We have to admit; when we first heard that Instagram was challenging Snapchat with a Stories feature we were slightly sceptical – what could be better than using Snapchat’s comical filters and uploading onto our story for all to see?
Then we used Instagram’s version and we don’t know what we did without it. An abundance of aesthetic filters, pen tools and of course Boomerang greeted us. Stories can be in photo or video format and disappear after 24 hours. There are SO many ways to create exciting Stories, assisted by the flashy tools available.
Here, we reveal 4 ways to create the best Instagram Stories:
1) Cover your photo with a layer of text – may sound slightly strange, but trust us - it looks really cool! Capture your shot and add a filter of your choice. Start typing a word that relates to the picture. An example could be covering a photo of cake with the word ‘yummy’. You can also copy and paste text to save time!
2) Dots and dashes around the photo – this is slightly simpler and involves taking your photo and using the pen tools to draw shapes over the photo. Dots and dashes work really well in
different colours to make the photo more exciting!
instagram.com/watts.on
3) Eraser tool over video – this is our favourite and admittedly took a while to master ourselves but we LOVE it! This works particularly well for videos. Upload the video onto Stories, then select the pen tool and choose a colour you like. Tap and hold the video for a couple seconds until the screen is covered in that colour. Select the eraser tool and write/draw over the video – how cool!
4) Colour out backgrounds – a great tip for making a specific element the main feature of your Story. Upload your image and select one of the pen tools in a colour of your choice. Scribble out the background of the photo – a simple but effective way to make standout Stories!
Here at Araminta Marketing, we also frequently use Photoshop for our Stories. Get in touch with the #ateam for an Instagram Story strategy