Instagram Story Hacks: 32 Tricks and Features You Should Know
These Instagram Story hacks will save you time and make you the best storyteller in town (no pun intended).
These Instagram Story hacks will save you time and make you the best storyteller in town (no pun intended).
You’ve probably already pored over our Must-Try Instagram Hacks. (It’s a fun beach read, I totally get it!) Now, it’s time to master the fine art of the Instagram Story.
It’s just basic math: If a picture is worth a thousand words, an Instagram Story post must be worth a million, right?
And these Instagram Story hacks will make you the best Story-teller in town.
Download your free pack of 72 customizable Instagram Stories templates now. Save time and look professional while promoting your brand in style.
500 million people use Instagram Stories every day. And in 2021 there are more features for businesses to take advantage of than ever before.
Some might say there are almost too many features.
Which is why we’ve narrowed down our favorite hacks and little-known features to 31. These are the most time-saving tricks that will make you look like a pro on Stories and ensure you use the platform to its full advantage.
Want an even shorter list? We’ve included our top 6 Instagram Story hacks in this video below.
Is adding a custom backdrop necessary when you share a feed post on your Story? Goodness, no. But like wearing lipstick to a Zoom meeting, sometimes it’s just nice to add some pizazz to something routine.
How to do it:
Unfortunately, links are only available to users with over 10,000 followers. (A shame for those of us with a more, ahem, exclusive follower list.)
But once you’ve hit that sweet spot, you can include one link in each Story and your lucky, plentiful followers will be able to swipe up to visit that URL.
How to do it:
If you’re not verified or don’t have 10,000 followers, don’t fret. You can still add a link to your Story with this workaround:
How to add a link to your Story if you DON’T have 10,000 followers:
And that’s it!
People will be able to swipe up, see your video, and click on your link in your IGTV caption.
The default gradient backgrounds are nice and all, but sometimes, you’ve got something to say that can only be framed by a wall of blinding chartreuse.
How to do it:
You’re greedy, but we’re not judging. You actually have access to every color of the rainbow and then some with Instagram Stories. Find your specific brand hues, or get funky with a questionable shade of puce.
How to do it:
Alternatively, drop an image into your Story and use the eyedropper tool to grab the exact matching shade.
Green screen technology has been a gamechanger for social media. You can be anywhere and everywhere. Including the moon. Especially the moon.
How to do it:
Instagram’s teleport feature is also fun — it uses the greenscreen backdrop, but the backdrop only appears when you move your device so you can create a fun reveal effect. (You’re in your bedroom… and then you’re on tour with Destiny’s Child! Yowza!)
Now that your boss and your Uncle Steve and your strata council president are all following you on Insta, the pressure to be a professional employee/niece/neighbor can really put a damper on your best, stupidest Instagram thoughts.
Instagram’s Close Friends feature is a chance to share more intimate, exclusive content to a select group (sorry, Uncle Steve!). For businesses, maybe it’s a way to offer some special treatment to members or VIPs (which, again, probably does not include Uncle Steve).
How to do it:
Source: Instagram
We know Stories are supposed to be a spontaneous medium. But are you really at your desk or on your phone all day? No! You’re living life so that you have something to make Instagram Stories about.
You actually can’t schedule Stories directly in Instagram… but as of May 2021, it’s possible to schedule Instagram Stories via Facebook Business Suite! (You’re welcome!)
How to do it: Check out our step-by-step guide to scheduling your Stories with the Hootsuite schedule.
Source: Hootsuite
Maybe you see life through rose-colored glasses, and want other people to, too. No sweat: just use this quick trick for colorizing your images or videos.
How to do it:
It can take some time to properly prepare, edit or curate a multi-part Story, as any social media savant knows. But maybe you don’t want to leave your followers hanging as you search out the perfect background color or combination of stickers for Part 2 of your series on your local boat show. The solution is to prep multiple Story posts to all post at once (in the order you choose, of course) using Instagram’s Multi-capture tool.
How to do it:
Your Story needs a soundtrack! Needs it.
How to do it:
Build the drama over several Story posts, by adding new elements to the same base image. Oooh, the suspense!
How to do it:
Uncover a mystery image with the help of the eraser tool. This next hack involves skills from trick #3 and #7, above. Hope you’ve done your homework because this is absolutely a test.
How to do it:
A few strategic swipes of the eraser can create the illusion of photo and other elements merging into one. Harmonious! Inspiring! Is this… art?
How to do it:
The more images, the merrier! Use the paste tool to throw as many photos into a Story as you’d like. Who would dare stop you?!
How to do it:
You’re a model, baby! Instagram’s new Photobooth feature will take four snaps in a row, which you can then showcase in a variety of dynamic formats. (There are a lot of flashing camera bulbs, we’ll warn you right now.)
Download your free pack of 72 customizable Instagram Stories templates now. Save time and look professional while promoting your brand in style.
Download the templates now!How to do it:
Did you snap a moment with your iPhone that you want to relive again — and then relive again backwards? And then forwards? And then backwards again?
If you’ve taken the photo as a Live photo, it’s possible. (If you’re not sure how to take a Live photo in the first place, just open your camera app and tap on the concentric circles at the top!)
How to do it:
Preserve your aesthetic vision by tucking unlighting hashtags or tags out of sight. It’s the digital equivalent of hiding your electrical cords behind your mid-century-modern desk before Architectural Digest comes a-knockin’.
How to do it:
Method 1
Method 2
The standard Instagram Story fonts are just the tip of the typographic iceberg.
If the in-app typewriter or Comic Sans-knockoff lettering isn’t doing it for you, find something more exciting to paste in.
How to do it:
Pro tip: If you have a branded font, add your text right to an image with Photoshop, Over, or another image editing app, and then upload to Stories from there.
For text that pops, try this double-up trick.
How to do it:
Put your Tinder skills to good use here: a quick swipe of the text will spice things up and shift things left, right, or back to center in a snap.
How to do it: As you’re typing, quickly swipe to the left or right to realign.
If you’ve got an Instagram Shop, you can tag your one product in each Instagram Story with a product sticker.
When shoppers want to learn more about that cool hamster-print vest, they’ll just click on the sticker and head to your Shop to begin their digital shopping spree. Learn how to set up your Instagram shop here.
How to do it:
Source: Instagram
To color coordinate or not to color coordinate? This is the question… or rather, a question about what to do with your question sticker.
How to do it:
If there’s such a thing as too many gifs, we don’t want to hear it.
While Insta’s search allows you to peruse Giphy’s library, using the Giphy app itself allows you to create albums of your favorites for easy access—and you can share right from Giphy.
How to do it:
Pro tip: If you have your own homemade gifs that you’d like to share on Insta Stories, save them to your camera roll and just copy and paste directly into a Story.
Instagram Stories’ built-in layout tool feature is the perfect way to share multiple images in a variety of neatly organized grids, formatted to the specific dimensions of Stories. Because sometimes you just can’t choose which picture of your sushi dinner is the cutest, we get it!
How to do it:
Answering your followers’ questions on an Instagram Live Story is like a fun interrogation you’re doing to yourself. (Need some help getting started with Instagram Live? Check out our step-by-step guide here.)
How to do it:
This is one of the oldest Instagram Story tricks in the book, but we’re not too big to admit that the mechanics of it have stumped us for years. If you, too, have been longing to pin a sticker, emoji, gif, or text to a specific moment or motion in a video, here’s the breakdown.
How to do it:
You don’t need to be a programmer to create your own custom filter to use or share with the world. Spark AR Studio has a ton of tutorials and simple step-by-step tools to help you put your stamp on the world (and, more specifically, your followers’ faces).
How to do it: Get the full guide to making your own Instagram AR filters here.
Source: Spark AR Studio
You want to have your Elf Ears filter at your fingertips, we get it. Thankfully, there’s a way to build an easy access library of your favorite effects.
How to do it:
Picture this: a dynamic, moving backdrop for a gorgeous selfie or sick product photo. There’s only one word for this slick combination of animated and still imagery: jazzy.
How to do it:
Instagram’s Reels feature may be a bit of a TikTok copycat, but it’s fun all the same.
Create a 15- or 30-second multi-clip video with music, special effects, and stickers and wow your followers with your dance moves. You can share Reels on your Stories, but they’ll appear on the Explore page, too, so you can impress even more ‘Grammers with your Celine Dion lip syncs.
How to do it: Check out our everything guide to Instagram Reels here!
Source: Instagram
Sure, a great chef can prepare a delicious meal with just a knife and a pan… but a kitchen full of tools will make creating a gourmet experience that much easier.
Likewise, branching out from the basic elements of Instagram Stories and incorporating external design and editing apps into your creative process will open up a whole new world of possibilities.
Is this a good metaphor, or am I just hungry? Download some apps and we’ll check in after lunch.
How to do it:
Of course, no amount of hacks (or tips, or tricks, or gadgets or gizmos aplenty) can compare with good ol’ fashioned quality content. But we’ve got you covered there too: here are 20 creative Instagram Story ideas here to kick off some inspiration.
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