How to create content for instagram stories
How to Quickly Create Beautiful Instagram Stories for Free
Summary
Creating attractive Instagram Stories can be challenging and time-consuming. We’d love to help with that! Get to know Stories Creator and the five free Stories templates we recommend.
You will learn
- Time-saving tools for creating beautiful Instagram Stories
- How to design your Instagram Stories in 10 minutes or less
- The best templates and ideas for engaging Stories for your brand
More than 25 million businesses use Instagram worldwide, and over half of those businesses are creating Stories every month.
Stories are an incredible way to connect with your audience in fresh and authentic ways. Who knows, maybe they’ll even become the new News Feed.
But creating attractive Instagram Stories can be challenging and time-consuming.
We’d love to help with that!
We’ve launched Stories Creator, a free, lightweight tool that enables you to create thumb-stopping content for Instagram Stories. Here are five free Instagram Stories templates that we provide with the tool and how to use them. (We’re excited to add more templates to the tool. Let us know your suggestions in the comments below!)
5 free Instagram Stories templates (and how to use them)
There are so many different ways to use Instagram Stories.
At Buffer, we use Stories to:
- Discuss our latest blog posts
- Take our community behind the scenes
- Share social media stats and data
- And much more
To help you get the most out of Instagram Stories, we’ve created five easy-to-edit Instagram Stories templates that you can use right away with Stories Creator.
How to use the Instagram Stories templates
Here’s a quick run-through of how to use the templates.
- Click on the ‘Use this template’ button under your chosen template
- You’ll be taken to Stories Creator (no signup is required)
- Change the background image and text and add graphics as you wish
- Download and share your Stories image
1.
Limited time offers and promotionsUse this template
Instagram Stories last for only 24 hours, making it a great way to promote time-limited sales. This is a strategy often used by online clothing retailers.
For example, Black Sheep Cycling launched their new limited edition cycling kit through Instagram Stories and sold them out in 30 minutes.
You could use this template to share your offers with your followers.
2. Giveaways and discount coupons
Use this template
To entice followers to watch their Instagram Stories, brands sometimes host exclusive giveaways or give out discount coupons in their Instagram Stories.
Again, this is great for online retailers who drive sales through social media promotions. You could use a unique discount code specifically for your Instagram Stories to track how much sales your Instagram Stories generate.
At Buffer, we’ve used this technique to help encourage reviews to our podcast.
- First, we thanked all of our weekly listeners for being a part of the show and then we showed a picture of Buffer socks and shirts.
- Next, we asked people to respond to our Stories with a ? if they have listened to our podcast or a ⭐ if they’ve reviewed our podcast.
- Everyone was entered for a chance to win swag!
3. Lists and countdowns
Use this template
I learned this strategy from Airbnb. I’ve seen them share lists of the best places to live, workspaces in Airbnb homes, and more.
You might be interested in sharing:
- Various ways to use your product
- Surprising stats and facts about your industry
- User-generated content
You can also try fun and entertaining lists such as “top books for marketers” or “top things we learned in social media this month.” People love a good list!
4. News, updates, and announcements
Use this template
We have shared several fun announcements using Instagram Stories: the launch of our podcast, the launch of our online social media strategy class, our celebrations for Social Media Day, and more.
You could use this template to build up the anticipation for your announcements and then to reveal the surprise through a subsequent Story.
5. Blog post promotion
Use this template
Blog post promotion is something we often do with Instagram Stories.
Instead of simply asking people to visit our blog, we like to highlight the key points via Stories. Repurposing content across channels is a great way to ensure it reaches as much of your audience as possible.
5 more Instagram Stories ideas
While we have only five templates at the moment, I would love to share more ideas for connecting with your audience through Instagram Stories. We’ll be thrilled if you want to use Stories Creator to turn these ideas into reality!
6. Storytelling
One common use case for Instagram Stories is to show behind-the-scenes content. For example:
- Restaurants show how their dishes are prepared
- Musicians show how their music is recorded in their studio
- Sports teams share training sessions with fans
- Fashion experts demonstrate how to put together the perfect outfit
- SaaS platforms could provide an inside look at their company hack-day
Use Instagram Stories to tell your company’s stories.
If you want a bit of inspiration, here are 11 storytelling formulas you can refer to.
7. How-to tutorials
This is our favorite way of using Instagram Stories — to educate. We’ve used Instagram Stories to share how to curate content, set benchmarks, and much more.
Try using Instagram Stories to share some tips or teach your followers how to do something, such as how to use your product.
For example, we often get questions about the perfect size for Instagram Stories (1080px X 1920px) or how to advertise on Facebook. We’ll take these questions and turn them into short Stories tutorials.
8. Data, research, and statistics
Do you know any interesting (or surprising) statistics about your industry that your followers might be interested in?
Mentioning a cool stat can be a great way to get the attention of your followers before you share something important (such as an announcement or a blog post).
9. Quotes and inspiration
Several social media influencers such as Gary Vaynerchuk often share motivational quotes on their Instagram Stories.
It doesn’t only have to be a motivational quote. You could share a quote from your most recent blog post or a quote from your CEO — if it’s relevant to your followers, it’s often worth sharing.
10. Introduction for an Instagram takeover
An Instagram Stories takeover has a nice advantage over a traditional Instagram post takeover. Your guest can post as many Stories as they like without filling up your nicely-curated gallery.
Before you let your guest post on your account, you might want to promote the takeover or introduce the guest.
You could also host a question and answer session with your followers through Instagram Stories. Let your followers know what the session is about and invite them to DM you questions.
Stories Creator is our favorite tool for creating Instagram Stories (we’re biased!) With the tool, I managed to create this image in just three simple steps:
Here’s how I did it.
(Feel free to open up Stories Creator in a new tab to follow along!)
Step 1.
Add a background image or colorEvery Stories image you create with Stories Creator is perfectly sized for Instagram Stories. So there’s no need to search the web for the ideal dimensions.
First, add a background image, or if you like to keep things simple, add a background color. (Here are some free image sources for you.)
You could also select one of our templates to get a quick start.
Step 2: Add your text and graphics
Next, add up to three blocks of copy to your Instagram Stories image. You can choose from over 25 fonts, edit text size, change the font color, adjust alignment, and even add a background highlight, just like on Instagram.
You can also add your logo or additional graphics to give your design an extra flair.
Step 3: Download and share
In Stories Creator, we show you the Instagram Stories interface so that you know exactly how your post will look when it’s posted to Instagram. This means you can check that none of the important content will be blocked by the interface (such as your account’s profile image) when you post it.
When all looks good, hit “Download Image” and you’re ready to share on Instagram. Great work!
Optional: Draw, add stickers, and more
If you like, you could also add more details to your Stories image using the Instagram app before posting it. Draw, add stickers, add hashtags, and more to make it look more fun.
Also, adding hashtags and location tag helps people who aren’t following you discover your Instagram stories.
Additional tools and resources
There are many other great design tools and resources available if you wish to create Instagram Stories videos or customize your Instagram Stories graphics further.
Here are a few options:
1. Video tools: Stories Ad
Stories Ad is a free tool for creating “stunning Stories in less than 2 minutes”. It provides 12 professionally-produced video templates you can use to create Instagram Stories videos.
Follow the instructions on the web editor, and it will send your video to your email inbox.
Other video tools: Flyr, Animaker, and After Effects
2. Mobile apps: Storeo
(Image from Molly Marshall Marketing)
If you like use long videos for your Instagram stories, you might love Storeo. Storeo is a mobile app that slices your videos into clips of 15 seconds — the maximum length of an Instagram Stories video. It will save you lots of time from manually editing your videos into 15-second clips yourself.
For $9, you can remove the watermark on the clips.
Other mobile apps: Flyr, Over, and Flipagram (Hat-tip to Molly Marshall for these app recommendations.)
3. Marketplaces: Creative Market
You can also get Instagram Stories templates designed by talented creators for about $10 to $20 on Creative Market. Many of these templates are Photoshop files so you’ll need a basic knowledge of Photoshop to customize the template for your purpose.
Other marketplaces: 99designs and TopTal
What’s your favorite Instagram Stories tip?
Using templates can be a great, easy way to create amazing Instagram stories in minutes.
I’m sure it is just one of the many ways to save time while creating Instagram stories. Do you know of any other tips for creating Instagram stories quickly?
If you are going to use any of these templates, we would love for you to share any one of your graphics in the comments below!
Brought to you by
Did you find this article helpful? You might also like our all-you-need social media toolkit.
Get started for free now
How to Create an Instagram Story that Wows Your Audience
Can you imagine a time before Instagram stories? It’s hard to believe but these beloved 15-second shots have only been around since 2016! Today, it’s hard to imagine a world where brands and creators weren’t focused on Instagram stories. They have become overwhelmingly popular with Instagrammers. 500 million people post to stories every day and 33% of the most viewed stories come from businesses.
Do you know how to create an Instagram story? Why is everyone so obsessed with making Instagram stories?
Well, for one thing, they work. They increase awareness. 62% of people say they have become more interested in a brand or product after seeing it in stories. They also increase engagement. 1 in 5 stories gets a direct message! And let’s face it, they’re just plain fun.
So, let’s talk about how to how to create Instagram story strategies that help you with those goals of a bigger following or higher engagement rate.
Even if those aren’t your goals and you just want to have a little bit more fun with your Instagram story marketing and learn more about how to create content for Instagram, then this article is for you.
Need more inspiration? Download 13 Customizable Instagram Stories Templates
How to create an Instagram story
First things first, let’s double-check you know how to create stories on Instagram.
When you are on your Instagram home page, swipe to the right, or click on the little + in the top right-hand corner or the blue + symbol where it says ‘your story.
’
You will be taken to a screen where you have the option to upload a photo or video to story or select create mode (you’ll see it on the left of this screen) where you can write something or share a poll or quiz. It will look like this:
Once you’re happy with your creation you can select the circle profile picture in the bottom left-hand corner which says ‘your story’ to upload it:
If you use an Instagram business account linked to your Facebook page, you will have the option to share the content to your Facebook page too.
What content should you share when creating Instagram stories?
This is, of course, the first question everyone has about social media: what the heck am I supposed to talk about on social media?
You may be thinking about how to create content for Instagram people genuinely want to engage with. Coming up with consistent high-quality content isn’t easy but we like to create categories to build a well-balanced content plan and you can do the same!
Categorizing your content, like your Instagram stories, is all about identifying the core components of your messaging and brand.
- What topics do you want to be known for?
- What is your expertise?
- What do you want your audience to feel, think, learn and do when they consume your content?
If you are struggling to come up with some ideas for content categories, we recommend referring to four goals of content marketing.
- Educate – Share your expertise and knowledge.
- Entertain – Share content your audience will enjoy. This will demonstrate you understand them for who they are as people, not just as potential customers.
- Engage – Social media is all about interactions! You should be asking questions, having conversations and encouraging your audience to share their thoughts.
- Inspire – Inspire people to take action, think bigger or try harder.
Here are some different categories for your story planner template we’ve used in the past:
- Social Media Tips (Educate)
- Polls (Engage)
- Entrepreneur quotes (Inspire)
- Behind the scenes shots (Entertain)
- Content Ideas (Educate)
- Quizzes (Engage)
- Customer spotlights (Inspire)
- Marketing Memes (Entertain)
When thinking about what you want to post, you should also consider the nature of stories.
As opposed to posts in the main feed which can be one photo, stories are designed to be a sequence.
(Spoiler alert!) You’re telling a story so you should think about creating a beginning a middle and an end with your stories. The ideal sequence is 3-7 posts in your stories. Structuring your stories into multiple sequences can take a little bit of imagination but you’re sure to have a more quality story if you do it this way. Let’s look at two examples for some ideas.
We love this example from Harvard Business Review. They blend education with engagement and a little bit of inspiration before adding a call to action.
AirBnB is another great example of using the poll feature to engage their audience and creating a 3-sequence story out of it.
Here are some other great examples of how to create Instagram stories well:
Share limited-time discount codesReward your most loyal followers with discounts for your products. Running an Instagram Stories deal is a great way to get your followers to click over to your website (where the real magic happens)!
Not a big enough audience for See More? No problem – just drop the link in your profile’s description!
Go behind the scenesThrowing together a new recipe? Writing a fresh blog post? Skydiving in Antarctica? Whatever you’re up to, taking your followers behind the scenes gets them connected to the final product!
When Minimalist Baker Dana Shultz shares her behind-the-scenes Stories, her followers see that she’s putting tons of effort into her work, and it builds excitement for whatever recipes are going to appear on her blog next!
(It also has a tendency to make us super hungry.
)
Have a bunch of followers on your personal account, but trying to start a fresh new Instagram account for your brand? Link up that newer account with an @-tag, and your personal followers can click on over and give you a follow on your brand, too! (Tagging someone – including yourself – is ridiculously easy.)
Link to other brandsSpeaking of @-tags in Instagram Stories, don’t forget to link to other brands – it’s a great way to branch out and embrace the community aspect of Instagram!
Check out how Pat Flynn from Smart Passive Income did it in this example: he tagged another blogger and the conference they were both attending, which told his followers what he’s up to and who he’s hanging around with.
(Hooray for making new friends, too!)
Make your product popWant to catch someone’s attention as they’re tapping their way through their Stories? Make your product pop by setting it in motion!
Instagram Stories allows you to share bursts of video up to 15 seconds long each, or to capture GIF-like moving images with its Boomerang feature.
Try these options so you can show someone dancing in the clothes you designed, washing up with your all-natural sugar scrubs, or posing for one of your most sensational wedding photos!
Going somewhere?
Use Stories to take your audience from IG to IRL!
If you’re attending or hosting an event for your brand, tell your followers where they can meet up with you in person, and score some real-life face time with you.
Katie Dalebout regularly meets up with her followers, and Instagram Stories is a great place for her to remind people when and where they can see her very soon:
(And remember, you can follow up by posting Stories of the actual meetup, too!)
Because Instagram Stories are temporary, they’re perfect for sharing things like this that you don’t necessarily want cluttering up your profile when the event has come and gone!
Share a goofy momentLet’s be real.
(No, really.)
Behind every brand is at least one real, live human – or at least a fairly convincing animatronic one – and Instagram Stories is a great place to embrace that! Dance, play, sing a song – just do the things that come naturally to you.
Your followers will love connecting with you on a more personal level, and that connection helps turn followers into customers.
Lewis Howes regularly hops on Instagram Stories and shares real glimpses into his life in a perfectly imperfect way:
Is it perfect for literally every type of business? Probably not – but pulling back the curtain and getting a little lighthearted with the people behind your brand can go a long way when you’re forging emotional connections with your followers!
IG Story takeoverInstagram takeovers – where you give a special guest control of your account for a short period – have been popular for years. Hosting one as an Instagram Stories takeover can be an even better fit because the content is only available for about as long as the event lasts!
Invite another brand to take over your Instagram Stories for a day or so, so they can share what they’re up to with your followers – and you can do the same with theirs.
This can be more of a special occasion sort of event, because otherwise, it can get a little confusing – but if you’re looking for an in-depth guide on how to set up your own, this post from Social Media Examiner has you covered!
Promote other brands you loveDid you notice something going on with another brand that your followers just have to know about? They already know and trust you, and they’re tuning in to your Stories to hear what you have to say!
Point them to that must-know piece of info like The Everygirl does for their own loyal followers:
(Just remember that if you do something like this as part of an affiliate marketing plan, offering full disclosure can make a big difference!)
Run a contestWant to use Instagram to grow your email list?
Run a contest!
Use your Stories to show the prize, share the deets, and tell people how to enter – if you’ve got that Show More dealie we mentioned earlier, you can even use that to carve out a shortcut to the entry form!
You can arrange for people to enter via an email list signup, or even by following a certain account, like in this example from Studio DIY:
(This slide doesn’t even say what they’re giving away, and we still want to swipe up!)
Go liveGoing live on Instagram might sound nerve-racking, but it sounds a lot scarier than it is – especially because unlike Facebook, which automatically saves live broadcasts after they end, Instagram allows you to easily and automatically make them disappear.
Live video on Instagram makes your profile more discoverable in the Explore tab, and even makes you stand out to your followers in the Stories section at the top of the screen.
Once your broadcast ends, a few taps will allow you to publish that video to your Stories, where people who missed it can tune in for the next 24 hours!
Promote your blogWant some front-and-center visual content that’ll get people curious about your latest blog posts? Instagram Stories is the perfect place to publish it!
Take a look at how Brit + Co uses multiple images in a series to promote their newest posts:
Put together a quick template that you can use week after week, and promoting your blog content via Stories will be a snap!
How often do you want to post?
After you figure out what you want to post and how you want to structure those stories, you have to determine the frequency of your stories.
Stories last 24 hours and you can always save them to your highlights for future viewing.
This should give you a little leeway in the pressure to post.
The most important thing about determining your frequency is understanding your bandwidth. Posting five 7-sequence stories every week can burn you out quickly. When you burn out, your content tends to decrease in quality so it’s best to adjust your frequency.
If you find that you have extra creative energy, you can always share more stories but it’s best to start planning and scheduling at a lower frequency.
How can you make creating and posting Instagram stories easier?
We get it. Managing social media is a ton of work and Instagram stories might feel like one more place you have to post.
via GIPHY
But you can structure your planning, creation, and scheduling so that it’s much easier to manage all these social posts.
1. Follow content categories and create a set schedule
Listen, you don’t need so much think work in your social schedule. Instead of over-complicating it, divide your content into categories and pick a day for each category.
Designate Tuesdays as your poll days, Thursdays as your tips, and Saturdays for your personal videos. Eliminating the guesswork of what types of content to post and when will free up your headspace for the actual creation of the content.
2. Use templates
Using similar fonts and colors will give your stories a professional polish and using templates will cut down on design time! You can use Canva, Crello, Photoshop, or any other design tool to create your templates and then you can reuse & repeat as often as needed!
Pro-Tip for Edgar users: You can reuse templates and create different variations with each template for your stories! Learn more about variations here.
Need some creative inspiration for Instagram story templates? Download our free pack of 13 customizable Instagram stories templates!
3.
Prioritize engagement
One way to feel excited about your Instagram stories plan is to prioritize engagement and get yourself in an engaging mindset when posting.
There’s no auto-post to Instagram story available so you have the opportunity to spend time messaging, commenting, and chatting with your audience when you post stories. You can be active in the app, which can improve your standing in the algorithm and increase your engagement. Not to mention, social media is just more fun when you’re engaging!
So how are you going to tell your story?
(Sorry, we couldn’t help ourselves with that one!)
We want to hear your questions or ideas about Instagram stories! Do you have a preferred style of Instagram stories or find a certain content type that increases engagement? Let us know in the comments below or on social media @MeetEdgar.
8 ways to stream content on Instagram
The article contains useful tools, ideas and services that will help you generate content and not burn out creatively.
You need to publish posts regularly, but sometimes you just don't have ideas. Therefore, it is better to immediately decide on the direction, style and type of content, and also try to simplify the process of its creation as much as possible.
1. Create a content plan
A content plan for Instagram* should include at least three types of posts: useful, informative (news) and entertaining. nine0003
If you publish them randomly, there will be no uniform style, and ideas will quickly run out. Reach will start to drop and there may come a point when you don't want to blog.
Therefore, plan. This may be the simplest tablet, but it will record topics and useful ideas for the future. Or you can plan your Instagram feed* through SMMplaner. But first things first.
Where to maintain a content plan:
- Google Spreadsheets nine0023
- Trello
- Creative Instagram profiles*
- Unsplash Free Stock Photo
- Nichi
- Adobe Spark Post
- Enlight Pixaloop
- Selection of services/movies/series/books
- Emotional story
- Game
- Abstracts of books on your topic
- Unexpected facts about you before/after
- New in your area
- An instructive story about one's own or others' mistakes
- Post with answers to questions "Why", "How" or "What for"
- Tell us about the pains and problems of the industry you work in
- Explore trends in IG. We analyze the stories of the most popular accounts. These can be very famous accounts or profiles of your competitors. The cut must be done at least a week in advance. Therefore, we advise you to subscribe and start following in order to notice different types of stories that are published on different days. nine0022
- Creation of a general visual concept (colors, font, elements).
This should be combined with the design of the entire account as a whole. If the stories are created by a designer, then the story layouts should be in the style of the feed layouts. If stories are created on Instagram itself, then it is more advantageous to choose a font and color associated with your offer and stick to them. - The choice of categories will help you unlock the potential of your account by using various levers of engagement. Each new day is a chance to win attention in stories. Over time, after testing different types, it will become more clear on what day and time, what type of stories is more popular. nine0022
- If the promotion path is the most progressive and it is possible to use the services of a designer (or a story maker), then at this stage it is necessary to draw up a TOR (terms of reference). The more detailed and clear it is, the better the result will be.
- To understand whether the 24-hour theme works, we select the metrics we will be guided by, their threshold values.
For example, coverage: constant growth, we focus on the number of subscriptions, at least 30% of the total number of subscribers, then this figure should increase. nine0022 - number of stories, posts;
- topic;
- distribution by day of the week and time;
- ToR for the designer;
- comments;
- metrics.
- Self. If you have experience in SMM or you are just starting the path of promotion through social networks without additional resources. We draw up a content plan manually by drawing a table.
- Using the service (for example, using our SmmBox). If you want to create an automated schedule, according to which the publication will be made immediately, the online service is the solution. In 10 minutes, it’s really possible to create a plan for a month at the same time for posts, stories. nine0022
- Outsourced. For those who have finances, you can save time by ordering a ready-made plan. But there is a nuance, the TK will still have to be compiled independently. And no one guarantees the quality of the plan.
- Open the Content plan tab.
- Select an Instagram account.
- Choose an advanced type (to take into account special times for publications on different days, organize convenient headings). nine0022
- We form headings (special labels that mark all content units so as not to get confused). You can edit them for yourself. For example, make some tags for posts and some for stories.
- Filling in the schedule.
You don't have to use any super services, you can start right in Excel or Google Spreadsheets.
The plan must have a theme and a short eyeliner that reveals it. If you plan the topics of posts immediately for a month in advance, and you will not write right away, then without eyeliner it will be difficult to remember the essence of the idea.
If tables are too conservative for you and you want something more creative, try Trello. The service is much more convenient to save ideas, write detailed posts and attach files. You can set deadlines on cards, transfer them from one column to another. In fact, in one service you get not only a table with topics, but also a full-fledged tool for storing created posts with texts, hashtags and photos. nine0003 Create as many columns as needed.
Posts that have already been submitted can be moved to "Published" - so you will clearly see what is already on your blog.
2. Make a photo session
You can't prepare content for a year in advance at one time - that's a fact. But when you have beautiful photos from a photo shoot in stock, your mood will immediately become better, and planning will be easier. You can order shooting of your work or act as a model if you are promoting yourself. Set aside a day for this. Experiment and try to make the photos look different. You can change clothes, background or location. nine0003 It can be seen that many photos were taken on the same day, but this only helps the account look stylish and harmonious
3. Use Adobe Lightroom to edit photos
Even brilliant shots require at least minimal processing. Why Lightroom? The PC application allows you to save user settings. You can give your photos your own style. Maybe you will have an emphasis on b / w or a special color and thermal range.
The sequence of your actions during processing must be saved to a preset, and then when applying it, all photos will be processed in a similar way. This will significantly save time. nine0003
The mobile app allows you to quickly edit your photos directly on your smartphone. There are enough tools for this even in the free version.
Sometimes you can take a good picture with your smartphone, even if it wasn't planned. Life sometimes throws stories at us. In this case, you can do post-processing in Adobe Lightroom4. Peep what others are doing
Get inspired in other people's accounts, take other people's ideas, but do your own and better. This is a completely natural process - we generate unique ideas when there is a flow of inspiration. And for this, you just need to look at what others are doing. nine0003
Where to look for content ideas:
The service has only one drawback - the danger of getting stuck for a long time.
There is just an incredible amount of ideas from all over the world that you can save to personal and public boards.
Guy @jordi.koalitic approaches photography from a new angle - he takes pictures from unexpected angles, uses ultra-long exposures and generously processes images in Photoshop. But the trick of his account is that he shows the so-called backstage from the filming. Few are ready to reveal to the public the secrets of successful shots, but he does it and more than two million people are already watching his success. Inspiring, isn't it? nine0003 The guy uses a fairly simple DSLR with no bells and whistles and uses simple props, but he already has collaborations with stars in his portfolio. In one post, he puts a photo and a short video of how it was made
The charm of this stock is not only in its real free of charge, but also in the submission of the works themselves.
There will be no emasculated images, from which many are sick for a long time. You can peep some ideas, but you should not take the most popular photos for your blog - they have long been taken to different sites. nine0003 Use beautiful photos as a background to write something on in an unusual font
5. Use apps to create Instagram Stories*
Decide in advance what you will post every day on Instagram Stories*. It is advisable to do at least two or three Stories, but more is possible.
This is the same format that can be quite simple. It is not necessary to complicate and publish only stylish pictures. It can be a selection of inspirational pictures or a live broadcast. nine0003 Illustrator @elinaellis posts Stories every day, whether it's from home, where she shows her work or promotes free marathons for artists. Sometimes these are simple and vital broadcasts from the streets of London, where she lives - and it is no less interesting to watch them
But if you want to add 💥 to Stories, use smartphone applications.
There are a lot of them, but they are all more or less paid.
I personally tested Dazzle and liked it. There is a three-day free period to explore the features of the program. There are quite a lot of static and video templates in order to create something unusual. Naturally, from the application, you can immediately send the Story to Instagram* or Facebook*. nine0003 I chose a static template and uploaded photos in a minute. Not brilliant, but already looks more interesting than just a child on a tree
6. Free and paid applications for creating content
A lot of beautiful, but monotonous profiles flicker in the feed, which simply do not catch on. That's why we need raisins.
A free trial app that looks very lamp-like thanks to its imitation of scrapbooking tools. Suitable if you want to add a little warmth to the pictures or change them beyond recognition. nine0003 When you use the application, you get the feeling that you are really holding textured paper in your hands
Animated, static templates, interesting fonts, collages - a whole set of tools that will help you transform ordinary photos into whatever your heart desires.
A simple, intuitive application that allows you to add "live" effects to your photos and make them truly mesmerizing. The application immediately offers a purchase, but if you close the window, you can work in a free, truncated format.
Export to GIF requires a paid PRO version, but you can export directly to your Instagram for free*7. Schedule a post
Use delayed Instagram posting* with SMMplanner - it saves time and effort if you have one account. If you are promoting several Instagram profiles at once*, delayed posts become a necessity. nine0003 For personal needs I use a free plan and it is quite enough for planning publications on Instagram* and Facebook*
SMMplanner provides 100 posts for free for a month. They can be purchased.
You can put in delayed posting on Instagram* Stories or videos. This is available on the Starter plan.
8. Save a list of ideas about what to write about
Everyone has that “amazing” moment when you sit in front of a blank sheet and don't know what to write about. There are no ideas and thoughts, but at the same time it is necessary to write and quickly. And preferably more, because the flow of content and that's it. In this case, save yourself a universal list of ideas that you can refer to when necessary:
A theme that never gets old. But while people are moaning over the 2,000th “What to read in quarantine” collection, write about something unexpected and not beaten.
If people are touched by your texts, they will read them.
Scare what will happen if you do something habitually wrong, and then give a solution to the problem.
Riddles, tasks or tests for subscribers.
Only a juicy extract from the books you have read that will benefit your readers.
Remember how you can surprise (but preferably not shock) subscribers. Show a photo of how it was before and how it is now.
In any field, you can write about something new and useful that you have already tested and successfully use. Or vice versa, something with which you are dissatisfied and do not advise.
Necessarily with soulful conclusions.
Personal life hacks that help solve some popular problem.
nine0003
And what do you personally want to improve or have already done to get rid of the problem.
Reality dictates to us the need to always be in trend. Use every opportunity to publish a continuous stream of content. To prevent Instagram* from cutting your reach, plan your content and use tools that allow you to quickly process new photos.
Write short but catchy texts and put posts in a delayed posting. Make lots of engaging and entertaining Instagram Stories* and may the force be with you. nine0003
How to create an effective content plan for stories
01.07
5 minutes
3716
No one denies the need for a content plan for the feed, but stories are most often treated chaotically. 3 years ago it would have been a standard situation, but not now.
Today, stories are more important than posts.
This trend is typical for most social networks, including Instagram. It will remain for a long time. And it does not matter where the content is published: in a personal diary, a thematic blog or an online store account. nine0003
So the question “Is a content plan needed for stories?” disappears by itself. To implement the SMM strategy in full, you need!
Preparation Steps for Publication Planning
Preparation is like warming up before your main workout. It is possible without it, but the result is unlikely to be so good. Therefore, we go step by step to a competent schedule.
How to create a content plan for stories
There are many templates and schedules on the Internet, but the point is that not all of them fit the tasks of your account. Most often, the content plan contains the following items:
This is a very extended look that mixes everything. nine0003
It is optimal to include the number and subject of stories in it, distributing them by day of the week and time. You will get the same plan according to which the publication will be made. And the rest is additional columns that are suitable for reports, etc.
The classic plan is for a week or a month. Most often, this is a week that is duplicated 4 times with separate inclusions of special events, for example, the launch of a new product, or the anniversary of a project.
Content plan for stories can be created:
Popular types of stories on Instagram
According to statistics on Instagram, the most profitable ratio of selling content is 10-20%, and how to fill the rest? We have prepared some examples of stories that work!
1.
Entertainment Bread and circuses! We all go to social networks to relax and have fun. Therefore, this, at first glance, useless type of stories, satisfies the most important needs of subscribers, thereby endearing them to itself. Examples:
● Humor
● Event announcements
2. Useful
Something that arouses not just interest, but benefits subscribers. This can apply to both the outside world, such as life hacks, and the account itself (working hours, schedule, and so on). Examples:
● How to order
● Addresses
3. Commercial
This is a story about yourself/company/brand, its benefits, prices, offers. Examples:
● Prices
● Backstages
● Testimonials
4. Engaging
Everyone loves to speak their mind and show their personality in some way. This guy is just for that. It includes entertainment and a way to collect information from the target audience. It turns out additional involvement, with the help of reposts, contests, etc.
Examples:
● Polls related to the topic
● Open polls
● Contests
● Post reposts
Creating a content plan in SmmBox
SmmBox is designed to help SMM-specialists in maintaining accounts in social networks Using our online service, you can create a content plan for Instagram Stories for a month in 10 minutes. Let's figure out what to do step by step:
According to the ready-made content plan, it is convenient to add pending posts, stories. Every time a new post is added (via auto-posting, content search, import from RSS feeds, cross-posting), a ready plan schedule will be offered to be on time.
