Have you heard about Instagram Stories? Perhaps you already enjoy watching other people’s Stories but have no idea how to create your own. Maybe you would like to make your Stories more fun and engaging but you don’t know how. Or perhaps you have no idea what we’re talking about! In this blog post, we will cover the basics of Instagram Stories (Instagram Stories 101 if you will) and how to get this special feature to work for you and your business.
What are Instagram Stories?
Your Instagram Stories are photos and videos you can share to your Instagram profile. These are separate to your main Instagram tiled feed. Like anything posted to Snapchat, Instagram Stories disappear after 24 hours. Since launching in 2016, the Instagram Stories feature has been catapulted into popularity. As a result, increased the app’s daily usage and now boasts 250 million daily users. TechCrunch reported that the feature “boosted the app’s average usage to 32 minutes per day for those under 25, and 24 minutes per day for those 25 and up.”
How can I watch Instagram Stories?
Open up your mobile Instagram app and navigate to your home screen by clicking the house icon in the lower left hand corner. At the very top of this screen will be several circular profile photos of accounts that you follow. You can tap on these circular icons to watch that user’s Story. As these Stories appear at the top of the app as soon as you open it, they are immediately visible to users and get a lot of engagement.
You can navigate through Instagram Stories by tapping within a story to skip to the next video clip or image, or swiping left and right to jump between Stories by different users. To pause a video, simply press and hold your finger on the screen.
How do I make my own Instagram Story?
It’s easy to get started creating your own Instagram Story. Follow these simple steps:
- Open up your Instagram mobile app, navigate to your home screen and tap on the camera icon in the very top left hand corner.
- Swipe up to view your camera gallery and share an existing photo or video from your camera roll.
- Alternatively you can select a camera lens to take a photo or video from within the app. You can choose from different options including Normal, Boomerang, Layout, Superzoom or Hands-Free.
- Once you’ve selected your photo or video, click on one of the icons in the top right hand corner. Choose text, GIFs, music, stickers, emojis and more!
- When you are finished, click the Your Story icon in the lower left hand corner to upload it to your Story!
Once you have the basics down, you can have fun exploring the feature to discover all the different tools and filters available to get your Story looking amazing!
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