Instagram Stories have been around since 2016 and this is not the first time we are chatting about them here on the blog! Check out some of my past posts here and here.  A lot about the Instagram landscape has drastically changed in the past year, not to mention the past seven years since stories launched. 

Today I wanted to share your crash course on utilizing stories without burning out. One of the most common mistakes I have seen small business owners make time and time again is to overthink and overproduce their Instagram Stories. Usually at the detriment of their own time, or a part-time graphic designer’s time. So before deciding to completely overhaul your stories or add in 10+ new posts read this! 

When you are evaluating how much time and energy to spend on Instagram stories it’s important to review the following.

• How many viewers can I expect on average? Compare this to how many people will see a Reel or in-feed post. Is it more or less? 
• How much traffic are stories driving to your website or whatever you may be promoting? Compare this to link clicks in your profile or clicks you get from apps like ManyChat. 
• How much time are you currently spending creating/planning/posting stories? How much time do I REALLY have extra?
• Is Instagram my primary social media platform? What others am I using? 

Being able to regularly evaluate these things will help you prioritize your time. For example, if you know you receive 20k views on your Instagram Reels but only 5k on Stories you should be dividing your time/resources to support this. I will say this doesn’t mean you should ignore your Instagram Stories altogether. These are oftentimes your most dedicated followers or brand-new followers who are eager to learn about you and your brand. Just keep in mind how many people you’re reaching versus the effort you are putting in and make sure it makes sense. 

A lot of times we see other creators doing something on Instagram, assume it’s working for them, and then try to replicate with our own spin. This happens A LOT with Instagram Stories because they can feel more like a mystery. The reason is that you can’t see anyone’s metrics but your own. You don’t know how many views people are getting or how many people are interacting with their polls/engaging with them. You just see what they are creating and assume it’s working for them. This has led to a lot of people just trying “whatever” to see if it works and rapidly changing strategies before learning what is and isn’t working. 

As you look to creating a sustainable Instagram Story strategy you should create a posting schedule that is something you can stick with for 3+ months. This doesn’t mean don’t try new things AT ALL, sometimes you just need to trust your gut and go for it, but it means you should try to stick to one strategy. By doing this you will be able to make more informed decisions because of the analytics you gather. 

Consider the following your crash course to creating an Instagram Story Strategy. Pick and choose the elements you feel will best suit your brand and your bandwidth. 

Posting Schedule 

• Share stories for a minimum of 5 days a week. If you know this won’t work for you, then start small and work up to the 5 days a week. Remember you can use scheduling apps to help batch your work! 
• Minimum share three stories throughout the day. By posting multiple times throughout the day, instead of all at once, you have a better chance to appear first in people’s story viewing. 
• Create a daily schedule for posting. I like to post first thing in the morning, once around lunchtime, again around 3 PM, and one last post in the evening. These are times I feel my audience is also naturally drawn towards their phone and I think I will have good engagement. 

Graphics and Professional Photography versus BTS or Unedited Content

Every brand is different, but in my experience, it’s important to have a mix of unedited content and content that is professionally created. Instagram Stories are only there for 24 hours and it is a place where people have come to expect seeing more behind-the-scenes and off-the-cuff content. The reason people come back to watch your stories is because they know if they miss what you share it’s gone for good. 

This is why sneak peeks, special offers, and sharing sides of your life that aren’t present in the feed perform so well. Your stories’ content should help promote in-feed posts and send traffic to your website BUT the reason people will watch is to see something they can’t find anywhere else. 

I recommend having no more than 4 graphics in your stories in one day, and when you do have a lot of graphics make sure to utilize polls and other engagement tactics to keep people watching. 

How to Increase Views

• Show up consistently for a long time. Growth doesn’t happen overnight and on Instagram Stories that is especially true. 
• Create a series. Something that people will want to come back and check in on. This could be anything from a home project, cooking ritual, weekly planning session, restock try-ons, etc. 
• Post several times throughout the day. Each time you post your account gets pushed to the front of the Instagram Story Feed. This gives you a MUCH better chance at being seen versus if you post everything first thing in the AM. 
• Don’t over-post. This is always the trickiest bit of advice but overposting is the fastest way to lose followers or get your stories muted. Every account and audience is different. I have run accounts that perform best with 20+ stories a day and others around 5 posts a day. The only way to know is to test things over time. Pay attention to your story views and if they are staying high increase your posts a little bit. Sometimes you will just have high-view days and I recommend taking advantage and posting extra on these days. 
• Tell people to head to your stories. Ask and you shall receive! Tell people in your newsletter, Instagram Post, etc. to head to your stories to see x. Creating hype and asking people to see what you are creating will help! 

Simple Ways to Increase Engagement

These are your rapid-fire tactics to try out whenever you are feeling a little stuck generating good engagement. 

• Share a poll that is controversial or highly debated. This can be anything from the best food combinations to what is the saddest movie. Your polls don’t always need to pertain to your niche but if they don’t they should be timely. 
• Underline or use gifs to help draw attention to your call to action. (EX. comment on my post, click this link, go enter this giveaway)
• Host a giveaway and ask followers to share a photo and tag you in their stories. Each post is an entry. You can re-post anything you are tagged in as well.
• Share bloopers from a recent photo shoot, kitchen mishap, injury, etc. Then once people have started engaging share a storytime about the blooper. 
• Host a giveaway where people have to guess something correctly using the question box feature. 
• Tag other brands or creators in your stories so you get reposted. 
• Create several this or that polls and post them in a row.      
• Re-share memes/trending content and include polls, question boxes, and other engagement tools.   

How to Avoid Burning Out

• Stick to your strategy.
• Utilize a content calendar. 
• Re-use content that performs well.
• Don’t over-edit your content if you don’t plan to repurpose it for ads, future reposts, or other platforms. 

Other Questions: 

• Can I automate my stories? Yes, click here to learn about how.
• What needs to be a highlight? I recommend creating the following highlights: FAQ, About or Mission, and then the different categories that you share about or are on your website. For online boutiques, this could be different shopping categories and for freelancers, this could be work-with-me options and blog categories. 
• How can I get more website traffic? Share links in your stories frequently! To your content and other amazing content on the internet. You want people to see that you have shared a link and automatically know how great the content you share is so they don’t even think twice about clicking. 
• Should I use filters? If you like to and they are in line with your brand I say go for it!