When Instagram launched its story feature, Snapchat fans never thought it would last. However, Instagram Stories have taken over and improved the idea to include face filters, stickers, filters, text overlay, interactive polls and more. Now that you can save stories to your profile, it’s even more important to make sure that you are creating amazing Instagram stories!

Looking to up your Insta Story game? Check out these six ways to create Stories that will leave a lasting impression.

Incorporate Your Brand Colors

The first way that you can create cohesive branding is to regularly incorporate your brand’s colors into your Instagram Stories. Choose photos, filters, drawings, and text colors that align with your instafeed aesthetic and brand image. You can also use the eyedropper tool to match your text and drawings to any colors in your photo!

Add Animated Text with Hype Type

Hype Type is a free app for iOS users to add animated text to photos. You can customize the font, color scheme, and even add music.

Create and Customize with Canva

Canva is another great resource on iOS to create images for your business. Browse through the premade layouts for Instagram Stories for inspiration. You can upload your own images or search Canva’s library for free and for purchase graphics and photos (each are only $1).

Share How-To Screen Recordings

If you want to share how-to videos from your phone, screen recordings are perfect to share on your story. You can show how you edit your photos in Lightroom, scroll through a blog post you’ve written, or share a tip on one of your favorite apps. If you’re not sure how to create a screen recording, refer to this tutorial – and make sure you’re updated to iOS 11.

Bring Images To Life with Adobe Spark Post

Adobe Spark Post is another free app that combines interesting typography with eye-catching animations. The possibilities are endless when it comes to choosing designs and effects!

Add Music with InShot

Videos are a great way to shake up a collection of still photos. InShot allows you to add a soundtrack to your clips. If the video has too much distracting background noise, you can even remove it altogether. In addition, you can change the aspect ratio of images to make them fit on your stories.

What are some of your favorite apps or tips to create amazing Instagram stories? Tag us @digitalbeautyhq if you use any of our tips and we’ll be sure to check out your story!