Although the short-lasting and short-living full portrait videos were first introduced by Snapchat, it was Instagram who made them the game-changer.

It’s been over three years since Instagram Stories recaptured the users’ attention and made rainbow circles the most desired content pieces on social media.

Instagram Stories recaptured the users’ attention and made rainbow circles the most desired content pieces on social media.

While traditional feed scrolling is still there, the most vivid, engaging and interactive things are now happening atop of it. And 500 million active users just can’t be wrong.

What makes these 15-second videos so popular?

Instagram Stories are:

• fun and casual;
• real-time;
• interactive;
• quick to make;
• easy to consume.

Instagram Stories Do Work for Business

Feel hesitant about Stories to be of any value for your business success? Here are some statistical data taken from the Instagram business blog to blow your doubts (and mind) away.

• One-third of the most-viewed Instagram Stories are from businesses;
• 50% of businesses on Instagram worldwide created at least one story during a typical month;
• 96% of US marketers surveyed plan to continue using Stories ads in the next six months.

So, if you haven’t yet ventured into using Instagram Stories for your marketing, today is the best day to start.

In this article, I’ve listed 25 ideas on how to use Instagram Stories templates to quickly create good-looking videos for any occasion and purpose.

Instagram Stories Templates to Entertain

First and foremost, people come to social platforms to get a portion of good vibes. They want to quickly grab some piece of humor or get inspired for the day ahead.

First and foremost, people come to social platforms to get a portion of good vibes.

Stories work great to entertain your followers and give them what they are looking for.

Let’s see how you can do it with 15-second videos using Instagram Stories templates.

1. Video Quote

Visual quotes stand among the most likable and shareable pieces of content on social media platforms. People appreciate your care for their good mood and eagerly re-send these brief and sweet messages forward to their communities.

Pick a quote you like, turn it into a short vertical video and add it as a Story.

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To get more eyes on your content, tag your Story with one of these popular hashtags:

• #MotivationalMonday
• #ThankfulTuesday
• #WednesdayWisdom
• #ThursdayThoughts
• #FridayMood
• #SaturdayVibes
• #SundayFunday

If you’re lucky enough to get your post in a hashtag Story, you can expose your brand to a large audience.

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2. Jokes

Jokes are another type of short-form content that suits well for the Stories’ setup.

Good humor is known to be the greatest means of building amicable connections between people: we always sympathy those who make us laugh.

Post some hilarious puns and gentle jests, and avoid jokes that can harm one’s feelings. Even though a Story will vanish after 24 hours, a sick joke will stay in memory

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3. Meme Videos

Though memes are also a form of jokes, they absolutely deserve being listed separately.

Meme – a piece of content that is copied and/or spread rapidly through the internet. Typically, it’s a visual (image, video, GIF) with text on top of it.

Most commonly, a so-called letterbox effect is used to create meme-stylized visuals. This layout features some space at the top and bottom of the image where captions go.

Here is a template to create meme videos and share them on Instagram Stories:

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4. ‘Thank you’ video

It’s always a good idea to remind your customers how much you appreciate them. No need to loudly sing their praises – a short but genuine thank you video is enough to express the gratitude.

Here is an Instagram Story template that you can customize with your own video message.

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5. Holiday Celebration

When it comes to holidays and festivals, people get excited and united more than ever.

Of course, there are these huge celebrations like New Year or Easter that you, as a marketer, simply can’t pass by. For these big occasions, you launch complex marketing campaigns planned well in advance.

But there is so much more to celebrate in between these giant ones! Niche observances, professional holidays, notable anniversaries, facetious fests and more.

Instagram Stories about these smaller occasions can lighten the mood of your followers.

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Come visit our Social Wave.video Calendar to get 365+ reasons to spread festive vibes on your social platforms every day, all year round.

6. Countdown

And as long as I’ve mentioned big holidays, there is one more idea of how you can use Instagram Stories in anticipation of some big happenings.

A countdown!

Without flooding the feed, count days to the holiday or some other milestone event.

Grow anticipation, create the buzz and engage with your followers every day until The Date.

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Instagram Stories Templates to Promote

Well, we all know that Instagram is not only for fun, so let’s talk businnes. Or fun for business, to be exact.

Instagram Stories can significantly strengthen your promo campaign regardless of what you are pushing at the moment: a special offer, a piece of longer content, an online or offline event.

These short and catchy videos can serve to liaise various content assets of yours and direct the users to the place you want them to land.

7. Sale Promotion 

When you have a sale going on in your store, you want as many people as possible to come by.

The short-lasting format of Instagram Stories allows you to hook Insta-surfers and unobtrusively draw their attention to your clearance.

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8. Special Offers 

Special deals come and go even faster than sell-offs, offering almost no time to delay the purchase.

Post an Insta Story to evoke a sense of urgency around your menu specials, exclusive discount voucher, fast-expiring promo code or alike.

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9. Blog Post Highlights

When you create some significant content assets like blog posts, reports or e-books, make sure to leverage all promotional opportunities to justify the investment of time and effort.

You can promote your longer content by creating a 15-second teaser using Instagram Stories templates like the one below.

Extract some catchy phrases from your blog post and set them in motion by animation effects.

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10. Event Promotion  

To proudly put a ‘Sold Out’ banner on the registration page and witness the full house at your own event, you need to promote that project on all cylinders.

Instagram Stories allow you to warm up your audience and remind people, gently but continuously, to reserve their seats.

Here is a concise list of what you can do to make your followers thrilled about the event:

• Announce agenda,
• Introduce speakers,
• Share sneak-peeks of the talks,
• Show backstage scenes,
• Run tickets giveaway,
• Launch a contest,
• Do a countdown, etc.

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11. Webinar Announcement 

Boost registrations for your online event by announcing it on multiple social media channels, Instagram Stories included.

Create compelling captions that clearly fulfill these points:

1. Date & time,
2. Topic,
3. How to sign up.

Use Instagram Stories templates to quickly replace the sample event details with yours and get a ready-to-use asset.

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12. IGTV Episode Teaser

IGTV (Instagram TV) was the next video disrupter to appear on the platform after Stories.

Launched slightly over a year ago, it completed the list of the supported formats with vertical clips up to 60 minutes long.

So, now you can share your long video tutorials, interview recordings, product reviews or anything else that didn’t suit before due to the limitations on the video length. Yay!

Again, to attract people to your IGTV show, use Instagram Stories and promote new episodes with the shortest Insta-format.

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13. Podcast Promotion  

If podcasting is your main thing, it doesn’t mean that you can take the visual means for granted.

Though the large portion of your target audience is likely to consist of auditory learners, those people first need to discover your podcast somehow. Chances are they are not strangers to visual platforms, e.g. Instagram.

Here is an example of how your podcast promo Story can look like.

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14. Party Invitation

Throwing a big party to celebrate the product launch, the brand’s anniversary or maybe the end of the summer?

Your invitation may get lost in the feed due to the algorithms’ unpredictability.

Duplicate the information in Stories several times and people will notice it! Have a great time with your fans!

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15. Job Opening Promotion

Looking for talents to complete your crew? They might be among your followers.

Post an Instagram Story to notify potential candidates about the opportunity to join your team.

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Instagram Stories Templates to Educate & Inform

Marketers talk a lot about adding value and sharing expert knowledge with followers to build trustworthy relationships with them.

Like any other form of content, Instagram Stories can serve this purpose, too.

Skeptical about delivering something valuable in 15 seconds? Well, don’t judge that fast.

At Wave.video, we truly believe that it is even possible to tell a story in a 15-second video, you just need to use the time wisely. Let’s see what you can use as a stuffing for Instagram Stories templates to make informative and educational clips.

16. Customer Testimonial

Who could better tell about your product if not those who’ve already used it?

Customer testimonials serve as a reliable source of information for your newcomers. Plus, they make your existing users feel needed and appreciated.

Once in a while, ask your loyal customers for a brief review on their user experience. Then jazz up their delighted answers placing them into a template for Instagram Stories.

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17. How-to Video

The 15-second timeframe is more than enough to share a quick how-to video focusing on one narrow topic.

For instance, come up with a short DIY-video or a cooking recipe.

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18. Trending News 

Provide your followers with instant news snippets or insider sneak-peeks that relate to their interests. This is a proven way to cause some buzz among the users and demonstrate your being well-versed in the latest trends.

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19. Short Tips

Listicle videos are beloved by users for relevant info shaped with clear formating. 

Extract some useful bits of information out of your longer video or blog post, turn them into a list of short tips and share as a preview of your parent content.

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20. Curious Facts 

This world is full of wonders so you can find inspiration for this type of Instagram Stories anywhere.

Whatever topic you are looking at, it definitely offers some amazing facts that are worth spreading a word about.

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21. Statistics

People like information displayed in figures, percentages, fractions and other statistical forms because it’s easier to comprehend it this way.

Same as curious facts, stats can be a good addition to your Stories flow.  

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Instagram Stories Templates to Interact

The Instagram team is constantly evolving the Stories feature in the pursuit of making it more interactive and engaging.

Not that long ago, they introduced Questions, and then Polls, Sliders, and Tests. Not only these interactive stickers make a user stop skipping, but also they allow you to speak to your followers and humanize the conversation.

Note! All these interactive stickers are available from the Instagram app only. You can customize one of the Instagram Stories templates to your liking and add the sticker just prior to posting it.

22. Ask a Question

Ask your followers to share their opinion on any topic and add a fillable Question sticker to your Story.

This feature allows you to induce a dialog with users and also covertly get real data from them. If used smartly, it can bring you tons of valuable information about your audience’s interests, concerns, and preferences.

Keep in mind that this is a two-way activity. Thus, be ready to spend time processing the answers, otherwise, your next question might be ignored.

For example, announce the Your-Favorite-Book Day, collect recommendations and then create a Top-10 Recommended Books chart to share with your followers.

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23. Fill in the Blank

This is a another cool way to interact with your subscribers using the Question sticker.

Come up with a sentence leaving a blank space for the users to share their thoughts, views and tips on the subject.

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24. Polls and Surveys

Polls are even quicker and easier than Questions because they give only two reaction options.

Users willingly tap on these buttons because it doesn’t take a lot of their time and they are curious to see the instant results.

True or false? This or that? Yes or no? Engage with your audience with these simple questions.

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25. Prediction  

People adore all sorts of forecasts, predictions, and jocular bets to check on their guts.

If there is some big sports event, raucous music contest, or some other show coming up, let your followers try their luck and predict the outcome.

Create a Story with this template and add a Test sticker with the 3 most probable scenarios.

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Bottom Line 

To sum up, the ways of how you can implement Instagram Stories for your social media marketing strategy are manifold:

• Promote offers,
• Repurpose content,
• Explain your product,
• Share knowledge,
• Exchange ideas,
• Get feedback,
• Start a conversation,
• and many more.

Choose those which are more relevant to your goals and don’t delay taking the action.

I hope this article gives you all the inspiration and tools required to start engaging with your followers using Instagram Stories templates right away!