Move over Snapchat, it’s all about Instagram stories now! Show off what’s going on without having it be permanent. As a content creator, have you ever wanted to show your followers something you’re working on without it being there forever? You don’t always want to create a post dedicated to something. This is why Instagram stories are so powerful. Blink and they’re gone!
What is an Instagram story?
Where have you been all this time? Instagram stories are the in thing right now, and it looks like they’ll be sticking around. You can share anything there, even other people’s content. An Instagram story is almost like a highlight at the top of your page. Anyone can create one, and you’ll see all stories from everyone you follow at the top of your homepage. They can be viewed as many times as you like within 24 hours. After that, they’re gone.
Instagram users tend to share snippets of their life via stories. Rather than creating a whole post dedicated to that great meal they’ve eaten or uploading several clips from the last concert they went to. Instead, they upload these sorts of things to their story where they can be viewed and then disappear. You can interact with stories. There are a few set reactions you can choose from to show support to your friends stories.
How to use Instagram stories
There are so many uses for Instagram stories, here are the different ways you can use them
Create one from scratch
This is super easy to do. This is a fun little interactive feature that encourages people to engage with your account. Head to your homepage on Instagram and swipe to the right. Alternatively you can head to your photo in the top left corner on your homepage or on your profile and once you click it, you’ll have the option to add a story.
Once you’re there, you can snap a photo, take a video or even get creative by adding a boomerang. This is a short video that bounces back and forth. Give it a go, and you’ll soon pick it up! There are options to add emojis, your own text, music and even GIFs. The list seems to be constantly growing. If you don’t want to add an image or video, and you just simply want text. You can choose the Create button on stories and let people know how you’re feeling. These are great for content creators of all kinds, as you can create polls and get people involved by requesting they send you questions you can answer.
Share a photo or reel
Let’s say you’ve been super busy creating music recently that you’ve had no time to create new content for your Instagram. You still need to post, right? Otherwise, people may lose interest or think you’re no longer creating. Why not share an old post of yours that performed really well previously? Perhaps it was from a concert, you could get suspicions rising of a new one about to be revealed by simply dropping a photo from your last tour. What if you’ve created a product you want to promote? Keep sharing the photos you posted of it to drive sales up.
All you need to do to share previous content is head to that post. Underneath the photo or video, you’ll see a little paper plane looking icon. Click that and at the top of the box that pops up, you should see the option to share this to your story. Again in the same way as before, you can add filters by swiping right, add text and emojis. Whatever you want to say, say it! If you want to tag other creators in your work. All you need is the @ symbol and their username. Just like other platforms.
Share other creators work
If an account is public, you can share their post in the same way you would your own. Simply head to the icon under their post and share it. This is a really good way of collaborating with other content creators. You know, you scratch my back, I scratch yours…
You might want to share the work of your favourite artists. The ones that inspire you the most. The more you share, the more likely you are of being noticed right? Each time someone’s content is shared, they will be notified and can respond via direct message. Unfortunately you can’t share from private accounts. However, most creators won’t want their account private as it sort of defeats the objective doesn’t it?
If someone has shared something involving you and your work to their story. As long as they have mentioned you with your username, you can then share this to your story. This might be a great way to interact with fans. They record your latest performance, and you show appreciation by sharing their clips. Not only that, but it also acts as promotion for you!
There are so many ways you can use Instagram stories and the benefits are endless. As they’re not around forever, you don’t have to focus on the quality as much as you would with a normal post. It’s also a great way of capturing your fanbase, because if they don’t check your stories, they might miss some big info. It will get them checking. They’re fun and can be less serious than the rest of your promotion. It also adds something extra alongside your normal posting schedule. It only takes 5 minutes to create a post, and you don’t have to worry about falling to Instagram’s algorithms as most people will flick through all the stories on their homepage!
