Note: This is not what I normally write about here, but I did it for Oklahoma Bloggers and Influencers on Facebook and I decided to share it here as well. If you’re not sharing your crochet on Instagram, you should. And here are some tips to help.
I’ve heard it since Instagram first implemented the Stories feature; Use stories. Use stories. Use stories. Use stories. On and on and on. But no one ever said how or why. These are some things I’ve learned.
1. Instagram Loves Stories.
I know this sounds obvious, but it’s true. Instagram seems to prefer accounts that uses stories and puts them higher in the feed. I started seeing this trend soon after Stories emerged, so I started paying closer attention. People who regularly post to Stories do show up higher in the feed. They share a variety of things, not just one or two. My point is this: If you don’t currently post to Stories, start doing it today.
2. Behind-the-Scenes
What goes into making your product? Even if your product is your blog, what do you do to get something ready to post? What is your process? People love to see what goes on behind the scenes. They know what your polished, finished product looks like, but how did you get there? It’s understandable that you don’t want to share everything, but there are some things you can share that won’t give away secret projects or things you would rather keep confidential. What are some of those?
3. Promote Your Latest IG/Blog/Video
Sometimes promotions get lost in your feed. You put them in and make the best use of hashtags and get crickets. Share your post to your stories. Block out part/all of the image and encourage people to go to your post to see what it’s about. Or encourage them to go to your bio to get the link to your video/blog. Unfortunately, you don’t get the swipe-up feature unless you have 10,000 followers. Or do you? There is a way around that.
4. Switch to a Creator Account.
Switching from a personal, or even business, account to a creator account gives you a swipe-up feature. Sort of. You can only swipe up to an IGTV video. Take advantage of that and see how it works. Full disclosure: I have switched over to a creator account, but I haven’t done the swipe up test on my own yet. I’ll do that and report back to you.
5. Don’t Forget Hashtags.
Use as many hashtags as you can in your Stories. You don’t have to use the hashtag sticker. Type them in as text. You can shrink them down and hide them behind a sticker or gif and they will still show up in the stories feed that use that particular hashtag.
Those are the best tips/strategies I have found so far for making the most of Instagram Stories. There are more, such as talking about/showing off things that aren’t related to your main topics, but they don’t have as much of an effect on reach/views as the ones above do.
These are great strategies for stories. I often don’t think about stories or know what to post. This helps, thank you. Stoping by from Ultimate Blog Challenge 😃
I am part of a podcasting team which uses instagram often. Thank you for explaining the stories and its importance. I admit that I don’t find instagram to be very intuitive, but I might try it more now.