Amy Harrop's Blog

Top Tips for Content Creation, Publishing, and Monetizing

  • My Products
  • About
    • Press Kit
  • Contact Me
  • Amy’s Recommended Resources
  • Work with Amy

9 Instagram Story Hacks to Give Your Marketing a Boost

February 1, 2021 By Amy Harrop Leave a Comment

Instagram Stories are popular for a reason. They offer Instagram users the chance to highlight photos and videos to share with their followers. Stories have a higher profile than traditional Instagram posts and can be very useful for marketing.

The question that looms large for many of the people I know — even for those who have been using Instagram for marketing for a while — is this:

How can I use Instagram Stories effectively to sell my products and grow my business?

I’m always happy to answer that question because I think it’s an important one. I love Instagram for marketing. Here are 9 Instagram Story hacks to help you get the biggest possible return on your marketing.

#1: Copy and Paste Images to Your Story

Creating or adding to your Instagram Story would be time-consuming if you were required to re-upload every image you wanted to use. Fortunately that’s not the case, although I meet a lot of people who don’t know it.

The quickest way to add an image that’s already on your roll to your story is to open the image. Then, click the ‘Export’ button on the bottom left of the photo and then click the ‘Copy’ button. From there, you can go to your story and use the Paste function to copy it.

#2: Turn Your Photos into Boomerangs

A boomerang is a series of photos that Instagram will put together into a short video. There’s an easy hack you can use to transform recent photos into Boomerangs from within your Story.

After selecting a photo — which must have been taken within 24 hours of being added to your Story — simply hold your finger down on the screen until the word BOOMERANG appears. This simple action will turn the photo into a boomerang, which is a more engaging type of content than a static picture.

#3: Align Text Left or Right

You may have noticed that some fonts on Instagram don’t allow you to choose an alignment. They simply default to the center — something that can be deeply frustrating if you want to use one of those fonts but also want to align your text to the left or right.

It’s a little known fact that you can simply place your finger on the text and swipe it to the left or right to change the alignment. I’m not sure why Instagram doesn’t simply add the alignment option for these fonts — but now you can change them if you want to!

#4: Post Instagram Stories Constantly

If you’ve used Instagram Stories, you know that the stories disappear in 24 hours unless you highlight them. One way to ensure that more people see your stories is to update them regularly — even daily.

Your Instagram Story is posted on your profile page immediately next to your profile logo. Having an active story offers new visitors to your profile an easy way to get acquainted with you and your products.

#5: Use Custom Colors in Your Story

Instagram offers an array of default colors that you can use as backgrounds for the images in your Story. But, what do you do if you have brand colors that aren’t included in the default options?

There’s a simple hack to solve this problem. Choose the ‘Brush’ option and do a long hold on any one of the default colors on display. The long hold will open a color slider that will allow you to create custom colors to use in your Story.

#6: Create a Color Gradient for Text

Adding a color gradient to your text can make your stories more visually striking and memorable. To start, type your text and then highlight it.

With the text highlighted, open the color palette. Then, hold one finger on your text and the other on the color palette. Drag both fingers toward the left side of your screen. As you do, you should see the gradient colors appear on your text – and you can adjust as needed! You can also drag your finger from right to left — or up and down — to get a different effect.

#7: Highlight Text on a Solid Color Background

What happens if you want to share a quote or an idea — and you want a solid background to make it stand out? Here’s an easy way to do it.

Choose a picture from your roll. Click the pen icon at the top and select the color you want. Then, hold your finger on the screen for one to three seconds until the screen fills with the solid color you chose. 

From there, you can type the text you want on top of the background and add the whole thing to your story.

#8: Let the Background Peek Through

Another hack related to the last one is that after you add a solid color background to an image, you can use the eraser function to let the original image peek through.

To do it, simply tap the eraser icon and then tap or drag your finger where you want the underlying image to shine through. I like this hack because it offers a ton of visual interest that you can use strategically, so it works in harmony with your text.

#9: Hide Your Hashtag Stickers

Hashtag stickers are a useful tool for helping people find your story. That said, you won’t always want the sticker to be visible — especially if it interferes with the aesthetics of your image.

To hide the stickers, start by pinching them to make them smaller. Then you can simply cover them up with an image sticker or a GIF. They’ll be hidden from view but still doing their job!

Instagram Stories aren’t complicated and they don’t have to be time-consuming to create. Using the 9 simple hacks listed here can help you fine-tune your images and create memorable and impactful Stories to share with your followers.

Do you need help building consistent income from your online business? Click here to work with me!

Related Posts:

  • How to Optimize Your Pinterest Content to Attract New Customers
    How to Optimize Your Pinterest Content to Attract New…
  • 5 Ways to Discover Which Low-Content Products Your Customers Want
    5 Ways to Discover Which Low-Content Products Your Customers…
  • How to Sell Printables on Instagram Without a Website
    How to Sell Printables on Instagram Without a Website
  • How to Create Instagram Carousels to Sell Your Products
    How to Create Instagram Carousels to Sell Your Products

Filed Under: Content marketing Tagged With: content marketing, content marketing ideas, Instagram for marketing

Leave a Reply Cancel reply

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *

Millions of Customers are Searching for These on Multiple Marketplaces…Publish Once and Sell Over and Over Again.

CLICK HERE TO SEE MORE

Low Content Promos and Deals

Get access to the best low content promos and deals out there every month. Click here to see what I’ve found for you!

Get the Latest Training

EDU Printable Decor Made Easy

EDU Printable Decor Made Easy reveals everything you need to know to publish bestselling classroom decor printables for multiple marketplaces. Includes DFY templates- simply edit, list and sell! This is brand-new training …
Learn More

Easy Implementation: Canva Success

Discover the Secret That Will Allow You To Drag-and-Drop Your Way To Publishing Success… This is a one-stop shop for all your design needs. Free graphics, tons of DFY templates, …
Learn More

Positivity Printables Made Easy

Tap Into This ‘Secret’ That Turns Easy Content Into In-Demand Goldmines…. And Where There Are Over 45 Million Repeat Buyers  …
Learn More

Free Database of Low Content Publishing Resources

Check out the Low Content Publishing Explorer here

Recent Posts

  • Step-by-Step Guide to Creating Consistent and Compelling Product Images
  • How to Sell Printables on Instagram Without a Website
  • How to Sell Digital Art on Etsy
  • How to Create and Sell Personalized Party Supplies on Etsy
  • Etsy Niche Finder: Your Guide to Finding the Most Profitable Niches on Etsy

Press Kit | Disclosure | Disclaimer | Privacy Policy | Terms & Conditions | Contact Us | Affiliates