Category: Instagram

13 Autumn Instagram Content Ideas for Small Businesses

Summer is coming to a close, and it’s time to start planning your social media calendar for the next season!

Seeking some autumn content ideas? From foliage and pumpkins to back to school season and beyond, fall offers a ton of fresh seasonal content you can create for your brand.

Here are 13 Instagram content ideas to give you some autumn inspiration.

1. Sprinkle everything with fall imagery

No matter what you post, you can’t go wrong with some classic autumn-related imagery. Here are some elements you can include in your fall-themed posts:

  • The colors orange, red, yellow, and brown
  • Leaves and foliage
  • Woody textures
  • Warm drinks: apple cider, pumpkin spice lattes, hot chocolate
  • Fireplaces
  • Sweaters and jackets
  • Sunsets
  • Rain and umbrellas
  • Apples
  • Pumpkins
  • Spices (cloves, cinnamon sticks, etc.)
  • Books
  • A cozy, warm atmosphere

You can use these elements for inspiration when coming up with inspiration for all the content ideas below.

2. Run a special sale or promotion for fall

It’s very common for businesses to hold special sales for fall: Labor Day sales, back-to-school sales, or just something celebrating the new season. Be sure to promote your sale both in your Feed and in your Stories.

For example, Garden Architecture & Design (@gardenarchitecture), a furniture store in California, made a video showing off its wares and offering a 20% discount on “all those incredible pieces you’ve been stalking all summer”:

https://www.instagram.com/p/CEMgdD_lb3J/

3. Highlight a fall-related product

Have you made some leaf-themed product lately? Does your farm, restaurant, or other food service offer any special fall items? Feature them in a Feed post or Story, and don’t forget to use plenty of fall hashtags: #autumn, #autumnvibes, etc.

Check out these adorable fall leaf earrings from @ewi.macrame:

https://www.instagram.com/p/B3UtdViHGSY/

4. Recommend your favorite fall read

Fall is a great time to curl up with a cozy book to read. Show your followers what you’re reading, or what you like to read during the fall. It could be related to your field, or just something you enjoy. You can combine this with a request for book recommendations!

5. Share a fall-related quote

Create a graphic with a quote that has something to do with autumn. You can find lots of lists of fall-related quotes online, such as this one. See if you can find footage or images that match the quote — for example, if you select “You’re never too old to play in the leaves,” find a picture of a kid (or adult!) playing in fall leaves. Even better, find a pile of leaves and have someone photograph you playing in them!

Artist and author Dani DiPirro (@positivelypresent) created this beautiful image with a fall quote from Rumi:

https://www.instagram.com/p/CEJ_SDWhD4c/

6. Ask a question about fall

Asking questions is a great way to create engagement. You can create a Feed post and encourage people to answer in the comments, or use a Question or Poll sticker in a Story.

Some ideas for questions to ask:

  • What’s your favorite thing about fall?
  • Pumpkin spice lattes: yea or nay?
  • What’s your favorite movie/book to curl up with in the fall?
  • What do you like to do when it’s raining?
  • Which do you prefer: sweaters or jackets?

7. Create a fall-related tutorial

Now’s the time for fall recipes: apple pie, pumpkin spice anything, stews and slow-cooked dinners with lots of root vegetables, etc. It’s also back-to-school time, so you can create a tutorial for a school-related craft: pencil cases, gifts for teachers… or, given it’s 2020, maybe a kid-sized cloth mask or a cute pouch for carrying hand sanitizer. Click here to read our post on creating a tutorial using Instagram Stories.

For example, artist Anastasia-berry (@anastasiadeg) created this tutorial for coloring a fall leaf:

https://www.instagram.com/p/B255YA1oc_i/

8. Back-to-school post

Try to find an angle your target audience will relate to. For instance, if your target audience is moms who may be relieved to be sending their kids back to school, you can base a video on this template from Boosted:

Maybe combine that with a special offer. For example, if you’re a massage therapist, offer a discounted massage for moms! Boosted video templates are extremely versatile, and you can use them to create both Feed videos and Stories.

If you’re targeting college-age students, you may want to focus more on things like tips for organizing a dorm room, quick and easy recipes, or tips for maintaining focus during their studies.

9. Document local fall scenery

If you live somewhere with beautiful fall foliage, get out that smartphone camera and take some great photos! You can post the images as they are, or use them as background for any of the more text-based ideas in this post.

You can also take a walk downtown and take photos of other types of fall scenery: window displays, people drinking apple cider at a local cafe, etc. This is an especially good idea if your business targets a local audience. Click here to read more ideas for targeting a local audience on Instagram.

10. Launch a fall-related photo contest

While you’re at it, why not get your followers to show you what fall looks like where they live? Launch a fall photo contest for some user-generated content, and offer a giveaway as the prize. Click here to read more about how to run a successful giveaway on Instagram.

Check out this stunning winning post from a photo contest by Timberline Adventures (@ziptimberline) last year:

https://www.instagram.com/p/B38grM-HaFT/

11. Give fall-related tips from your niche

If you’re in the beauty or fashion industry, you can talk about looks that are hot for this fall and how to achieve them. If you’re in the food industry, give some tips for working with seasonal ingredients, like apples, pumpkins, and spices. Photographer? Give some tips for capturing fall scenery.

You can create a graphic featuring the tip as text, or use the graphic to introduce the idea and elaborate in the caption. You could also make a video of yourself explaining your tips and post it on your Feed or using IGTV.

This post from The Ayurvedic Institute (@theayurvedicinstitute) features some tips for maintaining your health in the fall:

https://www.instagram.com/p/B211FJkgzuT/

12. Decorate your workspace with fall-themed items

This doesn’t have to take much: some leaves, a steaming mug, a book, and a warm photo filter could do the trick. If you’re working on something that has to do with fall, consider creating a behind-the-scenes video or carousel post.

Heather of Heather House Interiors (@heatherhouseinteriors) posted this photo of the fall-decorated entrance to her home:

https://www.instagram.com/p/CEMihFwJv1h/

13. Hold a little fall event

In other times, we might recommend holding a real-life fall party or event, but the pandemic-related restrictions may make that tricky this year. Instead, organize a little fall outing or event for your staff (or for yourself, if that’s your full staff!) and be sure to document it well. Some ideas:

  • A hike in the woods
  • Go apple or pumpkin picking
  • Visit a local farm or farmer’s market
  • Make apple cider or apple pie together

Post plenty of photos and videos in your Stories (and save one or two favorites for your feed).

Action Items:

  • Go over this list and jot down ideas that spark your imagination.
  • Get out your calendar and pencil in a schedule for fall-related posts and promotions for your Instagram feed.
  • Be sure to leave plenty of time for content ideas that may require some prep work.
Autumn Instagram Ideas

Subscribe to our social media tips and get a FREE Instagram checklist for your business.

By subscribing, I agree to the Lightricks Privacy Policy.

5 Ways to Make Your Instagram Stories Stand Out

With more and more brands joining Instagram and posting Stories on your followers’ feeds, it’s becoming more of a challenge to keep your followers from swiping through your Stories. How do you make your Stories stand out and inspire your followers to stick with them?

Here’s a trade secret: there are so many creative ways you can use the Stories features and format that most users aren’t taking advantage of.

In this post we’ll introduce you to some of the lesser-known tricks that will impress and engage your followers.

1. Get creative with fonts and text effects

Adding text to a Story is pretty straightforward: you just open your Stories camera, add or record your Story, and then tap the text icon. Instagram recently expanded their font options from 4 to 9:

When you scroll through the font color selection, you’ll see 27 color options. You can actually choose any color you want when drawing in Instagram Stories. Simply tap and hold a color — and a whole color palette will appear on your screen! Slide the pin around to select any shade you like.

instagram stories color select

Did you know that you can select different letters or words in the same text and change their color separately? You can even create a rainbow or gradient effect by selecting the whole word, then tapping and holding a color with your right thumb, then sliding your left thumb to the right to deselect the word as you slide your right thumb to the left to move through the color palette. Here’s a quick TikTok tutorial on how to achieve this effect from social media pro @annaarends2:

@annararends

🌈 RAINBOW 🌈 IG FONT TUTORIAL #natureathome #fyp #insta #instagram #instastoryinspo #tutorial #instagramstoryhack #storyhack

♬ Buttercup – Jack Stauber

The background effects look different for the newer fonts, too, so be sure to scroll through those and see what inspires you.

Another fun effect you can create using the text features on Stories is to spell out a word with individual letters and stagger them or arrange them however you like to look like scattered tiles. Or, create a shadow effect by creating identical texts in different colors and setting one just overlapping the other. There’s so much room for creativity here!

2. Use the doodle and erase features to highlight or hide parts of an image

Another under-appreciated feature is the doodle feature. Yes, it lets you add little drawings and arrows to your Stories… but there’s so much more it can do.

First of all, the pen tool can create a solid background. A super easy way to create a solid background is to select any image for your Story, then tap the doodle feature, pick the color you’d like for your background, and tap and hold on the screen.

But that’s not all: the highlighter tool can create a transparent overlay. This is super useful for adding text and other images over an image with lots of colors and details without making it look too “busy.” You add the transparent overlay the same way you add the solid background with the pen feature – just select the highlighter tool, pick your color, and tap and hold on the screen:

Now, the eraser is where you can really take this up a level. You can start out with an image, create a solid background over it, and then use the eraser to reveal just one element from the image that’s hiding underneath. This is a fantastic way to highlight a particular subject or object in an image. You can do the same thing with a transparent overlay — it’ll really make your subject pop!

You can also use the eraser feature to doodle through a background or overlay for an interesting “negative space” effect.

3. Use animated GIF stickers

Nothing catches the eye like an animation, and the variety of GIFs available in Instagram is staggering. Invest some time in poking around and looking for GIFs that fit your Story in terms of theme, mood, and color scheme. A strategically placed GIF can really pull a Story together.

You can also create a full screen GIF using Create Mode. Simply head to Create Mode and swipe left on the menu that appears above it to select GIF. Tap “Search GIPHY” and enter your keywords to search for the GIF you want. Create Mode GIFs look like this:

Check out our guide here for full insights on Instagram Story GIFs.

4. Create video Stories with templates

Especially if you’re short on time, a video maker app like Boosted can be a lifesaver. The app provides stunning and stylish templates, stock footage, music, and other effects that make it a cinch to pull together an impressive-looking video Story in just a few minutes.

Templates are fantastic for Stories because they create a visually cohesive video that’s smooth, easy on the eyes, and looks very professional, without the hours and hours of working with design apps (not to mention a great deal of skill and talent) it takes to create something similar on your own.

Here’s a video created with Boosted that we recently shared to @boosted_social‘s Story:

5. Take advantage of sequencing

There’s a reason Stories are called Stories: each slide leads to the next, and taking advantage of that format can really help you pull your Stories together and keep your followers engaged.

Some very simple ways to do this involve using the same background image, but adding or removing an element from each slide in sequence. For example, creating a list and adding just one item to each slide, or creating a sequence of slides that slowly reveal a key element of your image. You can do this right in the Stories camera by creating your first slide, saving the Story as an image (click the “download” icon at the top center of the screen), then altering the Story to create another slide and saving that one, and so on. Once you have all your images, upload them together in the proper sequence:

insta story sequencing

There’s no end to the creative ways you can use the features and format of Stories to create compelling content your followers will love. Invest some time in getting to know the existing features and keep an eye out to see how people are using them to give you more ideas! For more Story inspiration, check out 50 Engaging Instagram Story Ideas for Your Brand.

Action Items:

  • Play around with different ways to use text and fonts to make interesting effects.
  • Use the doodle tools to bring out specific elements in your image.
  • Find an animated GIF that fits your Story perfectly and place it strategically on the image.
  • Try out Boosted to create some quick, professional-looking video Stories.
  • Keep sequencing in mind and try to create a whole experience for your followers using multiple slides.
Instagram Story Ideas
Instag

Subscribe to our social media tips and get a FREE Instagram checklist for your business.

By subscribing, I agree to the Lightricks Privacy Policy.

The Small Business Owner’s Guide to Instagram Reels

What is Instagram Reels?

By: Cori Widen, Product Marketing Lead at Boosted by Lightricks

Now that you’ve mastered Instagram Stories, it’s time to learn about Instagram’s latest feature, Reels. Instagram Reels is a new feature that offers users a new way to record, post and view 15-second videos. The success of TikTok has proven that people love short-form, edited video clips – and now users will have the ability to create and post even more video content on Instagram. 

The Instagram Reels features are similar to TikTok – users can easily record video clips, edit them together and set the clips to audio. Once created, Instagram users can share them to their Stories, Explore Feed and the new Reels tab.

For private accounts, the short-form videos can be shared with friends and followers while public accounts can be discovered by anyone on Instagram. Instagram will place Reels from public accounts on the Explore page which will help users increase their reach. When Reels are shared using certain hashtags, audio or effects, they may appear on dedicated pages when someone clicks on that hashtag, audio or effect.

Instagram Reels is still a new feature currently being tested and might not be available to everyone. If you aren’t seeing it on your Instagram yet, keep an eye out for this new feature that might pop up soon!

Why Your Small Business Should Care About Reels

Even if you don’t have the ability to use the Instagram Reels feature yet, small businesses should definitely know all about this new feature. Because users can share their Reels on their Instagram feed or to a new section on the Explore page, accounts of all sizes have a unique opportunity to ‘go viral’.

The Explore page is already used by 50% of people on Instagram each month, and now with a dedicated space just for Reels, small businesses who are creating Reels content will be able to reach new customers and potentially go viral.

Instagram will be giving extra attention to accounts that are early adopters to Instagram Reels, so it’s a good idea for your small business to start testing out this feature now while there’s still not much competition.

How to Use Instagram Reels to Grow Your Small Business

To access the new Reels feature, open Instagram as if you are about to create an Instagram Story. There, you will see the new section with all of the Instagram Reels features. Reels can be recorded as a series of clips or one 15-second video. In the Instagram Reels tools, you can also easily apply Instagram special effects and set your video clip to audio. 

Here are 7 tips for getting your small business started with Reels:

1. Brainstorm content ideas

Instagram Reels is meant to be a fun, new way for you to engage with your followers. While you are brainstorming a few ideas for content, think about what type of content your current and new customers would enjoy viewing.

2. Test out features

Once you’ve found Reels within Instagram, it’s very easy to begin testing out all of the new tools. Users can use special AR effects created by Instagram and creators around the world for Reels, similar to Instagram Stories. Reels also allow you to change the speed, edit together multiple video clips, set a timer and add audio to create truly custom video content.

3. Upload existing content

A great way to start out testing Instagram Reels is by repurposing existing video content. It’s easy to upload a video (or several) from your photo gallery into Reels. Try uploading an existing TikTok video or an Instagram Story that you have saved to your phone as one of your first Reels. 

4. Use stock videos

If you don’t already have your own video footage, you can use the Boosted app to easily create high-quality video content for Instagram Reels. Boosted has a built-in library of photos and stunning videos that are already perfectly formatted for social media platforms like Facebook and Instagram.

5. Film new content

Have something fun you want to share? Now is the perfect time to film a brand new video within the Instagram app! If you’ve filmed on TikTok before, you will be familiar with Reels’ ability to start and stop recording to film a series of clips.

6. Select audio

Once you have the video content ready, you will want to add audio. Audio can be your own original audio clip or you can choose from a library of music within the Instagram app. Instagram has a huge library of great music available to choose from.

7. Attract new customers

Instagram Reels are posted to the Explore Page, which presents a great opportunity for small businesses to be discovered by users who aren’t already following their business. When creating a Reel, focus on creating video content that would help your small business attract new customers.

Cori Widen is the Product Marketing Lead at Boosted by Lightricks. She has been leading product marketing campaigns and doing qualitative market research in the tech industry for 10 years.

Instagram Reels for Business

Subscribe to our social media tips and get a FREE Instagram checklist for your business.

By subscribing, I agree to the Lightricks Privacy Policy.

How Many Times a Day Should You Post to Instagram Stories?

A general rule of thumb you may have heard regarding social media for small businesses is to post at least once a day and no more than three times a day on a given platform. But there are exceptions — and Instagram Stories is one of them.

On most social media feeds, it’s considered rude and spammy to post many times a day because your followers will have to scroll through everything you post to get to the other stuff they might want to see. Posting too often is a surefire way to get yourself unfollowed. But Instagram Stories is, if you’ll pardon the expression, a whole other story: your Stories are all located in one specific section of the feed that is easy to skip over if your followers aren’t interested in seeing everything you have there.

However — and this is a big “however” — just because you can post 100 Stories a day doesn’t mean you should.

While there’s no set formula for calculating the exact numbers of stories you should post per day, taking the following points into consideration will help you find the right rhythm and frequency for your business that will draw your followers in rather than drive them away.

1. Only post content that adds value

Each Story you add to your feed should be of value and interest to your target audience.

It doesn’t necessarily have to be on-brand 100% of the time — sometimes deviating a bit from your usual content is refreshing, especially if you’re doing so to share something personal. But you should still be sure to stick to engaging content that will help your followers get to know you and provide them with information they will appreciate. Don’t post just for the sake of posting.

2. Avoid being spammy and over-promotional

Social media is meant to be a platform for engaging with people and building personal connections. Using it only for advertising undermines that goal, and creates a sense of distance between you and your followers. You can certainly create posts that are pure advertisement, but these should be tucked in between other posts that add value for your followers: inspiration, useful information, and entertainment.

The same is true for your Stories feed. If every time someone clicks on your profile photo on the Story feed, they see another advertisement, they’re going to click past very quickly and may end up unfollowing you.

3. Spice up your Stories

Even if you’re posting the right kind of content, you’re competing with a whole feed for your followers’ attention. If you want to keep their interest, you need to make your Stories stand out.

One easy way to take your Stories up a level is to use Boosted to turn your plain images or footage into standout videos with cool animations, effects, and music. By using the templates in the app, you can also create a series of slides that complement each other and flow nicely in sequence.

Here’s a recent Story from @boosted_social that included a Boosted template:

Be sure to add relevant stickers, too — especially interactive stickers such as polls, questions, and emoji sliders.

4. Use Story analytics as a guide

The best litmus test for how often to post Stories is to look at what actually happens in real time — that is, to keep tabs on your Story analytics within Instagram Insights.

Your analytics will tell you how your Stories are performing and how well they’re holding your followers’ interest. If you notice that followers consistently drop off after 5-6 slides, for example, that may mean you’ve found the upper limit of their attention span. But it also might mean that the last few slides weren’t engaging enough, so it’s important to pay attention to the actual content they’re reacting to and not just the numbers. Trial and error can go a long way here when you’re keeping a close eye on the numbers.

You can learn more about how to view and interpret your Instagram Story analytics in our previous post, Understanding Your Instagram Stories Analytics.

instagram story analytics

The bottom line

When it comes to Instagram Stories, there’s nothing as valuable as consistency. Strive to show up on Stories daily, with at least 3-4 frames posted in a 24 hour period. Sharing Stories daily is much better than the sporadic Story with 10 frames. ⁠

The truth is though, that the right amount of Stories per day depends on many different factors: your industry, your particular audience, and the kind of content you’re putting out. Create a Story strategy that’s customized for you & your business. Be realistic about the time & resources you have available to create content.

Also, while you’re in pursuit of the ideal Instagram Story quantity, don’t lose sight of the quality of your content. There’s no replacement for high-quality, engaging content that makes your followers want to see more from you. For endless Story content inspiration, check out 50 Engaging Instagram Story Ideas for Your Brand.

Action Items:

  • Try using Boosted to make your Stories more engaging.
  • If you haven’t already, familiarize yourself with Instagram Insights and particularly the Story analytics section.
  • Experiment with your Story-posting frequency — but be sure to post only Stories that are relevant and valuable to your audience.
  • Track your analytics carefully and notice any patterns that emerge from the data that may indicate an ideal number of Stories to post per day.
Best time to post to Instagram Stories

Subscribe to our social media tips and get a FREE Instagram checklist for your business.

By subscribing, I agree to the Lightricks Privacy Policy.

How to Use Instagram Story Highlights Strategically as a Small Business Owner

By: Cori Widen, Product Marketing Lead at Boosted by Lightricks

What Are Instagram Story Highlights?

Your small business may be active on Instagram but are you using the platform to the fullest? Instagram is a great way for your small business to engage with customers, increase brand awareness and drive traffic, but there is one feature that most businesses aren’t taking full advantage of —  Instagram Story Highlights.

Story Highlights is a feature on Instagram that allows you to organize Stories you’ve previously posted into an easy-to-access collection. Instagram Story Highlights is the section on your feed under your bio and right above your posts. Getting started with Story Highlights is easy — you can add any story (even ones that have already ‘disappeared’) into a Story Highlight. Learn how to add a story to a Highlight here.

If your small business isn’t already leveraging Story Highlights on Instagram, there are many reasons to get started! Here’s everything you need to know about using Highlights strategically.

Why Small Businesses Should Leverage Story Highlights

Regular Instagram Stories vanish after 24 hours, but when you add it to an Instagram Story Highlight, your content gets a permanent spot on your profile. Instagram Story Highlights enable you to re-purpose past content, help your customers find the information they need quickly and drive more traffic. With such a prime location on your Instagram profile, Story Highlights are also a great way to bring your brand to life, provide more value to your followers and offer another way for your customers to engage with your small business. 

instagram story highlights boosted
Our Instagram Story Highlights @boosted_social

How to Use Story Highlights Strategically: The Do’s & Don’ts

The Do’s of Instagram Story Highlights:

DO Create Simple, Descriptive Titles

You only have space for a few characters in the title of a Story Highlight so it’s important to use short, simple and descriptive titles to help customers know exactly what the highlight is about, quickly.

DO Create an ‘About’ Highlight

Think about Instagram Story Highlights as an extension of your website – creating an ‘About’ Story Highlight is a great way to help a customer know who you are and what you do right away.

DO Make Branded Highlights

Instagram Story Highlights are also a way to bring your brand to life, so make sure you are creating custom icons/cover images for your Story Highlights that are consistent with your brand visuals.

DO Organize Strategically

One of the best parts about Story Highlights is the ability to organize Stories into categorized collections. Be strategic about what type of Story Highlights you create and be sure to group similar content together.

DO Focus on Important Content

Story Highlights are prime real estate on your Instagram profile! It’s the perfect place to feature the most important and valuable content to ensure your customers are seeing this information first.

DO Think About Your Business Goals

Before creating a bunch of Story Highlights, you will want to think through your business goals and decide how Instagram Story Highlights can help you achieve those goals.

DO Be Consistent

You already know that it’s essential to post high-quality content on your Instagram feed for a cohesive look. The same rule applies to Story Highlights. Keep your Highlights visually consistent by creating branded cover images and always use the same formats for Highlight descriptions.

The Dont’s of Instagram Story Highlights:

DON’T Have 20+ Highlights

Just because you are able to create tons of Story Highlights, doesn’t mean you should. In order to leverage Instagram Story Highlights to help your small business grow, it’s important to be selective about the Highlights you create.

DON’T Forget to Update Thumbnail Images

If you don’t select a new cover image for a Story Highlight, Instagram will simply use a thumbnail from the first Instagram Story in your Highlight.

DON’T Use a Photo or Text For Covers

While you are creating Highlight cover images, it might be tempting to simply use a photo or some text in the icon but this is a definite don’t. Using text or photos in such a small icon is hard to see and you would be missing out on an opportunity to create a more visually aesthetic and branded profile.

DON’T Post Too Many Stories in Each Highlight

You have the ability to post 100 photos or videos in each Instagram Story Highlight, but you should try to keep each Story Highlight on the shorter side. This will ensure you are only including content that is actually valuable to your followers and will increase the chances that your followers will watch the whole highlight. 

DON’T Post Just to Post

Some small businesses quickly throw a few old Instagram Stories together into a Highlight simply to have a few highlights on their feed. It’s a common mistake, but it’s better to wait a bit and be more strategic about the Story Highlights you decide to create. 

DON’T Keep Irrelevant Content

Don’t forget to look through your highlights periodically and remove any Stories that are no longer relevant. For example, if you no longer carry a certain item or a sale is no longer running, you will want to make sure you don’t have any Story Highlights that mention those. 

6 Small Businesses with Standout Story Highlights

Get inspired by these 6 small businesses who are rocking their on-brand Instagram Story Highlights:

1. @thedairy_fairy

2. @dani.stratman

3. @the.workaround

4. @parsnipdaily

5. @ourlosangeles

6. @yoursocialteam

Instagram Story Highlight Tips

Cori Widen is the Product Marketing Lead at Boosted by Lightricks. She has been leading product marketing campaigns and doing qualitative market research in the tech industry for 10 years.

Subscribe to our social media tips and get a FREE Instagram checklist for your business.

By subscribing, I agree to the Lightricks Privacy Policy.

Understanding Your Instagram Stories Analytics

Analytics are an essential tool in social media marketing. They help you measure how your content is performing and figure out how to tweak your strategy to improve your stats, your conversion rates, and ultimately, your bottom line.

In previous posts, we’ve covered how to view and understand your analytics on Instagram (What Exactly Do Your Instagram Insights Mean?) and TikTok (TikTok Analytics: Everything You Need to Know). In this post, we’ll take a deeper dive into Stories analytics on your Instagram Insights.

Accessing Instagram Stories analytics

Only Business and Creator accounts on Instagram have access to Insights, so if you’re still using a personal account, you may want to consider making the switch. See our previous post, Should You Switch to an Instagram Business Account? Pros and Cons to learn more.

Instagram has just made accessing Insights easier: instead of tapping on the hamburger menu icon on the upper right corner of your profile page and selecting it from the menu, you can just tap a convenient button on the right hand side under your bio.

Where to find Instagram Insights

Your Stories analytics will be under the Content tab. Just scroll down past Posts until you see the Stories section.

Instagram Insights: Stories

There you’ll see thumbnails of the last few Stories you’ve posted, with the number of views displayed on the bottom center of each thumbnail.

You can tap “See all” to see all the stories you’ve posted over the past 14 days.

Instagram Stories Analytics

Stories interactions

On the upper left corner, you’ll see a menu button that says “Reach.” You can open this menu to select the various metrics you’d like to look at across all your stories.

Instagram Stories interactions

Here’s what each of them mean:

Back: The number of people who went backwards from this Story post

Calls: The number of people who followed the CTA to Call on your profile

Emails: The number of people who followed the CTA to Email on your profile

Exited: The number of people who swiped away from this Story

Follows: The number of people who started following you because of this Story

Forward: The number of people who tapped forward from this Story

Get Directions: The number of people who tapped Get Directions as a result of this Story

Impressions: The total number of times your post has been viewed — including multiple views from the same user (contrast with Reach below)

Next Story: The number of times people tapped to move to the next Story in their feed

Profile Visits: The number of people who visited your profile as a result of this story

Reach: The number of unique accounts that viewed this Story (so one account that viewed it multiple times counts as 1)

Replies: The number of replies to this Story

You can also tap on a particular Story and swipe up to see specific analytics for that Story.

Instagram Stories analytics

If you used an interactive sticker in your Story, such as a poll or emoji slider, you can tap the eye and bar graph icon that appears on the upper strip (right next to the Insights icon) to see how many people interacted with the sticker and what the average result of your poll was.

The following Story included the question sticker:

How does this information help you?

The metrics listed above tell you how your followers are reacting to your Stories.

Tapping back, for example, means that they wanted to look at a particular Story image or video more than once. This can mean that that post caught their attention and they’d like to spend more time looking at it. That’s generally a good indication that a post was engaging.

Tapping forward, exiting, or moving to the next Story is the opposite: it means didn’t want to spend as much time looking at that slide. This could mean the slide was less engaging.

Profile Visits, Calls, Emails, Get Directions, Replies, and Follows are all indications that a Story has inspired the person viewing it to learn more about your business and engage with you, and that’s a great sign. This is also true of responses to your interactive stickers.

Reach and Impressions are great for giving you a baseline to compare the other metrics to: if most people who viewed your post engaged with it, but the number isn’t that high, that means the post was engaging but didn’t reach a lot of people. If your Reach and Impressions numbers are high but your engagement numbers are low, that means that lots of people are seeing it, but aren’t inspired to engage with it.

Creator Studio

You can also view your Story analytics on Creator Studio. There are two advantages to using Creator Studio: it’s accessible via desktop, and it shows your stats for all the Stories you’ve posted, not just from the past 14 days.

If you haven’t used Creator Studio for Instagram before, click the Instagram icon at the top of the screen and connect your account. You’ll find your Stories in the Content Library under the “Stories” tab.

You’ll see each Story’s Reach right on the chart. You can take a look at each Story’s analytics by clicking the Story on the list.

Knowledge is power — record your analytics!

No matter what you do with the information later, it’s always a good idea to track your analytics. On the app, you can only track Story analytics for up to 14 days — and Creator Studio doesn’t display overall analytics specific to Stories. So it’s important to take time every week or two to record your stats in a spreadsheet for later comparison.

The more information you have, the more you will know about how people are interacting with your posts.

Action Items:

  • If you haven’t already, switch to a Business or Creator account and take a look at your Story Insights.
  • Take note of which Stories seem to be performing the best, and analyze what might have made those posts more successful.
  • Brainstorm some ideas for additional posts that fill those criteria, and see how they perform. Comparing with the previous successful Stories may help you hone in on what is working well and what isn’t.
Instagram Story Analytics

Subscribe to our social media tips and get a FREE Instagram checklist for your business.

By subscribing, I agree to the Lightricks Privacy Policy.

13 Easy Tips to Give Your Instagram Feed a Makeover

Are you looking for a few quick and easy ways to transform your brand’s Instagram feed? There are tons of small tweaks you can make that will significantly improve the look and feel of your Instagram profile. Keep reading to learn our favorite tips and tricks to upgrade your Instagram feed with an aesthetic makeover.

1. Switch Up Your Bio

You have 150 characters to let everyone know right away what your brand is all about.  If you haven’t updated your bio in awhile, it’s always a good practice to review your Instagram bio and see if there are any important updates that need to be made. Be sure to include a link to your website and don’t be afraid to include emojis for a playful and easy-to-read Instagram bio.

Instagram Expert Elise Darma (@elisedarma) successfully captures the following in her Instagram bio:

  • What her business is all about
  • What value she offers
  • What services she’s currently offering
  • Where her audience could go to purchase those services

Check out our guide here for more insights on how to create a killer Instagram bio.

2. Create a Mood Board

Before you get started giving your brand’s Instagram a makeover, it’s a good idea to create a mood board for what you would like your Instagram feed to look like. Do you want your feed to look light and airy? Or bright and bold? We recommend checking out different Instagram feeds and saving some of their posts to help you get inspired as you create an Instagram mood board.

3. Set Color Rules

If you aren’t already sticking to a color palette on Instagram, this trick will quickly transform your Instagram feed. Instagram is such a visual platform and the “look” of your profile really matters. Help bring your branding to life by utilizing your brand’s colors and sticking to a consistent color palette for all of your posts. For example, if your branding uses a lot of greens and blues, you might want to avoid posting anything with reds or yellows to help you create a more cohesive and aesthetically-pleasing Instagram feed.

Our Instagram feed (@boosted_social) features our branded color scheme:

Boosted Instagram Feed Aesthetic

4. Use The Same Filters or Presets

While we are talking about consistent color palettes, a great tip to give your brand’s Instagram a beautiful makeover is to always use the same 1-3 filters on every single photo you post. You can simply pick a filter on Instagram or in any free photo editing app that compliments your color palette. You can even buy a set of Lightroom presets created by your favorite influencers. Learn more about what a preset is here.

5. Stick to Font Rules

If you are posting custom-made graphics it’s important to always use the same fonts. If you are creating graphics using the fonts included with pre-made templates, your feed will quickly look cluttered. Instead, use the same 2-3 fonts in every graphic and follow some rules about how you use the fonts. For example, some fonts might always be capitalized or only used for quotes. Click here for a beginner’s guide on typography.

6. Take ‘Live’ Photos

If you are using your iPhone to snap photos for your brand’s business, we recommend using the ‘Live’ setting. This way, even if you don’t get the perfect shot you wanted, you can easily edit the ‘key photo’ so you can always get the perfect moment. Pro Tip: You can even upload a live photo to your Instagram story and turn it into a boomerang by holding the photo!

7. Make Grid ‘Rules’

Once you’ve created some guidelines about the colors and photos you’ll be posting, you can start to plan out how your Instagram profile will look by creating grid layout rules. For example, maybe you will mix up your posts by posting a photo and a quote graphic every other post. Following grid rules like this is the easiest way to quickly transform your Instagram feed and help create a more consistent look and feel.

Instagram Coach @shallwesocial has a clearly defined grid rule of alternating graphic images with photography, creating a cohesive, branded look:

8. Test Out Your Grid

Once you have an idea of what ‘rules’ you want to follow when deciding on content to post, you can test out what your Instagram feed will look like before you actually post. Test out your grid by using planning apps to see how a post would look on your feed before you post it. Testing out your posts will help prevent you from posting two photos that are too similar in color or content back to back.

9. Research New Hashtags

Did you know it’s important to not use the same hashtags on every single post? It can seem like a lot of work to always research and test out new hashtags but this is a great way to ensure your Instagram posts will perform better and help you connect with new audiences. Check out our guide here for insights on how to build an effective Instagram hashtag strategy.

 10. Post Some Videos

Instagram isn’t just for beautiful photos! Videos can be more engaging and are a great way to break up the photos in your Instagram feed.  If you don’t want to use videos on your feed, you can post videos to your Instagram Stories. You can use an app like Boosted to create standout video content for both your feed and/or Stories.

 11. Organize Your Highlights

Once you’ve started posting on Instagram Stories, you will definitely want to save all of that great content for your followers to access. The Highlights feature allows you to select collections of Stories to display on your profile page and reuse content you’ve posted. Create and organize several highlights on your Instagram profile to save your best Instagram stories, answer FAQ’s, show new products and more.

12. Create New Highlight Icons

While we are talking about highlights… Did you know you can customize the look and feel of your highlights too? This is a great way to makeover your Instagram feed and bring your branding to life right away. You can easily create new icons using your brand fonts or colors to create consistent and ‘on-brand’ highlight cover images.

Get inspired by @girlboss‘ branded Story Highlights:

13. Find New Accounts to Follow

The best way to find inspiration when making over your brand’s Instagram feed is to find some beautiful accounts to follow to help you see what is working for other brands or influencers. Follow accounts that inspire you with their color palettes, content, photography style and more. Here are 10 social media marketing accounts to start following for inspiration.

We hope that these quick and easy suggestions will help you give your brand’s Instagram a stunning makeover. Don’t forget to have fun with it! There can be a lot of ‘rules’ when it comes to creating an aesthetic Instagram feed but Instagram is a social media platform and it should still be fun to post. If you are looking to give your brand’s Instagram a makeover, test out some of these strategies and see which ones work best for you. 

Instagram Makeover Tips

Subscribe to our social media tips and get a FREE Instagram checklist for your business.

By subscribing, I agree to the Lightricks Privacy Policy.

These 8 Yoga Pages Are Killing It on Social Media

If you are developing a social media marketing strategy for your yoga page, it’s a great idea to take a peek at what other yoga businesses like yours are doing.

Following other yoga pages provides inspiration and gives you valuable information about what kind of content resonates with your target audience. It also gives you a chance to get involved in the communities surrounding those accounts — which can be a great place to find potential clients and partnerships.

There are hundreds of fantastic social media accounts to choose from. Below, we’ll introduce you to 8 of our favorites: 2 each from Instagram, TikTok, Facebook, and YouTube.

2 Best Yoga Pages on Instagram

Laura Kasperzak (@laurasykora)

Laura Kasperzak has a staggering 1.2 million followers on Instagram, so she must be doing something right.

https://www.instagram.com/p/CBoqd8iJUB0/

Laura’s account has a little bit of everything: gorgeous photography, videos of her trying — and not always succeeding — to achieve challenging poses, cute posts about her family, and of course tips, challenges, and instructional videos.

She engages her audience by being genuine and offering them content of real value.

Boys of Yoga (@boysofyoga)

We love this account because of how non-standard it is. There are so many accounts offering great yoga tips, challenges, and inspiration, but this one is specifically geared toward fighting the stereotype that yoga is only for women.

https://www.instagram.com/p/B_Db1grjuZL/

The account features inspirational quotes and images of men doing various yoga poses, and the aesthetic is very “manly” — lots of browns, blacks, and whites, and poses that show men being powerful.

2 Best Yoga TikTok Pages

@ProYogaExperts

This account is run by Bholi Parihar and Divyansh Sharma, yoga practitioners from India. They have 90.4K followers and have received more than a million likes on their TikTok videos, which feature the two holding cool poses together.

@proyogaexperts

#yoga #yogaflow #yogachallenge #acroyoga @tiktok @tiktok_india

♬ original sound – Rajkumar Gupta

The pair is quoted in Yoga Journal as saying that they particularly appreciate TikTok as a platform because “anybody can see your videos no matter if they follow you or not, so good content generally gets its appropriate appreciation.”

@Fau.Yoga

Faustine Chef is a yoga instructor from France. Her TikTok account has 33.5K followers and 263K likes.

While she does show off some impressive moves with her account, what’s unique about it is that she gives it that TikTok flair using music and special effects.

@fau.yoga

Quand je me fais mes propres challenges 😂 Ça passe ? #yoga #cestpasdelagym #fitness #flexible

♬ Imagine Dragons – original sound

Faustine told Yoga Journal that what she likes about TikTok is that “on TikTok, you have to be real — to be you.” TikTok content tends to be more casual and fun than picture-perfect Instagram, so there’s more room to show the process of reaching a challenging yoga pose.

2 Best Yoga Facebook Business Pages

Yoga Burn

The Yoga Burn Facebook page is run by Zoe Bray-Cotton, a highly experienced yoga and fitness teacher with a thriving business selling her at-home yoga programs.

Her Facebook business page has 1.7 million followers. She posts lots of videos and links with tips, yoga sequences, and useful information and advice.

https://www.facebook.com/MyYogaBurn/posts/1160329361015193

Her style is upbeat, sweet, and personal, with lots of talking and smiling directly to the camera with cheerful music in the background.

Bharat Thakur Artistic Yoga

Bharat Thakur is a spiritual teacher and artistic yoga instructor based in India. His page has 1.2 million followers, and shares Bharat’s spiritual teachings, poetry, and art as well as information and advice about yoga and nutrition in both English and Hindi.

https://www.facebook.com/BTArtisticYoga/posts/10158908312260229

The style is very different from the usual fare of loud enthusiasm and sculpted bodies. Bharat’s page is more quiet and authentic, connecting to the true spiritual origins of yoga.

2 Best Yoga Channels on YouTube

Yoga with Adriene

If you’ve been reading through this wondering why Adriene hasn’t turned up yet, it’s only because YouTube is where she really dominates!

Adriene Mishler is the founder of yogawithadriene.com and is pretty much the poster child for a successful online yoga business. She managed to translate her love of yoga and quirky personal style into a highly popular YouTube channel with almost 8 million subscribers and hundreds of millions of views from all over the world.

One of the secrets to her success is that she puts out an incredible amount of high-quality free content. She posts a new full-length yoga workout or meditation every week — and every day for 30 days at the beginning of the year — and since she’s been at it for 8 years, her channel has so many great yoga workouts, you could do one every single day for a year and a half without ever doing the same one twice.

Here’s one of the free workouts on her channel:

Body Positive Yoga

Body Positive Yoga was founded by Amber Karnes, who describes herself as “a big yoga with a ‘big asana’ and a big heart.” Her focus is to help people of all shapes and sizes learn to love and accept their bodies through movement, and she trains other yoga teachers and movement educators in creating accessible and welcoming learning environments.

Her channel features important tips and modifications for yoga practitioners with larger bodies as well as her podcast interviews with various professionals in the field of fitness and wellness.

Here’s her video explaining how to perform chaturanga:

Amber’s business addresses a pressing need: to create a loving, non-judgmental space for people with larger bodies or other physical issues to practice healthy movement and improve their stamina and strength. Her channel is perfectly geared toward this target audience.

Key takeaways

Here’s what you can learn from all these successful social media accounts:

  • Produce lots of useful, inspiring content. All these pages put out a lot of content with great value for potential customers.
  • Be genuine. What you’re selling isn’t yoga — it’s you as an instructor. So show your potential audience who you really are.
  • Adapt your content to the platform. While many businesses are successful across different platforms, there is usually one where they shine the most because their content is best adapted to it.
  • Define a specific target audience and develop your content according to their tastes and needs. Boys of Yoga and Body Positive Yoga are great examples of this.
  • Let your love of yoga shine through. Every single one of these accounts is bursting with love for yoga and belief in the transformation it can make in their clients’ lives.

Subscribe to our social media tips and get a FREE Instagram checklist for your business.

By subscribing, I agree to the Lightricks Privacy Policy.

10 Inspiring Marketing Instagram Accounts to Follow in 2020

Instagram can be a great place for marketers to stay up to date and find inspiration. We’ve rounded up our ten favorite Instagram accounts that are a must-follow to help marketers get inspired, stay informed on the latest marketing campaigns and learn some new tricks. Keep reading for the best accounts to follow in all areas of marketing – from traditional advertising, SEO, content marketing, public relations, influencer marketing, branding and more. 

1. AdWeek – Advertising 

AdWeek (@AdWeek) is an Instagram must-follow for anyone in the creative industry. AdWeek is a leading source of news for the brand marketing and advertising communities – sharing the latest ads, most creative marketing campaigns and updates from leading creative brands and agencies. Marketers will definitely want to follow AdWeek on Instagram to stay up to date and get inspired by the best of the best!

Some of their recent content:

https://www.instagram.com/p/CB35MYehUlg/
https://www.instagram.com/p/B-cgxZ1oRZQ/

2. Julia McCoy – Content Marketing

Need content marketing inspiration? Check out Julia McCoy (@fementrepreneur) on Instagram – she is a content marketing influencer, educator and author. Julia runs her own content agency, serving clients such as Johnson & Johnson and Nordstrom. Her latest passion is sharing growth-focused content knowledge through her page Content Hackers, to help content writers, agency creatives, and small business CEOs improve their content marketing.

For any marketers looking for inspiration on content marketing, SEO and copywriting, Julia is a great person to follow on Instagram. She also regularly features fellow marketers to help you find even more thought leaders to follow!

Recent @fementrepreneur content:

https://www.instagram.com/p/CBTUZ2ADIyV/
https://www.instagram.com/p/CA5gY51Dt1t/

3. Gary Vee + Vayner Media – Storytelling

It’s not a list of inspiring marketers to follow if Gary Vee (@garyvee) isn’t included! Gary Vee is a well-known content creator who has paved the way for building a personal brand. Gary founded VaynerMedia (@vaynermedia), an agency focused on helping large brands tell their stories on social media and his agency quickly exploded. Now, VaynerMedia is a full-service global agency helping clients such as Chase, Unilever, hulu, Toyota, Kraft Heinz with everything from strategy, creative, paid media, influencers, production and more. Gary Vee is a 5-time New York Times bestselling author and a must-follow for any marketer looking for storytelling, personal branding and social media inspiration. 

Some recent content:

https://www.instagram.com/p/CBxxEAsA9bN/
https://www.instagram.com/p/ByDgIlXl-Sx/
https://www.instagram.com/p/BwAME5cHpYI/

4. Red Antler – Branding

If you work in marketing for a startup, you will definitely want to follow the advertising agency Red Antler (@RedAntler). This agency helps startups grow with killer branding and cult followings. Red Antler is the agency behinds startup brands like Casper, All Birds, prose, Burrow, Yumi and many more. Any marketers looking for solid branding inspiration will definitely want to keep up to date with everything Red Antler is working on.

Recent @RedAntler feed content:

https://www.instagram.com/p/B1Edcw_jkAH/
https://www.instagram.com/p/Bwj43x7H2kd/

5. Lauren Salaun – PR + Influencer Marketing 

Every marketer knows that social media has become an important piece of the marketing toolkit and for anyone looking to learn more about influencer marketing, Lauren Salaun (@LaurenSalaun) is a great account to follow on Instagram. Lauren is a PR and influencer marketing expert passionate about helping marketers and entrepreneurs learn how to increase their visibility and impact through PR and influencer marketing. Follow Lauren on Instagram for great insights into why influencer marketing is important and her tips and tricks!

Get inspired by @LaurenSalaun‘s content:

https://www.instagram.com/p/B_YJKIOlV5J/
https://www.instagram.com/p/CAL_bW1FxpA/

6. Small Girls PR – Public Relations

Despite their name Small Girls PR (@smallgirlspr) – this creative communications firm is making a BIG impact. This PR agency knows that public relations is about so much more than just the press and they are passionate about helping brands shape stories to become industry trendsetters. By utilizing multiple PR strategies and services such as positioning, influencer marketing, events, content, partnerships and more they’ve helped clients like Ellevest, Billie, Hinge and Peanut make a big splash. Not only are they a great example of what every marketer should aspire to achieve with their PR, they are a great Instagram account to follow for everything pink, trendy and playful!

Recent content:

https://www.instagram.com/p/CCGladHh8ly/
https://www.instagram.com/p/B8ebwcPhSbY/

7. Dain Walker – Brand Design

If you are a marketer interested in learning more about how better design can help brands sell online, Dain Walker (@dainwalker) is a great account to follow. He regularly posts about brand design with tips on everything from content, advertising, website and graphic design. Plus, his Instagram account features all black, white and yellow content and is a great example of how to create a consistent, cohesive Instagram feed.

Recent feed content:

https://www.instagram.com/p/CCQzsnSgboK/
https://www.instagram.com/p/CCI-dMSAzR7/

8. Miriam Isaac – UX Design

UX design is an important element of successful online marketing and UX Designer Miriam Isaac (@misaac85) is a must-follow for any marketer looking to learn more about UX design and learn some great design tips. Miriam worked in Fortune 200 and was listed as one of the top 18 UX Instagrams to follow. She shares tons of great UX tips and design inspiration on her Instagram. 

Posts:

https://www.instagram.com/p/B5OKakAglnm/
https://www.instagram.com/p/B0xu5XYAwga/

9. Neil Patel – SEO

Neil Patel (@neilpatel) is perhaps one of the best-known digital marketing thought leaders and is a great account for digital marketers to follow on Instagram. Neil has an impressive list of accolades, he is a New York Times bestselling author, was listed as a Top 100 Entrepreneur Under 30 by Obama and is a Forbes Top 10 Marketer. Neil co-founded Neil Patel Digital, a digital marketing agency specializing in SEO, content, social media and paid media. Follow his Instagram account and blog for tons of great SEO and digital marketing tips.

Recent @neilpatel content:

https://www.instagram.com/p/CBTV8VbHCgy/
https://www.instagram.com/p/CAIloPkA1aJ/

10. Alexis Andra – Experiential Activations

One of the most inspiring marketing accounts on Instagram is The Shift Creative (@theshiftcreative). This design studio is founded by Alexis Andra and helps brands create stunning branded moments through experiential activations. The Shift Creative creates beautiful art installations for conferences, events and store fronts and more. After quickly scrolling through Alexis’ Instagram account, you’ll quickly see why her design studio is a great Instagram account for any marketers looking for experiential marketing inspiration.

Posts:

https://www.instagram.com/p/B_qp835H-RW/
https://www.instagram.com/p/B_Vbbn5nkMR/

Subscribe to our social media tips and get a FREE Instagram checklist for your business.

By subscribing, I agree to the Lightricks Privacy Policy.