Every day there are over four billion posts that are liked on Instagram. That’s a lot of posts. What if you could tap into that, even only a tiny fraction of that massive engagement? Thousands of businesses are doing it. If you do it too, then your brand will catapult to the next level.
Mastering Instagram takes skill. The people who are successful know how to squeeze the most out of the platform. Here are four ways you can do that.
Record Video Hands Free
To record video on Instagram Stories, you have to hold down a button. Sometimes that’s inconvenient. That’s why people love hands-free recording. Here’s how you do it.
- Go to your home screen on Instagram. Then you need to swipe right to get to the camera.
- Look at the bottom of the screen. There are various options there. They include Boomerang, Normal, and Hands-Free selection. Once the latter option is selected, you can begin recording.
- How can you stop recording? Instagram Stories will automatically stop recording once the maximum video time is reached. Or you can touch the circle once more to stop immediately.
Select a Cornucopia of Text Colors
Most people will use default text colors, the default palettes that Instagram provides. Yet, there’s a rainbow of colors available. Take full advantage of every color to stand out. Here’s how you can select virtually any color you like on Instagram Stories.
- Swipe right again to get to the camera. Then take an image or video.
- Look at the top right hand corner of the screen. There is a pen (Aa) icon there. Select it. Multiple default color options at the bottom of the screen will appear.
- Press and hold any of these default colors. You have now opened up the color slider. Select the exact variation you like.
Unlock All the Stickers Available
Stickers are a cool feature of Instagram Stories. Like your unique image or video, stickers tell a story of their own. For instance, a sticker may tell your viewers the temperature, your current location, or the time. Here’s how you can use stickers and even unlock some hidden ones.
- Go to the Instagram Stories Camera and record a video. Go to the right hand corner and click on the smiley face icon.
- Now a bunch of stickers should appear.
- Even within stickers, there are subsets, often ignored. Tap the sticker to peruse these subsets. For instance, the temperature sticker allows you to choose between Fahrenheit and Celsius.
- One sticker isn’t the limit. You can use as many stickers as you deem necessary.
Upload an Image Older Than 24 Hours to Stories
You know the rule. You can’t upload images older than 24 hours to Instagram Stories. Luckily, there are ways around this rule so you can share that perfect shot you forgot to upload.
- Go to your camera roll. Locate the image that you want to upload.
- Take a screenshot of that image. Here’s how you take a screenshot with an iPhone. You press the home button and the power button at the same time and quickly release them.
- All screenshots are saved as new images in your phone. That means the image will be eligible for Instagram Stories.
- There’s another way to do this. Do you have editing software on your phone? If you do, open up the image in the editing software. Then, without making any changes, resave it to your camera roll. In other words, you have to trick your phone into thinking the image is new.
What's Your Favorite Stories Hack?
There are lots of little hacks you can use to enhance your Instagram Stories page. What’s your favorite Stories hack? Let us know in the comments.
Ben Shepardson
Ben Shepardson is a Realty Biz News Contributing Writer and has a long track record of success in online marketing and web development. While pursuing a bachelor’s degree in Computer Information Systems, he worked doing enterprise-level SEO and started an online business offering web development services to small business customers.
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