Need some quick and easy Instagram Story Ideas? If you’re a business or influencer using Instagram to generate brand awareness or sales, you should 100%, without question, be using Instagram Stories!
In this post we break down 19 Awesome Instagram Story ideas to get started (or get more results) with your Instagram Stories.
Why Instagram Stories?
This super cute, super fun – but also super powerful – feature has taken the world by storm!
With reach that is sometimes triple what you would receive on a normal post in your Instagram feed, Instagram stories are playing an integral role in social media and marketing strategies.
So you know you need to be using Instagram Stories, the only question now is… what do you post?
Coming up with fresh and exciting content can be tough, which is why we’ve done the hard yards for you. So, keep reading to discover 19 quick and easy Instagram Story ideas that you can start implementing today!
19 Instagram Story Ideas to Get You Started
1. Brand Introduction
First things first – introduce your business! Ask these questions:
- What product/service do you offer?
- Who is your target market?
- What pain points can you help solve?
- Why do your customers love you?
This will help your followers get to know you a bit more and understand what your business is all about. When it comes to Instagram Story ideas, this is really a no-brainer.
And, remember, first impressions count! This is your chance to blow your followers away and leave them thinking ‘I need this in my life!’
Click here to edit the below 4 page template in Easil. Once edited you can either download each page individually as an MP4 file, or select the whole page range to combine into one self-playing longer video.
2. Meet the Team / Team Reintroductions
People do business with people! With so many other businesses out there doing exactly what you do, you need to give your audience a reason to pick you.
By showing the person/s behind the brand, you help your followers create a personal and emotional connection. When it comes time to purchase, they are much more likely to remember you if they feel like they know you!
Try one of Easil’s Instagram Story templates to introduce or showcase a team member.
3. Behind The Scenes Action
There’s something about BTS content that we humans just love! Instagram Story Ideas don’t come any better than “Behind-the-Scenes” because we can’t resist finding out more!
Give your followers a glimpse into what goes on at your biz by asking these questions:
- What does an average day look like for you?
- Are you working on anything exciting?
- Can you give a sneak peak into a new product or some client work you are doing?
Try one of Easil’s Instagram Story templates to take your viewers behind the scenes, like a fly on the wall!
Click here to edit the below template in Easil.
4. Product/Service Highlights
Your Instagram Stories are a great place to provide more detail and have a bit more fun with your ‘salesy’ content. Ask these questions:
- What product/service do you offer?
- Why are they so great?
- What pain points do they help solve?
- What makes them different to others on the market?
On Stories you can use photos, text, videos, boomerangs, stickers, polls, hashtags + heaps more. Try to get creative with how you show your product/service off!
5. Instagram Story Takeovers
Who says you have to be the only one creating all your Instagram Story content?
An easy way to get fresh, new content for your Instagram Stories is to share. Consider collaborating with others and having them take over your story for a day, a.k.a an Instagram Story Takeover.
When it comes to choosing the right person to do a takeover, be sure to keep in mind who your target market is and what they would enjoy.
Consider asking a complimentary business in the same space as you (that is not a direct competitor) to share some wisdom with your audience. Other people you might like to consider include brand ambassadors/reps, influencers in the same field as you, and even your own team members!
Use one of Easil’s Instagram Story templates to announce your Story Takeover:
6. Polls
One of our favorite features on Instagram Stories is the ‘Poll’ sticker.
Not only is this a great way to get definitive answers to some of life’s biggest questions (no, pineapple does NOT go on pizza people), but it’s also an easy way to encourage your followers to engage with you!
Your polls can be lighthearted and fun, but you can also take a more serious approach and use them to conduct market research. What better way to find out what your followers want from you than asking them directly, right?!
7. FAQ & Educational Content
Have a question/s that you get asked alllll the time? Your story is a great place to answer them! You can also provide other educational content here, such as tips, tricks and advice that relates to your business.
For example, if you’re a fashion business, a FAQ might be “how long shipping takes”, or “what material is a certain item is made out of”. Some educational content might be styling tips for the current season, or advice on finding the right clothes for your body shape!
8. Shoutouts
Your stories don’t always have to be about you!
Have an account your can’t get enough of?
Worked with an influencer who deserves some recognition?
Respect another business doing awesome things?
Why not give them a shout out on your story and let everyone know why you love their page!
They’ll love you for it – and your engagement will be higher, especially if the person or influencer or business shares the post or story with their community too.
Easil has plenty of Instagram Story templates for Influencer or Industry Shoutouts, like this 3 page template with animated elements. Click here to edit it in Easil, and where you’ve completed your edits, download each page individually as an MP4 file so you can post to stories as tap-through sections.
9. Questionnaires
Also known as ‘This or That’ templates, these are a great way to let your audience get to know you a bit better – and vice versa!
You can either participate using a template that someone else has created, or use Easil to quickly create your own branded questionnaires.
Once you’ve uploaded your answers, don’t forget to pop a blank template on your story and ask your audience to fill it out and tag you as well!
Try one of Easil’s fun FREE Instagram Story This or That templates in your next story.
10. Testimonials/Reviews
Social proof is one of the best ways to take warm leads and turn them into conversions! People want to buy from or work with businesses who they know are great.
Whether it’s screenshots of reviews past customers have written, snippets of emails with kind words or even video testimonials… be sure to share them with your audience!
Try editing one of Easil’s Instagram Story templates to showcase a testimonial.
11. Announce a new Instagram Reel
Reels are of course THE HOTTEST thing on Instagram. And you may be wondering why even post to Instagram Stories anymore?
Well, stories can be static images, whereas Reels cannot. Thus, the production and time investment is not something you can always accomplish, whilst still keeping your business running. Plus, making good and frequent use of many features within the platform is what Instagram wants to see!
So when you do take the time to create a Reel, re-post it in your stories, with a GIF sticker covering some of it to get your audience to tap through to view the full Reel.
12. SHARE YOUR WORKPLACE PLAYLIST
Another easy behind the scenes idea is to share the music that inspires you, and your workplace team mates.
Create a list graphic with your favorite tunes and add your number one track with the Music Sticker in your story when you post.
13. Post an image mash-up as a weekly or monthly recap slideshow
Wondering what to do with all of those photos you’ve been hoarding on your phone, but not quite ready to make them a solo focus in an Instagram Story? This hack is for you!
• Jump into Easil and create a Story – it can be a blank page, or a format that allows for an image to be dropped in.
• Add your photo on the first page, and then duplicate the template or add a new page, replacing the image on the page.
• Keep going with adding multiple pages and swapping out the Images.
• Optionally add graphic elements to your images too.
• When complete, click on the Download button, and choose the MP4 format and a speed for your images to play through. Easil will join all your images together into a slideshow MP4 that you can then send to your Phone, add music, and you’re done!
Hot tip: You can also use this video content as an Instagram Reel base. Hit the ‘Dance Cut’ button to let Instagram automatically cut and dice your video content to sync to some recommended tunes!
14. PROMOTE AN UPCOMING EVENT [IN PERSON, OR LIVE]
We all know the thing we’re meant to be doing on social media is.. being social! So what better way to engage than to share an event you’re planning on attending in real life, a friend/colleagues Live Show, or promote your own upcoming Live Stream!
Jump into Easil and grab one of our templates, and when posting to your Story, add a countdown timer sticker, or even a Poll sticker, to grab further info from your audience.
15. SHARE FUNNY OR OBSCURE MONTHLY HOLIDAY OR CELEBRATION DAYS
Peanut Butter Lover’s Day or National Banana Cream Pie Day may not be a good fit for your brand to post on the Instagram Grid [eg permanenet/longer term visibility].
But if it’s something you love, or something your team could create content from and have fun with as part of that day, why not snap a pic, create a quote and post a story about it? With content only lasting 24 hours, it’s a cool way to show a different side to your personality, or even just a way to create some meme-style content that is entertaining to your audience.
Keep an eye on our monthly content calendars to provide you with inspiration for these [and the free templates that come along with them]. Research which ideas will sync with your audience and plan ahead for the days with food props etc!
16. GET SALESY
A lot of people avoid posting sales style content on Instagram, believing that they should never do this. This isn’t the case! If you’ve got a great deal, and it’s something your audience can gain considerable value [or save money on], trust us, they’ll want to see it!
Try using this tactic when you’ve got a big annual sale on, or a red hot limited offer, rather than posting them frequently, and you certainly will not annoy your audience!
Use some of Easil’s Sales content templates to highlight a new sale!
17. LINK TO HOT INDUSTRY NEWS
Using the Link sticker isn’t reserved for just pointing to your own website or links! Show your audience your on top of the Industry news by sharing it out in your stories and dropping a link sticker to it.
Try creating a graphic in Easil with a screenshot of the news article, adding your thoughts in text, and then adding the link sticker when you post.
18. SHARE YOUR LATEST BLOG
Try posting snippets from your latest blog by picking out some teaser content and creating a graphic for it. Selecting a quote, or the end result of a ‘tip’ that is featured in your blog will entice your Story viewers to click through to learn more. Make it easy for them by adding the Link Sticker from within the Instagram Stories sticker drawer.
Hot tip: Don’t forget to resize the graphic to a Pinterest Short size, and use to pin and promote!
19. START AN ‘ADD YOURS’ INSTAGRAM STORY THREAD
One of the latest stickers to join the Instagram Story tool is the ‘Add Yours’, and is the first sticker to allow interaction between multiple accounts! Start the thread by posting a photo of anything from a selfie, to a deskie, to a ‘This or That list – the options are simply limited by your creativeness and what you think your audience will be drawn to interact with, in the form of adding their own image to the thread!
Need more ideas? Read through this article with 6 ways you can create stories using it!
So there you have it… 19 Quick and Easy Instagram Story ideas that you can start implementing today!
Take Your Instagram Stories Further – 3 Hot Tips
Now that you are excited about the potential for your business or brand with these Instagram Story Ideas, let’s take it a little further. We thought we’d add 3 more “hot tips” to help you get results with Instagram and Instagram Stories.
1. CREATE BRANDED GIF STICKERS FOR YOUR INSTAGRAM STORIES [& REELS]
Think that branded stickers can only be added by those that have GIPHY accounts? It ain’t so! Stickers can be created as frame-by-frame GIFs in Easil, and exported out as transparent stickers. Save them to your phone roll, and then copy & paste into your Stories when posting! Read all about it here.
2. Create Instagram Story Highlights.
The only downside to stories is that they last for 24 hours and then poof – they disappear! That’s where the new ‘Highlights’ feature comes into play.
Using the Highlights feature, you can adjust your settings to archive your stories in Instagram. Then you can add those past stories onto your feed in the form of a mini ‘highlight reel’ or playlist. You can even name each of them and add fancy Instagram Highlight cover images so they match your branding!
You don’t want to save all of your content to your highlights – only the important bits. Things such as Brand/Team Introductions, Testimonials, Product/Service Highlights, FAQ & Educational Content are all valuable assets and content you want easily accessible for your followers.
3. REPURPOSE, REPURPOSE, REPURPOSE!
OK, so this tip is not strictly Stories related, but once you’ve spent that time creating Story content, you should invest just a couple more minutes resizing your design so you can it on hand to promote across your Instagram Grid, Facebook, Twitter, LinkedIn, your emails, and wherever else your digital content calendar requires attention. Batching the content at the time of creation will save you tons of time, and ensure you get more eyeballs on your message.
Start Designing with Instagram Story Templates
Feeling inspired and ready to kill it with these Instagram Story Ideas?
Simply take one of the Instagram Story Ideas from this post, click on any of our Instagram Story templates and start customising to suit your brand!
