The Ultimate Guide to Instagram Stories in 2020
A complete guide to all technical features you need to master — and how to use them creatively
Stories are a quick and easy way to share your moments or experiences and you can use stickers, GIFs, music, or text to bring them to life.
If you’re new on Instagram or if you’re trying to build your brand or your business, you need to master the art of Instagram Stories.
For all of you, who’ve not paid enough attention, here are some facts that may get you interested.
Instagram Stories are used by 500 million users every day.
31% of Millennials and 39% of Gen Z users create Instagram content.
86.6% of Instagrammers post on Instagram Stories.
60% of Millennials watch and post Instagram Stories.
17.8% of Instagrammers watch IGTV.
Now, if this doesn’t convince you, I don’t know what will. But you clicked on this post, so I’m sure you want to know everything about Instagram Stories and how to use them. Right? Let’s dive in.
How to Post Instagram Stories
Go to Instagram on your phone.
Click on the camera icon at the top left, or just swipe right.
That’s the Stories option. Click an image, a video, or swipe up to add pictures from your gallery!
Why Is Posting Instagram Stories Important?
Stories are the new status updates. Easy to create and great for engagement.
Stories aren’t as time-consuming as other forms of content and are more rewarding.
They help you work with Instagram’s algorithm to surface your content.
They’re fun and have a short life, so you can be creative, crazy and innovate as much as you want to!
Fact — 68% of people become more interested in a brand or product after seeing it in a story.
With Instagram Stories, you can build a strong and engaging community and grow your Instagram account, build your brand and in-turn achieve your Instagram goals.
Three important reasons to use Instagram Stories
Amplify your voice.
Show your community that you care.
Spark conversations with your community using Stickers.
Different Types of Instagram Stories and How to Create Them
1. Create mode
Create mode lets you do a bunch of different things like
Use text. Using text makes it simple for you to tell a story, share facts, spread positivity, and information. These texts can be classic, modern, neon or typewriter. You can use a particular kind of text to build your brand. Have specific colors and specific background color that helps you create your own identity.
Tag an account to say happy birthday, thanks, happy anniversary, or anything else that you wish to say. Tagging an account is great to show that you care, and it also makes easier for the account holder to re-share your story if they want to.
Add a GIF using the GIPHY search.
On this day feature: Here you can see all the posts you’ve posted in the past on this day, accounts you’ve connected to, etc.
Multiple ready to use templateslike your favorite pizza toppings, track you like the most, top accounts on Instagram, what you’re listening to, what are you watching these days, a quick draw challenge, and a quote of the day template.
A poll sticker.
A quiz sticker.
Ask me anything sticker.
Countdown sticker.
The create mode enables you with the tools that make posting Instagram Stories easier.
At this point, I would also like to add that quizzes are not polls.
2. Normal mode
This is the mode where you can click photos or videos right from the Stories or swipe up and add pictures from your gallery.
After adding the picture, you will also be able to add stickers from the compartment that you can slide up or by clicking at the top right corner of your screen.
You can also doodle, add filters, and make these Instagram Stories interesting.
3. Boomerang
There was a time when Boomerang was a separate app. You had to download it, create a boomerang and then post it on Instagram. Now there are three different modes of Boomerang available on Instagram Stories!
Boomerang is a short video that is more or less like a GIF.
You can also choose the start and the end points of your Boomerang, i.e, you can trim it.
The three different modes of boomerang include:
Slo-mo: slow motion of your Boomerang.
Echo: adds a blur effect to your Boomerang.
Duo: adds a glitch to your Boomerang.
To access the modes you need to first shoot a Boomerang and then click on the “infinite” symbol at the top right of your screen. This opens up the trimming option as well as the three modes.
4. Layout
Again, Layout is also a standalone app and now a part of Instagram Stories. With Layout, you can create collages to post to your Stories.
You can choose the frame based on the number of pictures you wish to add and then either click these pictures or slide up and add pictures from your gallery.
Trust me, there was a time when we had to use third-party tools to do this!
5. Superzoom
This a video with dramatic effects. It takes bursts of pictures and adds the effect and music. Not just that, there are a lot of effects to choose from
Hearts
Fire
Bummer
TV Program
Dramatic
Beats
Paparazzi
Surprise
Nope
Bounce
That’s ten more ways of creating engaging Stories.
6. Hands-free
Generally, while creating Instagram Stories, videos you need to press and hold the record button but with hands-free mode, you can go, surprise-surprise, hands-free.
This works out well when you want to use hand gestures, you are showing something that requires both of your hands like unboxing or showing something to your community, etc.
Now, Let’s Talk About Making These Stories More Interesting
You can use these native tools to make your Stories come to life.
Filters
Add an image and then use filters that make your Stories fun!
Stickers
There are a lot of stickers available on the Stories. To add stickers either slide up or tap on the stickers option at the top right.
Location: To add location, this can feature you in location-specific Stories, if you’re at a store or an event you can connect to folks who are either there or are interested in that location.
Mentions: It’s a simpler way to mention accounts and tag them to your Stories.
Hashtags: Again, this is a great way to use a trending hashtag or a hashtag for a specific purpose or location to make your Stories more discoverable.
GIFs: GIFs have the power to make your Stories a lot more interesting. Little quirky moving images attract more attention than anything else.
Music: Another great way to connect with your audience! Using the right music with the right image or video can do wonders.
Time: If you want them to know what time it is, this sticker is for you.
Poll: A quick and easy way to take a poll and share the results after 24 hours!
Questions: This is where you can drive engagement by asking questions, answering questions. It’s a perfect AMA tool!
Countdown: Keep your community excited about upcoming events or something to look forward to.
Slider: There are a lot of innovative ways to use a slider. It’s a like-o-meter.
Quiz: Who doesn’t love a fun quiz! Use this to help them learn more about you, your field, your offerings, etc.
Image: Image inside the image! Yes, you can add a new image on top of an image. You can get crazy and creative here.
Stickers and emojis: Apart from all these options there are so many other Stickers that you can use. Create don’t hate and Kind comments are my personal favorite.
Doodles
You can draw on your posts using four different options.
Pen: Simple pen which can also be used to hide a certain part of the post.
Marker: This one is translucent and works as a peek-a-boo.
Neon: This one makes your post glow up :)
Eraser: You can use it to be creative by removing extra strokes that you might have created using the other options.
Text
We’ve talked about this earlier while discussing create mode. Classic, modern, neon or typewriter are the text options available. But you know what, I love making it more interesting by using Rainbow text. Here’s how you do that.
Effects
Effects are HUGE! Not only can you use them, but you can also create them! You can a set of default effects on the Stories option and you can click on the magnifying glass option to find more. There are native Instagram effects as well as effects by the creators all around the world.
You can create your own effects on Spark Studio. These effects can be created using guides, and once you’ve learned how to make one, you can create so many of those.
Also, when you see someone using a particular effect on their Stories, you can use the same effect by tapping on its name.
How to Use Instagram Stories to Boost Your Engagement
The best way to get more engagement is by asking for it!
1. Take a simple poll
A simple this vs. that poll is easy for your audience, it’s fun and can be created really quickly.
Create a series of this and that questions with three or four Stories with higher engagement.
2. Sentiment check with a slider
Add a slider and see what your audience thinks. This will make your audience feel involved and engaged.
3. Question Sticker
This is not as simple as the above two and takes more time, as you have to reply and react to the answers or the questions that come in. But, it helps you connect with your audience on a deeper level.
4. Quiz
We all love answering questions and we’ve always felt the joy of getting the answers right! A good quiz will leave your audience feeling great and will boost engagement simultaneously.
5. Live
Instagram live can be fun and engaging. You can interact with your audience and show them around, do a Q and A, and a lot more. These lives stay for 24 hours as well, so your audience can watch it later. It is not one of my top picks because if you don’t have many followers, not enough folks will show up. So, give it a try but maybe wait till you’ve gained some followers.
6. Sharing posts and IGTV videos
Sharing posts or videos that are relatable can get you the engagement that you’re looking for. This can also help you get more eyeballs on your own posts.
How to Get More Views on Your Instagram Stories
Two words: Hashtags and location
The easiest way to get more folks to see your stories is by using the right hashtags and using the location sticker.
If you want to add hashtags but don’t want your followers to see them. Make them smaller and blend them with the background color. You can also hide them under GIFs and stickers.
Apart from this, one of the most important things is to post consistently. If you’re doing everything right but aren’t posting consistently, your audience is not going to be interested in your Stories.
How to Improve Your Instagram Stories Game With Analytics
Posting Stories is just a part of the game, you need to learn, improve and keep working on your Stories. For this, you need analytics.
First of all, convert your Instagram account into a business or a creator account. Doing this will give you access to the analytics that will help you to up your game.
Once you’ve converted your account, you will be able to see post-level analytics for each story and deeper analytics in the analytics section.
Here, you can figure out how many of your Stories are getting engagement, how many of them are making your followers tap back or tap forward and this will help you make smarter decisions.
This should set you up to start your Instagram Stories journey. If you’re already doing some of all of this, then you need an advanced guide but maybe some other day.
Knowing all this is very important, but this is just a how-to of Instagram Stories. Along with this, you need a strategy to help you stay on track, keep you consistent, and help guide you on the type of content you should post. Once you’ve tried all these Instagram Stories, dive into your audience persona, understand your competitors (fellow creators) and plot a path to success.
Knowledge means nothing until you put it into practice.