Is your practice using or thinking about using Instagram? Then this post is for you!
Instagram recently unrolled their exciting new feature, Instagram Stories. This interactive feature allows users to share snippets of their daily life with their followers through chronological photo or video “Stories.” Each upload is available for 24 hours, after which time, they disappear forever.  Sound familiar? If your practice is on Instagram and Snapchat, then you’re already ahead of the curve, because, as Instagram unashamedly admits, Instagram Stories is essentially just Snapchat built into Instagram.
Like Snapchat, the new Instagram Stories is a fantastic way to give pet owners a sneak peek into the daily happenings at your practice. Capture quick bits of your clinic, from new patients to behind the scenes with staff to even just sharing the new plant you got for reception. Whatever is happening that day, Instagram Stories is the place to share it. The content should be light, fun, and easily digestible. Don’t worry too much about taking high quality images or videos, the way you would with other social posts. Because the beautiful reality is that everything will disappear in a brief 24 hours!
Ready to try out Instagram Stories? Let’s get started!
Creating an Instagram Story
Step 1. Open Stories by tapping the plus sign in the top left hand corner of the Instagram Newsfeed.
You can access the Instagram Newsfeed by tapping the little house icon in the bottom left hand navigation bar.Step 2. Take a photo by tapping the round button in the bottom middle, or press and hold the button to take a video.
The lightning bolt symbol turns on the flash, and the twin arrows allow you to switch between the front and back cameras. The little Settings symbol in the top left hand corner brings you to a menu where you can decide to hide the story from people and enable or disable message replies.
If you want to upload an image or video instead, you can do so by swiping downwards to reveal your camera roll. You can only select images or videos from the past 24 hours.
Step 3. Next, you can add text or draw on your image to enhance it. You can also swipe right to add a filter.
Step 4. All done? Hit the Upload arrow icon in the bottom center to share!
You can also cancel or even save the image to your phone by hitting the little down arrow in the right hand corner.
Step 5. You can check whether or not people are looking at your Story by opening it and clicking the little up arrow in the bottom center.
Step 6. Don’t forget to interact with your followers by commenting on their Instagram Stories!Â
Armed with this brief tutorial, you’re ready to start using Instagram Stories. Just another way you can connect with your followers on social media and show off how awesome your practice is.
And speaking of connecting, we want to connect with you! Find us on Instagram at @lifelearn_inc. Not on Instagram? No problem! We’re also on Twitter, Facebook, and LinkedIn.
