Even though I’m not super consistent about posting to Instagram Stories, I’m a huge fan! Love how it’s (usually) less polished and more spontaneous than the little squares (which I love too!). Aside from being an easy way to share with friends, family, husbands (while they are at work or away!), and social media friends, it’s also an entertaining way of documenting the little things and moments in bite sized files (instead of the 5 minute videos no one will ever re-watch) it can also be a simple and fun way to get creative :)
Here are a few of my favorite ways to do just that!
ACCESS MORE COLORS — did you know there is a full color wheel hiding behind those little dots of color at the bottom of the screen?! Select the pen or text tool and press on any of the color dots and slide your finger up.
- MAKE A TEXT BLOCK — I kinda think I was the last person to discover this, but it’s never good to assume, so thought I would share! Take your picture or video and tap the screen or text tool to write a caption. Tap the “A” with a square outline around it in the middle top of your screen to make it a text block.
- PLAY WITH LETTER + TEXT SIZE + COLOR — Type text or letters out separately by tapping the text icon and tapping “done” in between each. Then edit each line and arrange as you want. Select the pen and different colors to make shapes behind the text for a little pop!
MAKE A SOLID BACKGROUND — Take a picture (of anything) and tap the pen tool in the top right. Select your color (hold down for the full color wheel if you want – see tip 1 above) then hold finger anywhere on the image for a few seconds and it will turn into a solid background. Tap “done” in the top right and then use the stamps, pen, or type tool to design a fun image!
SHARE A VIDEO or PIC/LATERGRAM FROM YOUR CAMERA ROLL ON YOUR STORY – Open your Instagram home page and swipe right or press the camera icon at the top left. Then swipe up or down to open images and videos that were taken in the last 24 hours.
If the image you want to share is older than 24 hours simply open image in a photo editing app, such as VSCO, and re-save to your camera roll. Then follow the steps above! ^^^
HOW TO HIDE YOUR STORIES FROM CERTAIN USERS — From your Instagram homepage, swipe right or tap camera icon. Then tap the gear icon at the top left to open which will open your story settings. If you tap the “hide story from” line it will open up a list of people following you and you can select from there.
HIDE STORIES YOU DON”T WANT TO WATCH — There is so much content on Instagram and scrolling through pics is one thing, but it can be easy for your favorite stories to get buried. To mute the ones you aren’t interested in open your Insta homepage. Press and hold the circle profile image of the accounts you don’t want to see and a “mute @account” option will pop up. You’ll still see their content in your feed and you can un-mute their stories anytime… just scroll through all of the profile images in stories and you’ll see all the ones you muted.
A couple other features I appreciate…
ZOOM IN AND OUT IN VIDEO WITH ONE FINGER — Ok, so I found out about this one from watching my 16 year old, LOL, and don’t actually use it very often but it does come in handy sometimes! Simply, open your camera in Instagram on the normal setting. Hold down the button and slide your finger up to zoom.
PAUSE A STORY – By holding your finger down on the screen! Use this all the time when there is a lot of text on a video or image, hashtag slow-reader.
I think we can all agree that social media is a lot of fun but can also be a huge distraction and time-suck. I don’t have any specific boundaries or time limits, although I probably should, but personally there is only so much screen time this girl can take each day before I start to feel tied down which I hate. So on days I have larger amounts of computer work, you probably won’t see me on Instagram. I also try to keep my phone use to a minimum once the older kids are home from school (although I could probably do better!). However, school is almost out and I take on less work during the summer so you may be seeing more stories from me for the next few months! (Follow along @raeannkelly if you are into that!)
Oh, and Espen, Tilly and I are leaving for New York tonight and I’m going to try and share lots of pics and videos… without being annoying hopefully :)
How do you keep your social media use in check? What’s your favorite feature on Instagram Stories?
XO, Rae
Thank you Rae! I love Instagram and would love to make more stories. This is so helpful.
have fun!!!! xoxo