Don’t miss this post to explore more 10 creative ideas for your Instagram story.
11. Show off the office
One of other creative Instagram Story ideas is to show off your office—no matter where it is. This gives your followers a incredible, behind-the-scenes look at how your business operates, creating a higher level of transparency and trust.
The best part: You don’t even need an actual office to indicate something. It can be the coffee shop you’re working from, the view from your couch, or—if you want to make followers really jealous—somewhere scenic like the beach.
12. Share follower DMs
You don’t need to make use of the question sticker to share responses from followers. You may simply take a screenshot of their DMs to you and share that on your Instagram Story.
This is great once you get a great testimonial for your product, service, or business in general.
For example, whenever Ramit Sethi receives a testimonial from his readers on Instagram, he’s quick to take a screenshot of it and post it on his Instagram Story. This provides his brand with the social proof and helps encourage other followers to do the same.
13. Contests and Giveaways
In case you really need to turbocharge engagement numbers, you’ll be able to hold a giveaway or contest for your readers.
The prize may be anything from a free trial of your service, a couple of your products, or an hour long consultation call from your side. It just depends on what your products are!
With giveaways and contests, you’ll be able to require your followers to do something to participate. Some common ones are requiring participants to:
- Share your Instagram Story and / or post
- Tag someone on the post in the comment section
- DM someone your Instagram Story or post
- Use a branded hashtag
- Like your post
For more knowledge on this, read this article on winning Instagram contest ideas.
14. Tutorials and how to
Great marketing is all about bringing valuable and informative content to your followers.
What better method to inform your followers than by teaching them something new through a tutorial? Your Instagram Story is the right platform for quick tips and actionable advice.
Great examples of this are the popular makeup tutorials made by beauty bloggers and influencers. It’s an effective way to interact with followers and give them nice recommendation they can use in their day-to-day lives.
And when coupled with a before and after Instagram post, you’ll be able to create a really cool Story—which brings us to …
15. Before and after
A before and after Instagram post shows something before and then what it looks like after a change.
This can cover a variety reveals, such as the best way your logo has changed since finding your business, the variety of employees you have had over the years, or how your products have changed.
In case you perform a service for clients, you’ll be able to showcase how your service changed your client over time. In the post above, cosmetic dermatologist Morgan Naylor showcases how her client looked before and after lip filler.
16. Share a quote
This one is easy: Share a quote you prefer to your Instagram Story. It can be motivational, thought-provoking, funny, or some combination of all those things!
As long as it fits your brand and you think your followers will appreciate it, any quote can be great for your Story.
Pro tip: Publish a motivational quote in the morning with hashtag #morningmotivation.
That is an incredibly popular hashtag that many individuals follow. Using it will increase your discoverability and allow you to draw in new followers — double win!
17. Countdown to an event
Another nice sticker you can use is the countdown sticker.
Set the sticker to countdown to an occasion (right down to the second). Customize it with a title to let your followers know what you’re counting down to.
Some ideas on what to count down to:
- The release of a new product
- An upcoming sale
- Your brand’s anniversary
- A reminder about holidays like Christmas, Mother’s Day, or Father’s Day (i.e., holidays where customers should keep in mind to buy gifts)
- New store openings
- Contest close dates
- New employees starting
One nice feature of this sticker is the fact that your followers can tap the sticker on your Story and set an alert for when the countdown is finished. They can even share the countdown with their followers.
18. #TBT
#TBT, or #ThrowbackThursday is the extremely popular hashtag all about nostalgia and “throwing back” to past memories. That makes it perfect Instagram Story fodder for your followers.
It’s easy. Take a photo from your brand’s past and share it on your Instagram Story with the hashtag #TBT or #ThrowbackThursday. This can be an enjoyable method to showcase where your brand came from and see how much it has grown over the years.
Some examples:
- Physical location
- Number of employees
- Your logo
- Milestones
- Your products
19. Ask for donations
Instagram’s donation sticker permits followers to donate to a charity instantly out of your Instagram Story.
Choose the donation sticker in the sticker drawer, then search via a catalog of different nonprofits to choose one they want their followers to donate to. Users can also be able to customize the identify of their fundraiser.
This is a simple way to both help your favorite nonprofit and build engagement with your followers.
20. Interview an employee
Giving your readers a peek behind the scenes of your business is a good way to build trust and transparency. Take it a step further by interviewing completely different employees about their role, what they do, and what they think about working with your brand.
Mailchimp does this very well with their “Day in the Life” series on Instagram, where they showcase different employees’ days via their Instagram Story. This gives their followers a fun opportunity to view the inner workings of Mailchimp, while showcasing the strong personalities in the office.
These creative Instagram Story ideas should provide you with enough to get started with if you’re staring at your content calendar and drawing a blank. If you’re looking for more inspiration, try our guide to social media brainstorming.