9 Instagram Story Hacks the Best Influencers Use - That You Need to Know How To do

Instagram stories are more popular then even - in fact, over 400 million users day are now utilising this feature of Instagram in 2018 alone!

In comparison, there are 187 million daily users of Snapchat. So that means, just the story feature of Instagram has more daily users than the whole of Snapchat.

That's crazy!

But naturally with a massive user base - comes the increased competition of standing out.

So we assessed the stories of the leading Influencers (don't know what an Influencer is? Check out our article that breaks it down for you here) on Instagram.

From Comedians like Ali Offical who has over 300k followers on Instagram, Hijab Blogger Dina Tokio with her huge 1.4 million following, Entrepenuer Azam Jaafri and his loyal 13K+ followers, Entertainer Gita Sav and her over half a million club, Qaari Fatih Sefargic with his 1+ million audience, footballer Paul Pogba and his 20+ million fan base and many many more, we noted 9 approaches that were commonly and repeatedly used across them all - to help you utilise Instagram's standout (albeit snapchat-copycat feature), to raise your profile above the noise.

But Wait... How do We Even Use Instagram Stories?

Before we get started, for those of you who do not know how to use the Insta Stories feature, just swipe left from your profile screen or tap on your profile image/icon and start adding "stories" (i.e images or text) to create an Instagram story - it's that simple.

Okay so now that's clear, let's get back to the purpose of the blog post...

Hack Number 1: How to Select More Colours for your Instagram Story

Did you know you have a crazy amount of more colour choices via the Instagram story feature than those circles below suggest?

Here's how you pick another colour outside of the initially suggested options.

• Step 1: Tap on the "Aa" option towards the upper right-hand corner of the screen to open the "brush" or "text" tool.
• Step 2: Select and long-hold a particular colour of choice from the default options shown at the bottom of the screen to open up the colour slider.
• Swipe across the colour slider to select an alternative colour option from the array of colours now presented to you.

This allows you to add more flavour to your offering for your followers.

It really is that simple.

2: Create a Solid Background for Your Insta Stories

Sometimes we don't want to share a photo. We just want to share our thoughts and emotions with the world and let the words do the talking.

Or maybe you just don't have that IG worthy photo ready.

Whatever the reason, one of the most common story features noticed in the stories of the Influencers we assessed was this colour fill trick.

Here's how to do it:

• Step 1: Take a random photo (yes, genuinely anything will suffice - even taking a picture of your messy bedroom will do, it won't expose you!).
• Step 2: Select the pen icon in the upper left-hand corner.
• Step 3: Choose a colour from the bottom of the screen.
• Step 4: Hold your finger against the screen to fill it with the colour you've chosen.
• Step 5: Add/ write your chosen text.

And there you have it. Solid colour allowing you to write to your heart's content.

3. Reveal a Portion of Your Image via Your Instagram Story

The rubber (or eraser tool for our American fans), offers a fun and interactive way to combine your photos with a solid background. And it's also stupidly easy to do.

• Step 1: Start a new IG Story using an image of your choice.
• Step 2: Use the pen tool as described above to add a solid background as an overlay.
• Step 3: Click on the pen feature again, and select the rubber icon.
• Step 4: Then using the rubber icon, rub any areas of the screen to reveal some of the picture you originally uploaded.

4. Creating a Selfie Sticker to Add To Your Instagram Stories

One of the most common story tactics seen during our research is the creation of selfie stickers within the Insta Story feature.

"What the hell is that?" I hear you ask.

Well, basically, it lets you capture a mini selfie, which then becomes a sticker that you can then edit to your own style and utilise later.

Pretty cool huh?!

Here's how:

• Step 1: Hit that sticker button at the top right hand corner of your screen (the peeling smily face).
• Step 2: Choose the "camera option" on the second row of options.
• Step 3: Take a selfie.
• Step 4: Once you're satisfied, place your selfie image wherever you desire on the screen. Tap your image and it'll place a border around the picture you've just taken. Tap it again and the border will disappear.

Selfie stickers on your story? You can now add that to your list of special skills.

5. Layering Text on The Same Image With More Text After You Tap Into the Next Story

You know when you check out an Influencers Insta Story and tap through it and it looks like the same image, but every time you hit that tap, its got more text or emoji's on it?

It looks like a pretty cool animation that you'd wish you'd know how to do right?

Well, my friend, wishing is something you no longer have to do.

• Step 1: Create your Inta story by putting a small amount of text on a plain background or image, saving this or uploading this to your story.
• Step 2: Using your last saved image via your photo gallery icon found in the bottom left-hand corner of the screen, upload the story you had just saved in step 1. Add the next bit of text you want to add and save or upload.
• Step 3: Repeat step 2 until you have added all the text you've wanted to - if you've gone done the save to the gallery option instead of uploading directly after you've added text to each image, don't forget to upload your pics in order!

6. How To Check the Analytics of How Your Instagram Stories Are Performing

We've all seen Influencers share how many views their stories get (and then felt a little crushed inside when we compare our story views to theirs). And you might be wondering, how do they do this?

Turns out, it's pretty easy to find out how many people and who exactly is taking a peek at your story.

• Step 1: Open Your Instagram Story
• Step 2: Swipe Up On Your Screen
• Step 3: Instagram will showcase to you how many people and who exactly has viewed your photo or video story.
• Step 4: If you want to share these numbers with your followers, Screenshot step 3, and then add this to your Insta Story (although we'd suggest blurring out the names of the individuals who've viewed your story).

And just like that, you have your own vanity metrics to share ;).

7. How to Add a Pop Up of Your Feed Post (e.g to Raise Awareness of a New Post) For Your Story

Another common story hack we came across during our research was Influencers directing their audience to their latest feed post (normally with the caption along the lines of "check out my new post") via their story.

This is a great way to raise awareness of new content, and also get people to act - i.e liking or sharing that recent upload.

Yet, how do they showcase it that cool way they do via their feeds?

One of the hacks is the "Pop-Up" style. Thanks to some help from our friends at the Previewapp, we can show you exactly how.

• Step 1: Go to your Instagram feed.
• Step 2: Press and hold on your most recent Instagram Post (or a photo you want to raise awareness about via your Instagram story).
• Step 3: Take a screenshot whilst still pressing on that image (yes some finger gymnastics are required, but with a little practice, we promise you can do it!).

8. Adding Drop Shadow Effect to Your Text into Your Instagram Stories

Influencers always seem to be the first in knowing how to make their stories stand out with fancy text and all that jazz. One of the most commonly used ways is the drop shadow effect.

Here's how to do it:

• Step 1: Hit that "Aa" button that you're all too familiar with that top right-hand corner.
• Step 2: Write out the message you want to share.
• Step 3: Hit that "Aa" button again, writing out the exact same message using - but this time, you'll use a different colour.
• Step 4: Place the text from step 3, over the text from step 2, ensuring that the text is slightly off-centre from the bottom text.

And that's all there is to it. Not only can you craft great stories, but you've also just ramped up your Graphic Design skills too.

9. Add Music (or a Nasheed ;), to Your Story

We all know that a little background jingle can add another dimension to your Insta Story. It's also a very popular trick we came across during our research.

The crazy thing is, it's also very easy to do!

• Step 1: Turn on whatever you utilise to play your chosen story soundtrack (e.g a native streaming app like Spotify).
• Step 2: Record a video story.
• Step 3: Once you're ready to share, make sure the sound icon isn't muted and then post your story.

Conclusion

Instagram stories are a great way to get people engaged. With 400 million users tuning into them on a daily basis. They're also a great way to raise awareness about what you do too.

Instagram is always rolling out new updates to help you make the content via your stories something that gets people always coming back for more.

In fact, there are so many other ways to make your stories awesome that we haven't even covered here!

But we always say when it comes to starting anything, always learn from the best.

Influencers, those with large social followings, regularly utilise this extremely popular feature of Instagram to great effects.

But we didn't want you to have to do the hard work and assess what are the best hacks you could use, so we did the analysis for you here - and we hope the tips shared from our research of assessing the top Influencer accounts help you on your way to making that knockout story you've always wished you could.

What are the best Instagram Story hacks that you've come across from Influencers?