All About Instagram Stories

If you have Instagram, you have probably noticed, and watched, the Stories feature. While other social media platforms also allow you to post stories, Instagram’s is unique in all of the ways that you can use it. If you haven’t tried using Instagram Stories for yourself yet, now is the time! Here are some tips and tricks to make the most of your Story.

What Is An Instagram Story?

In case you are unfamiliar, Instagram Stories are pictures, videos, or other media that you share for 24 hours before they disappear. They are fantastic for announcements, for pictures you don’t want permanently on your feed, or for fun content you want to temporarily share with your audience. Stories also tend to be more visible, so there is less of a chance that yours is getting lost in your audience’s feed.

How To Create A Good Story:

Creating a basic Instagram Story isn’t difficult, but if you want to catch your audience’s attention you need to get creative! There are so many ways you can use Stories to have fun promoting your brand and building relationships with your audience, but here are some ideas to get you started.

Add A Link:

If you are advertising one of your products, a new feature you have, or anything else that might require your followers to leave your page, add a link! This allows your audience to swipe up and go directly to the page that they are looking for. Doing this can be a huge game-changer and make-or-break your sales. By taking any difficultly out of the process, you are much more likely to gain interest. The only downside is that you have to reach 10,000 followers before this feature is available. IGTV (Instagram TV, which allows you to make longer videos) offers a loophole to this by letting you add links in the caption of your videos. Although it’s not the same, it’s better than nothing!

Make Interactive Stories:

One of the best parts about Instagram Stories is how interactive you can make them. Instagram offers different poll options, Q&A, and multiple choice answers. Not only is this a fun way to get customers to interact with you, but it can be a great way to get information and see what your customers are loving. If you use the Q&A feature, you have the options to share some, or all, of the responses. The multiple-choice can be two or more answers and is fun for playing “This Or That”, or voting on your audience’s favorite things.

Go Live:

Instagram allows you to film videos in real-time, which your audience can watch and interact with. If you choose to do an Instagram Live, be prepared with any topics you want to discuss or questions you want to ask. There is a question sticker available for these videos if you choose to ask your audience a question. If you want to collaborate with someone else, there is also an option to do a joint video!

Instagram Stories are a fun way to show off your creativity and interact with your audience. Although it is a good idea to keep your Instagram grid in mind when creating your stories, this is a great opportunity to play with colors, fonts, and anything else you do not want to commit to on your profile. Do you use Instagram Stories? What are your favorite features?