1. Too much text and poor design
People don’t watch Stories to read a lot to understand their meaning. Learn to be succinct by being concise and clear. Make sure to style your text appropriately to make it legible: it should have a notable contrast with the background. If you can’t achieve it, add Instagram fill.
2. Chaotic Stories with no logic
Stories are for sharing experiences. Take photos and videos during the day and create a short Story out of them. Organize Stories into blocks: one block of Stories about one topic, then another one — with Stories on a different topic. If you do so, viewers will see the entire set without interruptions. It is particularly helpful for disappearing 24-hour Stories. Your new viewers will see the entire block — and will not have to watch from the middle.
3. No new angles
You need to keep users engaged. Don’t post too much talking-head content and change the format: different photos and videos, selfies, boomerangs, collages, time lapses, different angles, and objects — then users won’t get bored.
4. Endless reposts and screenshots in Stories
If you want to share the feedback you’ve received, choose only the best comments and share them. Don’t overuse it and post 1-3 feedback comments at a time, or users will exit your Stories — better add all feedback to Highlights for interested people to see.
5. Aggressive sales warm-up
People don’t like to get persuaded to buy something or use a service. That is why an aggressive warm-up won’t do you good. It is better to share information about your product step by step — by telling users why you create your product, how it helps people and why you are proud of your work.
6. Too many Stories
When users immediately see too many Stories to watch, they are likely to drop out at the very beginning or in the middle — do not overdo it. Aim for 1-2 Stories a day: it is no more than 15 story frames.
Summary
- Less text in stories: brevity is the soul of wit.
- Share stories and let the narrative be logical.
- Constantly change angles and formats.
- Post fewer screenshots with feedback: use only the best ones.
Add several multiple links to Instagram instead of one — to your goods and services pages, promotional campaigns and special offers, or other social media accounts.
