Instagram is a prominent social media website, with an estimated 1.35 billion users as of 2023. That number is expected to rise further, reaching 1.44 billion by 2025. Instagram Stories have become a huge deal. Nearly 500 million individuals use mobile devices daily to create and watch Instagram Stories.
They have grown so popular that 83% of marketers intend to utilize Stories for influencer marketing. They are tap-friendly and time-sensitive, making them quite enticing to the ordinary Instagram user.
Instagram Stories include a variety of built-in features and functionalities. However, they might be challenging to find and use. Continue reading to learn everything you need about using Instagram Stories to take advantage of the app’s valuable real estate at the top.
What are Instagram Stories?
Instagram Stories are short-lived photo or video collections that vanish from your profile after 24 hours. They provide a separate section from your main feed, presenting as a slideshow where each upload is a new slide. Photos last for seven seconds, and videos can be up to fifteen seconds long.
When you post a new Story, a colorful ring appears around your profile picture, alerting your followers to fresh content. Although Stories vanish after a day, you can preserve your favorite slideshows as Highlights showcased on your profile above your regular feed.
Users can engage with Stories by sending direct messages or interacting with features like polls and stickers. Additionally, unique captions, overlays, and custom music enable you to infuse creativity into your Stories.
Consider Stories an exclusive, supplementary feed tailored to your most dedicated followers.
Why Use Instagram Stories?
Integrating Instagram Stories into your content strategy offers numerous benefits, with recent statistics highlighting their effectiveness in driving purchases. Here are some compelling reasons why Stories should be a priority for your company’s account:
- Instant Visibility
Posting Stories ensures that your content appears prominently in your followers’ feeds. As the Stories feed is prominently displayed at the top of the Instagram home screen, you can capture attention without being affected by algorithm changes.
- Humanizing Your Brand
Stories provide a platform for showcasing your brand’s more personal and informal side. Whether it’s sharing team selfies or anecdotes, Stories allow you to connect with your audience on a human level, showcasing your brand’s personality and voice.
- Engagement Opportunities
Instagram Stories contain interactive features such as polls, quizzes, stickers, hashtags, and mentions. These tools allow you to interact creatively with your audience, creating conversations and building a feeling of community around your business.
Overall, leveraging Instagram Stories can enhance your brand’s visibility, humanize your content, and drive meaningful engagement with your audience, potentially leading to increased buy instagram likes.
How to post an Instagram Story?
To upload a Story on Instagram, just do these easy steps:
Step 1: To open the Instagram camera, swipe left from any point on your home page. An alternative is to hit the “plus” button in the upper-right corner of your screen and choose “Story.”
Step 2: In the camera app, you may either generate new content by touching the white circle in the bottom-middle of the screen or upload previously created photos or videos by tapping the album icon in the lower-left corner. Stories are classified into several sorts, including Standard, Text Create, Boomerang, Layout, Photobooth, Multi-capture, Level, and Hands-free.
Step 3: After creating your story, you can enhance it with stickers, emojis, filters, drawings, text, and more. You can also engage your audience by mentioning or tagging people or using interactive features such as polls, quizzes, and other fun tools.
Consider using Buffer’s planning and scheduling application for faster and more efficient Story creation. With Buffer’s Story tools, you can create and schedule your Stories in bulk, preview how they will look when live, and schedule them ahead of time, streamlining your Instagram content strategy.
What are IG Story Highlights?
Instagram Story Highlights have curated collections of Stories displayed prominently at the top of your Instagram profile in tappable circles. Introduced in 2017, they allow users to preserve their favorite or most relevant Stories beyond the standard 24-hour lifespan.
Positioned directly below your bio, Story Highlights are among the first things your followers see when they visit your profile. They are commonly used by brands to showcase important information, such as menus or product lists, and to highlight customer testimonials by saving positive customer feedback.
Alongside Highlights, Instagram introduced the Story Archive, where all expired Stories are automatically stored. You can save Stories to your device from the Archive, rewatch them, or add them to a Highlight.
Creating an Instagram Highlight involves selecting Stories from your Archive, naming the Highlight, and optionally editing its cover. Once created, Highlights appear as bubbles on your profile, and you can have as many as you like. They remain on your profile until you choose to remove them, which can be done by tapping and holding the Highlight on your profile.
How to view Instagram Stories
To view Instagram Stories, follow these steps:
Step 1: Go to your Instagram home screen by tapping the home icon at the bottom.
Step 2: At the top of the screen, you’ll see profile pictures with orange and purple circles, indicating active Stories. Tap on any of these circular icons to open the Story.
Step 3: Once opened, you can tap and hold to pause the Story. Tap on the right side of the screen to view the next Story, or swipe left to skip to the following user’s Story automatically. Swipe right to go back to the previous user’s Story.
How to make an Instagram Story
Making an Instagram Story is simple, but making one that truly engages your audience can be challenging. Let’s start with the basic steps to create an Instagram Story.
Step 1: Tap your profile picture on the top left of your Instagram home page.
Step 2: Tap the “Camera” button to start a new Story. You can also choose a photo or video from your camera roll or swipe to open the camera.
Step 3: Choose a filter and capture mode for the photo or video, then hit the camera button to snap a photo or hold to record a video.
Step 4: To add text to your Story, tap the text icon after taking the picture or video. The effects, color, and text can all be changed.
Step 5: Tap the sticker icon to add relevant stickers, such as location tags, music, polls, hashtags, etc.
Step 6: After editing your Story, tap the arrow button and select “Your Story” to share it. Optionally, you can share with a select group on your Close Friends list.
Step 7: Tap “Share” to publish your Story, and it will instantly go live for your followers to view.
Conclusion
In summary, effectively using Instagram Stories can boost your online presence and audience engagement. Applying the tips outlined in this guide, you can create compelling content that resonates with your followers and strengthens your brand’s online presence.
