Instagram stories stand as one of the most remarkably used features of instagram since its inception in 2016.
About 500 million users use instagram stories daily and love to engage with stories related to business, tech, vlogs and other stories shared on the platform.
These statistics show how much potential the story features encompasses on instagram and creates a sense of motivation for you to post more and more stories on instagram.
Keeping the challenges you can face while using the instagram story feature we have created a guide which will help you to craft stories that’ll help you to engage your audience in 2025.
Let’s dig in!
Why should you create instagram stories for engagement?
Instagram stories have an ephemeral life span of just 24 hours on instagram but even 24 seconds are enough to create an impact on the platform.
Numerous brands around the world are using IG stories to increase their brand awareness, to promote their newly launched products and to outperform their competitors on the platform.
Brands including burberry, adidas and nike use the instagram stories feature on a daily basis to showcase and promote their products on the platform.
The primary purpose of using these stories is mainly engaging with their audiences on the platform and creating a community of their own on instagram.
The dynamics on instagram are changing day by day especially after the “AI takeover” but the foundations are the same i.e. people are still engaging with stories.
How to design instagram stories that drive engagement
Designing your instagram stories in such a way that they hook the audiences is important because this is how you will see an escalation in your story views, reactions and responses.
Here is how you can design stories to drive connection and engagement on the platform:
Understand instagram and the audiences
It’s really important to understand the dynamics of instagram and then your audience because both are interconnected and somewhat intertwined.
Instagram is a:
- Gen Z platform as 76% of 18 to 29 years old are surfing instagram daily.
- It is ideal for reel creation as reels or short form videos drive the highest engagement.
- If you are just starting out on instagram, you should daily post instagram posts, stories and reels to drive engagement to your profile.
Now is the time that you understand the audiences on instagram that what are their likes and dislikes, which content is extraordinary and which content can be outshined by everyone else.
If your audience is gen Z and you are a brand, you should tailor your content and stories to cater their specific needs on instagram, such as: “how does Gen Z view this product as?”
It is indispensable to understand the audience on instagram because without doing this you won’t be able to craft impeccable and attractive stories that drive real interactions.
Use visuals to capture attention
Instagram is a visual platform. If your stories are not aesthetic or visually appealing it means your stories won’t be displayed by the IG algorithms to the audiences.
Even before establishing yourself as a brand on instagram it is important you first establish your profile as a user account on instagram.
Publish stories which are:
- High quality and visually appealing (both stories and videos)
- Have an interactive and storytelling tone with the audiences.
- Stick to brand colors and fonts.
- Use Canva or other tools to design the outlook of your stories.
By implementing these visual techniques you can create compelling stories for your viewers.
Use “ALL” instagram features
Instagram offers quite cool features not just for your posts or reels but also for your stories too.
It’s really helpful that you explore the features and use the ones which help you craft a dashing story on instagram.
Here are some instagram story features which are a must try for everyone on instagram:
The effects on instagram story
If you want to make your story more visually appealing you should definitely check out the effects feature for your images on instagram.
Instagram offers multiple effects for your images to make them more attractive to the viewers and surfers on instagram.
These effects can be used on your images according to your moods, emotions and your specific vibes.
Add text in your stories
Images and videos speak for themselves but sometimes words become necessary to define your goals, moods and objectives on instagram.
From fonts ranging from ‘modern’ to ‘literature’ and colors ranging from ‘apricot’ to ‘Fuchsia’ instagram has got you covered.
P.S the text section also has some really cool animation and transition features for your text too, which can be used according to your mood.
Amongst these text features it is recommended by instagram specialists that you also use hashtags whenever you post a story.
Location and event hashtags are quite useful in this regard and are emphasized by experts to increase the discoverability of your profile on instagram.
Don’t forget to add audio
Using the right audio on instagram can help your stories reach more and more audiences on instagram and can help you interact better with your viewers on the ‘Gram.
Instagram offers hundreds (if not thousands) of songs to use in your stories. You can simply explore the audio section before posting your story and find the best audio that matches your story.
Draw and save
You can draw whatever you want to draw on your stories on instagram by using the ‘draw’ feature. This gives you more control and personalized experience over what you’re sharing.
Despite giving you the option to save your story as a draft, the platform also gives you the option to save your stories directly in your gallery for later use.
Instagram story comments
Instagram story comments was launched in September 2024 by instagram.This is a great feature if you want to engage and interact directly with your audience on instagram in their stories.
However to be able to use this feature you must follow each other’s accounts first and you can turn off this comment feature too.
The stickers in instagram stories
Stickers are the most widely used feature on instagram and they are extensively used for the fun and vibe they create in the stories for the audience.
Whether it’s GIFs you are looking for or GPHY on instagram, the range of stickers on instagram is huge.
Here are some stickers which you should try out right now:
- Use cutouts to add more product images or some detailed funny sketch to increase interactions on instagram.
- Use the frame sticker to add a frame above your picture on the story which will reveal the image when the audience will shake their phones.
- Add links to your blogs, websites and articles in your stories to increase traffic on your websites.
- Add location stickers to mention your precise location in your IG stories.
- Now you can make your own avatars on instagram with the help of AI integrated systems on the platform.
Explore these and many more stickers to make your stories the most interactive stories on instagram right now.
Some interactive stickers
This section is important whether you are just starting out or an individual instagrammer looking to increase views, reach and engagement on your profile.
Here are some interactive stickers and story elements which you must use if you are really looking to engage your audience via stories:
Poll stickers
Polls are a great way to interact with your audience. You can simply create a “this or that” poll to start on instagram.
For example, sephora often uses polls to gather feedback and educate audiences about beauty tips.
Quiz stickers
Quiz stickers make interactions easier as they spark curiosity in users to engage with your stories directly.
For example, Netflix often posts stories asking users what their favorite character or about their favorite series on Netflix.
Question stickers
Pose questions directly to your audiences through the question stickers available in the sticker section.
For example, beauty brand Lancome asked questions about their new products and asked the audiences to guess for themselves.
Emoji sliders
Emoji sliders are a great way to engage your audience especially when it comes to taking feedback from them. They just need to slide the slider and submit their response.
For example, both ASOS and Hubspot use the emoji sliders to record responses from their audiences.
Use insights to keep a check on your stories
Using instagram insights and analyzing your story through this feature can help you create and craft stories which can help you increase engagement on your stories.
By using instagram insights for your stories you can find out:
- Number of followers and non-followers viewing your story.
- Number of interactions (likes, replies, shares) on your story.
- Navigation occurring on your account and the accounts visiting your profile.
Crafting AI instagram stories to engage audiences
Content generation and sharing has entered a new phase on instagram as users can now directly use the meta AI by instagram to create stories on instagram.
This is an amazing feature as now users can directly make images through their thoughts and post them directly on their stories.
How to use AI images feature in stories?
Here’s how to use it:
- Create a new instagram story.
- Explore the three stars icon under the boomerang icon
- Click on it to see multiple AI generated images to post
- Create your own image by giving the prompt.
How can you use this feature to interact with your audiences:
- Once you generate the image the story automatically shows the “AI image” sticker to viewers.
- You can ask questions from your audiences like, “how does this image look?” this will naturally spark engagement through your stories.
- Generate your images and add sliders in your image
- Label the image as AI generated from the top right corner
Personalized images with Meta AI
You can simply go to the meta AI chat in your chat section and ask it to create images of your own choices.
It differs from the former one because in the former you cannot import your own images for AI generation but in the chat section you can easily modify your images using AI.
This is a great way to engage your audiences by using the latest generative artificial intelligence feature on instagram.
Common mistakes to avoid
Instagram stories are a great way to engage your audience on instagram but surely there are some mistakes which should be avoided at all cost:
- Avoid over-posting stories in a short time.
- Don’t overload your stories with text as it can create a negative impact on the audience.
- Keep stories relevant and timely.
- Don’t be inconsistent
Creating engaging stories: Key takeaways
Instagram stories still stand as one of the most important elements to engage and interact with your audiences on instagram.
However, the first step is to know both the platform and the audience on instagram and to create visually appealing stories on instagram to attract audiences.
You can use audios, stickers, captions, hashtags and all other features offered by instagram to make your stories hook the viewers on instagram.
Lastly it is important to use newly launched AI features to increase your creative capacities on instagram and to drive more audiences through them.
