The Awesome Features of Instagram Stories and How to Leverage Them

March 17, 2021

Instagram is always finding ways to stay ahead of the fray, and the Stories extension is living proof.

If you’ve used Instagram in the past few years, you must've come across this at least once. These days, it’s said to be one of the most used features on the app—that's 400 million users each day talking. 

Perhaps the temporal nature of each post is what drives its adoption. Rivals to the one and only Snapchat, Instagram Stories look to be pulling away. 

Here are a few cool features of the extra function you can use to enhance your user experience and/or marketing strategy.
 

Music button

Do you have a song in your head that you feel will set the mood of a photo or video? Well, Stories' music button lets you add any song of your choice to the content.

You can select any part of the song that goes well with your video. That's pretty cool. Having music in your post not only makes it more interesting but can also help drive more attention to your uploads.

To add music to your Stories, simply tap the Sticker button and look for your preferred song. Play the song and adjust it till it sounds just right.

Once you’re done, you’re ready to publish.
 

Track your story's metrics 

Each story on Instagram offers metrics you can easily access. For businesses, this is a really important analytics tool. You can see how many times your stories led to direct messages or profile visits.

To check this metric, simply swipe up on a story to know how it's doing.
 

Save all your posts

Despite the 24-hour lifespan, you can still save the content of your Stories after creation. Using the save function makes it possible for users and businesses to share their post-edited photos and videos on other platforms. And you have different ways to leverage the feature.
 

Blend different colors in your text 

Liquid Reaction in Mixing Orange and Blue Paints  If you veer on the artistic side, this feature is for you. Most of us get bored of being monochromatic and want to add a little bit of flair to our posts.

Instagram gives you the option to use up to 20 different text colors in all your posts. Change it up as much as you want.
 

Pin your best Stories

If you put up a lot of stories frequently, sooner or later, you’re bound to have a favorite. Your Stories are automatically saved and archived so you can see them whenever you want.

The only issue here is that these Stories will only be seen by you. To showcase your stories to others after the 24-hour limit, you need to add them to your highlights.

Go to your profile, select the + button, and choose from your archived Instagram Stories. Pick your favorite ones and create highlights. You can gain some insights from two or three competitors, to determine how your highlights should be organized.

You can also design your highlights by choosing different cover photos and titles. Viewers can only check your highlights when they visit your profile page.
 

Word limit

At one point in time, we’ve all wanted to share some words with our followers but exceeded the standard IG limit. To rectify this, the Stories feature now allows you to text without any limit whatsoever.
 

Hide your Story

Being online exposes you to a lot of unsavory characters. Oftentimes, you don’t want to associate with these people and you also don’t want them keeping tabs on you all the time.

You can block different people from seeing your stories. Go to the profile of the user you want to hide your story from and hit the Hide My Story button. 

Use this to keep stalkers and creeps away from your page.
 

Stickers

Instagram stickers are one of their best and fun ways for you to interact with your followers. From asking questions to adding songs, choose what's best for your stories and you’re good to go.
 

[Bonus] Zoom 

Person Holding Magnifying GlassEver seen a crazy outfit you wanted to check for more details but couldn't zoom in? With the new zoom feature, you can easily use two fingers to zoom into any picture. No more screenshotting pictures to zoom in.

To zoom in and out of an Instagram story, you pinch the screen like you normally would. You can also record a video in zoom in/out mode. First click the record button, then slide that finger up/down to zoom in/out.
 

Above and beyond

Improve your all-around Instagram experience with these features under your belt.

Stories are an effective addition to the successful social platform. Use any one of the extra bits listed above to engage better with your followers.

If you're a business, this is a nice opportunity to market your brand and products/services even more.

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