How to Create Unforgettable Instagram Stories

Want to create Instagram stories that people will remember and engage with? Looking for inspiration for your content?

In this article, you’ll find ideas and examples you can model for your Instagram stories. You'll discover tips you can put to work right away.

#1: Combine Product Stickers With Demos in Instagram Stories

Want to get more sales directly from your stories? Film a short video to showcase the product, demonstrate how it works, or offer styling suggestions. Then make the Instagram story shoppable so you can encourage followers to take the next step.

Instagram supports up to five product stickers per Instagram story. Select the product sticker from the tray and search for the right product. Tap the Add button next to each product, and tap Done when you’re finished. Then edit the sticker color and font as necessary.

Have more than five products to highlight? Rather than posting the entire clip at once, break a longer video into shorter stories. That way, you can tag more products overall.

Note that you have to set up an Instagram shop and configure inventory before you can add product tags to in-app content. To set up a shop, open your business settings in the Instagram app and select the Set Up a Shop option. Then follow the prompts to get started.

Don’t have an Instagram shop and can’t or don’t plan to open one? Take a look at the link sticker idea below and point followers directly to your website.

#2: Promote a Milestone Event or Launch With Reminders

Have a new product line launching soon? Is your big annual sale right around the corner? Rather than waiting until launch day to highlight it, start teasing it several days or weeks ahead of time.

Since stories are temporary, they work especially well leading up to big events. That means you don’t have to worry about filling up your feed with content that won’t be relevant in a week or two, and you can maintain your grid aesthetic.

Yet because stories are temporary, it’s important to take extra steps to make their content memorable. By adding a reminder sticker to stories, you give followers an option to get a notification when your event is live.

Users can tap your Instagram story’s reminder sticker to opt into notifications. Instagram will automatically send them an in-app notification right before the event and when it starts. Even better, you can reuse reminders across multiple stories so your audience only needs to opt in once.

Before you go to add a reminder sticker to an Instagram story, set up the reminder by creating a feed post. On the settings screen, tap Add Reminder. Then give the event a name and set a start time. Note that by default, events last for 24 hours. To change the timeframe, set an end time manually.

Now you can add the reminder to your stories. Select the Scheduled sticker from the tray and choose from the events you’ve added to Instagram. Now anyone who sees your Instagram story can get the details of your event at a glance and opt to get notified about it later.

#3: Build Anticipation With a Countdown

As useful as reminders can be for getting followers’ attention, they’re missing a key feature. Although you can certainly share stories and posts that contain reminders, you can’t share the reminders themselves.

But with Instagram’s countdown sticker, you can essentially make upcoming events sharable. As the name suggests, countdown stickers count down to a launch, publication, sale, or another event. Users can tap to add your countdown sticker to their own stories to share the excitement and spread the word.

To use this feature, create an Instagram story and add the countdown sticker from the tray. Give the event a title and choose the time when the countdown ends. Unlike reminders, countdowns can’t have start and end times; they simply expire at the time you pick.

When you publish the Instagram story, anyone can tap to turn on a reminder and share the countdown to their own stories. When they opt to share, the countdown automatically credits your Instagram account as the creator.

#4: Invite Questions With Instagram Story Question Stickers

If your Instagram story resonates with followers, they can always like it or send a reply. As nice as replies can be, they only lead to direct messages between the two of you. If you want to spark a larger conversation that gets your followers talking, use the question sticker.

With the question sticker, you can prompt followers to ask you anything. If you’ve been teasing a product launch or a major sale, for example, you might prompt followers to ask you about the event, which can help keep it top of mind.

Followers can tap the question sticker on your Instagram story to submit their question. When you receive questions, you can answer them in a new Instagram story. When you answer someone’s question, Instagram automatically adds the question sticker to your Instagram story.

If you receive a lot of questions, you can create a long instagram story thread from the prompts. That means you can boost awareness around a product or event and engage your audience at the same time.

In the Instagram story below, @toofaced prompts followers to ask questions about the cosmetics brand’s Christmas collection. The brand then responds to several questions with new stories. The questions give the brand plenty of opportunities to share product highlights and create more interactive content.

#5: Read the Room With Instagram Story Emoji Sliders

Want to know how your audience really feels about something? From product features to behind-the-scenes content, you can prompt followers to share their sentiments using emoji sliders.

You can customize emoji sliders by sharing a prompt and choosing one of the available emojis. Your audience can slide the emoji to express themselves, and when the Instagram story expires, your team can see the average reaction level.

For example, in the @toofaced Instagram story above, the brand adds an emoji slider to a question sticker response. That way, the Instagram story can encourage even more engagement.

#6: Reveal Follower Favorites With An Instagram Story Poll Sticker

If you’re looking for more nuanced feedback from followers, poll stickers are typically a better choice than emoji sliders. Instagram story polls support up to four options so you can give your audience a list to consider.

Select the poll sticker from the Instagram story tray and add a minimum of two options. To give followers more options, tap to add up to four choices.

For example, you can ask followers which products they’re most excited about or what they’d like your brand to produce next. For maximum engagement, keep the questions relevant to your audience and the answers lighthearted.

Make sure to check and save the results from your poll shortly after it ends. Like other interactive Instagram story stickers, poll results are only accessible for 48 hours after the Instagram story expires.

#7: Test Your Audience With Instagram Story Quiz Stickers

Wondering if your audience has been paying attention to the content you’ve been sharing? Quizzes can be fun for reinforcing information like sale dates or product specs. They can also show you how well your audience knows your offerings, your team, or your organization’s values.

After selecting a quiz sticker from the Instagram story tray, you can add between two and four multiple choice answers. Make sure to designate the correct answer so users can see if they’re right or wrong. Instagram automatically generates a confetti shower for anyone who selects the correct answer.

#8: Try a New Trend

When you think of the best place to publish trending content on Instagram, you might assume Reels is your best option. Yet Stories can be just as effective for trends, especially stories that are likely to have a short shelf life.

For example, the @counterculturecoffee Instagram story below references the Spotify Wrapped trend that takes over Instagram every December. Rather than sharing the company’s top music, the Instagram story features the coffee brand’s top-selling beans. By adding a coffee-related spin, the Instagram story joins a viral conversation while making the trend relevant to the brand.

#9: Start Your Own Trend With Add Yours Stickers

Hopping on existing trends gives your brand an opportunity to boost reach and visibility in a big way. If you can chime in quickly rather than waiting until the trend has already passed, you may have a chance to drive higher-than-average engagement and shares, while creating memorable content that truly resonates.

But you don’t always have to let other creators or brands drive the conversation. As the newest addition to the Instagram story sticker lineup, the Add Yours sticker gives creators a unique tool for publishing interactive content.

With the Add Yours sticker, you create a prompt that others can interact with. Anyone can tap the Add Yours sticker on your Instagram story to add their own Instagram story. All stories get added to the original thread, which is publicly viewable.

When you select the Add Yours sticker from the tray, you have the option to tap the dice to see a few random prompt ideas. 

You can select one or write your own. For example, you might prompt followers to a product hack, a styling suggestion, or something else relevant to your brand.

#10: Attract New Leads With Get Quote Stickers

Looking for a way to turn casual Instagram followers into serious prospects? With the Get Quote sticker, you can prompt Instagram users to express interest in your business and request contact from your team.

When prospects interact with the Get Quote sticker, it opens a lead form that automatically fills with information from their profile—somewhat similar to Meta’s paid lead forms. In addition to requesting contact information, these lead forms can ask prospects up to three custom questions. That means you can quickly determine whether a prospect is a good fit for your business.

If you’re setting up an Instagram lead form for the first time, you can choose between a standard form and a custom form. 

If you opt for the latter, you can collect your choice of contact details and ask up to three questions. After configuring the form, add a prompt to get followers to engage.

For example, you can keep it evergreen by encouraging prospects to engage with your products and services. Or you can share a special limited-time offer to maximize leads and build your list quickly.

Note that you can only have one active lead form at a time. So if you have one attached to your profile’s action button, for example, that active form will automatically be added to your Get Quote sticker.

You can manage all of the lead forms you’ve created through the action button on your Instagram profile. Go to edit your profile, open the Action Buttons option, and select Get Quote. Here, you can edit existing forms or create new ones.

#11: Direct Followers to Lead Magnets With Link Stickers

Want to drive traffic to your site instead of generating leads? Link stickers are your ticket to directing people to an external site without requiring them to go to the link in your Instagram bio.

For example, you can use a link sticker for a lead magnet and collect prospects’ contact details directly on your site. You can also use link stickers for eCommerce products, blog posts, and content on third-party platforms like YouTube.

When you add a link sticker from the Instagram story tray, you’ll see an option to customize the call-to-action (CTA) text. Make a point of experimenting with your CTAs to see what works best for your audience.

Want to get even more link sticker taps? Design visual prompts into your Instagram story to focus users’ attention on your link stickers. You can also place additional animated stickers strategically to draw attention.

#12: Share Feed Content to Drive More Views

Need to boost the visibility of your feed content? Tap the paper plane icon below any post or reel to share it to stories. If your post already includes interactive content—like a reminder—it will automatically integrate into stories.

But you also have the option to add stickers to generate even more results. For example, you can add a link sticker with more information. Or you can add a countdown sticker that users can share to their own stories.

#13: Highlight Your Top-Performing Stories

No matter how exciting and engaging your stories might be, their temporary nature means they’re easy to forget after they expire. In some cases, that might be a good thing. For example, when trends die down or when offers end, you probably won’t want irrelevant content filling up your feed.

But in some cases, stories are worth preserving. You always have the option to highlight stories that perform well with your audience or that truly capture your brand. To add them to your Instagram profile, open your Instagram story archive and tap the Highlight button. Then create a new highlight or save the Instagram story to an existing one.

To ensure that your Instagram story highlights continue to generate leads, send traffic to your site, and generate sales, make a point of keeping them organized. For example, you can categorize highlights by special offers, lead magnets, frequently asked questions, behind-the-scenes content, and other topics that pertain to your business and resonate with your audience.

Conclusion

Stories may be temporary, but that doesn’t mean they have to be forgettable. With the Instagram stories tips above, you can engage your audience, delight your followers, and create memorable content.

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