Storytelling is incredibly useful not only when it comes to books but also in social channels like LinkedIn, Youtube, Twitter, TikTok, Facebook and Instagram. It is especially powerful when it comes to sharing a narrative and getting other people to react and engage in your story.
The structure of a good story is still the same when it comes to telling a story through different social media platforms. However the length is something that differs from a work of literature. Instagram also has a maximum length of 2,200 characters for their captions. Even though you have a limit of 2,200 words, the owner of Facebook and Instagram, recommends using no more than 125 characters. 125 characters is recommended as that is how much you can see on the display without scrolling.
When looking into storytelling and especially when trying to find out how words can help give a single picture a meaning, Instagram was one of the first mediums I started to think of. Instagram is a wellused platform to reach out with a story to a large population, therefore it is an amazing tool to analyze regarding this topic. On Instagram you basically post one or several photos/videos together with a caption or description. It is a medium that is not only used by companies to reach out with a story, but rather used by the citizens. It is a good tool for updating your followers about what is going on in your life but also for marketing.
There are several sites about how to use Instagram as a storytelling tool and brilliant examples of visual storytelling on Instagram. This tool is really powerful when it comes to storytelling through pictures and you will get a fast response on how well your story is told. Because of the limit of characters it is important to know the fundamentals of storytelling. Desiree Johnson, who is a Content Writer at Bitly, writes in the article Instagram Character Limit in Post, Caption, & Comment how to make the most of your Instagram character limit. These are her best tips when using Instagram as a tool for storytelling,
- Tell a story – Stories encourage engagement. Set the scene. Invite further inquiries.
- Pose a question – Asking a question is the simplest way of engaging without using up too many characters.
- Invite action – Use a call-to-action in your posts. For an external link, try out a shortened, branded social media link from Bitly.
- Save for hashtags – Hashtags expand your reach far more than your words. When writing, make sure you leave enough space to add in some hashtags.
- Get the perfect image – You can have the greatest caption in the world, but if you don’t have the perfect image, you’re not going to get anywhere. Save the fancy language for Facebook. Instagram is all about images.
