Utilising Instagram story stickers for more engaging stories

If you’ve ever uploaded an Instagram story you will have a good idea of the different tools you can use to build your work of art. But have you ever truly thought about how far you could push the boundaries of your Instagram story and whether or not you are using them to their full potential?

Don’t worry, we’ve got you covered... here’s 3 easy steps to help you unlock the full potential of Instagram stories.

Step 1. Know your Canvas

I know, I know, it’s obvious, we are all fully aware that the aspect ratio of an Instagram story is 1920px X 1080px, and that posts are displayed to the right when the screen is tapped. HOWEVER, it is good practice to start with this information when developing your ideas for stories. For example if we know people are tapping to reveal more information, we can spread out our stories across multiple posts.

Use Instagram stories (quite literally), to tell a story. Different slides can be used as a pause or to build suspense. ‘Typically, the Instagram Stories that appear closest to the beginning of the row on your home feed are from accounts that you engage with the most’ (later.com). Use this to your advantage, spread out content across your frames instead of packing too much info in 1 post to gain more views and have a greater chance of being at the top of your followers’ feeds.

Step 2. Know how to use tools (& how not to use them) A great incentive to get people to engage with your stories is to give them something they have a strong opinion on or a reason to click a sticker.

Below are few stickers you can use within Instagram and how to use, and not use them. The possibilities are endless!

Instagram stickers: how to use them

1. Location – the location you’re at

2. Mention – a person in your picture

3. Hashtag – a hashtag related to your picture

4. Poll – 2 option answer

5. Questions – viewer questions about something

6. Countdown – countdown clock, often used for a release

7. Slider – love-heart eyes, how much you like the image

Instagram stickers how NOT to use them:

1. Location – a location you wish you were

2. Mention – a celebrity that looks like the person in your picture

3. Hashtag – a ridiculously long hashtag that no one wold ever search for

4. Poll – 2 options that are the same but worded differently

5. Questions – audience submission box

6. Countdown – a 100000 year countdown to something that’s never going to happen

7. Slider - turn the slider sideways or add words/emojis above your slider

Step 3. The golden rules.

We live by 3 rules at Tropic, for the best possible Instagram stories:

1. Does it have a clear call to action (CTA)

2. Does it suit the brands tone of voice (TOV)

3. Is it original

A great example of different ways we can use stickers to our advantage can be found in our Lovehoney ‘Design your own sex toy’ story series, in which we get Lovehoney’s audience to build a sex toy by engaging with stickers...

Notice how we used all the tips mentioned earlier. within this series of stories we have:

1. Different slides to pause or to build suspense

2. Used the questions sticker as an audience submission box

3. Used the slider sticker as a level indicator by placing emojis above

4. Displayed a clear CTA at the end, making sure to leave a gap for the swipe up function

5. Been original!