5 tips for being creative on Instagram stories

If you’re not already on Instagram, I urge you to get an account. Being a creative entrepreneur means you will find yourself indulged in the beauty that can be Instagram, not only are there hundreds if not millions that could find you just as indulging to watch. 

I’ve already chatted about Instagram Live in my “being personal” post where I give a few examples of brands who, in my opinion, really engage with their audience and help build that connection with their potential customers. 

This post is delving that bit deeper into the beauty that you can create with Instagram stories. 

1. Be creatively consistent. By this I mean, spend some time honing in on your insta creativity and once you’ve pinned it down, keep it consistent. People can follow hundreds and thousands of others on Instagram and when they’re quickly flicking through insta live posts, if they don’t know you by name (more about this in another post) then they can at least recognise you by your insta posts. I can name a few key people that I could take a look at their post and have a guess at who it might be, just based on their insta live creative 
2. Get those brushes going. Have a try of those brushes, you’d be amazing by the range of creativity you can create such as dots, thick lines for sunshine, thin lines etc 
3. Be short with your text. Creative copy in a short 10 second clip can be hard but keep it short and sweet and if you have lots to say, share it over a multiple story posts
4. Filters, get those filters going baby. I don’t condone showing off photos with filters that cause the situation to look unreal but I gotta get me a bit of filter 3 every now and again. I love the cool tones and the subtle fade it ads. Give them a go and see if there’s one you like 

FINISH 

Come to my #hashtag party

Image by OhHappyDay.com

There’s so many things I could say about Instagram but I wanted to dedicate this article to Hashtags.

Hashtags are a word or phrase preceded by a hash sign (#), used on social media websites and applications, especially Twitter, to identify messages on a specific topic - no shame, I borrowed that from Google ;) 

I personally however like to describe hashtags as

Those friends who invite you to a party to meet all their like minded friends but once you get to the party they don’t introduce you to anyone (they’re too busy getting drunk) so you kinda have to introduce yourself by starting a conversation.

There are sooooo many hashtags out there and there are new ones being created each day like #laurenwellandlovescake (I’ll get this trending one day) but to get your marketing game on you need to spend time researching the kind of people you want to hang out with, the kind of friends you’re looking for, the kind of hashtags that will get you to meet them.
How to find the best hashtags for you

1. Start with the people you follow. More than likely you follow people who are in the same industry as you. You want to start with those who have great engagement or have a great number of followers. Check out their posts and make a list of all the hashtags they’re commonly using. 
2. Start typing these hashtags into Instagram to find out what kind of “party” there is. Is this the kind of place you want to be advertising your stuff. Are the people here your target market (see my previous audience post). If so, pop this hashtag in your “to keep” list. Keep doing this with all the hashtags you’ve found.
3. Now you have a bank of hashtags that link with your business, start using them. You can use up to 30 in each post and another 30 in your comments. Don’t go overboard but if your list of hashtags are relevant to your post, then go ahead and use them. Be consistent and keep your eye out for new hashtags to add to your list and try. 
4. If you’re feeling rather excited, why not go ahead and start your own party hashtag. Join up with some of your fellow Instagrammers who have similar audiences. This will not only help you share audiences (more info on that here) but you will be reaching your perfect audience because you’ve set the tone for the party. 

I know these points can seem pretty straight forward but it’s surprising how so many people want to reach more people on Instagram but won’t put the time in to research the right kind of hastags.
What kind of parties do you hang out at (i.e what kind of hashtags do you use, browse).
Come and check out my #businesscake party, there’s cake, marketing, creativity, indie music and so much more (oh party rings, you can’t have a party without party rings)