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3 [FREE] Apps to Take Your Instagram Stories to the Next Level


We’re a big fan of Instagram Stories – both personally and professionally. We’ve also seen that engagement of followers has shifted to stories rather than feeds. Some great stats that help confirm the fact that stories are the new way include: 70% of Instagram  users watch Stories on both platforms daily, there are 400 million users watching Stories on a daily basis and the average brand’s feed is made up of 46% stories and 54% normal posts. So, how do you break through the noise of stories? We’ve found a few FREE apps that do just that! Check ’em out, try ’em out and be sure to tag us (@WIDSIX) so we can see!

Adobe Spark Post

Everyone loves a good GIF (even if you’re still trying to figure out how to pronounce it). Instagram Stories already allows the use of animated and moving text, as they have added a large library of items you can add. But, we bet you did not know you can add your own animated text. Adobe Spark Post is a FREE app that allows you to add custom text (color, size, font etc) and then converts that image in to a 4 second video. From there, you can then upload directly to your story!

InShot

You may or may not have come across an aspect ratio issue. What that means, is, you’ve taken a video or photo using your device camera and when trying to add to stories it cuts it off either vertically or horizontally. This can be a frustrating situation, but InShot is a great tool to combat this! It will convert any size video in to the Instagram worthy 9:16 ratio. Another fun design feature the free app does is that it lets you blur the excess background margins in your vertical video, add a solid color, or import a photo into the background.

PicPlayPost

If pictures are worth 1,000 words, than collages are worth a million. The free app, PicPlayPost lets you turn one photo (or video) in to a mosaic of photos (or videos) all in one. This is a great way to avoid the need to post 3-5 stories about the same thing, and keep the attention of your followers.