It’s Time for part 3 of our Social Media series with:
Keeping up with Instagram Rules
Hello EOL Fam Kirista here with Part 3 of our series on Optimizing your Instagram profile. If you missed part 1 & 2 I teach you all about building your bio and how to create your hashtag strategy, these are the foundation for your profile so if you haven’t already check them out. Part 3 is all about Instagram’s new rules for stories and how you can use them to your advantage. Let’s dive in friends!
Instagram Stories New Rules
Rule #1 Keep things short and sweet – 3-5 stories, no more than 7 is a good rule of thumb so you don’t lose your retention. Girl ain’t nobody got time to watch 35 stories! Keep them engaging and to the point. (An exception to the rule is if you’re documenting an exciting day and you keep adding to your posts ex: A day on the YL farm, convention etc)
Rule # 2 You can only use 3 Hashtags – Gone are the days that you could load your stories with #s – now for them to be visible you can only use 3. This means you really want to make them count! This is where you can use the big guys the million + hashtags (if you don’t know what I’m talking about head to part 2) Instagram is now showing stories in Insta Explorer so this is more opportunity to be found.
Rule # 3 All Hashtags must now be visible. Before you could minimize hashtags, hide them, and change their color to blend in. Not anymore! Instagram got smart and now they require all #s to be visible.
Rule #4 Hone in on a specific location. Head to the square happy face on your stories and click on the LOCATION button, here you can add your location. With Instagram’s new rules it’s better to put in something really specific because instagram will then target a larger area. (confusing I know) You can put your neighbourhood or a specific place you are at.
I hope that was helpful for you. Here is a video showing you each one of these rules in action and what they look like:
I know that implementing changes can feel overwhelming sometimes. If this series is pushing you out of your comfort zone that is a GREAT thing! Our brains are wired to keep us safe, this has a purpose but it can also derail us with our goals and dreams. Pay attention to the tension in your life and move TOWARDS it not away from it. The tension is where the growth is. Keep getting uncomfortable friends!
Now go out there and make an InstaStory!
