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Instagram Video for Business - Part Two: Instagram Stories

Thursday, July 9, 2020 4:22 PM


Instagram Stories Videos

Back in 2016, Instagram decided to introduce ‘Stories’ aimed at competing with the likes of Snapchat to offer users the ability to share photos and short videos that disappeared after 24hrs of posting. These short-lived ‘Stories’ allow users to share spontaneous content as an alternative to carefully edited images and videos seen in the regular Instagram feed.


Did you know that more than 500 million Instagram users share content on ‘Stories’ every day?


Video content created for this are very short and are no longer than 15 seconds in duration. These are played back in sequence as a slideshow style format. Instagram offers several features to help the user spice up their stories with stickers, text and animated graphics. If you are feeling creative, or you have a video production company, you can produce some very cool effects and customize your content with your branding etc. This is another way to promote your business, product or service. Instagram Stories has increased viewers over time enabling companies to reach an even wider audience.


Some helpful tips for creating ‘Stories’ for your Instagram:

  • Remember to keep your videos short — no longer than 15 seconds, or create several 15 second clips and have them follow in sequence to produce a longer video. Longer videos are best suited to Instagram Live and IGTV. (We will cover these in another blog post).
  • Orientation of all content on Stories is vertical. 
  • Audio is usually muted by the viewer so it is always best to build captions for your videos if you want your message to be seen by someone watching in silence. If audio is an integral part of your video, you can always add a graphic that asks the user to turn on their sound.
  • Keep your content fresh and creative. Change things up a little and post educational facts about your company, or be funny and create some humorous content. Consider handing the account over to a colleague for them to add their perspective.


To add content to Instagram Stories, simply navigate to your icon at the top of the screen and tap on the small blue cross to add to your story. You can then use your camera to take a photo or shoot video, then add stickers and text before posting. Alternatively, if you have pre-made content you can upload this directly from your photo library. Simply swipe up to access your images/videos and select the one you want to post.


As mentioned earlier, these ‘Stories’ only last for 24hrs before they disappear. However, if you wish to keep them around longer you can add them to your ‘Stories Highlights’. Tap the highlights button under your bio on the profile page and an archive of all of your recent stories will appear for you to select the ones you wish to keep for longer. You can include up to 100 videos in a single highlight. It’s a good idea to name your highlights and give them a cover image to keep them organized.


In our next post we will cover the use of live video on the Instagram platform so stay tuned! 


We can work with you to create the best possible video content for your Instagram feed that bring the right results your way. For further information or to discuss your video production requirements give Andy Holt a call on 780-907-1445 and he will be happy to advise you.