Instagram Stories: What You Need to Know in 2021
By Mark Frazee
Over 500 million people are now using Instagram Stories — that’s ½ of Instagram’s entire monthly users — and that number is continuing to grow. Launched in 2016, Instagram Stories utilizes many of the same features as its rival Snapchat. Five years later, however, Stories is no longer a novelty feature. 62% of Stories users say they have become more interested in a brand after seeing a story. Brands are increasingly turning to Stories to better reach and expand their base.
Remember that Stories function differently than traditional social feed platforms. Here is a basic overview of using Stories followed by tips to optimize your Stories.
How to Use Stories
Hootsuite provides a great basic overview for using stories. We’ve updated their list to best describe current practices:
Click to create a post as normal
On the slide bar, change the interface from “Post” to “Story”
Press the while circle to take a photo or hold for video, OR
Swipe up (or select the square gallery icon on the left) to use existing content
OPTIONAL: add emojis, stickers, and/or text using the icons at the top of the screen (more on this later)
Post!
8 Easy Ways to make better Instagram stories
Once you’ve mastered the basics, you’re ready to optimize your stories!
Here are 8 ways to make better Instagram stories:
Connect with your audience more intimately
Instagram stories are designed to be less formal than your regular feed. Post stories that take your audiences along for a journey— behind-the-scenes posts do particularly well! Plus, you don’t have to worry quite as much about creating “masterpiece” images.
Time sensitive!
Remember that Stories disappear after 24 hours, so create content with this in mind. A time-sensitive promotion could work well here— you can even post a countdown sticker! If you create a story you wish to keep, you can save it as a highlight reel to your profile, where it will remain visible underneath your bio.
Limit the selling
It is perfectly acceptable to participate in promotional activities on your Stories— in fact, it is a good idea! However, don’t overdo it. Your audience will get annoyed if you are constantly only selling on your Stories. Diversify your stories with organic content that connects with your audience on a more personal level. Stories also has a great ad feature.
Increase reach by using interactive stickers and location tags
Similar to your regular Instagram posts, you can increase reach via hashtags, mentions and location tags in Stories. To use them, click the square icon at the top of the screen once you have selected your creative. Don’t overdo the hashtags; it’s also okay to hide a few by placing stickers on top of them! Crosspost your Instagram Stories to Facebook for a wider reach.
Increase engagements with interactive stickers
As you may have noticed when using hashtags and location tags, there are plenty of stickers available to use in Stories. You can better engage with your audience by including interactive stickers such as polls, emoji sliders, mini-quizzes and questions. This gives your customers the chance to feel more intimately connected to your brand and provides you with valuable feedback.
Engage for engagements!
Especially Stories, it is crucial to capture the attention of your audience immediately, as they won’t remain captive long. Do this by posting what your story will be about and connect it with your brand right way. Consider an hourglass format, where you frontload some information but keep your audience engaged throughout the story by hinting at rewarding content at the end. Create meaningful stories.
More multimedia
Mix up the use of images and video in your stories to better engage your audience. Design stories to be viewed with or without sound. Use text (available at the top of the interface next to the stickers button) strategically. Be creative and mix up the scenery. It’s called Stories for a reason: actually tell a story to perform better!
Consistency
While Stories are different than your traditional brand feed, they should be consistent with your brand. Use consistent style, colors, frequency of posts and so forth. Most brands post an average of 2.5 Stories per week. People should be able to view your stories and recognize your brand— but be sure to tailor your content to stories, making use of the unique opportunities of the platform!
Instagram Stories continue to grow in popularity— and if your brand isn’t using them yet, they should! Be sure to review your Instagram Stories Analytics pages to see how your stories are performing, and adapt accordingly. There are plenty of other more in-depth techniques you can make use of once you master the basics, which you can read about here and here.
An overview of some of the stickers available in Instagram stories, including locations. mentions, hashtags and a number of other interactive features.