Are you wondering what Instagram story stickers are?
Looking for information on how to use story stickers on Instagram to make your stories stand out?
Instagram stories can truly engage your audience. With more than 500 million people using stories every day, opportunities are everywhere!
But how do you stand out from the crowd?
That’s where Instagram stickers come into play.
In this guide, I’ll show you how to use Instagram Story stickers to stand out and connect with your audience.
But let’s start at the beginning, shall we?
What are Instagram Story Stickers?
Instagram Story Stickers are interactive elements that you can add to your Stories to engage with your followers.
What’s more, stickers are a great way to boost your Instagram marketing.
They can help you highlight your brand’s personality but also promote your products in a more creative way.
And the best part is that they’re incredibly easy to use. All you need is to, really, is to pick the right sticker for each Story.
Which brings us to the next part
What are the Different Types of Instagram Story Stickers
Instagram allows you to add multiple types of Story stickers. Here they are with examples:
Donation sticker
Donation stickers allow you to fundraise for nonprofits. You can use them to raise money for your favourite organisation or you can simply tap into a charity’s sticker to support the cause.
Quiz sticker
Quiz stickers can be very fun but also very engaging!
It’s a great way for brands to be interactive with their fans without necessarily a direct sale of their products.
You can ask multiple-choice questions and you can use the sticker to test your followers how much they know about you.
It’s also a fun sticker to use with your friends and you can even pick random questions by tapping into the dice at the bottom of the screen!
Countdown sticker
The countdown sticker can be very handy for many brands.
Whether it’s a product announcement, an important update or even a countdown to your next Instagram Live, it still makes a useful sticker.
You can also customise the sticker with the date, time, colour to keep it consistent to your branding.
Music sticker
Music stickers can add a soundtrack to your Stories. You can add music and lyrics to any Story and you can even pick the exact point of the song that you want to play.
For example, you can add a dramatic tone to an announcement, you can add cheerful tunes to a Story about #MondayMotivation or you can simply share a song that is stuck on your head.
We’ve also seen many accounts matching the song with their mood or the accompanied photo to make the content even better.
Question sticker
There are many influencers and celebrities who love using the Question sticker.
We’ve seen many accounts hosting AMA (ask me anything) sessions using the Question sticker to start interacting with their followers.
It’s not just for celebrities though.
Brands can use the Question sticker to ask for their consumers’ thoughts or ideas. They can even be more casual by asking them how they are feeling.
You can even ask for song recommendations!
Poll sticker
Poll stickers make voting easier for all sorts of topics.
You can use the poll sticker to ask for feedback, A/B testing or even test your creativity with the use of emojis as replies.
It’s a very engaging feature and it can help you take your creativity to the next level.
Location sticker
Location stickers have been around for a while. They are still popular as an easy way to share your location.
If you are a local business then this is an extremely useful sticker for you.
You can start using it when promoting your business to encourage your followers to do it.
The more they are using the location sticker in their Stories, the easier it becomes to reach more people and potential customers.
Hashtag sticker
Hashtags are a big part of Instagram.
They can help you expand your reach, which makes them ideal for brands that are getting started.
The hashtag sticker makes it easier for you to add a clickable hashtag to your Stories. You can even promote your branded hashtag to encourage your followers to add it to their Stories.
The best thing with hashtag stickers is that you can click on a hashtag to discover others using it in their Stories.
Time/weather sticker
As obvious as it sounds, the time and weather sticker allows you to make your Stories more personal.
Sharing the time or the current weather can help you connect with your followers while encouraging them to share their own photos.
It’s also a good way for brands to be more casual when they need to stop promoting their products.
Not everything should be about sales!
How to Create Custom Instagram Stickers for Stories
You might have noticed that many brands use their own custom stickers for Stories.
So how can you do it? How do you add a sticker that you’ve created on your own?
You need to upload a GIF to GIPHY to get it to show up among GIFs for Instagram Stories.
First, you will need to create a GIPHY account to apply for a Brand or Artist channel
Once you are approved, upload your GIF stickers there. Make sure you use the keywords that will make it easy to find in Stories (and that it might actually become a trending gif on Giphy)
If your GIF meets the requirements, it should be live in a few hours.
Tips for Choosing the Best Instagram Story Stickers
If you want to improve your Instagram skills then try to think like your followers.
Leave aside your brand’s hat for a while and think like a user. What types of stickers would you like to see in branded content?
How can you include Story stickers to your strategy to boost your engagement?
Here are some tips to consider when choosing the best stickers:
Associate different stickers with different objectives
Stickers can be fun but you can still link them to specific objectives. For example, you can increase the use of hashtag stickers in your Stories to improve your reach and awareness.
The more strategic you are, the easier it gets to justify your decisions to the rest of the team when measuring success.
Learn from your competitors
Who said you can’t find inspiration from other accounts? Whether they are competitors or simply Instagram experts, it’s always a good idea to keep an eye on what others are doing.
It can also help you learn from others’ mistakes before it’s too late!
Test all stickers if possible
There are too many Instagram Story stickers. It’s easy to assume that some of them are not relevant to your brand.
But you can still try them out to validate your assumptions.
Except for the Donation sticker, all other stickers can theoretically be relevant to most Instagram accounts.
How about experimenting with them to find out what works best for your brand?
Make interactions easier
Stickers should facilitate interactions with your followers. No matter what sticker you choose, it should make it easier to connect with your fans.
For example, a quiz or a poll can help you boost your engagement for the day.
How about asking a question to check in on your followers and how they are doing today?
Conclusion
Remember, Instagram Story stickers are not just fun features to use with your friends.
They can be an integral part of your brand’s strategy to connect with your followers while building an authentic presence.
They can even help you stand out through authentic content that is seen by many followers every day.
This article was written for Business 2 Community by Hugh Stephens.
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