Best Practices for Optimizing Your Story

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Video Transcript | Intro

Creating and sharing Instagram Stories that support your social media goals requires using all the available tools.  

In this video, we’ll show you some techniques for creating compelling Stories, and sharing them in a way that maximizes their reach. 

Segments 

Let’s say you have an off the cuff message, about a minute in length, you want to share with your audience. Use Instagram’s segments tool, to record the video in one go, without being cut-off at the 15-second mark.  To do this, simply hold down the record button.  Instagram will automatically slice the video into segments for you. Once uploaded, these segments will play seamlessly for your viewers. 

Bulk uploader

A disadvantage of using the Segments is that you can’t save and edit your footage before posting.  To post previously edited images or videos to your Story, try the Bulk Uploader. 

To use the Bulk Uploader, open your camera roll, Select Multiple, then tap Multiple Shots in the order you want them to play.  Tap Next, and then edit each Story individually, if needed. 

Note: When uploading two or more videos using Bulk Uploader, only the first 15 seconds of each video will be published.   

Sound and subtitles

While reviewing your video content, listen for distracting sounds like wind or loud music, that detract from your Story.  Simply mute to remove all noise. 

That said, most people watch Stories without sound.  So, if sound is vital to your Story, tell people to turn their sound on. You should also include closed captions for any important spoken phrases. Captions also make your Stories more accessible to people with hearing disabilities, or who speak another language.  

If you have an extended spoken phrase that needs captioning, use a third-party tool to transcribe your Stories. 

Highlights 

Once your Story is live, you can make it a Highlight. Highlights’ are a collection of Stories, that don’t disappear after 24-hours. 

Your Highlight reel should showcase your most valuable and evergreen Stories. You can pull from published Stories that are currently live.  Or, if your auto-archive feature is on, you can pull from archived Stories. 

You can also create branded Highlight covers for consistency. These cover images can be made using third-party apps.

Once created, add the image from your camera roll, then name your Highlight. Keep the name short, so it doesn’t get cut off.  

Keep in mind only a few Highlights are visible before a viewer has to scroll for more. So limit the number of Highlights you create, and regularly delete any that are no longer relevant. 

Use stories to cross-promote IGTV videos and Instagram posts

You can also use Stories to increase the visibility of existing Instagram posts and IGTV videos you don’t want your audience to miss.  

When you include these in your Stories, viewers simply tap your username to visit your page. Likewise, if you have an IGTV channel, viewers can swipe up to go to your channel and watch the rest of the video.

Looking for more? Check out our blog and learn how to create a social media strategy in 8 easy steps!