20 Instagram Story Ideas for When You Feel Stuck

Instagram Stories have become a key feature of the Instagram app, offering a dynamic way to engage with your stories viewers.

Over 500 million people post on Instagram stories every single day! According to Instagram, 62% of users surveyed said they became more interested in a brand or product after watching an Instagram story.

Instagram stories are a huge opportunity for every brand. They’re fun, engaging and you don’t have to worry too much about a picture-perfect image because they disappear after 24 hours!

We like to schedule Instagram stories in advance so we stay consistent with them and continuously engage with our audience and we highly recommend you do the same. You're busy, you probably don't have time to be scrambling to post an Instagram story every day.

Now you might be thinking, “Great, this is even more content I have to think up, batch and schedule? What the heck am I supposed to be posting?”

‍You don't need to sweat the content brainstorming part. Your good friends at Team Edgar have you covered.  Next time you feel stuck, try one of these 20 Instagram story ideas!

From using the countdown sticker to build anticipation to creating an Instagram story that resonates with your audience, each idea is crafted to enhance your Instagram account's appeal.

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1. Promote your latest blog post or podcast episode

If you release content on a regular basis, then use your story to promote it! You can create a custom “New Post” or “New Episode” graphic and use it for every post. Simply type the right title on top of the graphic to keep them fresh and up to date.

2. Promote your latest Instagram post

So many people are checking stories these days so why not try to drive them back to your Instagram page to increase your reach a bit? You can share your latest Instagram post on your Instagram stories.  

If you want people going to your post to view and like it in your feed, then you can use a sticker or the marker tool to cover up the actual post to increase curiosity so your followers click to see what the actual post in your feed.

3. Answer FAQs

Do you hear frequently asked questions about your product or service? Be proactive and answer them in your stories.

You can do this in a video or by creating graphics with those FAQs and answers. Since your audience will always have different questions around your product or service, this is a category of stories that you can use on a regular basis.

4. Share tips

Be an expert and show off that expertise a little! Share valuable tips or how to’s with your audience on a regular basis. #TipTuesday sounds good, doesn’t it?

5. Ask questions

Instagram introduced the question sticker in 2018 and it makes it easy and fun to interact with your audience.

You can ask your audience a question and then share their answers on your stories. This is perfect if you want to learn more about your audience and collect some customer research.

6. Do an AMA

You can also use the questions sticker to encourage users to ask you questions! Then you can use your Instagram stories to answer those questions.

7. Do a tutorial

Instead of posting one or two static stories with a tip, you can do a longer video showing your audience how you do something.

Whether you’re chatting into the camera explaining how you pitch yourself to podcasts or walking your audience through how you cook dinner, a tutorial is a fantastic way to showcase your expertise.

8. Product demo

You can also demo products on your stories. You don’t have to be a product-based business to show off a product either!

If you have a product that you use on a daily basis that helps your business run, let your audience see what it is and how you use it. This is a specific type of behind-the-scenes content that’s engaging and valuable to your audience.

9. Have quizzes

Instagram’s quiz stickers are such a fun feature because there are many different uses for it! You can have a quiz on your industry or niche, as Digital Marketer does.

Or you can use the Instagram quiz sticker to highlight popular services, upcoming sales or your brand’s story.

10. Share questionnaires (and encourage followers to do the same!)

If you want audience engagement, customer feedback, and expanded reach, then share questionnaires with your audience. You can create customer questionnaires in Canva or your favorite graphics tool.

Then, encourage your audience to screenshot the post, share it in their stories with their answers and tag you in it.

11. Spotlight clients or team members

People connect with other people. If you want people to connect to your brand, then you need to show them the people involved with your brand!

Spotlight your employees and share a little bit about who they are and what they love. Or if you’re a solopreneur, then showcase your clients.

12. Shout out other accounts

You also don’t have to limit your shares to individuals who you personally know. You can shout out accounts you love, influencers or other leaders in your industry. Let people know you admire them, introduces your audience to new thought leaders and it can help build a relationship with that influencer.

13. Share reviews or testimonials

Are people singing your praises and gushing their love for you all over the internet? Don’t be shy! Share that love with your audience!

An easy way to do this is to simply screenshot the review or testimonials and share it directly into your story. Stories disappear in 24 hours so you don’t have to stress about designing something feed-worthy.

14. Share inspirational quotes

Who doesn’t love a little inspiration? Give your followers a little bit of motivation with the help of your favorite quotes. If you also want easy posting, edit the background color of your story to fit your brand and type or copy and paste your quote over it! Then spice it up with some stickers or GIFs.

15. Upcycle parts of your email newsletter

If you’re trying to grow your email subscribers, then this trick is for you! Share a piece of your newsletter with your audience. That might be a juicy one-liner, a funny GIF or an exciting headline. Use your story to pique your follower’s interests and be sure to include a link to sign up in your bio.

16. Polls

Instagram’s poll feature is one of their most useful story features! You can poll your audience on just about anything! You can use it for user research, like deciding your next podcast episode topic or you can use it just for fun, like polling if your audience a team member should save, like Leadpages did.

17. Share UGC

Why create it yourself when someone else does it for you? We kid, we kid but we are serious about using UGC, otherwise known as user-generated content for your Instagram stories. In fact, you should use User Generated Content as much as possible! Instagram makes this easy for you.

If your customers have a public profile and they tag you in a story, you can quickly share their story to yours with the click of a button!

18. Favorites

Sing it with us now, “These are a few of my favorite things!” You don’t have to serenade your audience but showing your current favorites is a fantastic story topic. We know you have your favorite apps and tools but you don’t have to limit these to work-related favorites too.

You can share the coffee flavor that you just can’t get enough or the comfy socks that you never want to take off. The point is to share something personal that your audience might find valuable.

19. Icebreaker games & questions

If you’ve ever been at a networking event then you might be familiar with icebreakers, such as Two Truths & a Lie or Would You Rather. You can do these same icebreakers or ask the same icebreaker questions to get to know your audience on Instagram as you would in person! You can do these on your own and you can encourage your audience to share their answers in their stories. Remind them to tag you in the story!

20. Give yourself a prompt

Just like icebreakers give you a jumping-off point, question prompts can do the same! Think of questions you’d ask when first meeting someone or while interviewing a job candidate. The question should inspire a story answer. (Get it? Tell a story in a story? ) Here are just a few:

• Tell us about a time you learned from a mistake?
• Who inspires you and why?
• Who are your dream dinner party guests?
• What do you love about your work?
• What is something you’ve accomplished in the last year that you’re really proud of?

This is the tip of the iceberg when it comes to Instagram story ideas. The best part about stories is that you can be as creative as you want with them. But whatever you do, keep sharing them!

What about editing?

The power of editing and creating visually appealing content cannot be overstated. Each story is a canvas for creativity, an opportunity to captivate your audience with stunning visuals and engaging narratives.

Well-edited and beautifully crafted stories not only grab attention but also significantly enhance your brand’s aesthetic appeal.

There are tons of creative short tutorials to make stunning insta stories, like this one from Vivisticker app:

You can also get creative directly within the Instagram app. It's your one-stop-shop for crafting engaging stories. You can use customize stickers, in your stories, like a hashtag sticker, to reflect your brand's personality.

Instagram Highlights

To ensure your stories remain accessible even after they disappear from your profile, leverage Instagram story highlights. This feature allows you to preserve and showcase your favorite stories right on your profile, making them available for your audience to view anytime.

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