Instagram Stories are a great way to give a behind-the-scenes look into your life and continue to build relationships with your followers. Even though you can share whatever you want on your stories, there are some best practices to keep the attention of your viewers.
Here are 5 things you should avoid doing on Instagram Stories:
- Avoid rambling – When was the last time you watched 5+ stories of someone talking, without captions, in a row? Probably never. We have short attention spans! Longer content should be a post or an IGTV.
- Don’t allow part of the story to expire – Instagram stories only last for 24 hours. So, don’t leave stories up without context. If the beginning of the story expired, delete the rest so it’s not confusing.
- Don’t use face filters in every single post – You know how you see someone online and then you see them in person and they just don’t look the same? There’s a good chance they look better online and the reason is due to editing and filters. While using a filter to enhance your appearance isn’t a bad thing, make sure you aren’t using majorly distorted filters or the same filter all the time. Show your true self frequently because authenticity is important.
- Don’t make a story in an overly busy/noisy environment – If there are sirens, screaming kids, clanging, any obnoxious noise, don’t make a video there. Yes, showing “the real” is important, but if people can’t hear what you’re trying to say or other things are way too distracting, you lost your viewer.
- Tagging someone on the left of the right side of the screen – Try to put your tagged person in the middle of the screen. If you put it on the left side, viewers will be taken back to the previous clip and if it’s on the right side, it will go to the next video. It’s an ineffective tag because it’s not clickable.
What are some of your questions and concerns about IG stories? Anything I can help with? I’d love to hear about your experience because Instagram is always changing. At the time I’m writing this, I don’t have some of the newest features so there might be something I have missed!