One of my favourite uses of Instagram’s Story feature is to document the behind the scenes of what I’m doing. I see a number of benefits to the occasional behind the scenes personal documentary:

  • A curated view into the behind the scenes adds to your general brand value, as people find out more about what you do and how you do it and how maybe there is more involved than they imagine
  • The stories format disappears in 24 hours, so if it’s not that well edited or created then it lasts for a day
  • You get to do spontaneous and subtle shoutouts to other people you’re working with
  • You have an opportunity to show some personality and spirit

But I’ve got a couple of rules:

  • Keep it short and sweet. Don’t spend 10 stories, 150 seconds, describing how you’re driving to a job. It might even be that 1-3 seconds can tell the whole chapter’s story.
  • Don’t spend the entire day talking to the camera, some of it can be a little more observational or documentary style.
  • When you do talk to the camera, cut the small talk, the long introductions, or the “hey guysssss, welcome back to my channel”
  • Basically, avoid tropes or cliches.
  • But always remember this: imagine your audience are the stupidest people alive but treat them with the upmost respect.

I see a lot of social media content that assumes that everyone has always followed you and will always follow you, and that even if they did already follow you, that they remember all the things you talk about. It’s best to assume that most people don’t care about you. This is a slightly-healthy posture because it deflates your ego and keeps you humble, but also reminds you to reintroduce people and concepts.

An example:

”I’m back working with Jack today” assumes that people know who Jack is, what brand he works for, and what he does.

Instead “I’m back making craft smashed avocado with Jack from the Avo & Smash Co today!”

So the challenge today is to document your day from start to finish, from right now, until you lay down tonight. Find that sweet spot between over-sharing and not-actually-sharing.

Bonus challenge: Share these stories to your Facebook stories as well, and then if you’re feeling even more extra, download them from Instagram and upload to Byte and Snapchat stories as well.