Instagram Stories allow you to integrate videos, photos, music, text and emojis into a visual story that can be viewed by your followers as a slideshow in Instagram.
There really is no better time than now to start utilising Instagram Stories. This guide will cover everything you need to know about creating engaging Instagram Stories to share with your friends and followers.
Instagram Stories are a feature on Instagram which function similarly to a slideshow. Unlike a traditional post, Insta Stories give you the freedom to incorporate videos, photos, music, emojis, text and more into your posts to create engaging, interactive content.
Instagram Stories are available for a limited time period – 24 hours – and offer a great way for businesses to share ‘in the moment’, more personal content to help potential clients get to know your product better.
In summary, Instagram Stories:
If you’ve never done it before, posting an Instagram Story might seem daunting. It’s actually very easy and can become quite addictive.
Good to know:
Instagram Stories have an aspect ratio of 9:16. The perfect dimensions are 1080px wide by 1920px high. But don’t worry if your image or video isn’t the perfect size – Instagram will automatically shrink or crop it for you.
Step by step posting an Instagram Story:
Highlights is an awesome feature that allows you to ‘save’ your Instagram Stories in folders for more than 24 hours. Highlights serve as different ‘photo albums’ where you can organise your content to be viewed by interested customers who visit your Instagram Profile in future.
You can create as many Highlights as you like and add as many Stories as you want to each Highlight. Highlights are a great way to showcase the best of your business in a succinct series of informational slideshows that customers can select. Checkout an example below:
‘Reposting’ is a fantastic way to share content created by other people – customers or clients usually who have tagged your Instagram Profile. When you get tagged in an Instagram Story, you will get notified in your direct messages. The notification will say “@username mentioned you in their Story.” Underneath it will give you the option to “Add This to Your Story.” Once added you can customise with text, emojis etcetera and add it to your Stories.
The coveted ‘Swipe-Up’ feature you might have seen on Instagram Stories is only available to Business accounts with over 10,000 Followers. The feature allows you to direct viewers to a URL of your choosing – a great option for businesses selling services or goods on their website. Great motivation to grow your following online.
Do you have further questions about how to best utilise Instagram Stories for your business? Please don’t hesitate to get in touch with our team via email at hello@focusonline.co.za.
With our vast array of services and over 40 years of combined experience in the industry, we build effective and unique marketing strategies to help you achieve your goals.
It has come to our attention that individuals are impersonating our company on WhatsApp and sending unsolicited messages using our name. We want to clarify that these messages are not from us and may be attempts to scam or mislead recipients.
Official Communication: Our company does not initiate contact via WhatsApp for promotional purposes or to request personal information.
Verify Contacts: If you receive a message claiming to be from us, please verify its authenticity by contacting us directly through our official channels listed on our website.
Report Suspicious Activity: We encourage you to report any suspicious messages to WhatsApp and block the sender.
Your safety and trust are our top priorities. Thank you for your understanding and vigilance.