How to Brand Your Instagram Stories
It’s no secret that Instagram is a powerful tool in any small businesses’ marketing toolbox. As Instagram has continued to evolve and add features, each one offers unique benefits to your brand. Instagram Stories is a place for you to connect with your followers, organically promote your products or services, and bring your brand to life. What is often forgotten about Instagram Stories is it is also a place for you to build brand recognition. When individuals are swiping through the stories of the accounts they follow, your goal should be for them to know they’ve landed on one of your stories before they even see your username.
Why?? Because this means they have strongly associated your logos, brand colours, and even fonts with your business in their memory. Higher brand recognition generally means higher popularity and therefore higher sales! So no matter which Instagram features you are using, maintaining consistent branding will allow you to stand out from the crowd.
Now that we’ve established the importance of gaining brand recognition, let’s dive into how to you can brand your Instagram Stories, even when you’re on the go!
Create Brand Guidelines
Make conscious choices & stick to them.
Brand guidelines are a game changer when it comes to maintaining a consistent presence on social media. While this is often something brand designers provide, it is also something many small businesses are missing. Think of your brand guidelines like the roadmap for how you will use your brand assets online. In it’s simplest form, this can be a 1-3 page cheat sheet that shows you the visual elements of your brand and how to use them! If you are writing these guidelines yourself, use your website or your most important social media platform as a guide. Which fonts are you using and how? What are your primary and secondary brand colours? What style of photography does your business share and what kind of photos would be considered “not on brand”? This document will become something you can follow as you create content, and is incredibly beneficial when you have multiple team members contributing to your social media.
Follow Your Brand Guidelines Even When You’re On the Go!
Now that you’ve created a roadmap for how to use your brand assets on social media, it’s time to implement them on your Instagram Stories! Often the hardest part of maintaining a consistent look on Instagram Stories is that they are being posted when you are on the go! For this reason, I recommend making choices for Instagram’s in-app colours & fonts ahead of time.
Colours
Wondering how to use your exact brand colours when you’re in the Instagram app? This reel from B Squared Social has great tips!
Fonts
I recommend choosing 1 Instagram Font and sticking to it for all your stories! Instagram has provided us with just under 10 fonts to choose from when typing on the app, and they are each very different! Find the one you believe to be closest to your brand fonts and stay away from switching between multiple.
Stickers
Many brands are now creating their own Instagram GIF stickers which is a great way to brand your stories. If you don’t yet have your own stickers, that’s okay! You can still maintain a consistent brand image by using stickers with cohesive appearances by using stickers with similar colours and style.
Finding it hard to search on Instagram for new stickers? I love searching for sticker packs on pinterest. Simply type in “Instagram GIF Stickers” and pinterest will show you tons of sticker options and exactly what you need to type in Instagram to find them.
Use Templates to Create a Consistent Appearance
One of the easiest ways to ensure your stories look consistent is to create or use templates for regular content. Whether you work with a designer to create templates for your social media, or use apps like Canva or Unfold, having Instagram Stories templates ready to go will allow you to remain consistent without it taking up all your time.
Don’t Forget About Your Stories Highlights
Lastly, don’t forget about Instagram highlights! After creating beautiful and valuable stories for your audience, you don’t want to lose them in 24 hours. Saving them to highlights allows your followers to view them long after their posted. The placement of Instagram highlights however, means it is important to make sure they go with the overall aesthetic of your feed. Highlights show up on your profile before your feed posts do, so they are one of the first things potential followers see when visiting your page. Whether you choose to title them, use illustrations, use your brand colours, or use brand photos make sure they showcase your brand’s visual personality. Here are some great examples:
Looking for inspiration on what kind of content to post on your Instagram Stories? SMC Club is launching a series of videos to walk you through all the features in IG Stories in June!
Written by: Brynn Featherstone of Billie Design Co
Brynn Featherstone is a Brand Strategist & Website Designer at Billie Design Co, a Brand Studio dedicated to helping small businesses find their identity and grow online.