Ideas for Your Instagram Story
Our founder, Mandy, spoke at the Los Angeles Chapter of the Public Relations Society of America (PRSA-LA) this week about Instagram Stories, Facebook Stories and Snapchat. She presented on the history of the platforms, data on usage, and some ideas about how to get creative with stories.
Want to see the slides? You can find them by clicking here.
Here are a few of the ideas from the presentation:
Go Live
(Note the comments about blurriness. Be sure you have an incredible internet connection when live-streaming)
Make a Giveaway
Jeff Mindell is a talented photographer based in LA. When he travels, he creates IG Stories with beautiful photos worthy of being a photo background, and shares them with his fans who happily use his photos as their phone backgrounds.
Add Shopping
One of IG’s most important new features to roll out is Native Shopping. Brands have only just begun to use this feature - be ahead of them!
Have Someone Else Take Over
A classic strategy. When choosing someone to do a takeover on your account, make sure they introduce themselves, and say goodbye when they’re done.
Expand on Today’s Posts
Most accounts post once per day on Instagram. This has been widely considered a Golden Rule on Instagram for years. In order to provide a little more context for your post, share the post in your Story and add additional commentary as a text block.
Establish Character
Personal profiles are a place where founders and leaders can show their own personality. Even if you have to put on a ‘face’ for company materials, don’t be afraid of sharing something about your personal life for folks to get to know you better. We’re all people, after all.
Change Up The Voice
Stories are an opportunity to have more character than a brand or individual might have on a more official, more permanent channel. Use more casual language. Find silly sticker. Have fun. :)
Make a Countdown
Instagram has a handful of fun interactive elements called “stickers”, including a countdown option. Every brand has something coming up. Tell fans about it by using a countdown.
