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Katy Sears | Digital Agency | Web Design + Marketing Consultancy

Instagram Stories: The Latest Features & Hacks

Marketing· Social Media

14 May

Instagram stories have over 500 million daily users, so it’s no surprise that Zuckerberg et al. are pouring all their time and attention into generating swanky new story features to make this part of the app better than ever. However from a IG user perspective – whether you are a brand, business, freelancer, influencer or day-to-day user – the number of new features that are popping up left right and centre can be a little overwhelming. Fear not! I am here to shed light on the latest features and hacks available on Instagram stories and how to rock them for your business to make your products and services shine… I will also be revealing a few BIG and JUICY Instagram updates that are on their way in the near future!

Quiz Stickers

To add a quiz sticker, simply take or upload a photo onto your story, hit the dashboard button and select the quiz sticker icon. Then you can add your question, write out your multiple choice answers, select the correct answer AND change the colour of the quiz box to match your branding.

Why will a quiz help my business on social media I hear you cry?! Here are three awesome ways you can utilise this feature…

  1. Educate your followers on your brand by asking them questions about you, such as: Where are we based? How many people are in our team? Who founded our biz? What is our mission? What do we love to do most? What’s our favourite product? What are we releasing next? What’s our best seller?
  2. Find out more about your followers and customers by asking them questions about themselves, such as: What skincare product can’t you live without? What piece of make up would you take to a desert island? Which dish is your favourite? Which song do you love most on our new album? What fashion style best describes you?
  3. Use the quiz stickers as a promotional or informative tool, e.g. Question: What offers are we currently running on our website? Answers: BOGOF, free shipping, 20% off all shoes… Or: When is the launch of our new collection?

Countdown Stickers

Simple, yet effective. Add a countdown sticker to your Instagram story by selecting it from the dashboard, enter the event title and date, then customise the colour to match your branding.

These are a great way of generating hype around an important date for your business or brand, e.g. website launch, collection release, new album drop, latest blog post, new vlog, new Instagram post… the list goes on. What’s even more fabulous about these stickers is that followers have the option to continue to follow your countdown outside the story by generating a reminder in their phone for your big reveal.

Get colourful!

Ever wanted to colour the whole background of your Instagram story but couldn’t be faffed to scribble away with the pen tool? A very basic but massively time saving hack… select the pen tool and your colour of choice, then instead of scribbling just hold your finger down for 1-3 seconds and the whole background will block out with your chosen colour!

If you want to get even fancier, upload an image to your story then layer it up with a colour block on top. Now select the eraser tool and reveal little snippets of the image behind the colour block. This is an awesome technique to use if you are giving your customers a sneak peek / product reveal / location teaser.

If you are sharing someone else’s post or story to your story (which I’ve covered in a previous blog post here: Instagram Stories 101) you can apply the block background colour to this as well, which makes it look a lot more swish than the greyish tones IG automatically uploads behind them.

Consistency in your branding across all of your socials is one of the best ways to create a rock solid, easily identifiable and beautiful brand. The new colour tools on Instagram stories means that you are able to achieve this consistency quicker than ever! Whether you’re using coloured text, creating a coloured background or using the pen tools, next time you go to select a colour try holding down one of the coloured circles until the colour slider appears. Navigate your way through the slider until you’ve found the perfect colour match for your branding. Voila!

Take your colours even further by having coloured text written on a different coloured text background. After writing your text across your story, select the colour for the background of the text by using the colour slider mentioned above. Now highlight the text using your cursor and select a contrasting colour for the text.

Multiple image uploads

Copy and paste – maybe the oldest hack in the book?! But with this easy peasy method you can now upload multiple images to a single Instagram story. First upload your background image to your story, then exit the app. Now head to your camera roll and select the image you want to add on top of your background image. Copy the image, navigate back to your Instagram story, tap the screen and press paste. Hello multiple image uploads!

These are fabulous if you are spoilt for choice with content and want to show off a few images at once, e.g. showing different angles of a product, different ways to style an item, multiple dishes your restaurant makes, a few teaser images from a shoot etc etc. You can use the copy and paste method as many times as you like, so collage til your hearts content. If you want to make your multiple image stories look even snazzier, try using collage apps such as Unfold or Canva.

  • instagram stories latest features - copy and paste
  • instagram stories latest features - copy and paste
  • instagram stories latest features - copy and paste

Hidden hashtags and geotags

As I mentioned in my last IG story blog (Instagram Stories 101), adding hashtags and geotags to your stories is an amazing way of increasing the number of times you are seen which boosts your reach, brand awareness and chances of getting more followers and customers. This is because when you add these tags, you end up on the stories of that location and that hashtag search. Check out the example below where I’ve pulled up the search results for the hashtag #Sydney and the geotag Currumbin Alley. You can see the stories associated to all these hashtags/geotags by clicking on the circle icon on the top left of the screen.

Having these tags on your stories is all well and good for increasing exposure, but they can be a bit of an eyesore. There are a couple of easy hacks to help you resolve this. Firstly, you can blend the tags in with your background by making the text writing the same colour as your background by using the colour picker. The colour picker is the pipette style icon on the far left of the colour reel, once you have written your text and selected that icon you can then tap any area on your screen that you want the colour to be lifted from. The other alternatives are to shrink your tags or cover them up with GIFs or stickers.

  • instagram stories latest features
  • instagram stories latest features
  • instagram stories latest features
  • instagram stories latest features

So there you have it, a few simple but effective hacks and features to use on your Instagram stories to help you get seen by those 500 million daily users! For more information on why you NEED to get on board with Instagram stories for your business if you’re not already doing so, click here.

COMING SOON…

Facebook recently held their #F82019 conference and revealed some juicy new updates for the app that are heading our way this year…

  • Donation stickers for stories are coming soon! NFP’s and charities rejoice.
  • Create mode is on it’s way, a brand spanking new format to create Instagram stories, which promises to make it easier than ever to discover all the available tools and tricks to spruce up your stories.
  • Creator profiles are coming. Similar to business profiles but these are aimed at influencers and will give them access to a massive range of analytics including a specifically dedicated β€˜Instagram Creator Studio’ on desktop revealing detailed engagement stats and insights into their audience and demographic info. It will also allow them to enable more DM filters to ensure they don’t miss messages from important brands or contacts AAAAND they will have access to follow / unfollow data to see exactly what content is triggering certain reactions from their audiences.
  • Shopping tags will soon be available for influencers, creators and public figures to apply onto their posts, allowing influencers to act as real β€˜sales people’ on behalf of other brands.
  • Facebook will be launching a Spark AR studio to allow anyone and everyone to create their own Instagram story filters in a few months time.  
  • And the biggest one of all… Instagram is removing numbered likes! This is currently being trialled in Canada to a select audience over the next few months to measure impact and response. Instead of a number appearing underneath a post e.g. ‘@katyclapham and 103 others liked this’ it will instead say ‘@katyclapham and others liked this’. Users are able to see who else has liked a post by clicking on the text ‘others’, and if they have the time – they are able to count the likes themselves. Businesses and creators will still have access to this information in analytics as well, which will help them to continue measuring their engagement. What’s the big idea behind it? “We want people to be less interested in how many likes a post gets, and focus more on connecting with other people.” – Mark Zuckerberg. Personally I think this will be a fantastic change for the app as it will encourage a whole lot more authenticity, creativity and connection – and a lot less unhealthy competition and fake engagement. Plus it will mean brands and businesses pay more attention to the analytics that ACTUALLY make them money such as website clicks and conversions, rather than like counts! Watch this space…

As always if you have any questions, get in touch!

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Find me on Instagram: @katysears_

β€’ postcards from paradise πŸ’Œ β€’ postcards from paradise πŸ’Œ
β€’ doing what we do best ✌🏽 β€’ doing what we do best ✌🏽
β€’ it’s been a while... ✈️ β€’ it’s been a while... ✈️
β€’ 30 TODAY! 🌟 Happy birthday my darling husba β€’ 30 TODAY! 🌟 Happy birthday my darling husband ❀️ so many beautiful and epic memories with you and so so so many more to come. I can’t wait to see what’s in store for you for your dirty thirties 😏 I love you SO much and I especially love your two new grey hairs. Time to celebrate baby πŸ’ƒπŸΌπŸ•ΊπŸ½πŸ₯‚ #lessssgo
β€’ out of office is on and we are finally off on β€’ out of office is on and we are finally off on hols in three short days time πŸ™πŸΌ excitement levels to get on an actual plane for the first time in 15 months are HIGH 🀩
β€’ summer sundays with my love 🌞 drives throug β€’ summer sundays with my love 🌞 drives through the hinterland, ocean dips, naps on the beach, beautiful headland walks and a coupla frosty pints to top it all off. Lotsa days like this in 2021 please 🌼
β€’ it turns out the last day of 2020 was one of m β€’ it turns out the last day of 2020 was one of my absolute favourites 🀍 there is something so incredible about being underneath a huge waterfall - heart pummelling in your chest, energy and force swirling all around you, pigtails zooming back in the air and not a single leech attached itself to my tootsies πŸ™ŒπŸ½
Grateful that I got to spend the last day of 2020 on a high, experiencing something so beautiful with my hubs πŸ™πŸΌ
β€’ beach days with the small bear 🧸 β€’ beach days with the small bear 🧸
β€’ boxing day bliss with the fam πŸ™ŒπŸ½ (micks β€’ boxing day bliss with the fam πŸ™ŒπŸ½
(micks face a possible indication that I’ve eaten one too many slithers of ham in the last 48 hours πŸ‹πŸ’¦)
β€’ merry christmas ya filthy animals❀️ love t β€’ merry christmas ya filthy animals❀️ love the searsys x
β€’ after a solid week of rain and a very leaky ho β€’ after a solid week of rain and a very leaky house it felt sooo good to get our bodies out in the sunshine this morning and soak up all those magic beams 🌞 fingers crossed it sticks around for next week 🀞🏽
...and that's a wrap! 🎬 Another whole year of ...and that's a wrap! 🎬

Another whole year of running my little biz and working with so many awesome humans to help them turn their passion into their profession and grow their businesses online. It's been epic, but it's also been tiring AF πŸ€ͺ - so I am mega looking forward to switching off until the new year and spending the next couple of weeks slowing down and soaking up all the good stuff with my little fam πŸ’•

To my beautiful clients, thank you as always for trusting me with your business babies! I am so grateful for you all and I can't wait to work with you again next year πŸ‘‹πŸ½ but for now, my margi awaits 🍸 #outofoffice
β€’ this time last year, living our absolute best β€’ this time last year, living our absolute best life honeymooning in new caledonia with no bloody idea what was in store for 2020 πŸ˜…πŸ’•
β€’ putting up a christmas tree in a heatwave didn β€’ putting up a christmas tree in a heatwave didn’t feel particularly festive, but a smidge of michael buble and some red wine goes a long way 😏 roll on my favourite time of the year with my three favourite faces! πŸ€πŸŽ„
β€’ Rosie Sears 🐻 the latest addition to our li β€’ Rosie Sears 🐻 the latest addition to our little fam πŸ’•
β€’ one of the most beeeautiful morning walks I’ β€’ one of the most beeeautiful morning walks I’ve ever been on, little slices of paradise around every corner and so many ocean friends to spot along the way like this little guy πŸ‘†πŸ½πŸ’πŸ’«
β€’ having a real noice time πŸ‹ β€’ having a real noice time πŸ‹
β€’ a little change of scenery + some sunshine goe β€’ a little change of scenery + some sunshine goes a long way πŸ™ŒπŸΌ feeling ever so happy and grateful to be back in straddie soaking up all the good stuff with my darling hubs 🌞
β€’ it’s been such a treat hanging with all thre β€’ it’s been such a treat hanging with all three of these munchkins the last few days and it’s made me very sure of two things:
1) dogs are the absolute best and spread joy wherever they go
2) ralph is getting a four legged little sister asap 🐢🀍
β€’ those out of office feels ✌🏽 β€’ those out of office feels ✌🏽
β€’ postcards from paradise πŸ’Œ β€’ postcards from paradise πŸ’Œ
β€’ doing what we do best ✌🏽 β€’ doing what we do best ✌🏽
β€’ it’s been a while... ✈️ β€’ it’s been a while... ✈️
β€’ 30 TODAY! 🌟 Happy birthday my darling husba β€’ 30 TODAY! 🌟 Happy birthday my darling husband ❀️ so many beautiful and epic memories with you and so so so many more to come. I can’t wait to see what’s in store for you for your dirty thirties 😏 I love you SO much and I especially love your two new grey hairs. Time to celebrate baby πŸ’ƒπŸΌπŸ•ΊπŸ½πŸ₯‚ #lessssgo
β€’ out of office is on and we are finally off on β€’ out of office is on and we are finally off on hols in three short days time πŸ™πŸΌ excitement levels to get on an actual plane for the first time in 15 months are HIGH 🀩
β€’ summer sundays with my love 🌞 drives throug β€’ summer sundays with my love 🌞 drives through the hinterland, ocean dips, naps on the beach, beautiful headland walks and a coupla frosty pints to top it all off. Lotsa days like this in 2021 please 🌼
β€’ it turns out the last day of 2020 was one of m β€’ it turns out the last day of 2020 was one of my absolute favourites 🀍 there is something so incredible about being underneath a huge waterfall - heart pummelling in your chest, energy and force swirling all around you, pigtails zooming back in the air and not a single leech attached itself to my tootsies πŸ™ŒπŸ½
Grateful that I got to spend the last day of 2020 on a high, experiencing something so beautiful with my hubs πŸ™πŸΌ
β€’ beach days with the small bear 🧸 β€’ beach days with the small bear 🧸

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