How To Create A Transparent Background In Your Instagram Story And Other Instagram Tricks You Need To Know
The popularity of Instagram is growing. Even years after Facebook has purchased the social network - it is a favorite for many people, and brands.
Why?!? Because it is a visual social network - and that allows people to tell their story and engage with others who share the same brand passions. Also, it is fun!
Instagram Stories are a visual look behind the scenes and color is part of the experience
Instagram users are looking to share their brand on social media and connect with their community - and this platform is currently the top social network to do just that (with our without social media ads). I’ve talked about it before, but even within Instagram, Instagram Stories is one of the best tools for providing that experience.
In my own Instagram Stories, I like to share stories of the behind-the-scenes at my office – a.k.a. my home – or coLAB, the co-working space I work from in downtown Santa Rosa. I also love sharing details of the events I attend (which have drastically dwindled because of the toddler), wines and foods I drink/eat, and now, even more, I am sharing content from other people and adding my own two cents.
I’m also sharing more diverse content on my Instagram Stories – everything from videos of my toddler to the content I mentioned before. I still try to make my stories fit my personal brand though, no matter what the subject of the story is.
My brand passions and brand aesthetic come through in every piece of content I put on social media. And that brand is colorful, fun, personal, but also educational. You’ll see my personal branding through colors and the type of content I share. And visual stories are just as important to branding as tone or personality.
Adding color to your Instagram stories - How you can make a transparent background on Instagram
I love this new Instagram hack I discovered — You may notice I love to add colorful bars right behind the text, ensuring the words stand out a bit more than they would if it were just white text over an image. I’m not even sure where I got the idea from, but it was someone on Instagram who did it first, so I replicated it and made it my own. I mean, let’s be honest – a lot of marketing is just a variation of something someone else has done.
I want to share a quick tutorial on how to create lines for your text in Instagram Stories, as well as a few other hacks for Instagram Stories so you can make them your own.
#1 How to Create Colorful Lines for Your Background for your Text in Instagram Stories
Start off with whatever image or video you want to add to your Instagram story. Then, with the text in the classic mode, add two periods. Click the tab line over and over again (no return here) until they are far enough apart. Add the color background to the two periods and it will become a bar. You can choose to make the background any color you want, and you can pick between a solid bar and a 50% transparent bar.
#2 How to Create a Color Background for Instagram Stories
Sometimes you just want to share text and drawings instead of a photo or a video. Thankfully, Instagram includes a simple feature that creates solid backgrounds instantly.
Capture a picture as you usually would, and then tap the pen icon. Select the color you want to use as a solid background. Next, long-tap on the screen for about three seconds. The image should be filled with a solid background of your color of choice. You can also select the chisel-tip pen (right next to the main pen tip) and repeat the process to create a semi-transparent background.
#3 Mention Other Accounts in Your Instagram Stories
Tagging accounts is a great way to give a shout-out to a business, make sure a friend sees your post, or showcase an account you admire! You can tag a few people, but I don't recommend doing it too much because it can easily become spammy.
I usually tag one or two people when it makes sense; like if I'm at a winery, I will try to tag that winery and ensure that people can see the text so if they want to go visit the winery too, they can.
#4 Adding Hashtags to Instagram Stories
Instagram Stories allows you to include up to 11 hashtags. This is important because now the Stories option is at the top of the feed when someone searches for a hashtag. I have actually received many views just by using the right hashtag.
This is especially important when you mention something that is already trending, like talking about the fires when they happen with #SonomaStrong or #CampFire.
Just like you do with your Instagram feed, make sure the subject matter matches the hashtag.
You can also change up the color on your hashtags so they blend in with the background on the image.
So change up the color to match a blue sky or a tablecloth, etc and then shrink the hashtags down in your Instagram stories so they cannot be seen in the image/video (so they aren’t a distraction - but still provide the hashtag goodness of potentially getting seen by Instagram users searching that hashtag).
#5 Create A Shadow Text in Your Instagram Story
A hack that I don't do very often anymore is creating a Drop Shadow in my text. When done right, it adds a little bit of eye-catching detail. When done wrong, it looks pretty bad.
Write out a short message in your story. Next, tap the “Aa” icon again and write out the exact same message using a different color. (If you are looking to do a plain drop shadow, I like to keep it simple with white text on the top and black text underneath as an actual shadow.) Arrange the top layer of text so that it’s slightly off-center from the bottom layer of text, and there you go!
#6 Using Unfold and Instagram Stories Templates to Create More Fun Stories
Do a Google search for Instagram story templates, and you'll come across a lot of different apps you can use to add more branding to your stories. For a really simple background that looks high-end, I recommend downloading the storytelling template app called Unfold.
You can also create Instagram Story templates in Canva or the app Over on your iPhone. My personal favorite has become Canva Pro for creating Instagram Story templates which is soooooo worth the money (around $10 a month if you pay for a year). Trust me - you will use this design tool for creating all of your social media quote images, stories, videos, etc.
Test out different social media templates to see what works best for your brand, and make sure to stay consistent with style and brand colors once you pick one.
This image below was fun to create, but it wasn’t really my (colorful and playful) branding - so I never used it on my own Instagram Story.
