Honestly, Instagram stories, in my opinion, is one of the very best personal branding tools you can use in 2020 because not only can you position yourself as an expert, which is super super important, but it allows you to show more of a raw and authentic side of yourself, which in turn will allow you to attract your dream audience and clients.

STOP THINKING THAT YOUR LIFE IS BORING

My first piece of advice is that you need to stop thinking that your life is boring.

One of the biggest blocks that I hear from people around why they can’t post on stories is that they feel like they have nothing to share. And yet, when I ask them what they like to see from other people, the answer is almost always something along the lines of “I don’t know, I kind of like to just see peoples day-to-day.”

Your life seems boring to you because you’re living it. 

So, you really need to start thinking about the fact that your life is not as boring as you think it is and your audience wants to see you living it, especially when your doing thing relevant to your niche or the thing you’re building your personal brand around.

If you’re building a brand around a particular topic and there are certain things you do around your day that are relevant to your niche. Whether it’s the things you’re learning, the conversations you’re having, or the things you’re doing, your people want to see it.  Think behind the scenes.

And, if you’re thinking, I hear what you’re saying by I still don’t really know, I’ve got you. 

THE CONTENT MIND-MAP STRATEGY

This exercise is one that I use in my In-Demand program and ultimately serves as a roadmap for your content. Not even just on Instagram Stories, but throughout your entire business. 

1. So, what you want to do is take your primary niche and put it in the middle of the mindmap. For instance, mine is personal development. 

2. Then you want to start thinking about what all the sub-topics are that are relevant to your primary topic. For me, it could be mindset, social media, business strategy, etc. 

3. Then you want to go around and think about what the sub-sub-categories might be.  For example, for mindset, it might be overcoming limiting beliefs or spirituality.

So then, throughout the day, whenever you are doing anything that is relevant to any of those categories, you know it’s going to be relevant to your primary topic.

It just allows you to expand outside the few topics that may be directly related to your primary niche, into the things that may be more present in your day-to-day.

REMEMBERING TO ACTUALLY POST

So, now you know what to post. Now, it’s a matter of remembering to actually do.

Trust me, this is something so many people struggle with. 

Fact is, Instagram storying is a habit. You need to develop the neural pathways that connect “omg something happened” to “I need to pull out my phone and document it”.

It takes some time to develop, but the more you do it the better you’re going to get at it. 

In the meantime, set yourself 3-4 alarms throughout the day or whenever you are most likely to be doing things relevant to your niche. Essentially you’re just triggering in your mind the memory to actually pick up your phone and Instagram story. 

Set yourself an alarm. Instagram Storying is a habit.

ANYTHING LOOKS MORE INTERESTING WITH CONTRAST

If you take a boomerang, put a few different types of text. 

You could do multiple different colours or text. 

The more contrast you have on your photos, the more interesting they are going to seem. 

Another thing is if you are speaking directly to the camera, you make sure you are putting text on the bottom. You know peoples’ attention spans are really short and if they don’t know what they can expect from your story, they may click out of it. 

So, try and make your images pop as much as possible with different filters and colours, try to make your stories contrast as much as possible, and, again, this is just a habit you need to learn to implement. 

Don’t rush through it. Just slow down a little bit and make the little extra effort to make them look nice.

If the timing isn’t right, just save the image and post it when it is.

TELL MORE ACTUAL STORIES

Think about what it’s called…Instagram STORIES.

Send people along the journey of you and your business. Tell stories by actually facing the camera. 

People want to get to know you, they want to see a little bit of your personality, so don’t be afraid to tell stories. 

People are using Instagram stories to see the behind the scenes of your life, so bring people along that journey with you. But, don’t always just do it with one little image. Explain what you’re doing, explain how you felt, give pieces of advice, etc.

Basically what I’m saying with this tip is don’t be afraid to get in front of the camera.

Again, this is a habit and a skill. So the more you do it, the more you’ll want to do it. So, get in front of that camera.

PRACTICE MAKES PROGRESS

You have to practice. 

You can’t just sit here and watch videos all day, do it for two days, and then give up when it’s not where you want to be.

If you want to get better at Instagram Stories, if you want to get better at anything, you have to stick to it.

Just start putting those stories at there. In fact, I challenge you to put 5 stories out there for the next 30 days (#0530STORIES) and I guarantee you at the end your Instagram game will be 1000% better than it is as this current point and time.

Make sure to share your stories with
me and join our community on Facebook and Instagram – @erinmayhenry, I’ll see you there!