31 Creative Instagram Story Ideas to Boost Engagement

47

The statement that Instagram Story is essential for expanding your online business is not exaggerated. 

• Instagram has more than 1 billion users.
• The daily users of Instagram Story are 500 million. 
• The proportion of viewers that are interested in a company or item after viewing it on Instagram Story is 58.
• The proportion of users that visit a website after viewing a product or service on Instagram Stories is 50%.
• The brand stories have an 86 percent completion rate. 

But everyone is aware that engagement on Instagram and Insta Story is the ultimate goal. Therefore, integrating Instagram Stories into your company’s marketing involves deliberate content generation and thoughtful content delivery. 

I did some online research and came up with +30 tried and true Instagram story ideas for your business. They should aid in the meteoric rise of your account’s popularity. Without further ado…

Why use Instagram Stories?

On Instagram, users are currently free to create content in 4 different formats:

• Instagram Photos: This is a common format in Instagram.

• Instagram Videos: A brief, 60-second video.

• Reels: If you enjoy TikTok, you will recognize the idea because it is based on that platform. For videos that are shorter than 15 seconds, Instagram Reel is used. Reels has an integrated video editor, whereas Instagram Story does not.

• Instagram Stories: Images and videos in this format “self-destruct” after a day (direct copy of Snapchat). Take the IG story ideas as a highlight instead if you want to show your material to followers who haven’t read the stories inside the allotted period. Then, they appear directly above your regular feed for your followers. 

Instagram Story is a place to show off your brand’s true and people side, whereas the other Instagram formats call for well-thought-out material and aesthetically pleasing media. Therefore, it is irrelevant if design is not your strongest suit. 

Making the most of Instagram’s capabilities to engage and forge strong connections with your audiences is what it takes to create Instagram stories that stand out. All you need to do is fill your social media schedule with relevant material.

S.No.	Instagram Story Ideas	Description
1.	Tutorial Series	Engaging and informative tutorials.
2.	Promote a Product	Direct impact on sales; essential for product-based firms.
3.	Live Event Coverage	Real-time updates and behind-the-scenes looks.
4.	Interviews	Featuring notable personalities or industry leaders.
5.	Reviews & Feedbacks	Opinions on products, services, or relevant topics.
6.	User-generated Content	Showcasing customer experiences and stories.
7.	Daily Life	A more personal look into the company or person’s daily activities.
8.	Polls and Surveys	Engage the audience and get their opinions.
9.	News & Updates	Keep followers informed about recent happenings.
10.	Tips and Tricks	Useful advice related to a specific industry or topic.

Instagram Story Ideas for Business

Instagram has continuously expanded with new features in an effort to compete with other social media. And the platform has been performing superbly. In fact, users may get a ton of inspiration from Instagram Story Ideas below to create material that is quite engaging.

Request Screenshots of Your Content from Fans

How? People enjoy everything that is brief and delicious. Therefore, if you share something beautiful, people can use it for their own purposes, like branded wallpapers. If design is your strong suit, create many wallpapers and schedule them for your story. If not, ask a friend or family member for assistance or use an online design tool, such as Canva. 

Content that is simple to understand is another type of content that most Instagram users enjoy. So why not mix in some advice or recipes to spark your audience’s curiosity. Unlocking the secrets of Instagram timing isn’t just about posting willy-nilly. It is worth getting into the pulse of user activity, and let your posts shine at their prime time. 

Tutorial Series

The days of tedious tutorial posts that required readers to wade through mountains of text are long gone. The current trend is to provide bite-sized instructive content for Instagram Stories. It’s a proven approach to highlight your subject-matter expertise and include product information without overtly promoting it. 

Additional pointers for crafting a humorous and captivating how-to on Instagram Story:

• On the first slide, describe to the audience what your stories will cover. 
• Not every format must be in video. Instead, it consists of a selection of text-filled still images, animated GIFs, brief video snippets, and even a boomerang. 
• To prevent feeling overwhelmed, divide your lectures across several story slides. 
• No matter the experience level of your follower base, the tutorials should be simple to understand and achievable. 

Promote a New Product

Keeping your followers informed about your brand’s activities may help you attract a large number of potential buyers. You should increase the frequency to twice daily if your editorial calendar calls for one post each day. That implies that in addition to the regularly scheduled content, you’ll create a story to tease your next products. 

Examples of such features include a countdown to the launch date, a hashtag that will be specifically associated with your forthcoming products, quizzes to offer your audience a mental break, etc. You know, there is a limitless supply of material. By doing this, you may excite your audience and help them remember the date of the product launch. 

Publicize a Live Event

It’s important to update followers on the event before you go live. As a result, it’s crucial to post a notification with information on the event’s schedule, theme, keynote speakers, special gifts or offers for viewers, etc. 

Don’t forget to use the poll, quiz, and question functions to ask follow-up questions after the broadcast to gain insight into what the audience liked for the subsequent streaming. 

Takeaway: You are not required to convey your message directly. It’s simpler to share a photo of one of your well-known keynote speakers or visitors along with a caption that reads, “Guess who we’ll be chatting with tomorrow?”.

GIF

Using GIFs in Instagram stories to increase traffic and purchases is a major trend right now. More and more consumers are beginning their online buying trip on social media, with 60% of Britons and 54% of Americans purchasing things through social media in the last six months. 

Since Instagram and GIPHY joined forces, you can now use the tens of thousands of GIFs in the library to make your own branded GIF that matches the look and feel of your company. 

The GIF sticker enables you to add a collage-like decoration to any image or video and produce a compelling call to action for your narrative.

Quote

Instagram is all about aesthetic appeal and appealing visuals. Therefore, “filler content” like quotes could ruin the look of your feed, taking into account the image and caption. How about sharing them in your story, though? 

This tactic is quite simple to use. All you have to do is gather a group of quotations that correspond to your brand’s message. However, if discovering motivational quotations that are effective is a complete hassle, anything unrelated also isn’t important. 

Any quotes you publish should be succinct, to the point, and most importantly, shareable. 

Instagram Stories typically feature quotes in the form of Twitter screenshots or graphic designs. Both are permitted as long as they convey motivating or emotionally engaging material and adhere to the aesthetic. 

Publicize a blog

The obstacle to your Instagram traffic to your website is that the platform only allows users to embed links in the bio. But people are continuously coming up with new ways to trick the algorithm! There are many other ways to advertise your blog on your Instagram Story besides the “swipe up” option.

Advice for promoting your blog on Instagram Stories:

• Craft the information to fit the different story frames. Each frame tells a unique story that draws the viewer in. 
• Then, depending on your brand’s Instagram presence, take note of those who can locate the link to your whole content in your bio with a strong call to action/text design/GIFs.
• By tagging yourself, you make it simple for people to tap on the link in your bio to see your profile.

Not only this topic, but any Instagram Story ideas may be approached using this manner. 

BTS

“Curiosity killed the cat”, but this is people’s nature. Sometimes it’s fantastic to give your visitors a peep “backstage” into your inner workings. I’ll tell you why. 

The distinct and extra-people element of your social media account is what the audience eyeball seeks. This kind of material is always entertaining and humorous. People may be curious about your office, the juicy section of the video, or the appearance of you and your coworkers. 

Use this strategy to showcase your corporate culture, regardless of the industry you are in. Another justification is that sharing what is thought to be a small secret gives individuals the impression that they are in the know. 

There are countless possibilities for this tactic, such as a sneak peek at new items, a virtual office tour, or a boomerang of products in development. Now it’s your turn to put this into action!

Takeover of Instagram Stories

For those who don’t know, a takeover is when you temporarily give someone control of your account. That’s a fantastic chance to provide your fans a new angle on what’s going on. 

Anyone can take control, such as a celebrity, an influential person, your partner, your employees, or even a fan. You can reveal that person’s followers by using this strategy, and vice versa. Such a successful partnership! 

However, because you must share your login information with others, the Instagram takeover raises concerns about the privacy of your account. It’s crucial to choose the amount of access, including whether to grant that person full access to your account or require confirmation before publishing.

Run a competition

Interesting, but is it really possible? If you get it wrong, all that will appear are like-bait postings. These posts receive 3.5x the number of likes and 64x the number of comments as typical Instagram posts. But how should you run a contest on your Instagram Story? That is the real question. 

Check out the competition format I’ve provided below to get the most for your money:

• To win, respond to your story or follow your account as soon as possible.
• Tell folks to like and comment on your most recent post in your main feed if they want to win.
• Write a story evaluating your products. Don’t forget to ask them to mention your account so that you can screenshot the posts when they are visible. 
• Challenge your audience by using features like questions, quizzes, and polls. 
• Be imaginative. There are no boundaries!

Note: 

• Selecting a winner might occasionally be challenging, To ensure the openness and fairness of the sweepstakes, ask for assistance from third-party apps.
• Declare the winner of each contest in your story, as this fosters participation and increases people’s trust in you.  
• Remember to identify yourself whenever you announce a contest on Instagram Stories so that the viewers may quickly access your profile. 

Reuse previous content

Why not spice up content from other platforms and upload it on Instagram Story as we can’t place a link to direct followers elsewhere off the platform?  

Consider content that performs well on your Blog, Facebook, and YouTube. It’s akin to “promoting a blog” in concept.  As a result, you can create a brief clip and then nudge viewers to click the link in your bio for additional information. 

Look at the list below. I hope you will learn something from this:

• Create a talking-head clip that highlights the bullet points in long-form information to summarize it.
• Trim the best 15 seconds of a YouTube video after resizing it to make it more interesting and captivating.
• A screenshot of your Instagram, Facebook, or Twitter post

Display Your Mood

If you’re worn out, let others know. Show folks that you are content and enjoying your coffee if you are. Simply present your fans with an authentic and people side to your brand. The best option in this situation is real-time, uncensored content. 

The key is that “authenticity triumphs over perfectionism”! Therefore, it is irrelevant if you lack professional-level photo or video editing skills. Additionally, nothing on your Instagram Story will “self-destruct” after a day, so you shouldn’t be concerned that they will ruin the aesthetics of your home grid. 

All you have to do is present the most authentic and personal side of your account. That will greatly interest your viewers!

Introducing the team

You can’t wait to brag about your fantastic crew to everyone. It’s time for the Instagram Story team introduction! The key to keeping your most skilled employees is to introduce the team to your followers, which closes the loop between your customers and staff. 

Additionally, a possible partner will get suggestions from watching your stories about who they might collaborate with. The inspiration for this content can take many forms, from sharing a happy birthday message to praising outstanding contributors to the year/month. 

Product Promotion

Instagram isn’t the endgame. It’s the start. For businesses, stories are the appetizer in a grand feast of content strategies that can shape their digital narrative. What better method to promote your brand and showcase your items than to upload a product demo to your Instagram Story?

Get inventive and brag about how great your things are, whether you are selling tangible or intangible goods. For instance, an image of your customers or influencers using your items is OK. In addition, hold a mini-game with free trials of your items as the prizes. 

Describe Yourself Again

It becomes increasingly important to re-introduce oneself occasionally as you obtain more followers because newbies might not be familiar with you. You won’t need to spend much time on this kind of information. 

Additionally, it is advised against doing it so blatantly. The following are some suggestions for reintroducing yourself on Instagram Stories:

• A brief film clip presenting you and your work
• Use the question stickers to encourage people to inquire about you when the topic arises.
• Use the poll sticker to make people assume something about you. 
• Give out quiz stickers with questions about you and let them choose one; don’t forget to publicly announce the results.

You should preserve the stories in your highlight area so that new followers can find them and view them whenever they want without necessitating a lot of content creation on your part. 

Share CSR campaigns and their links

Consumers of today place a great value on your social responsibilities and company ethics. Why not demonstrate your social effect and willingness to address other concerns to others? 

Don’t forget to share your message by tagging relevant individuals, businesses, and locations. Use the campaign’s official hashtag if it has one. 

For Example, Starbucks provides people with their attitude toward social impact and sustainable strategy through their highlight stories. They cover a wide range of subjects, including transgender issues, education, culture, and the environment.

Poll Sticker

Instagram Story polls are a foolproof method to have fun and gain information from your fans. Both wins! A sliding scale poll (often with a cute emoji) is another fan favorite in addition to the two-option poll. 

Making Instagram stories has never been easier thanks to this functionality. You have the authority to run surveys, carry out market research, get client feedback, and more. You will undoubtedly attract more attention to your content and increase the amount of engagement because it is enjoyable and rapid (reacting with a single touch or dragging on a mobile screen). 

Keep in mind that every poll has a conclusion, and your followers are naturally curious. Therefore, don’t forget to share the results 24 hours later!

Product Label

It’s not a bad Instagram Story Ideas to add your product specifics to Instagram stories. However, it still has the power to make or break your Instagram campaigns because “salesy” or spammy content may anger potential buyers and be punished by the algorithm. 

Use the Product sticker instead, a new tool that enables you to add product details using icons, stickers, and text. It is a natural way to market your goods and increase sales without utilizing the “swipe up” feature. 

However, in order to be qualified to use this functionality, you must:

• Being one of the 46 authorized nations. 
• Connect your Facebook catalog to your business account.
• Have goods complied with Instagram’s commerce guidelines and merchant agreement.

Please take note that you cannot change the product name in your narrative. Changes should be made to your online store or inventory.

Highlights

Quick-to-vanish Instagram stories? They’re like those brand slogans that stay etched in memory. Instagram does, however, let you save them permanently above your regular feed in your highlights. 

Because they are featured content you want your new followers to view when they visit your profile for the first time, story highlights are a continuation of your bio. You can group your story’s highlights into several categories based on your industry.  

For example, as an environmental group, you can inform your viewers on all things ocean-related. To make it simple for visitors to find and read what they want, each topic can be nicely organized into separate highlights (Events, partners, donate, petitions, or news).

Boomerang

Boomerang yourself. Although it is not new, it constantly monitors public interest! Because of the playful nature of boomerangs, your routine times become more enjoyable. A series of still images is significantly less appealing than a back-and-forth mini-video. 

Boomerangs can be made using either an app that can be downloaded or a built-in function of Instagram Story. The little clip can also be made much more entertaining by using a few accessible effects, such as SlowMo, Echo, and Duo. So don’t pass up this option if you want to boost your engagement rate!

Swipe Up

The good news is that the introduction of the “swipe up” feature on Instagram, where it is impossible to include a link to our posts or stories, is a game-changer. 

The bad news is that only corporate accounts with more than 10,000 followers can use the feature. As a result, if your company is small, you should employ additional methods, such as adding a product tag.

Bonus advice: Accounts with a blue tick (verified accounts) are also eligible for the service.

Encourage followers to swipe up and read the content of the platform because Instagram has a much larger exposure and reach percentage than other social media (compared to Facebook and Twitter), which is a smart move to carry out your link-building strategy. 

Quiz Sticker

Quizzes are another potent Instagram tool, much like polls. Traditional Q&A makes us too slow to input the answer, while quizzes with a few possible answers make it hard not to choose one.  

There are endless ways to use quizzes on Instagram. Depending on their niche, businesses can quiz their followers on a variety of subjects. It’s important to keep in mind that the queries you pose should be amusing or general knowledge-based. 

Location Sticker

When the hearts and comments flow in, and your follower count shoots up, you know you’re onto something big, and the more you want to keep your personal life secret. However, it’s not always a terrible Instagram Story Ideas to post your whereabouts anytime you can on social media. 

For Instance, it’s acceptable to check in at a coffee shop or a significant event you attend, then tell your followers what you think of it or offer more information on the Instagram Story. 

Additionally, this function broadens your audience because Instagram now lets users watch stories by location in IG Explore, even if they are not currently followers. Ready to skyrocket your Instagram fame?

Countdown Sticker Magic

Nothing jolts your audience into action like a ticking clock. Countdown stickers, these nifty timekeepers, are ideal for anything urgent. Think flash sales, hot-off-the-press product launches, or big-deal events.

Here’s the kicker: Your followers can opt into your countdown stories. Meaning? They get a nudge when the time’s up. So basically, a countdown sticker isn’t just a sticker—it’s a powerful tool that ramps up excitement for your next big thing.

Spotlight On Your Clients

Want to promote without being too salesy? Turn your Instagram Stories into a showcase for your clients. It’s prime territory. Here’s the breakdown:

• Testimonials: A little insider info – 87% of online buyers scope out reviews before buying, says BrightLocal. So, flaunt those glowing client reviews in your stories. Snap a pic, roll a video, and let your happy customers do the talking.
• Customers deserve a shout-out for their large order, loyalty, support, or any other reason you find to be appreciative. 

The customer highlight sections are the only ones for which you can build a template. Don’t forget to tag the people you give credit to with the aforementioned sticker as well. 

Liven Up

Now is the time to go live! You should take full advantage of this functionality to increase account engagement for two reasons. 

• When you start broadcasting, the site will first let your fans know. As a result, it fosters a fear of losing out on having a direct connection with you. 
• The second is that the story queue will display your live-streaming narrative front and center. Consequently, your visibility will increase.

Live streaming is a direct and open approach for fans to get immediate answers to their queries and witness the unfiltered side of your brand. Additionally, you can still receive a lot of contact without spending a lot of money or time on the creation of your clip. Allow streaming to save you some time. 

Donation

Through the donation sticker on IG stories, Instagram enables business accounts to raise money. As soon as you register for charitable giving tools, you have the ability to persuade Instagram users to donate to charities.

The charities you wish to support must be listed on the charity list. If not, your company is not yet able to use this feature. Another thing to note is that these charities will receive 100% of the revenues without any transaction fees! 

Gaining charity is all about sharing love and humanity with the world, not about increasing your Instagram exposure! So make your Instagram-worthy stories!

Sticker for “Food Delivery & Gift Card”

Food Delivery & Gift Card stickers, which were first made available in early 2020, have skyrocketed in popularity on Instagram. The bumper stickers were made expressly to assist small and medium-sized food and beverage enterprises during the COVID-19 issue. 

• You have the ability to promote your goods and services by publishing an appetizing image pinned with the Food Delivery label. 
• The Gift Card sticker, on the other hand, is perfect for marketing redeemable coupons from your stories. Caviar, UberEats, GrubHub, Postmates, Doordash, and more services make it simple for your consumers to order meals.

Furthermore, placing an order only requires a few easy steps. After reading your story, your audience taps on the screen. To finish the order, it will then reroute them to one of your partner websites.

Mention Sticker

You are allowed to use the aforementioned stickers to acknowledge contributors to your Instagram Story content. Additionally, there is a good likelihood that they will recap your post and thank you as Instagram lets users know when they are tagged. What a simple method to increase interest in your topic!

The new function dramatically improves the appearance of your stories in comparison to the conventional method (using text and the @ sign), which ruins them. But the finest feature is how simple it is to use. Simply type a name by tapping the @mention icon in the sticker tray. You are now ready to go! 

Label with a Hashtag

Instagram users no longer find the hashtag weird. While your Instagram stories spin their own magic, hashtags dance in the shadows, quietly expanding your stories’’ horizons. They’re not just tags; they’re your silent audience magnets.

You should ready yourself with some understanding regarding the Instagram Story hashtag, though. Not to mention the fact that a hashtag on your narrative image or video may be added charm and styled whatever you choose, letting others to group posts about the same topic together.   

The bad news is that the hashtag aggregation will not include these pictures and videos. However, using the hashtag is still a no-brainer tactic to connect with potential viewers as well as others in your field or who share your viewpoints.

Questions

The Question sticker, which was introduced in 2018, has demonstrated that Instagram is a viable conversational platform, allowing you and your customers to engage in greater dialogue. 

The question sticker gives viewers a sense of control whereas poll and quiz stickers ask for an answer. Additionally, it conveys that you are approachable and prepared to provide the kinds of information that your fans enjoy.

When asking a question, there are a variety of styles you can use, including asking for input from customers, conducting market research, conducting surveys, holding competitions, and soliciting expert advice. The fact that only you can see how many people respond to your story and their responses is, of course, the best part. 

Start a dialogue with a statement like “ask me anything” to pique the interest of your audience and increase interaction.

Conclusion

We’ve cruised through 31 showstopper Instagram Story ideas that are more than just flash—they’re here to amp up that oh-so-coveted engagement. No more of that “What should I post today?” debacle. With these up your sleeve, expect your DMs to blow up, your polls to be jam-packed, and those reactions? Through the roof. 

Instagram Story marketing for your company is a journey that demands you to interact quickly and stay current in order to outwit the algorithm, which is always changing. It is indisputable, nevertheless, that if you implement the function properly, it will make a significant contribution to your company’s global expansion. 

Because let’s be real—Instagram isn’t just about the cool pictures anymore. It’s about those in-the-moment Stories, and with these ideas, you’re about to turn your casual viewers into die-hard fans. 

Got questions?