Instagram decided to make a pretty big business move a little while ago and added Instagram stories to its features. Within a year of Instagram launching this new feature, Instagram stories managed to become more popular than Snapchat stories.
Instagram stories allow Instagrammers to share personal updates using cool stickers and filters, and they can even be live so that they can interact even more intimately with their followers.
However, as more people jump on the Instagram stories bandwagon, it becomes harder to stand out from the crowd and get noticed. To create an Instagram story that’s going to get a lot of engagement, you need to be capable of creating interesting content – which of course includes making the most of the correct Instagram story dimensions.
This article is all about learning how to create your Instagram stories with the correct story size so that you can stand out even more and boost that Instagram following.
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The Basics of Instagram Story Dimensions
If you’ve used Instagram stories for a while now, you’ll know how addictive it gets. It’s always fun knowing that your followers or potential followers are viewing your content – unless of course, you have your account set to private.
If you already have a business or brand that you’re trying to promote on Instagram, this is an excellent way to market it. Perhaps you’re a vlogger or a blogger, and you’re trying to get more subscribers or viewers. Perhaps you’re a musician who is attempting to expand their reach with their music. By taking advantage of Instagram stories, you can use it to promote yourself or the product that you sell.
To do this, you’ll need to make sure that your Instagram stories look great and are displayed nicely. This means you don’t want to have roughly cropped images or blurry content. While most images you upload to your Instagram story will look good from the beginning, you’re not going to be so lucky with them all.
As an example, if you post a portrait photo to Instagram stories, the image will take up the screen. To display the image completely, you can pinch the center of your phone screen and place the image in the center instead. The ideal Instagram story dimensions are 1080 x 1920 pixels. This means that you need to make sure your Instagram story videos have this level of pixels, which equates to an aspect ratio of 9:16.
So, Why Do You Need to Get the Dimensions Right?
When you get the dimensions of your Instagram story right, you will be guaranteed that your content will come across nicely to your viewers, without cropping important parts of it out. If you’ve taken a portrait photo or filmed a video on your smartphone, you’re not going to have too much trouble with this.
However, if you want to maintain a more professional Instagram image and get creative with tools like Illustrator or Adobe Photoshop, then you’ll need to take Instagram story dimensions into consideration. Otherwise, your audience isn’t going to see the entire image, just part of it.
If you use an image that has a low resolution, then your pictures aren’t going to look good on your Instagram story. To prevent your picture from losing pixel quality, you need to make sure it falls within the recommended Instagram story dimension and use the right resolution too. When you create content that falls within these dimensions, then you can be confident that your content is going to appear high quality when viewers see it.
Using Instagram Story Dimensions
Now that you get why using the correct Instagram story dimensions is vital to the success of your content, you also need to consider that while using HD videos and photos is going to give a clearer, sharper look to your content, it’s also going to take a much longer time to upload it compared to uploading content that has lower definition. It’s also going to take up more space on your phone.
So, what can you do to avoid this problem? Simply change the number of pixels that are included in your video or image. This isn’t going to change the overall shape of the content, it’s just going to prevent you from dealing with a long upload time.
We all know now that the best Instagram stories resolution is 1080 x 1920 pixels. However, if you’re looking to create content that has a smaller resolution, like 450 x 800 or 720 x 1280 pixels, then you still can. Just remember that using fewer pixels means less definition as well.
By creating a video or image with the recommended Instagram dimensions, you don’t have to be concerned about it taking up space on your phone or having to deal with a long upload time.
Use the Right Size and Design Apps
There are a lot of design tools available now that can help you with your Instagram stories creating. One of these tools is called Canva, and it’s an online tool that can help you come up with stunning graphics for your Instagram stories – all for free. You can choose from any of the templates that they have on offer and start getting creative with your Instagram images.
If you use their customer dimensions, you’ll be able to make sure they fall within the 1080 x 1920 pixel threshold. They make it super easy – once you’ve decided on the dimensions, simply click on ‘design’ and begin creating your final product.
Canva is a really great program that you can use to create images that are going to stand out and attract people to your content and your brand. You can also use other tools out there that include Textgram, Image Quote, and Text on Photo Square.
Taking Advantage of Your Instagram Stories
Now that you know exactly how to make great Instagram stories that fall within Instagram’s dimensions, it’s time for you to get working and come up with the best content strategy for your brand or image. There are many ways you can do this, and we’re going to share a couple of these with you:
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Share and Post Inspirational Quotes
It’s pretty common to see people sharing quotes on Instagram. There is absolutely no reason why you can’t jump on the bandwagon and share quotes too. If your page is primarily about traveling, then try sharing quotes about travel on your Instagram story and even in your news feed. You want to inspire people with your content.
If you want to avoid posting too many quotes in one day, you can try sticking to Instagram stories to share your inspirational words. This is because all photos on Instagram stories go away after twenty-four hours.
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Try Using Long-Form Content
If you’re a writer, an agency or a blogger and you’re trying to promote one of your latest stories, then Instagram stories are the best place to share this. You could even share the title of your new story. Try adding a link to your story so that people can find your newest article if you have over ten thousand followers. If you don’t, however, you can always encourage your audience to visit your bio for a link to your website. Just remember that if you’re doing things this way, you’ll only be able to encourage them to click on one link.
This can be a great way to promote your content – however, we recommend limiting the number of posts you put on your Instagram story as too many can end up turning people off.
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Tell a Story
While you’re on Instagram stories, why not use them to tell a story? Take a bit of time to think about what you want to say and then choose the image that you want to combine with your story. Remember, make sure that it comes with the right dimensions, or adjust them accordingly. Unless you’ve already got a special text design that you want to use, you don’t have to add any text yet if you don’t want to. You can always add it later when you’re ready to upload.
You can also use Instagram stickers to make your story that much more interesting, too. Emoji reaction stickers often do well with viewers.
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Announce A New Product or Service
Do you have a new product that you’re about to launch or have just put on the market?
For example, you could be a musician that’s just released a brand new single. You may want to tell your audience about this. However, you don’t just have to share this news with your feed – you can also post it to your Instagram story.
If you have a great relationship with your following, then there’s a good chance that they will be excited about seeing you announce something like this.
There are many Instagrammers out there who prefer Instagram stories to the news feed because they find it a little bit more personable. If you agree with them, then try using Instagram stories to your advantage and make a better connection with your audience. When you do it the right way, you can reap the benefits big time.
Top Tools for Instagram Growth & Engagement
| Rank | Tool | Type | More Info |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Seek Socially | Growth Service | Visit |
| 2 | Nitreo | Growth Service | Visit |
