Are you stuck with what to share on Instagram Stories? Yes? It’s not just you who is – so why not help others and your own business at the same time with this British-friendly Instagram Story hack.
INSTAGRAM STORIES ARE DESIGNED TO BE SHARED
Instagram has designed Stories to be shared. We know that because the platform makes it so easy to share another’s content in a few seconds, either with the share button or when we receive a message that we’ve been tagged in a Story and are invited to add it to our Stories.
And because Stories only last for 24 hours in the feed, we’re constantly looking for more content to share. If we’re busy, Stories is the part of our social media posting that we can let slide. Who wants to share video of themselves when they’re in the middle of a project and aren’t even sure what they should be saying?
SHINE A LIGHT ON OTHERS
A great way to handle this is to shine a light on others. There are two big reasons why this is a great strategy: you’re not having to create original content from scratch AND when you mention someone else in a flattering way, they’re likely to share it on their Story.
Also, when you share the content of others you admire or believe in – or pull out the idea, message or creation of the other, you’re sharing your values. You’re helping your followers see what is important to you, as well as sharing what may be a new insight or person to follow. It’s a subtle way of getting to know you and your business that is British friendly; you’re not talking about yourself – you’re bigging up someone else.
THREE IDEAS FOR FINDING CONTENT TO SHARE
1. Share the post of someone you follow. This is super easy with the share button (the pointy paper aeroplane looking icon below a post). When you see a post in your feed that you want to share, hit that button. Let others know what you value about this post – does it inspire you, give you insight or make you feel all warm inside? Where possible, keep it on a topic that your followers would know you for.
2. Share from a hashtag feed in your niche. Spend a few minutes looking through the hashtag for a post that catches your eye and don’t forget the Stories at the top you can share as well.
3. Record a video. Hit record while you look through a magazine or newspaper article, scroll through an Instagram feed on your laptop or a place/business/website you like. Talk over the top and you’re done. If you’re worried about how you sound, you can record a few times. Remember this content will disappear in 24 hours unless you save it to your Story highlights.
I hope that gives you a useful took in your Instagram Story arsenal either for planned content or for last-minute ‘eek – what do I post?’ days.
