The Art of Instagram Stories

Instagram stories were an exciting addition to the Instagram platform in 2016, allowing people and businesses to release content which lasts for 24 hours. It gives a great opportunity to express personality, give snippets of information and entice viewers to visit your page and see all of your other content.

A few tips on how to utilise stories...

• Check out how often similar pages to you are posting on their stories, its key to post often enough to keep your followers engaged, however, it's also important to not overshoot the mark and post too often

• Less is more... don't cram piles of information onto your stories. Aim for short, sweet & simple

• Highlights!! Instagram stories last for 24 hours however you have the option to add them to your profile so your followers can re-visit your captivating stories. It's a lost opportunity if you're not adding highlights to your page!

• Test out all the features ~ engage ~ your audience through polls, questionnaires, use geotags, add stickers... there are so many ways to stand out from other pages

• Ensure stories are uniformed. Use the same font, same language, same colours & ensure photos are centred, apps such as Canva are GREAT to assist you with this

• You can engage with other brand's through their Instagram Stories, this is a great way to plant the seed which could later result in a collaboration or could help to gain an extra follower

I asked @beamarketing_ 's followers what their favourite things about Instagram Stories are...