When you tap the plus or swipe, you can upload a photo or video, selecting “Story” if necessary. You can post photos in a variety of formats, but it’s best to use the basic 9:16 aspect ratio, since stories are designed to consume content from your phone and take up the entire screen. Instagram can compress the quality of photos. Recently we made an experiment on the blog – we published the stories from iPhone, Android and SMMplanner and looked at what happens with the picture.

As for the videos, their duration should not exceed 15 seconds. If the video is longer, it will automatically split into parts.

Storis shooting modes

Now you know how to publish a Story on Instagram and it’s time to familiarize yourself with the shooting modes.

Create. This section creates storis with captions, polls, countdowns, quizzes, templates, etc. Unlike other sections, you don’t need to upload a photo or video first.
Collage. Post multiple photos (two to six) at once. To create an Instagram for the first time, you’ll need to install the app from Google Play or the App Store.

3. Boomerang. Creates a looped gif. To create an Instagram for the first time, you will need to install the app from Google Play or the App Store.

Captures from multiple sources. Allows you to take up to 8 pictures by switching between the cameras on your phone. Comes in handy for those who shoot reviews and reactions.
Level. Adds a level with the gyroscope in your phone so you don’t “bump the horizon.”
Photo Booth. A series of countdown photos. Storis turns out with a flash effect – useful for collective selfies at parties and celebrations.
Super Zoom. Zooms in sharply to the camera subject with different effects: fire, TV show, paparazzi, beat, and so on. It looks funny, great for humorous storis.
Hands-free. You don’t have to hold down the big button at the bottom of the screen when you’re shooting video. Just press it once, at the very beginning.

In addition to the basic shooting modes, there is the option to shoot storis using masks. We told you about how to promote using masks on Instagram in a separate article, and you can find out how everything works in the article “Popular on Instagram: augmented reality masks”.

As soon as you take a picture or record a video, the editor opens. Now let’s see in detail how it’s arranged.

The functionality of the editor in Storis

To change a photo or video using the filter, swipe to the right or left on the screen and select the desired one: Lark, Reyes, Juno, Mon and others. The other tools are located as icons at the top of the screen. Let’s briefly describe the function of each.

Text. Click on the icon with the letter A, select the font and color to create text.

Stickers. Library of various stickers: tests, polls, hashtags, tags and other interactive things. This is also where you attach gifs and animations to stories. This menu can be invoked by swiping up from the bottom edge.

Drawings. Click on a pencil, choose a color and draw directly on the photo.

Downloading. Allows you to save stories to your phone, bypassing publishing. In a separate article, we tell you how to download stories via computer, extensions, and apps.

Link. Only business accounts with more than 10,000 subscribers can add them (see the guide for SMM specialists for details). In addition to external links, you can also add them to IGTV. Another way to insert a link from a business account is to use SMMplanner. How? The answers are in our guide.

Sound. Allows you to disable sound in a story.

Animations. This is the icon on the far left, with the smiley face and asterisks. It allows you to add various animated effects to the storis: snow, rain, disco ball and others.

If you don’t know how to make your Instagram Story more interesting, memorable and attractive, check out our materials:

A selection of ideas: additional features of Stories functionality

Music. Choose a sticker with music and decide on a song. You can either choose a specific song or select a tune by genre, from the popular section. Users, when viewing your story will see a button, when you click on which will play the selected piece of music. In Russia, this feature is not yet available, but there are various applications that can help you install music on your stories.

Question. Ask questions and get answers from subscribers and unsubscribers to your account. To do this, open the camera section of the storis and select a sticker. Then click on the sticker called “Questions” and write your question.

Poll/Voting. To create a poll or vote in the storis, you need to upload a photo that was previously taken from your gallery or take it live. Next, click on the smiley sticker and select the sign that says “Poll”. You can also use ready-made templates, they are in the “Create” section.

Test. Go into the stories, upload a photo from the gallery or make a new one. Click on the “Stickers” icon at the top of the screen. Select the “Quiz” form. Enter your question and the desired number of answer choices. You can change the color of the header.

Chat. Open the camera in the storis. Choose a photo from the gallery or make a new one. Click on the emoticon “Stickers” at the top of the screen and select the option “Chat”. Think up and write a name for the chat. After the publication of a tweet, users who viewed it, can join your chat by clicking on the form. Not available for all users. Some Instagram features have been restricted in Europe due to the need to comply with new rules for messaging services in Europe.

Countdown Counter. With the counter you can create different reminders for your friends about different events, holidays, contests, etc. To create a countdown counter, you need to open the history and upload/make a photo. Go to “Stickers” and choose the “Countdown” form. Come up with and write a name for your counter. Click on the numbers 00:00 and choose the desired date. You can change the background color of your counter and its size.

Actual on Instagram

Highlights are archived photos and videos that have been posted in your Stories. The topical stories are generated by you personally. You and users can view them at any time. The folders are located directly above your profile photos.

You can add photos and videos to the actual one in two different ways. Consider each of them separately.

Method one:

Open your story.
Click on the heart at the bottom of the screen.
You can add this story to existing folders, if they have been previously created, or you can create a new one.
To create a new folder, click on the plus sign.
Enter a name.
Select a suitable cover art. You can create it yourself in different programs or just download to the gallery any photo you like from the Internet.

Method two:

• Go to the header of your profile.
• Click on the plus sign marked “New.
• Select the stories you want to add to the current one.
• Click the “Next” button at the top of the screen.
• Come up with a title and change the cover art if necessary.

If you want your profile to be styled the same way or the actual stories to have a specific design, you can download or create the cover art yourself. To do this, click on “Edit Cover”. At the bottom, the latest photos will pop up, from which you can choose a variant for the cover. If they don’t suit you and you need to choose another photo on the device, click on the gallery icon at the bottom of the screen. Click the “Done” button and the cover is created.

If you wish, you can monitor users who have viewed your current stories. To do this, swipe the storis from the bottom up. A list of users who have viewed your content will appear.

Current stories can be left without titles. In case you just don’t put in a title, it will still be displayed and called Topical. To make topical have no title, you need to enter a space instead of a caption.

Storis tricks in Instagram

You can create and view a story in Instagram both in the ways listed earlier in the article, and by using different secrets and tricks:

Publish storis from a computer. You can post a story to Instagram not only from a smartphone, but also from a computer. The publication is made with the help of the service SMMplanner. It is better to take content of size 9×16 or video, lasting up to 15 seconds. There, too, editing is done and scheduled posting is done. For the final fit, use “Editor”.

Creating a Cover Sheet. This function allows you to make Actual visually appealing. You can create such a cover yourself without the help of specialists. There are different applications for this, such as Flaticon, Pinterest, Canva, and others.

Reposting. Among a large number of features and functions, there is an opportunity to make reposts in storis. You can make reposts: posts from your own or other people’s feeds, other people’s storis on which you have been marked, videos being in the IGTV section.

View stats. Simple users can study their audience by clicking on the peephole and looking at their profile. For business accounts the possibilities are wider. Just click on the stats icon and sort. This will help you find the most interesting and conversely, stories that have been less popular with users in the last 14 or 30 days. You can measure engagement in storis by using different services such as DataFan.

More colors. If the standard palette colors aren’t enough for you, you can squeeze your finger on the shade ruler.

Neon Emoji. To make the standard emoticons look original, do the following. Add a photo to your storis and go to the typing section. Choose a neon font. Now all the emoticons you add will glow on the outline.

Text Alignment. The function is available for different fonts. You can align the text to the center, right or left edge.

Hide hashtags. The presence of hashtags in a post, increases the number of views.If you do not want to show them, we suggest masking them. To do this, reduce the block with the hashtags and use the dropper (select the same color as the background).

Not everyone knows that you can view other users’ Stories anonymously. This allows you to remain invisible and not be discouraged from viewing certain users’ accounts.

SMMplanner Story Editor

Story Builder for Instagram, can now be used in SMMplanner as well. The feature is available to PRO rate holders, as well as newcomers, the first seven days it will be free.

Features of the SMMplanner editor:

• Deferred posting to Instagram.
• Selection of the background, which can be a photo or a specific color.
• Stickers. Added the most popular and frequently used stickers: geodata, mentions, hashtags, polls, questions, text, pictures.

Thanks to the SMMplanner editor, you can continue to actively communicate and create storizas even from your desktop, applying all the most popular features, effects, with the possibility of delayed posting.

Every year the number of interesting tricks for storis is increasing and everyone can use them to promote the account, attract the audience and new subscribers. But if your channel is created for sales or communications, it is important to make a content plan. It will display all the necessary data: date of publication, type of content, subject matter. Metrics will help in tracking the effectiveness of storis – they contain information on the number of views, reach, back and forward clicks, exits, etc.