Utilizing Features 3: Stories
Why Stories
Instagram Stories are one of the most unique options the platform has to offer. Recently, Stories are becoming an integral part of the app and a key mode of interacting with audiences on the app. Instagram Stories allow users to combine any/all of the Instagram options (photos or videos) in a series of posts that are available to be viewed for 24 hours. The idea is to provide your Instagram followers a glimpse at your life/your institution in the moment. People typically create Stories when they are attending an event, to showcase a day-in-the-life, or to share information in a chronological fashion.
Instagram Stories have changed the way most viewers utilize the Instagram app. When you open the Instagram app, the first thing you will see, on the top bar of the app, are all of the Stories uploaded by people you follow. Stories are designed for easy-viewing. Any Instagram-viewer can click on your Instagram icon and start tapping their finger to advance through your story.
Instagram Stories can be especially important for cultural heritage institutions, as their short lifespan (24 hours) means you can constantly engage with your audience in new ways.
Interesting Stories demand attention and give Instagram viewers a reason to return to your profile on a daily basis. Like every other feature, the way you utilize Stories will depend on your Institution’s mission and your social media identity. Instagram Stories published by a museum dedicated to social advocacy will likely look very different than Stories published by a natural history museum. One institution may choose to post a series of short videos taken at a public program, while another institution may choose to post a series of static images with text to provide the reader a glimpse into the institution’s latest research.
Utilizing Story Features
There are countless ways to utilize Stories, but we will focus our survey by returning to our example of the Unreal Museum. Using our example, I will explain the steps involved when posting a story, but I will also show the potential your institution can unlock by using Stories. This feature can transform your Instagram account into a digital destination, an Instagram account that viewers commit to visiting regularly. By publishing relevant and provocative content daily, you can build a loyal online following that will potentially frequent your institution and support your programming.
The first step to adding content to your story: go to your Instagram profile, and tap the blue plus-mark next to your profile image (see image below):
Once you click this icon, you will see a variety of different options on the bottom of your screen. Using our example, I will explain the opportunities to utilize each of these features:
Curating Stories
Clearly, one of the big appeals with Stories is the fact that they are only available for a limited time. The content is responsive and in-the-moment and there is a sense of urgency to watch the content before it disappears. It might seem counter-intuitive, but there is a way to publish expired Story content. Once you have uploaded Stories to your account, a new option will appear on your Instagram profile to “Highlight” content from your Stories. If you use this feature, you can select images and videos that were featured in your Story and then group these images/videos in different collections.
Take the ROM for example. On the Museum’s Instagram page (see below), there are several Story highlights categorized in different topics (e.g. “Nature,” “#DinoZuul,” “Art”).
Uploading Story highlights is obviously not mandatory, but this feature allows you to literally highlight some of the programs, exhibition, and content created by your institution. You shouldn’t use this feature to re-post every image that was ever included in a Story, but rather to give viewers a taste of content they may have missed. These Story Highlights can also be a way to succinctly showcase what matters most to your institution. To return to the ROM, the different collections of Highlights give the viewer a taste of what matters to the museum, from art to programs to exhibitions.
Even though Instagram Stories present your perspective in-the-moment, this feature can present a lasting impression about your institution and demand that visitors come back every day to see what you have to say.
Instagram Stories are one of the most unique options the platform has to offer. Recently, Stories are becoming an integral part of the app and a key mode of interacting with audiences on the app. Instagram Stories allow users to combine any/all of the Instagram options (photos or videos) in a series of posts that are available to be viewed for 24 hours. The idea is to provide your Instagram followers a glimpse at your life/your institution in the moment. People typically create Stories when they are attending an event, to showcase a day-in-the-life, or to share information in a chronological fashion.
Instagram Stories have changed the way most viewers utilize the Instagram app. When you open the Instagram app, the first thing you will see, on the top bar of the app, are all of the Stories uploaded by people you follow. Stories are designed for easy-viewing. Any Instagram-viewer can click on your Instagram icon and start tapping their finger to advance through your story.
Instagram Stories can be especially important for cultural heritage institutions, as their short lifespan (24 hours) means you can constantly engage with your audience in new ways.
Interesting Stories demand attention and give Instagram viewers a reason to return to your profile on a daily basis. Like every other feature, the way you utilize Stories will depend on your Institution’s mission and your social media identity. Instagram Stories published by a museum dedicated to social advocacy will likely look very different than Stories published by a natural history museum. One institution may choose to post a series of short videos taken at a public program, while another institution may choose to post a series of static images with text to provide the reader a glimpse into the institution’s latest research.
Utilizing Story Features
There are countless ways to utilize Stories, but we will focus our survey by returning to our example of the Unreal Museum. Using our example, I will explain the steps involved when posting a story, but I will also show the potential your institution can unlock by using Stories. This feature can transform your Instagram account into a digital destination, an Instagram account that viewers commit to visiting regularly. By publishing relevant and provocative content daily, you can build a loyal online following that will potentially frequent your institution and support your programming.
The first step to adding content to your story: go to your Instagram profile, and tap the blue plus-mark next to your profile image (see image below):
Once you click this icon, you will see a variety of different options on the bottom of your screen. Using our example, I will explain the opportunities to utilize each of these features:
- Type: This options allows you to superimpose writing on top of an image. Although this option seems extremely straightforward, this can be an opportunity to engage with viewers in a simple and catchy way. For example, the Unreal Museum is dedicated to showcasing fictitious characters and worlds to understand real-world issues. A simple use of text could be a current news headline with the hashtag “#FactorFiction.” Hashtags are catchy tags that allow viewers to engage with content at-a-glance, and they also help people find your posts by searching trending hashtags. You can also use stickers and other fun visuals using this feature, which may be more appropriate for some museums and less appropriate for others dealing with more serious content. .
- Live: This feature can be extremely useful for cultural heritage institutions. By using the “live” feature, you can film a video and your Instagram followers will be notified that you are live as you are filming. You can ask questions for your followers that you can then answer while in live-mode, or you can show your viewers an event or activity as it happens. For example, at the Unreal Museum, a science fiction author is visiting the museum to donate some of his original manuscripts. By posting a Live story, the museum is allowing all of its followers an inside look at the new objects in the collection. This feature is so important for institutions, as it allows museums to give their audience a new type of access and connection to the institution. Museums are constantly struggling to remove barriers for visitors, and simple actions like a Live Story can create intrigue and give the viewer a sense of access and inclusion. .
- Normal: As the name suggests, this feature allows you to take a still image (using the front-facing or outward-facing camera) and post it to your story, just like a regular picture upload on Instagram. What is different about posting an image to your story? The sense of spontaneity and temporality. Since Stories only last 24 hours on your account, there is a sense that the content is more in-the-moment than your more curated Instagram uploads. Returning to our example of the Unreal Museum: the museum is dedicated to finding connections between fiction and real-world events, so the Museum might upload an image of a fictitious character that is relevant to the news that day. For example, on February 18thnews broke about the resignation of Gerald Butts, the principal secretary for Prime Minister Justin Trudeau, amidst accusations of corruption. So the Museum might upload a photo of Catherine Durant, a character from House of Cards known for being a corrupt secretary of state. The timely content is a way to engage with visitors in a relevant fashion, and command intrigue from visitors on a daily basis. Other museums can use a similar strategy to engage visitors. For example, the Canadian Museum of Human Rights could make their Instagram account more of a digital destination by posting content about human rights news, rather than simply using the account to update visitors about new exhibitions. .
- Boomerang: As mentioned in the earlier post, Boomerangs can be a fun way to capture a small movement and provide more visually stimulating content. Boomerangs are most successful when the small movement appears interesting when viewed on loop. For example, if the Unreal Museum wants to showcase a new exhibit being installed, they could post a Boomerang of a wall text being installed. Even though this may not sound interesting in writing, the small gesture could add some lively movement to your institution’s Story. Boomerang, like all features, should be used carefully. A museum dealing with serious subject matter, like human rights, may not want to use this feature as it adds a sense of playfulness that may not be appropriate for the content. .
- Other “Fun” Features (Focus, Rewind, Hands-Free, Superzoom): Like Boomerang, these features give a fun spin to a typical image and/or video. From the “focus” which zooms in on your subject, to “rewind” which plays videos in reverse, these features can allow for playful and visually intriguing content. These features should be used sparingly, especially if you are trying to give your institution’s Instagram account a sense of seriousness.
Clearly, one of the big appeals with Stories is the fact that they are only available for a limited time. The content is responsive and in-the-moment and there is a sense of urgency to watch the content before it disappears. It might seem counter-intuitive, but there is a way to publish expired Story content. Once you have uploaded Stories to your account, a new option will appear on your Instagram profile to “Highlight” content from your Stories. If you use this feature, you can select images and videos that were featured in your Story and then group these images/videos in different collections.
Take the ROM for example. On the Museum’s Instagram page (see below), there are several Story highlights categorized in different topics (e.g. “Nature,” “#DinoZuul,” “Art”).
Uploading Story highlights is obviously not mandatory, but this feature allows you to literally highlight some of the programs, exhibition, and content created by your institution. You shouldn’t use this feature to re-post every image that was ever included in a Story, but rather to give viewers a taste of content they may have missed. These Story Highlights can also be a way to succinctly showcase what matters most to your institution. To return to the ROM, the different collections of Highlights give the viewer a taste of what matters to the museum, from art to programs to exhibitions.
Even though Instagram Stories present your perspective in-the-moment, this feature can present a lasting impression about your institution and demand that visitors come back every day to see what you have to say.
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