Are you looking for awesome and creative Instagram story ideas to engage your followers?
Instagram stories are without a doubt the quickest and easiest fix to generating brand awareness, promoting products and engaging your followers.
They are 15 seconds long and last for 24 hours unless it is saved on your highlights which makes people want to view faster before they disappear.
Although many may be quite familiar with this feature, not all exploit it as they should. Or rather know what exactly to post on the story feature.
A whooping 300 million people use Instagram stories every day and that’s a lot of ideas to come up with so as to market your business or grow your feed.
The following are some of the best Instagram story ideas that will help you grow content and create an engaging platform.
Let’s dive right in!
#1- Promote Instagram posts
Share your image directly from your feed to your stories or take a screenshot and post for your followers.
Tease your new or desired post for your followers and they will click to see your Instagram feed so they can view, like or comment as you wish.
This is the easiest method to share your latest post for faster recognition.
It is also a way you are sure your followers will view your desired post because you can’t really control what posts they view on your feed but you can control what they view on your stories.
#2- Live videos
Live videos are fun and literally the most amazing way to boost your engagement with your followers.
Instagram users who follow you page are immediately notified of your live once you start broadcasting.
Users who have joined the live are allowed to comment on your live and communicate with you real-time.
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Allow them to ask questions about you or regarding any topic for a more effective engagement that is inclusive of everyone.
You can choose to have your video archived for later viewing by those who missed your live.
#3- Polls
Instagram provides poll stickers where you ask your followers questions of two responses on different topics.
You can have your polls as a game involving your audience, research conducted to review opinions on products, or just for fun.
Whatever way you choose to your polls, they are a fun way to engage your followers and build brands getting honest opinions.
#4- Contests and giveaways
Holding contests and giveaways for your followers on Instagram can turbocharge your engagement numbers. You only require something your followers will take part in for you to choose a winner of the giveaway.
The most popular ways used are:
- Tagging someone in the comment section of a specific post
- Using a branded hash tag
- Sharing or posting your Instagram stories
- Commenting under a timeline
Depending on what your product or contest was about, you can pick out anything to be the prize like samples of your product or increased engagement on their feed.
#5- #TBT
#ThrowbackThursday is massively popular and it has grown over the years but it is being taken over by catchy new ideas.
It still remains the perfect way to travel back to time with your audience.
You take a photo you took a while back and share it on your Instagram story.
It could be your photo or a picture of your brand showcasing just how far you have come with it and how much it has grown.
It mostly invokes your audience to comment on the growth over the years.
#6- Countdowns
This Instagram sticker sets a countdown to an event right down to the second.
You customize it to include the theme of the event so you can let your audience know what you are counting down to e.g.:
- Upcoming sale
- Holidays like Mother’s Day, Christmas.
- Close dates
- Brand’s anniversary
- Birthdays
- Release of a new product
Your followers can even share the countdown on their own stories and tap on the sticker to set an alert for when the countdown ends.
#7- Tutorials and how tos
Marketing a brand or product effectively involves posting valuable informative that is as informative as it is updated.
The trendiest method to provide this information and content is through tutorials using Instagram stories as your platform.
A great and popular example is a make-up tutorial. Figure out what you can advise on concerning your brand or pick out what you are good at and give tips to apply in our day-to-day lives.
This Instagram story idea is mostly coupled with a before and after view which is yet another epic way to invoke an engagement with your audience.
#8- Before and after
This idea covers a wide range of reveals such as your old brand logo versus your current one, number of followers, change of a product, before and after on fashion and style.
It could also be how you offered services to your clients before and how you offer them now with all the upgrades you’ve had to make.
These kinds of reveals excite a lot of people as they can be motivating, funny or thought-provoking.
#9- Shoutouts
Have you worked with a brand that deserves recognition? Do you have an influencer you look up to, or an account you just can’t get enough of?
Then give them a shout out and let everyone know why you love and admire their brand or feed.
Your audience will love you for it and your engagement will increase especially if the owner of the feed you have chosen shares your ‘shoutout post’ with his/her Instagram community.
This way, you also foster a greater sense of community on Instagram if it’s not always about you.
#10- Reviews and testimonials
People want to buy and be involved with businesses that they know are great at what they do and offer.
Technically the best and current way to convince people about the quality of a product or brand is through social proof.
It can be in form of screenshots of past reviews from customers, testimonials or snippets of kind words.
Share either of those on your page for your audience to see and they will always make sure to view your stories for proofs.
#11- Suggestions
If you need a review about a new product release or you have a problem you are struggling with, use Instagram stories to ask your followers for their own insights and inputs.
You never know- there might be someone who has been through what you are going through, or has had the opportunity to use the product you seek advice on.
You can use Instagram polls for answers and comments or request them to respond via direct message.
You create your own intimate and engaged community when you show them you need them and ask for suggestions as much as you provide yours.
Conclusion: Quick And Creative Instagram Story Ideas
Carve out hours in your social media work flow setting aside time for your audience only, to increase engagement. Engaging them also has to be consistent with updated content
Roll up your sleeves and get started on creating awesome and engaging Instagram stories because it is not as complicated as you make it out to be.
Also don’t forget to share this blog post with your friends and family looking for Instagram story ideas.
