Instagram Stories Prompts for Interior Designers + Architects
I’ve already shared a post with hundreds of ideas of what to post on your Instagram page and other social media accounts.
You can read that post here if you haven’t seen it.
And today I’m sharing a list of ideas for your Instagram stories.
Lots of people are lazy with their use of Instagram stories and don’t use them to their full advantage.
But Instagram stories are where the real magic happens on Instagram! It’s where you can post more spontaneous, real, behind the scenes content and where your community can really get to know you better.
There’s heaps of opportunity to grow a strong connection via your Instagram stories and so the prompts for your stories are a little bit different to the prompts I suggested yesterday for the posts your put up on your page.
How to use the prompts
Use the prompts in this post to help come with ideas of what to post on your Instagram stories.
For Instagram Stories I suggest you have a mix of both pre-planned and spontaneous content.
A few tips to remember about Instagram stories:
stories only last 24 hours so don't overthink what you put up!
less polished is best on stories - it's a great place to build connection and be a bit more fun
show your face on your stories as much as possible - let your community get to know you
mix up your content - include a range of different types of content (e.g. videos, images, sharing other people’s content)
use the features that Instagram offers you (e.g. add stickers, links, polls, images, gifs etc.) - give people the opportunity to engage
try to post multiple times throughout the day (I suggest around 6-8) - keep your community up to date with what you are up to. They want to get to know the real you!
use the Stories highlights area to collate collections of your best stories and to highlight what your business offers
don’t just use stories to share your latest post!! Boring! 🥱
Instagram Stories Prompts for Interior Designers + Architects
Here’s some prompts for what you can be creating on your Instagram stories….
Do a ‘day in the life’ in your stories – adding a new story every few hours with an update of what you are doing that day
Give your audience a quick tip about something you’re working on - get in the habit of creating a story if you’re doing something you think people might be interested in.
Share a review/testimonial from a client – either as a quote or even better as a video they record for you on their phone.
Share a round up – e.g. of your 10 favourite suppliers, bedrooms, IG accounts etc.
Share behind the scenes content - people LOVE this – for example:
supplier visits
shopping trips
how you spend your time when you’re not working
site visits
in your office or how your office/desk is set up
Share some images/video from a site visit
Share a photo of your workspace/office
Use stories to drive people to your core content (e.g. blog, YouTube, podcast) – if you have the swipe up feature then add the link to the content
Use the questions sticker in your IG stories to get people to submit questions they would like you to answer. Collect these up and answer them in future posts
Use the location tag in your IG stories to get found by more people
Use 3-5 hashtags in your IG stories to help your post get discovered
Use stickers and GIFs in your stories to make them more fun
Add music to one of your stories clips
Use the poll feature and ask a question for your audience to answer
Offer an exclusive offer only to people in your IG stories and get them to DM you for details. Make it a limited time only to encourage them to take action
Use the emoji slider sticker
Share a tip from a tradie or supplier from a site visit (better still ask them to be in a video for you!)
Share your favourite guilty pleasures (let people get to know you) – e.g. Netflix show, wine, food
Use the DM me sticker
Share a photo/video of you participating in your favourite hobby (get to know you post)
Use the poll sticker
Before and after images of projects that may not be quite at a level you would want to share on your website or Instagram page
itself
Share a book you’re currently reading or podcast you’re currently listening to
Talk about a new product or service you are offering
Use the questions sticker – ask your audience something you might need to know (good for market research!) or ask them something to get them engaging with you (e.g. have a question about bathrooms? Ask me anything!)
Share a post that someone else has tagged you in on their stories (good for social proof and also to give the other person some additional exposure)
"How to" videos or tutorials – bite sized pieces of educational content that is both entertaining and helpful. You would have endless examples of this when you are working on site or with clients – things like how to lay out a mood board, how to think about a bathroom design, what height to hang a vanity, how to style a bed, how high to hang a picture…there’s literally an endless supply of this sort of content. Brainstorm 20 ideas to start with as this will help give you lots of things to get going with (you can do this on the next page!)
Announcements – e.g. if you have a new product or service you are going to be offering, if you are pre-launching something, to remind people about your design services. Don’t do this often as it can be spammy and you want to be helpful! But it’s totally fine to use your stories for this
A quiz – this is great if you want to find out more about your audience and people generally like to give you their opinion on things. You can use the poll sticker for this.
Collaborations – e.g. do a Q&A with one of the suppliers you use regularly and cover the main things people ask about
Contests, competitions or give-aways – partner with one of your suppliers and do a give away of one of their products.
Go Live on Instagram Live – for example:
Go live from a site visit and share everything that has been happening
Go live from your car after a client meeting and share a tip that you think people would benefit from learning
Have an interview with someone – e.g. client, supplier, trade – and share
Family or other content to let people get to know you. Don’t spam with family posts but if something seems authentic to your brand and is worth sharing to help them get to know you then go for it!
Add captions to your stories to increase the number of people who watch (most people look on Instagram with their sound off) - you can use the captions sticker for this
Templates – this has been a trend going around for a while now. You put up a branded template and your audience can screen shot and fill this out on their own story. This is great for brand awareness if people complete it and post it up while tagging you.
Share a quote or something that you find inspiring
Share a countdown using the countdown timer sticker - e.g. to a launch, event or even Instagram live you have coming up
Give a shout-out to an account you like – share a post you have enjoyed to your stories
If you have enjoyed this list and found it helpful then you may also like to grab my free PDF resource. In this PDF I have collated hundreds of ideas for what you can post on your Instagram page or other social media accounts.
No more excuses for not being more consistent with posting on your Instagram stories…I hope this list of ideas is helpful!
Courses and Templates for Designers and Architects
DO YOU WANT TO….
Improve your professionalism?
Find more clients?
Bring in more revenue?
Create better systems and processes?
Then check out my business courses and templates for designers and architects.
These courses and templates leave you with work done - not just a long list of things you need to do next. We have a really strong focus on taking action and getting things created that improve your business.
Enjoy the rest of your day!
Clare x
Dr Clare Le Roy
