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When Instagram first launched over a decade ago, it was primarily used as a personal photo-sharing app where family and friends could keep in touch with each other. But the platform quickly grew and became a hub for influencers and brands to engage with their clients–a feat that can be attributed to the app’s range of features focused on feedback. One of the key features that make this possible is the Instagram Story, which allows you to post real-time content that users can view within 24 hours.

Instagram Stories are a wonderful way to boost your brand’s organic social engagement because they’re fun, free, quick, and frequent. It’s the perfect platform that allows you to send quick messages, such as sale reminders and product sneak peeks, to a wide audience without committing to a permanent post. While Instagram is relatively simple to use, creating hyper-engaging Stories requires all-around knowledge of the app’s features, hence why Digital marketing agencies offer services specific to social content creation.

If you aren’t a long-time Instagram user or haven’t explored Stories, don’t fret–here are some super-easy Instagram story-making hacks that’ll springboard your brand’s engagement with a social-media-savvy generation.

Tips On How to Use Tiny Size Hashtags

Goodbye, ugly text, hello, new viewers! Hashtags are important for expanding your Instagram Story’s reach, as it’ll allow users who search for similar keywords to come across your content. It’s essentially a lead generation tool that you don’t want to miss out on. But here’s the catch–hashtags can be obstructive and ugly, especially if you’re looking to emulate a clean and minimalistic feel with your Stories.

A tip is to list down all your hashtags, scale them down so that they’re super small, and then cover them up with a photo, sticker, or gif. You can do so by clicking the smiley icon on the upper right of the Story interface and picking the perfect sticker or gif, or copy and pasting photos directly from your camera roll. Alternatively, if you’re posting a Story with a solid background, you can change the hashtags’ color to match the background, and no one will suspect that they’re there.

You can use the same hack to cover up other important lines of copy, such as location stickers or user tags, and you’ll never have to break your brand’s aesthetic.

Styling Texts Can Take You to The Next Level

Using plain standard text might not resonate well with your brand and feel a little dated. Instagram Stories allow you to customize your social copy’s font, color, and size, so you can talk to clients in whatever color suits your message. There are 27 default colors available on the interface, but long-pressing the options will open access to a color spectrum where you can pick any color to match your mood. Meanwhile, fonts range from highly editorial serif to fun and quirky sans serif options. If you’re working with video content, you can pin copy and other elements (such as stickers and gifs) to appear at certain points by long-pressing and selecting the pinned location.

Designing copy styles is a hack that professionals swear by in the industry of social media marketing singapore. It’s an instant game-changer that ensures that Stories are always on-brand.

Co-operate with Others and Share Useful Content.

Brands have historically collaborated with influencers and other brands to generate cross-world engagement and increase the rate of brand discovery. With Instagram Stories, connecting with other companies and maintaining a relationship is easy because specific features allow you to share user-generated content with ease. Once a partner brand or influencer makes a post, tap on the little airplane symbol on the bottom left to share the post in your Story.

Make sure to tag the user, so they get a notification. This method works for any post–including accounts you aren’t in collaboration with–but don’t forget to ask permission before sharing!

Use the Features of Swipe Up To Shop

One of the most important ways you can utilize Instagram Stories is to take advantage of as many stages of interest in the consumer’s mind as possible. The easiest route to go from awareness to purchase within seconds is to implement the right call to action strategy by leveraging the “swipe up” feature. When users swipe up upon seeing your Story, they’ll be redirected to a separate link, which you can take advantage of by linking them to the item’s product page.

Note that this feature is only open to business accounts with over 10,000 followers or verified accounts. Some companies hire a Social media agency in Singapore to streamline this feature’s usage and ensure that it’s properly set-up, but you can always give it a try yourself!

Story Highlights Are the Right Tools to Grab More Attention.

While Instagram Stories only last 24 hours, there’s a way to make your most important Stories last as long as you want them to. Clicking on the plus sign below the “edit profile” link in your bio will allow you to build story highlights. You can customize the icons with any image that’ll reinforce your brand’s identity and store essential information to help clients experience a more streamlined shopping experience. Most companies use highlights to store Q&As, event details, and popular content.

Add to the Story highlights by clicking the heart on the bottom right of any story you have posted. You can access older Stories by clicking the three lines on the upper right corner of the screen and selecting “archive.” To edit the album artwork, long press and select “edit highlight.” You can add, remove, and customize highlights any time, so have fun and keep it up-to-date!

Leveraging Instagram Stories is one of the best ways to increase consumer engagement, share important information, and reinforce your branding strategy. It’s a much smaller commitment than making a post, so don’t worry too much about it in the early stages of your brand-building. Have fun and keep experimenting, and you’ll eventually find your style!