Your 5 Step Guide to Creating a Great Instagram Story
1. Plan ahead.
Like all great stories, plan a beginning, an end, and most importantly, stick to the plot! The beginning posts of your IG story must be attention grabbing for your audience. This is when you announce you’re about to tell an amazing story and create a screen tapping hook that yells, “Hey, something cool is about to happen!”
Next, know what the most important parts of your story are and make sure to stick to them in a timely manner. For example, if a boutique is having an anniversary celebration with a sample sale, treats, drinks and a special guest appearance – you want to hit all these points in the core middle of your story with just a few efficient posts. Remember to be straight to the point. If you stray away from your plot by creating too long of a story, you risk losing your viewers along the way.
Lastly, wrap up it up by leaving a farewell message. You just walked your viewers through an experience, so like any good host, thank them for joining you and invite them to stay tuned for future events.
2. Mix up your content.
Here is where you show that you are not just a one trick wonder. Mix up your content to keep your audience on their toes. How? Combine photos with hyper lapsed videos, boomerangs, step-by-step photos, etc.
3. Break out your IG toolbox.
Instagram is there to help you succeed, so make the most of it. Take time to explore all the tools available within the app.
Writing techniques – play up your captions with different writing styles. Whether it’s writing with text and colored backgrounds, or handwriting. Bonus design tip: combine text with handwritten words!
Add-ons – tap the sticker icon in the upper left corner to uncover a multitude of fun stickers, captions, location, time, hashtag icons and the newly added polling option. These are fun ways to engage with your audience while still adding valuable information to your story.
Tagging – IG makes it easy to tag anyone in your story by simply typing in “@“ followed by the IG username. This will create a direct link to their page when tapped.
Filters – swipe the screen and unlock fun in-app photo editing options to jazz up your shot.
4. Think outside the app.
While Instagram gives you some pretty great in-app tools, there’s no harm in looking to see what else is out there, right? Photo editing apps like Foodie and VSCO are great places to take your photo editing to the next level. Pro tip: Use a gif making app to string together multiple pictures. Post the gif and ta-da! You just posted 4 posts in 1, now your story won’t be too long!
5. Save your work!
Congrats! You just orchestrated a masterpiece, so save it! Instagram stories are only live for 24-hours, so saving your story as a video makes it timeless and allows you to report on engagement and reach. Expand the lifetime of your story by posting on other social media channels for further exposure and audience engagement.