Instagram stories are a great way to engage with your followers as a social media manager, and can also work wonders for your clients! But thinking of Instagram story ideas can be tricky!

Use these creative Instagram story ideas to encourage more engagement from your followers:

1. Behind-the-Scenes Snippets

People are nosey, so sharing behind-the-scenes of your business or content creation process can be really interesting for your followers. This authentic approach is a fantastic way to connect with potential clients, as they'll get a sneak peek into what it would be like to work with you.

2. Share how to do something

Stories are great for quickly delivering educational content in bite-sized pieces, so if a new feature rolls out, you can quickly show your audience how to use it. You could even share Instagram story ideas with your audience… talk about Meta!

TOP TIP: Turn your stories into a Reel to reach even more people!

3. Success Stories

We'd recommend regularly sharing testimonials or success stories to build credibility and show the impact of your work. But don't restrict yourself to formal testimonials, screenshots of nice comments, emails or messages are just as powerful (sometimes more).

4. Interactive Q&A Sessions

Using the question sticker for live Q&A sessions makes your followers feel valued and engaged. Be super strategic by asking questions to highlight people who might need your help in the future and then follow up personally with useful resources or advice.

5. Polls and Quizzes

Polls and quizzes are a brilliant way to quickly generate engagement. We love to ask a question that highlights a problem in a poll and then deliver the solution to the problem in the next story, often by sharing our latest post or podcast episode. Polls are also the perfect way to gather valuable insights to validate future offers or services.

6. Build anticipation for your next posts

Teasing upcoming content is almost like creating a trailer for your next post to keep followers excited, and it can work really well. Think about adding a reminder sticker for your best new content.

7. Podcast Recommendations (we've found great recommendations in Instagram Stories!)

You already know people are nosey, but they also love to get recommendations. Sharing what you're listening to, along with any highlights or insights, is a brilliant way for people to get to know you. Don't forget to add the link!

We always remind people to listen to our podcast on our stories!

8. New Client Onboarding

How's this for Instagram Story ideas… Share how you are welcoming new clients and what the process looks like. It is a brilliant way of building confidence with potential clients, think of it like an unboxing! You could show what happens when people complete your application form, take people behind the scenes of your onboarding kit, explain how your first week looks etc.

9. Other People's Content

You'd love it if someone else shared your post, right? So, sharing someone else's content is a brilliant way to not only serve your own audience but also get on the radar of a new connection.

10. Highlight Your Freebie

If you're not using your stories to promote your lead magnet regularly you are missing a trick. You need to move your Instagram followers to your email list – you don't own your Instagram audience and are putting your business at risk without an email list.

Stuck on ideas for your lead magnet? There's a whole bunch of ideas here.

11. Promotional stories

Use your stories to regularly keeping your audience informed about how you can help them and announce availability for new clients. People aren't mind-readers, so you HAVE to make sure you are creating promotional content, and using stories as part of your launch strategy is a great idea.

And there you have it, a cocktail of Instagram story ideas that are sure to jazz up your feed and keep your audience coming back for more. Whether you're serenading them with the sweet tunes of your day-to-day or dazzling them with sneak peeks and sparkly quizzes, your Instagram stories are a vital piece of the puzzle when it comes to building relationships with your followers.