There’s no question that Instagram took a page from Snapchat when it launched Stories this year, but there are key differences between how users are able to post and share that might make an influencer question whether to change his/her approach. With Stories comes a new comfort level of sharing, allowing an outlet for your feed that’s not as curated and more personal, and even goofy at times. But how do you avoid creating a collection of unfunny instant Vines that will make you lose followers? Here is what I learned from building a Snapchat audience over the last two years, and how that can be applied to effectively using Instagram Stories.
- Find your style – Are you comfortable in front of the camera? Are you comfortable with your voice? Two of my favorites on Snapchat, @JNSilva and @LilyRose, have a clearly developed narrative and voice so they’ll always have an audience on any platform. Meanwhile, the BTS style of @IAmPatrickChin remains mostly silent with some captions or background music. Patrick’s a handsome guy with a great voice and great storytelling abilities but he’s favored this more quiet style and he’s made it work. Over on Snapchat some snapped all B/W, then everyone went all B/W, then that trend passed. Everyone can be guilty of following trends but try as a creative not to, it’s the antithesis of what we are. So find what works for you, experiment, and challenge yourself in smaller doses.
- Limit Yourself – At one point you’ve complained about the character limit on Twitter, and yes, it can be frustrating but none of us would get through even a portion of our timeline had they not imposed that. We all have our triggers but if you find yourself tapping as quickly as possible to get through someone else’s overly long Stories, what do you think people are likely doing for your overly long Stories?! If you happen to be, for example, a concert photographer with some special access, of course, you’ll want to share more and your audience will likely ask you to share more, but don’t overdo it. Let’s leave it at that tried principle: leave your audience wanting more, and if you get carried away and can’t control yourself just delete some stories as you go.
- Use Stories as a preview for longer content – Whether it’s a tutorial, maybe a camera/equipment review or a long winded rant/article, use Stories as a preview rather than a place to share larger content. If you have your own channel or a link to a longer digital project, Stories would be a good place to show a teaser, and placing a link in your Instagram profile to the longer content would make it an easy transition.
- Be authentic –Stories gives us a chance to connect on a more real level than just the comment section on your feed. On Stories, your audience will get to see your life beyond your photographs of it, delving more deeply into your many talents, challenges, and most importantly, your personality – so be gradual with developing this narrative and be real. You might think you have a jumpstart on this if you’ve already had a decent Snapchat audience, but treat this like a whole new audience because in a lot of cases it is.
- Don’t be lazy – Ten second Snaps, and in the case of Stories, 15 seconds, is an eternity to create art, but if it’s quality content, putting that extra effort in will make all the difference. One artist who raised the bar on Snapchat is @TakuBeats – and if you haven’t already followed him, you missed out on some of the most unrepeatable cinematic moments in some of the greatest cities in the world. The quality of the footage – no shake – still surprises me when I watch @MattManiego Snaps or Stories. Who knows, maybe photography was meant to guide you to your real talent in videography… Word of mouth was one of the best ways to grow your Snapchat following and it can be the same with Instagram Stories, just be willing to put the creative effort in.
