Tips to Create Viral Instagram Stories

Without being a celebrity, you really have to know what you are doing to make your story special. Though it may be challenging to come up with a story blueprint for going viral, it’s certainly worth the reward since viral stories can help you get more profile views, followers, and engagement. To help you master the process, below we’ve included fundamental tips to help you create viral Instagram stories.

What is a Viral Instagram Story?

For the purpose of this post, a viral Instagram story does not have to reap the same traffic rewards as Kim K because everyone has to start somewhere. Instead, think of a viral post as a post that creates a loop of shares, views, engagement, and more followers. Above the scope of your normal audience. For Instance, if you have an audience of 1k followers a viral post will often help you acquire over 1k views, shares, engagement, and oftentimes result in more followers.

Below we’ll outline the different components you should perfect to create viral Instagram stories. These include:

• Post Frequency
• Content Quality
• Increase Visibility
• Get help not hacks

How Often Should You Post Stories?

If you’re familiar with Instagram Stories they are essentially 15-second stories that live for 24 hours unless you choose to highlight them. Unlike posts, stories are often used with greater frequency. For example both Vogue and MTV post at least 5 stories per day on average.

The secret sauce is between 5 – 20 stories per day. If you can create stories at a higher frequency shooting for 20 is a great idea. But don’t forget that the quality of your content should be considered. Creating content your audience will love is essential. Let’s discuss content in greater detail below.

Create Eye-Catching Content

When someone says “create eye-catching content” it’s undoubtedly subjective as every audience is different.  Here are some examples of eye-catching content across different industries.

Marketing Story Example

Sprout Social is pretty great a what they do. In marketing, they are certainly a go-to brand. Below are a couple of examples or stories created by the SAAS company.

Fashion Story Example

@badgalriri aka Rihanna is one of my favorite Fashion / Entertainment accounts on IG. Here avatar is quintessential proof her audience loves her for her and knows exactly who she is. Take a look at some of Riri’s stories below.

Travel Story Example

@travelandleisure shares some visually provoking images of beautiful places around the world. If you’re in the travel industry this is certainly a great account to study.

Business Story Example

@Forbes is a go-to publication in the business industry. Take a look at how the platform showcases its story content.

The key here is to create content based on what is eye-catching or (preferred) based on your specific audience. Design tenets aside quality are subjective based on the people you are trying to reach.

Add Components to Help Boost Story Visibility

Good content alone is not enough to go viral instead ensure you are using all the necessary tenets that will help your content reach the right audience. Some aspects to include to help your stories go viral include:

• Hashtags
• Tag others when possible
• Interesting Text / Captions
• Location Tags

Let address some of these components in further detail.

Hashtags

Hashtags in stories work similarly to hashtags in Instagram post feed. However, users can only use up to 10 hashtags.

For example, @Fedex uses hashtags to help boost discovery during New York Fashion Week

Tag Others When Possible

Whether you are crediting content or mentioning someone in your story it’s a good idea to get into the habit of tagging users as it gives the person tagged to also share or spread the content even further.

Location Tags

Location tags help people within the local area discover your content. For example, New York City Mayor’s office shares Medal Day’s location at City Hall Park.

Don’t forget to do this – Schedule stories to remain consistent, avoid burnout, and reach people at the right time. Scheduling Stories allows you to post when your audience is most active which will increase the chances of your story going viral. You can use Instagram insights to find when the best times are to post.

Get the Help of Other Influencers

Influencers are often considered to be Instagram accounts with a large and loyal audience. If you have a post that you want to share with a larger audience, encourage an influencer to share it. You can do this by tagging the user in your story. If you have multiple influencers you’d like to mention include their branded hashtags. Other tactics you can try to make organic Instagram growth of your stories:

• Get shoutouts from other Instagrammers
• Run Contest in Instagram Stories
• Use an Organic Growth Service Like Ampfluence

It’s important to note that one tactic alone won’t make a story go viral but multiple tactics together will help spread your story.

Final Thoughts on Going Viral

It’s not simple to create a viral Instagram story. However, if you follow the practices above you’ll be well on your way to creating an awesome viral content loop. Don’t forget the practice makes perfect. The key to creating great stories that your audience loves is to post, analyze, and repeat. We hope you enjoyed this post. Be sure to leave a comment below and let us know if you did.