Not only are one-third of the most viewed Stories from businesses, but also, according to Rival IQ the top 25% most active brands publish Instagram Stories at least 17 times a month.
That means that 1) Instagram Stories are important for social media marketing and 2) you need to post every other day—potentially more than your creative juices can keep up with. Lucky for you, I have curated over 73 creative and cool Instagram Story ideas to tide you over for…well, forever maybe.
Jump to Instagram Story ideas that are:
Creative Instagram Story ideas
Let’s kick off the list with some creative ideas, some of which are on the funnier end of the spectrum.
Be ridiculous
Oatly’s loud (but not obnoxious) visual style is a perfect representation of its brand voice. It’s on a unique mission to shift consumption of animals to plants to help preserve the planet, and what better way to do that than with oat milk carton puppets?
Oatly uses its Instagram Story to promote new episodes of The New Norm&al Show—which uses humor and ridiculousness to spread its message.
Is it ridiculous? Yes. Does it stand out and help support Oatly’s mission statement? Also yes. If you want your message to be heard, you don’t have to be loud—just different.
Here are some more “out there” Instagram Story ideas:
This Instagram Story by KLM Royal Dutch Airlines reads “We’re not too fond of Mondays either, but we’ve got some blues that aren’t so bad…” It then shares a series of hilarious and adorable images of its planes that match with emojis.
Who knew a plane could be cute? There are as many ways to adapt this Instagram Story idea to your business as there are emojis—you could have Stories for weeks!
More emoji-related Instagram Story ideas:
Mixing real photos with graphic illustrations is a growing design trend for landing pages and websites—why not incorporate it into your Story? In the example below by Cypress Avenue Works, we see a photo of one of its dog vests with a graphic of the design used for it overlaid on top.
More mixed media Instagram Story ideas:
Simply Straws’ Instagram Story below is a repost from Pink Over Plastic—literally just a video of a french press being, well, pressed, and the coffee being poured. The caption reads:
“having a wholesome morning… Two ideas here: Repost from accounts that share your audience (both Simply Straws and Pink Over Plastic cater to planet-loving cocktail-drinking women), and tell it like it is. Sometimes a mundane but relatable statement can be equally as appreciated as a templated Story with tips, facts, and stats—especially if you’re hungover.
More relatable Instagram Story ideas:
Thanks to the link sticker, Instagrammers can now share clickable links in their Stories—which businesses often use to send their followers to landing pages, product pages, their homepage, and blog posts. Here are some new post Instagram Story ideas to inspire you.
Hootsuite shares a roundup of it’s blog posts from the week in its Friday Instagram Story. The first frame looks like a push notification on your phone, but it reads “Happy Friday! Are you ready to catch up on our weekly Hootsuite Blog updates?
Use Canva’s Instagram Story templates to scale Stories that perform well and save time with series. And what better series than your latest blog posts?
You can catch our beginner’s guide to Canva (with a video tutorial!) here.
If you share Instagram posts with long captions or a lot of information, add a snapshot of the post in your Story and share a link to the post in your Feed.
MORE >> 45 Creative & Easy Instagram Post Ideas
Businesses can promote their Instagram with any of the ideas in this post, but here are some that are pretty specific to businesses—especially B2B businesses.
If downloadable guides are part of your content marketing strategy, promote them in your Instagram Story. Pull out the most interesting tidbits from the guide and turn each one into a frame.
You can do this with any piece of content you’re promoting, including blog posts, podcasts, videos, and more.
Other content-promoting Instagram Story ideas:
Semrush’s Instagram Story below was published at the end of December and designed to match the new year countdown theme. It reads:
Happy New Backlink Strategy! What a great way to prove your product’s value (it’s one of the best keyword research tools), encourage more sign-ups, and keep it seasonal.
Use an Instagram Story template to create little profile cards of your customers and feature a new customer each week. Adroll does this with its Small Biz Spotlight series. It includes a photo of the business owner, a quote from them, and a link to their Instagram handle.
You can repurpose content from your case studies for this or simply reach out to your customers with an example and ask them to provide their quote—a quick and easy customer engagement strategy that promotes long-lasting relationships.
Just as you can share tidbits from a guide you’re trying to promote, you can also share snippets from your latest podcast. The Skimm does this with its SkimmThis podcast and uses the caption sticker to give its followers a preview.
Pull out clips that will catch readers’ attention or spark their curiosity enough to get them to listen to the whole podcast.
Ideas for sound bites to pull:
Content that promotes your business, that people trust, that you didn’t lift a finger to create? It’s perfect. Repost user-generated content on your Story and you’ll be surprised at how much more of it you’ll see.
Learn how to do it here >> How to Repost on Instagram (7 Different Ways!)
If you want to increase traffic to your website don’t just link to it, give people a reason to go there! Give them a preview of what they can expect.
You can use this Story idea to:
“Cute” doesn’t have to mean babies, puppies, or fashion styles—as we’ve already demonstrated above with the adorable Boeing 747. Here are some more Instagram Story examples that are cute in their approach and design.
Providing useful and practical information is a must for any social media marketing strategy, and there are so many ways to do it. Canva regularly posts Stories where team members share their top tips for different use cases.
Coming from a person makes it more, well, personal—and thoughtful and curated—and puts a face behind the brand. Plus, useful information will land you more quality Instagram followers.
Very similar to the mixed media ideas above. Moment’s “Early Early Spring Sale” Instagram Story shows how just a few hand-drawn (or hand-drawn looking) squiggly lines can add the perfect human touch to your Instagram Story photos.
Who says self-care posts are only for lifestyle bloggers? NPR recently shared a Story created by one of its cartoonists on how to cope with anxiety from the news. How cute is that worried brain?
Instagram marketing 101: Don’t just post, engage and engage back! Here are some interactive Instagram Story ideas to show your followers you care.
You can use Instagram Story polls to get audience insights and feedback or just for plain fun. TripAdvisor’s Story below shares different vacation preferences with a sliding bar scale, then asks its followers to type in where they’re headed in the new year.
More Instagram Story poll ideas:
Just like polls, you can use the question sticker in your Instagram Story in a practical or purely playful way. CarGurus has a new “hot seat” question each week in its Story.
This week’s hot seat question is polarising. What’s the correct way to call shotgun?
More Instagram Story question ideas:
Of course, this is easy if you’re a product like Netflix that makes recommendations, but you can get ideas from accounts like these.
Recommendation ideas for your Instagram Story:
On the flip side, ask your audience for their advice or expertise to remind them that you value their input. And respond to their responses!
Give your followers a chance to get to know you or your business more, or to borrow your expertise with an ask me anything in your Story. Then answer them!
Here are unique ways you can use your Story to promote your Instagram account give your followers a little something different.
Now, not all of us have the budget to travel the world and capture the moments that define humanity, but the idea behind this National Geographic Instagram Story example is to just transport your followers somewhere else for a few seconds—whether that’s behind the wheel, under the water, or literally even behind the handlebars on the stationary bike at the gym.
The Muted Home’s Story below is a repost of its contest winner’s repost of its contest announcement post. If anything you’ll increase watch time as your viewers try to wrap their minds around it.
Mindblown.
If you’re looking for ways to change it up in your Instagram Story, why not just change up the person creating it? Hand over your credentials to someone else for a day and see what they come up with. USA Today did an Instagram takeover with Olympic skier Winter Vinecki at the Winter Olympics, but you don’t have to connect with a celebrity to use this idea.
More Instagram Story takeover ideas:
Last but not least, Story ideas for birthdays.
On your company anniversary, show how much you’ve grown with a series of team photos from each year. Customers like to see not only the people behind the name, but also that your business is growing.
Why not celebrate your customers’ birthdays? Or even their anniversary with your business? It’s a good way to show that you’re on their mind and that you care about their growth! Bonus points if you’re a marketing agency fueling said growth. Make sure you get their permission, of course.
Showing how you’re celebrating your company’s birthday is fun and all, but not very engaging to your audience. Throw in a raffle, contest, or other offer and let them share in the experience.
I won’t list out all 72+ ideas, but here are the “seed” ideas from above for easier remembering and brainstorming.
Entertain and impress your followers with these creative Instagram Story ideas:
Get more engagement with your content with these new post Instagram Story ideas:
Stand out from competitors with these Instagram Story ideas for business:
Add a human touch to your content with these cute Instagram Story ideas
Build an audience with these engaging Instagram Story ideas:
Change things up a bit with these cool Instagram Story ideas”
Celebrate anniversaries with these Instagram Story birthday ideas:
Got any ideas of your own? Share them in the comments below!
Imitate emojis
Mix your media
Be relatably uncreative
…pretending I didn’t rink seven tequila sodas last night.”
New post Instagram Story ideas
Share a weekly roundup
Create a new post template
Link to a Feed post
Instagram Story ideas for business
Promote a guide
Show off your product
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Business spotlight
Promote your podcast
Repost customer Stories
Tour your website
Cute Instagram Story ideas
Share tips from a teammate
Add illustrations to photos
Take care of your audience
Engaging Instagram Story ideas
Poll your audience
Ask open-ended questions
Share recommendations
Ask for advice or recommendations
Ask me anything
Cool Instagram Story ideas
Post immersive video
Repost a repost of your own post
Do an Instagram takeover
Instagram Story birthday ideas
Company culture birthday
Customer birthday
Birthday raffle
The mega list of the best Instagram Story ideas
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