Do you know your stories from your highlights? Your showcases from your boomerangs? I hope you’ve brought your lightsaber because this 5-step guide will take you from a #SocialPadawan to a #DigitalJedi on Instagram!

You’ve passed stage 1 of your training. Now #SocialPadawan come forth and take the next step to stage 2 and become a #SocialDroid.

STAGE 2: #SocialDroid

In stage 1 you shared your first photo post. Did you know that you can also share posts in a different way… Introducing Stories. This feature allows you to share your content out in a way that is only visible for 24 hours. Once this 24 hours have passed, your story will disappear from public view and not appear on your feed like a normal post. You can make further use of these stories after the 24 hours, we’ll find out more in part 3 of your training. But how could you make use of stories in your #SchoolMarketing? With over 500 million people using stories every day, it’s well worth making use of these.

In stage 1, we described Instagram as your vanity platform; a place in which to share your best and most beautiful photo and video content. Well, Stories is the place where you can share out the other content. Here are some great ways in which schools could use IG Stories:

• Build-up to an open day (photos of the grounds, videos of parents arriving, set-up of event).

• Clips from sports events.

• Build-up to school events (concerts, performances, etc).

• Science experiments (What’s more exciting than fire and chemical reactions?)

• How about a short virtual tour of your school?

• A short video promoting your latest school blog?

The possibilities are endless! If your school has used IG stories in a different way, we’d love to know! Leave us a comment below.

In stage 1, you shared a photo. Take it a step further and upload a video! Videos uploaded directly to Instagram can have a maximum length of 60 seconds. Did you know?! There is an 80% year-on-year increase in video posts! With a statistic as high as this, it’s vital that you include videos in your #ContentStrategy. Some ways in which we’ve seen schools use videos on Instagram:

• Student-led videos promoting an upcoming production.

• Drone videos of the school grounds.

• Open day promotion videos.
  

Uploading a beautiful photo that you want to share with your audience on Facebook, Twitter and Tumblr? Instagram allows you to share your content seamlessly across these platforms. However, as social media platforms have different audiences and demographics, there is no one-size-fits-all answer to content sharing. Try to use different media across platforms to avoid sharing the same stories on all platforms. If you have more than one photo, use a different photo on Twitter, FB, etc. Or  if you do not have another photo, simply change the caption. Make sure you use the correct tagging as each platform has different tagging guidelines.

BONUS TRAINING!

You’ve been posting beautiful photos and your Instagram page is #OnFleek! Ever taken a panorama shot?! We’ve all seen those nightmare panoramas with people appearing twice and with 3 legs… But if used correctly, this can produce some stunning results. The problem with posting these on Instagram is that the aspect ratio is taller than most panoramas. However, if you use a free tool to split your image up, you can post out a scrolling set of images of your school grounds.

That is the end of Stage 2 but just the beginning of your training, young #SocialDroid. Stay tuned for step 3 tomorrow to take a big step up to #DigitalKnight. The next stages will include some of our TOP tips to drive engagement and interesting advanced features to Instagram that you didn’t even know existed!