuous organic traffic from Google Search, Discover, and Images.

Think of them as your opportunity to capture attention, boost engagement, and rank higher, all with tappable and immersive content.

Web Stories Vs Social Media Stories

While the format may seem similar at first glance, Web Stories and social media Stories have key differences:

• Ownership: Web Stories give you full control of the content since they’re hosted on your website. Social Media Stories are controlled by the social platform.
• Discoverability: Web Stories are indexed by Google. Social Media Stories are limited to app users.
• Lifespan: Web Stories are permanent, and you can keep them for as long as you need. Social Media Stories often expire after 24 hours.
• Customisation: Web Stories are fully customisable, and you have full control over how to create them. Social Media Stories are based on platform templates, and the customisation is limited.
• Analytics: Use your own data and insights to measure the success of your Web Stories. Limit yourself to the platform-restricted data to measure the Social Media Stories’ impact.
• Monetization: Web Stories can be monetised in different ways, over a long period of time, and even changed over time. Social Media Stories have limited monetisation options based on the Social Media platform’s rules.

Web Stories give you ownership, visibility, and longevity that social platforms can’t. They provide more control over the created content, and the results can last longer.

Benefits of Web Stories for your eCommerce

Adding Web Stories to your website can deliver a range of benefits:

1. Enhance User Engagement: Visual, interactive content keeps users tapping and exploring longer.
2. Improve Mobile UX: made for mobile first browsing, delivering fast and fluid experiences.
3. Increase Time on Site: Users consume more content in story format, positively impacting your site metrics.
4. Boost Organic Traffic: they appear in Google Search results, Google Discover, and even in Google Images.
5. Conversions and sales: Add CTAs, links, and even forms.
6. Monetization Opportunities: Embed ads, affiliate links, or promotional offers inside your stories.

How Web Stories benefit your Content Marketing Strategy

Web Stories can become a powerful pillar of your content marketing strategy. They extend your content reach by being SEO-friendly, drive more engagement, reduce content creation costs by repurposing existing content from users on your social media channels, and help you build a visual brand identity.

Also, they are a highly effective tool for driving conversions, providing a direct and evident value to the created content.

Where to embed your Web Stories across the Website

To maximize the impact of your Stories, it’s important to place them where they can naturally enhance the user experience and drive engagement. Here are the best areas to embed them within your website:

Homepage

Embedding your best Web Stories on the homepage can immediately capture attention. They create an immersive and interactive entry point into your brand world, and usually help users discover interesting products of your brand and get inspired by other customers.

Tips for embedding Stories on the homepage:

• Inspire your users by showcasing the highest quality stories here.
• Showcase trending products or collections.
• Highlight important brand news or campaigns.
• Give a dynamic overview of your product or service offering.

Community Page

Web Stories on community pages are a great way to highlight authentic customer experiences. If you don’t have one, we recommend that you create it. This page is usually a Lookbook, Instagram Shop, or Community page that showcases content from creators, influencers, brand ambassadors, etc. It helps to build trust and loyalty by showing real people engaging with your brand.

Tips for embedding Stories on the community page:

• Share customer reviews in a visual format, using story-styled photos or videos.
• Feature real-life product usage stories from your customers.
• Promote community-driven campaigns to enhance authenticity.

Product Pages

Adding Web Stories to product pages helps bring your offerings to life. It also provides the users with more detailed and visual information about your products. This visual storytelling enhances product understanding and can help drive more conversions.

Tips for embedding Stories on the product pages:

• Highlight your products’ key features and benefits.
• Show tutorials, demos, or unboxing experiences.
• Share quick tips or FAQs.
• Demonstrate how to use your product best and gain some social proof.

Category Pages

Web Stories on category pages can make browsing and discovering products easier for users. They encourage exploration and make it easier for customers to find products they’ll love. They are also more cost-effective than professional and catalogue photos.

Tips for embedding Stories on the category pages:

• Introduce new product arrivals.
• Feature bestsellers or seasonal picks.
• Present curated collections.
• Save money by leveraging authentic content generated by users.

Blog Articles

Web Stories complement long-form blog posts. Enrich them by embedding Web Stories that summarize, illustrate, or extend the article’s topic. They keep readers engaged longer and provide multiple ways to consume your content.

Tips for embedding Stories in blog articles:

• Add a quick visual recap of the article’s key points.
• Include a how-to guide in story format.
• Show case studies or success stories.

Flowbox: the best tool for embedding Web Stories

Flowbox is the ultimate solution for creating and embedding Web Stories.

If you’re looking for a simple, powerful way to integrate user-generated content or branded content with the Stories format, the platform offers a set of tools that can save you time by automating the majority of the required tasks.

You can even give them the bubble style of Instagram Highlights. If you click the bubbles, the video will pop up. As shown in the video, you can use the arrows to navigate through the Stories. This allows your users to quickly identify the format and engage with a more visual content type on your website.

The stories are a fun way to show your company’s team members and vibe (like we do at Flowbox); or you can add them to your product pages to better explain product functionalities and benefits.

Discover how Flowbox’s tools can help you embed stories on your website:

Automate workflows to collect and distribute stories effortlessly with Flowbox

• Collect your branded or user-generated content through Flowbox’s collection tools, and this valuable content will be automatically added to your dashboard for moderation.
• You can use usernames, mentions, tags, and hashtags as social media collection sources or add a link for users to send the content directly using the Media Uploader feature.
• Ask for the media rights of all the received content from one dashboard, leveraging customisable templates.
• Embed your Web Stories across your different channels.
• Add products from your catalogue and tags to the content pieces to add them to Dynamic Flows or manually distribute them to Static Flows.
• Customise layouts, animations, and branding to fit your site perfectly.
• Plan, create, schedule and publish content on your social media channels via Flowbox’s Publish tool.
• Measure your content results with Flowbox’s Analytics features. Analyse performance with integrated insights and reporting.

Web Stories FAQs