Instagram stories is one of the most popular features on Instagram. I have friends who just sit around on Instagram and look through stories all day– I don’t think I’ve ever even seen them check through their newsfeed!
It’s almost impossible to even remember Instagram before stories were around. It’s no doubt that today, almost all users have experimented with IG stories and many users have learned how to leverage stories to their advantage, whether it be to expand reach, market products, connect with followers, or promote engagement.
This popularity comes with benefits. There are 500+ million users of Instagram stories daily, and 90% of users follow a business on Instagram. Using stories to expand reach is absolutely necessary in any IG marketing plan!
One of the best things about Instagram stories is that they are totally customizable, and you can experiment with your own personality by adding stickers, polls, music, locations, gifs, and more. You can even be creative by posting multiple stories that coincide and create Instagram story masterpieces. If you’re wondering how to change your Instagram story background to help you foster that creativity, there’s a super easy hack that you’ll be shocked you didn’t know about already!
It seems counter-intuitive, why would I need to change my Instagram story background? When you choose a photo to add to your Instagram story from another Instagram post or a photo from your library that doesn’t fit the screen completely, the app auto-populates a background color based on the colors found in the image; it will either put a gradient color or a solid color, but perhaps the color chosen isn’t exactly what you envisioned.
If you find yourself dissatisfied with this auto-selection, or want the freedom of creativity, follow this simple step-by-step guide to find out how to change the background color.
Step 1: Add to Your Story From a Post or Story Mention
To begin the process, you need to add a photo, post, or a story mention to your story. We’ll try with a post from another account. This hack also works when someone mentions you in their story, and you want to re-share it to your own. Once you have the post or story ready to go on your story, it will look like this:
Step 2: Use the Scribble tool
Now, at the top right of the screen, you can see a little scribble tool. Click that, and then it will open another menu with markers at the top. Click the first one on the left, and then select a color at the bottom of the screen. Once you select the color, press and hold your finger on the background of your story, and voila! You will see the new color appear.
If none of the colors at the bottom suit your image, use the grabber tool in the icon at the far left to select a background color from your image, then long press on the background again and your color will appear as the background.
That’s it! Now let’s take a look on how to change the background color if you’re using the “create” screen and no photo.
Using the Create Screen
If you’re using the create screen and don’t want the standard gradient, Instagram offers you a variety of gradient options to choose from. You can access them by clicking on the text icon that appears at the bottom of the screen.
After clicking on this icon, you will see a new screen appear with a circle at the top left of the screen. This is where you can access the other elections of gradients that Instagram offers, as well as a solid black or gray background.
If you’d like to choose your own color, you can follow a similar process as the one we did with the post photo. Click the scribble icon on this same screen, select the marker icon to the far left, and select your color from the bottom of the screen.
And there you go! Now you have a variety of options on colors for your “create” story.
Adding from Camera Roll
If you want to add a photo from your camera roll and change the background the same process will change the background, but the color will cover your image.
When this happens, you can use the eraser tool at the top of the screen (far right icon) to erase and reveal the part of your image that you want visible.
After erasing and revealing your image, you can add text, stickers, GIFs and more to add character to your image.
The second option is an overlay; if you have your photo uploaded from your camera roll, you can use the highlighter icon (3rd icon from the left at the top) to create an overlay. Simply select the color you want to overlay and long hold the screen. It will apply an opaque color overlay.
This is a great feature if you’d like to add some text or information with your photo background!
So, there you have it. Now you can add an extra layer of customization to your posts by changing the background color on your Instagram story. By using a mixture of these tools on Instagram, you can create vibrant and captivating Instagram stories that intrigue your followers. It’s great to know that you have a variety of options to make your Instagram stories more lively and more diverse.
Remember, Instagram stories are a vital part of marketing and building reach on Instagram. Don’t underestimate the power of creating consistent Instagram stories to peak interest in your content, business, products, or services via Instagram. It’s also a great way to add in a poll for your followers to see what content they love to see or get their feedback, or even just to get to know them a little better. In this case, using photos with the opaque overlay is a great option.
Are there any other strategies that you love to use to make your Instagram story posts unique and attractive? Drop us a comment and let us know!
