5 Tips for a Great Instagram Story

Blog post

Tips for a successful Instagram story are available not only for beginners on Instagram, but also for experienced photographers and businessmen. With the rise of this social networking site, almost every business has its own account on the network that highlights photos and videos. 

Accounts typically contain multiple posts and images related to the company, and the company uses them to share or promote its products and services. The story is a special exercise. It's about highlighting moments or products that are, by nature, ephemeral since stories disappear from the social network 24 hours after their publication. So here are our 5 tips to excel in this still underutilized field from a marketing point of view that are Instagram stories.

Engage your audience

A good tip for a successful Instagram story is to upload interesting or funny images, ideally that elicit a positive emotion. This will encourage your audience to consistently click through to your stories because they know they're going to find something positive in them, encouraging you to gain more followers. 

Practice Test & Learn

Also, take note of the types of images that hold your followers' attention the most. Lenses and other digital effects can be very attractive when posting as a story on your account, but not at all when posting on another Instagrammer's account. 

Indeed, the choice of images to publish in a story depends mainly on two factors: your audience, and your subject. There is no absolute truth. We advise you to resort to the practice of Test & Learn, which consists of trying a technique, and continuing if it works. If it doesn't work, make changes to your content until you see positive improvements. This is also known as A/B testing

Think about calls-to-action to encourage interaction

An interesting and compelling Instagram story should always include a call to action. What does the viewer have to do to experience the story? Is there a product or service that your followers need to buy? If this is the case, the product name, location, and payment methods should appear in the legend. This encourages subscribers to purchase the item being photographed, which increases the chances of selling the product or service.

Another trick used by savvy Instagram users is to upload an image that encourages users to comment. If the image is interesting or offers real added value to the reader, the user may wish to leave a comment on the image. This increases the chances that your subscriber will click on the call-to-action, because they feel a way about the post. Calls-to-action work thanks to the engagement of your followers, you can't have one without the other. 

Trade-off between image quality and weight

A photo should not be too heavy. Heavier images can take a long time to load. Also, don't upload photos of yourself holding objects. Instagram users may not like to see models holding large objects. 

So choose photos of a compact format, which are still of high quality, but with careful staging, it is essential! Just because a story is ephemeral doesn't mean you have to botch its visual rendering. 

This question often agitates graphic designers and people who work in design in general. Particularly sensitive to the quality of photos, these professionals tend to prefer high-definition photos. Nevertheless, you have to put yourself in your audience's shoes. Not everyone has a large screen, and an Internet connection that allows you to open the image in HD. 

It is therefore a compromise to be adjusted according to your target. If you're creating a community for designers, obviously the posts on your Instagram account need to be very neat. 

Bet on the legend

One of the most important parts of a good Instagram story is the caption. Make sure the caption says something about what's in the photo. If the caption doesn't say anything explicitly, it's unlikely that users will like it and stop following you. A smart caption encourages followers to visit the site, so include links to engaging content in the story.

At the beginning of your Instagram adventure, focus on impactful images and the caption should only be an addition of text to the image. The more your notoriety grows, the more you need to be able to understand the reasons behind it. Why are you being followed on social media? Why do you have an above-average engagement rate on Instagram? In short, you need to understand what others are looking for in you. 

Conclusion

Finally, don't forget that the story isn't everything on Instagram. This practice, originating from another social network (Snapchat), was brought to Instagram to make up for a technological gap and prevent Instagram users from fleeing. But this is not the core target of this media, which relies above all on content that is intended to settle over time. Don't skimp on timeless content that will stand the test of time.