ig-story
Stories are not a smaller feed. The feed is how strangers find you. Stories are how the people who already follow you decide whether you are a person worth buying from, and they are the only surface on Instagram where a tap turns into a conversation in one move.
Nobody outside your followers sees these, so the job is completely different: depth, not reach.
The daily shape
Three to seven frames a day. Beyond about seven, the tap-forward rate climbs and the last frames play to nobody, which is exactly where people put the ask.
1 THE OPEN something happening today, with a face or a hand in it.
2-3 THE MIDDLE the actual content: the process, the result, the mistake.
4 THE ASK one sticker. Poll, question box, quiz or link.
5 THE CLOSE the answer, the outcome, or tomorrow's setup.
Put the ask at frame 4, not frame 7. Completion drops with every tap and the ask should be seen by the people who are still there.
The stickers, and what each is actually for
| sticker | job | use when |
|---|---|---|
| Poll | the cheapest tap there is | you want volume of response, not information |
| Question box | harvesting the exact words people use | you need content ideas or objections, verbatim |
| Quiz | teaching by letting them be wrong | there is a common misconception in the niche |
| Slider | vibe check | nothing important. Fun, low value |
| Link | the only clickable surface besides the bio | there is somewhere real to go |
| Countdown | a deadline people can subscribe to | a launch, a live, a close date |
| Add yours | reach beyond your followers, occasionally | the prompt is one anyone in the niche can answer |
The question box is the most undervalued one in the list. Every answer is a
caption, a Reel hook or a DM opener written in the audience's own words. Feed
them to /ig-reel as formula #16.
Rules
- A face or a hand in the first frame. Text on a coloured background gets tapped through, and the first frame decides whether the rest get watched.
- One idea per frame. Reading a paragraph on a story is not a thing anyone does.
- Keep text inside the middle. On 1080x1920, nothing above y=250 or below y=1600. The profile row sits on top and the reply bar sits underneath.
- Talk to one person. "You" singular. Stories are the closest thing to a DM that is not one.
- Do not repost your own feed post to stories with no comment. It is the single most ignored frame on the platform. If you are pointing at a post, say what happened in the comments and why it is worth going back for.
- Sell on stories, not in posts. Three frames of context, one frame of offer, one frame of proof. That sequence sells more than a feed post about the same thing and costs you no reach.
The DM funnel, done honestly
The sequence that works: a story that names a problem, a question box or a poll that lets people say "that's me", and then a reply to each person who answered. The conversation starts because they spoke first.
Automated keyword DM replies are a real, supported feature for professional accounts, through Instagram's own tools and approved partners. Bulk DMing people who did not interact is not, and it is what gets accounts restricted. The rule is simple: they act first, then you reply.
Output
The frames in order, each with what is on screen, what is said, and which sticker, plus what to do with the answers:
STORIES · Tuesday · 5 frames
1 [selfie, walking] "Third refund request this year. Same reason."
2 [screen recording] the clause, highlighted
3 [talking] "Approval is a feeling. Delivery is a date."
4 [poll] "Have you been burned by a late approval?" Yes / Not yet
5 [text on photo] "Reply and I will send you the clause."
After: everyone who votes Yes gets a reply. That is the whole funnel.
Nothing is posted. The user posts it.