Are you putting enough Instagram stories? Or are you struggling with it?
I know many individuals/businesses who post awesome content on their Instagram Page but do not leverage stories.
Instagram Stories cannot be ignored. They can act a key catalyst for you Instagram growth.
As per a Hootsuite’s report, more than 1 billion people use Instagram every month and 500+ million people use Instagram Stories every day.
This means that if you are not yet using Instagram Stories, you are missing this wonderful opportunity to reach those 500+ million Instagram users who use Instagram Stories every day.
Stories are now everywhere and they are quite important. With the decreasing span of attention of the people, stories are a quick bite of content for them. Now it is up to the content creator that how does he or she serve this quick bite of content.
Remember – People also skip stories if you are not able to grab their attention.
The more creative your Instagram Stories, the more attention they will get & the more will be your audience’s engagement.
In this article, let us explore 15 Instagram Story Ideas for your Instagram Growth.
15 Instagram Story Ideas
#1. Ask a question
Yes! Asking a question is quite interesting on Instagram Stories. You can ask open-ended questions & also have polls.
Let your audience share their perspective.
This not only helps in engaging with the audience on Instagram but if done wisely then also provides you with inputs about how your audience thinks.
Another key win over here is the fact that if you have asked a question regarding the pain point with your product or the existing product which they are using, you will get direct feedback & you can help them by solving those problems.
#2. Answer their questions
Your audience might have a lot of questions for you. Let them ask you questions through Instagram stories and answer them.
Who doesn’t like getting answers?
Your audience will feel connected if you listen to them and answer their queries. It will not just delight your existing customers but also attract your prospects much more towards your brand.
#3. Give Shoutouts
Do not just promote yourself. It will bore your audience if you just talk about you or your brand and nothing else.
Imagine a person who designs websites but doesn’t provide SEO services. Such a person can give a shoutout to some SEO expert who is trustworthy & has an amazing track record.
Now, how does this helps that website designer?
1. He is featuring the SEO expert and this will strengthen his relationship with the expert.
2. The SEO expert might also repost the story by tagging the website designer.
3. It will help the website designer’s clients & vice versa.
Well, that was just a random example that came to my mind. But I hope you understood the point that I am trying to convey. Giving shoutouts helps. It does not just help the person who has received the mention, but also your audience and you.
#4. Promote your latest Instagram Post
Instagram Stories can be used to promote your latest Instagram Posts. You would have observed a lot of stories saying “New Post Up”, “New Post”, “Have you checked this” and so on.
This is an amazing way to reach out to the audience and increase the chance of making the new post visible to them.
You cannot be sure that your Instagram will show up in all your followers’ feed. This can be because of an algorithm or maybe your audience is following a lot of accounts or even maybe the post being lost in the feed.
But when you post something, you can definitely promote it in the Instagram Story & try to increase the engagement.
#5. Promote your blog posts
Published a blog? Why not tell your Instagram audience about it?
Cross-platform promotions is a great way to drive traffic & many individuals/brands are using this efficiently.
You would have seen “Swipe Up” or “Swipe Up To Read” in Instagram Stories. An account with less than 10,000 followers will not have this swipe up feature enabled. If you are having more than 10K followers on Instagram, then congratulations, you can use the swipe up feature to promote your latest blogs.
But if you are not having 10K followers, then don’t get disappointed. You can still promote your recent blog post in your Instagram Stories with the text “DM of link” or “Blog link in the bio”
#6. Showcase your office/work desk
People are always excited to know more about the brands they follow, the influencers they love & their friends, families and colleagues.
And this quality of people can be used to engage with them. Show them your office & excite them. This can be done using pictures or small clips of your office on your Instagram Stories.
It can be an office tour or a picture of something creative at your office or just a simple picture of how beautiful is the view of the city from your office. It can also be some photography that you did at the office or as simple as your favorite wall or cabin at the office.
You would have witnessed Instagram Stories with such pictures or videos.
If you are working from home or don’t have a fancy office, it can be a picture of your work desk too.
Don’t forget to tag your colleagues & mention the office location too in such stories.
#7. Countdown to an event
If you are hosting an event, this is a great way to create buzz about the event.
Instagram Stories allows you to share a countdown sticker. You can set the countdown to the event and also customize it’s title.
You can do this when you are launching a new product, running a contest or a sale, anniversaries, holidays, etc.
Your followers can tap on the countdown sticker in your Instagram Story and set an alert. They will be then notified when the countdown ends. This is an amazing way to keep them reminded about some event that you are hosting.
#8. Behind the scenes
As I said before, people like to know more. They get excited when they get to see your office, life or something that they don’t see usually.
While all brands or individuals share crafted content, why not go a step ahead & share behind the scenes to capture your audience’s attention.
Everyone has a story behind the product or a service. Why not show them the story itself?
If you are working on some product, show them how it is built. If you are creating some vlog, show them how you work behind the scenes.
This will help them to connect with the real you & engage more. Behind the scenes, IG stories are fun, easy to capture & illustrate the raw process of making something.
#9. Testimonials
Imagine winning a trophy and not telling about it to your friends and family members. How will they know that you have won a trophy?
Or imagine you have learned the best dance moves but never danced in front of others. How will they know that you can dance?
You need to show to the world what you got. Not to boost about it but to inform them about your expertise and authoritativeness in that particular sector.
Testimonials reflect the satisfaction of your clients with your brand. They are a very valuable asset for you. You need to thank your clients for the testimonials & show the world that you have received wonderful testimonials.
It will help your audience trust you more.
And Instagram Stories are a very quick, effective and efficient way to share your testimonials.
Yes, you might have published the testimonials on your website or you might be having multiple recommendations on LinkedIn too. But not all your Instagram Audience is on your LinkedIn and not all of them are interested in visiting your website too.
So why not show them the testimonials in well-designed Instagram stories?
#10. Quick tips and tricks
Quick hacks are loved by all. When you help your audience, you become their STAR.
Share valuable tips with your audience besides your regular content. When you learn something, share it. This will help you learn and grow more. That’s what I believe and that’s what I am doing on this blog and my social media pages.
Though initially, you won’t be having a huge following. But slowly and steadily when people will start consuming those tips, they will share your content, ask others to follow you or even give you shoutouts.
Everyone is in hurry these days and hence Instagram Stories are a great tool for sharing quick tips and tricks. It can be in a form of an image or even a video story where you talk about some tricks that helped you and might help your audience.
#11. Location
The location sticker in the Instagram Stories help you tell your audience where you are or where the picture was taken.
It is not only a creative way to have another piece of Instagram Story content but also a strategic one. Yes, when you share your location, the chances of your post appearing in Instagram location page is much higher.
Posts with location get much more engagement than the posts without the location.
You don’t want to spoil your feed with the on-going announcements. For instance, if you are having a new year sale then you might not have a similar sale every year.
Adding a post on your timeline can confuse someone who visits your profile after the sale is done.
Here, Instagram Stories come to rescue. Your Instagram Story will last for 24 hours and if you want others to view it later then you can also add it to Highlights.
Instagram influencers and big brands are using Instagram Stories to make announcements like some new sale or discount or opening of a store or website.
It can be any announcement. You can have stories like 4 days left or maybe even use the countdown sticker.
News is dynamic and Instagram stories are dynamic too. So if you have the latest news of your industry, share it with your audience using Instagram Story.
#13. Excite them by giving a sneak peek
As I have already mentioned several times, people like to know more about you.
At times, there might be situations when you don’t want them to know everything about your product or your new office.
You can use Instagram Stories to give them a quick sneak peek about something exciting. This drives curiosity & the audience stays tuned to see the entire thing.
Maybe if you have posted a new IGTV, then you can use Instagram Stories creatively by sharing a part of IGTV in your stories along with swipe up option.
And the fun fact here is that you don’t require 10,000 followers to do this. Yes, you read it right. With the help of IGTV, you can use swipe up even without 10,000 followers. Know more about it here – How to get Swipe Up on Instagram without 10K followers?
#14. Tell them about your day
If you are an individual, your followers would connect with you more if you tell them about your day.
Many influencers begin their day by this. They share their schedule for the day with their audience. This is not only just another story idea but also a great way to be accountable. When you promise or commit something in front of others, you take an extra mile to achieve it.
While many do it at the beginning of the day, I have seen many of them ending their day with such stories. They share what they did throughout the day.
A few of them continuously post pictures of what they are doing on their Instagram Stories while a few share quick videos about it.
The choice is yours. Whether you do it at the beginning of the day or at the end or throughout OR whether you will post pictures or videos – it all depends on you & the type of audience you have.
But if you are an individual who is running a business or an influencer, you should not skip this.
Also, if you are handling your brand’s handle then you can share about a day of work at your office. Maybe cover a day in the life of your accountant or your teammate or in general how the day begins or ends at your office.
#15. Introduce yourself / your team
Your followers keep on changing. Someone who has followed you recently might not know who you are.
Someone who might have followed you an year ago might have forgotten about what you exactly do.
That doesn’t mean you have a standard introductory video that you keep sharing on your Instagram Story.
What I mean by introduce yourself is be creative every time and share something in a manner that even if someone knows you, he or she gets to know something more or a different side of you.
You can also introduce your team members one by one & let your audience know that what a wonderful team you have.
Conclusion
I hope that these Instagram Story Ideas will help you create more content and post more stories. These are not the only ideas. Creativity is endless and you might have many such ideas in your mind.
The key over here is planning the content as per the ideas and remaining consistent on Instagram Stories.
If you have any other Instagram Story ideas, then please feel free to comment below or DM me on Instagram – @jainishshahdigital