How to Edit Your Instagram Story In The App Before and After Posting

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Instagram has become the go-to place to promote your brand, products, or services. Creating an Instagram Story is an amazing way to do this.

Whether that’s selling fishing equipment or beauty products. You can promote almost anything on Instagram.
At the time of writing, there are over ONE BILLION PEOPLE that are active on Instagram. With over half, 500 MILLION people using Instagram stories.

Those numbers hit my tiny little mind.

Many businesses are using Instagram Stories to make their content visible. Allowing them to engage with people and their customers.

If you don’t want some permanent on your Instagram Business Account. Stories are a great way to test out different types of content.

With fun things like GIFS, stickers, hashtags, and other cool add-ons. You can try a lot of different things to promote your brand using Instagram Stories.

The downside with Instagram Stories is they take a lot of time to get them right. If you do though, you can get far better engagement than with a standard post.

In the post, I’m going to run through how to edit stories, before and after posting.
Also, how you can create a highlight with them after 24 hours.

How To Edit Your Instagram Story Before Posting

Once you go down the rabbit hole of Instagram Stories, it won’t become boring.

With all the effects that are available, you can spend hours working out the best combination for you.

I’m going to show you the best X features that you can use. To promote your story and to make it more appealing to potential customers.

Use Hashtags To Increase Visibility

More and more social media companies have added hashtags to their platforms.

Hashtags are an amazing way to get your content in front of people that aren’t already you.

Think of it as a way to put your content into a category that people can then search for.

You can play around with different colors. Instagram currently limits the number of color combinations you can have. No doubt they will add more in the future.

One thing to mention. Do a bit of research on a hashtag before using it. You want to check if it’s been used before and how popular it is.

You want your content to get in front of as many people as possible.

A quick way to see if it’s well used is to see if it appears in the ‘suggestions’. If so then that’s a good guess that it will be popular.

Ask A Question Using A Special Sticker

These question stickers are awesome. They allow you to get almost instant feedback from your followers. Or from people who find your content via Instagram Stories.

One thing I recommend is to make sure you keep an eye on any Instagram Story that you have put a question sticker on.

When someone answers the question, you can reply to them.

This is an amazing feature. It gives you the ability to start conversations with people, and build relationships.

Create a Poll Sticker

I love a good poll. I’m always getting suckered into these on Instagram Stories and LinkedIn.

Poll stickers are like the question stickers. But you can direct the answers to get specific feedback.

One of the most common poll stickers is the ‘Yes / No’ sticker. If you to put in place a certain strategy. But aren’t sure if it will resonate with people. You can ask them with a Poll Sticker.

To make it more fun, you can use emojis instead of the ‘Yes /No’ options.

There are loads of possibilities, it’s a case of finding the right one for you.

Use the Location Sticker

If your business is location-specific. This is a great way to let your followers or potential customers in your area where you are.

They can find you on the map. You’re letting your audience know exactly where you are.

I’ve got a friend who runs these escape rooms that have become popular over the last 5 years.

He has 4 locations around the country. When they create content for each location they target people in that area. Not only making their followers and people who live in that location-aware. But also people who may be visiting that area and are looking for something to do.

Emojis

What I like about Instagram Stories is the amount of fun you can have with them.

What’s one of the best ways to express an emotion, or mood, or feeling.

Emojis of course.

They are a simple and effective way to make your posts stand out. It’s a quick way to get a message across in a post too.

The great thing about emojis is you can combine them with polls and other stickers.

Doing this can bring amazing results. It’s a case of figuring out what works best for you and your brand.

How to edit your Instagram Story after posting

People think once you have published a story that’s it, you can’t change it.

Let’s say you have spelled something wrong, or it isn’t exactly what you wanted to post.

Well, you can make some changes. But you can’t change as much as you think. Instagram limit what you can change on a story that you have already published.

Worst-case scenario, you will have to delete the story and publish it again.

So what can you change? To make a change, go to the story you want to edit.
Tap the “More” button and choose “Story Setting”

This will take you to the “Story Controls” where you can change the following

• Choose who can see you story and hide people that you don’t want to see it.
• Choose your close friends. So you can choose a select group of friends or followers to see the story. Known as “private Instagram Stores”
• Select who can reply to your post. You can choose from “everyone”, “only people you follow”, or “nobody”
• Avoid losing an Instagram Story by saving it to a Camera Roll or Archive.

How To Edit A Story Highlight

One cool thing about Instagram Stories, and Instagram in general. Is that you can create Story Highlights.
Instead of losing a Story after 24 hours, you can make them permanent.

This is an amazing way for you to collate a group of Instagram Stories and categorize them.

Story Highlights appear above your posts, below your bio on your profile page.

So when someone views your brand’s profile. They can get an idea of who you are, what you do, and what products or services you offer.

To highlight an Instagram Story

• Go to the story you want to highlight and press the ‘Highlight’ button
• Enter a title
• Choose a thumbnail
• Done

You can edit, remove, promote or delete your highlights at any time

Add A Story To An Existing Highlight.

If you already have a few highlights on your profile. And you want to add another Instagram Story to a particular highlight. Follow the following steps.

• Go to one of the highlights and tap ‘More’
• Choose ‘Edit Highlight’
• Go to ‘Archive’ and select one or more previous Stories
• You can ‘Edit Cover’ and also change the Highlight’s name

Add A New Highlight And Add Multiple Stories To It

If you haven’t used highlights yet. Or feel like the stories you are creating would be better in a highlight. Follow the following steps.

• Go to your Instagram profile.
• Tap ‘+New’ button.
• Select the Stories you want to add to your new Highlight. Or choose one of the Suggested highlights based on location
• Tap ‘Next’
• Name your Highlight and choose your Story cover
• Tap ‘Done’

Don’t forget. Any story that you add as a highlight will be there until you choose to delete them.
Even though the original story has gone. It will appear in the highlight you have added it to.

Conclusion

Instagram has come a long way over the years from its original intention of being a photo-sharing app.

Facebook (now known as Meta) is always adding new features to it.

Instagram is an amazing place to promote your brand. Instagram Stories is an incredible and powerful way to communicate with people. As well as getting feedback almost instantly.

What’s your favorite Instagram Stories feature? Would love to know what you have done with your Instagram Stories that have worked well for you?

Thanks for reading.