Best Practices For Planning And Scheduling Instagram Stories
As we step into 2023, Instagram Stories continue its dominant position with over 500 million daily viewers. The stories format has emerged as the favored way for social media platform users to share their experiences online. As a marketer, if you want to leverage the power of Stories in your social media strategy, you need to have a well-planned approach towards creating and curating your content.
In this article, I'll share some effective strategies and tools that can help you improve your Instagram Stories content and achieve better engagement with your audience. Lets get started!
Create a Strong Presence on Instagram through Story Templates
Throughout 2022, numerous brands and businesses dedicated more time and effort towards perfecting their Instagram feeds. Establishing a cohesive look and feel across their feed enabled these brands to develop a distinctive style that set them apart from other users.
This uniform editing showcased their unique personalities and created a desirable 'lifestyle' that appealed to their specific target audience, ultimately aiding in the acquisition of followers on the visual-focused platform.
To preserve a consistent aesthetic throughout their social media presence, it is imperative for brands to extend their carefully honed style to their Instagram Stories. Fortunately, the use of Instagram Stories templates streamlines this process and makes it practically effortless. These pre-made layouts are complete with various graphics, text options, and animations that can be easily tailored to suit each individual story.
By using reliable templates for their Instagram Stories, businesses can guarantee that their stories maintain a cohesive look and feel that aligns flawlessly with their brand's tone and style.
One of the best places to look for free customizable Instagram templates is Canva. Canvas offers over 200k free Instagram story templates that can help users create engaging and visually appealing content for their social media accounts. With these templates, users can easily add their own text, images, or branding elements to make each story unique and on-brand. Canvas' user-friendly interface makes it easy to customize templates to fit any theme, whether it's for a promotion, announcement, or just a fun post.
These templates eliminate the need for users to start from scratch, allowing them to save time and focus on creating high-quality content that resonates with their followers. Overall, Canvas' collection of free Instagram story templates is a great resource for businesses and individuals looking to enhance their social media presence.
Schedule Your Instagram Stories Posts
One of the best ways to keep your followers engaged is by posting regular content, including Instagram Stories. However, creating and posting content on a daily basis can be time-consuming, especially if you're managing multiple accounts. This is where third-party apps that allow you to schedule Instagram Story posts come in handy.
Here are some of the top online tools for schedule Instagram story posts.
1. Later
Later is a popular scheduling app that allows you to upload and schedule Instagram Stories from your desktop or mobile device. It offers a drag-and-drop feature that makes it easy to arrange and organize your content, and you can even preview your scheduled Stories to see how they will appear to your followers. Later also provides analytics that can help you track your engagement rates and see what content is resonating with your audience.
2. Planoly
Planoly is another popular scheduling app that offers a range of features to help you manage your Instagram account. With Planoly, you can upload and schedule Instagram Stories, as well as plan out your grid layout and schedule regular posts. The app also offers analytics that can help you track your engagement rates and see what content is performing well.
3. Hootsuite
Hootsuite is a comprehensive social media management tool that allows you to schedule posts across a range of platforms, including Instagram. With Hootsuite, you can upload and schedule Instagram Stories, as well as monitor your account activity and engage with your followers. The app also offers analytics that can help you track your performance on Instagram and other social media platforms.
4. Buffer
Buffer is another social media management tool that allows you to schedule Instagram Stories, as well as manage your other social media accounts. With Buffer, you can upload and schedule Stories, as well as monitor your account activity and engage with your followers. The app also offers analytics that can help you track your engagement rates and see what content is resonating with your audience.
5. Sked Social
Sked Social is a popular scheduling app that allows you to upload and schedule Instagram Stories, as well as regular posts. It also offers a range of features to help you manage your Instagram account, including analytics, user-generated content tools, and more. Sked Social also offers a mobile app that makes it easy to manage your Instagram account on the go.
Each of the apps listed above offers unique features to help you manage and grow your Instagram account, so be sure to choose one that best suits your needs.
Instagram does offer the option to schedule regular posts and reels using the native app. To do that you’d need to make sure that your Instagram account is either a business account or a creator account. Once you’ve done that, you’ll get access to many more Instagram features including schedule posts.
Final Thoughts
By combining this scheduling strategy with the use of Instagram Story templates, you can create stunning and visually appealing stories that are sure to catch the attention of your audience. Instagram Story templates are pre-designed graphics with customizable elements such as colors, fonts, and images. Using these templates can help maintain consistency in your branding and save you time on design work.
Overall, incorporating third-party scheduling apps and Instagram Story templates into your social media strategy can help increase engagement with your audience and make your job as a social media manager or influencer more efficient. With these tools, you can focus on creating great content while leaving the logistics to technology.