How to Create a Mini Photo Album in an Instagram Story

After a season of family celebrations or a holiday vacation, many of us might want to to tell the story in a photo album. We like to take them off our shelves, turn the pages, gaze at the memories, then share them with family and friends through the years.

Then the onset of social media gave us yet another outlet for sharing our stories with photos.

If you’re using Instagram, you might post a few photos on your feed, but perhaps you haven’t considered the idea of creating a “social media scrapbook” using Instagram Stories.

You’ve probably seen Stories – they are the colorful circles at the top of your Instagram feed. You can tap on them to view someone’s photos or videos.

My daughter-in-law Nicole recently posted a photo story celebrating the sixth-month anniversary of their wedding day. I loved the creative way she told the story of their day with photos.

In this post, I want to pass along the inspiration and the process for creating an electronic photo album using an Instagram Story.

Why You Might Consider Creating an Instagram Story

I enjoy perusing people’s Instagram photos (and occasionally posting some of my own), but I confess that I haven’t spent much time using Instagram Stories.

But the style and effect of an Instagram Story like Nicole’s is different, and it is worth trying this approach on your own.

Instagram Stories are a growing trend and offer unique differences from the typical image posts.

With a Story, you can:

• Post unlimited photos and videos in that “album.”
• Add text, effects, and embellishments to photos and videos.
• Tag friends in your Story.
• Share your story with a group of close friends, instead of all of your followers.

The millennial generation helped stories take off, but Instagram account holders of ALL ages are getting the hang of using Stories, and so can you!

Ways to Create and Edit Your Story

To create an Instagram Story, tap the circle on the top left corner of your home screen (or the circle at the top of your Profile) that says “Your Story.”

From the blank screen you see next, there are couple of ways to post a Story. The first is to tap the large white circle at the bottom of the screen to take a photo or video, then upload and edit them on the fly. This option allows you to capture the moment.

The second way to add a Story, and the format we will focus on here, is to upload images already on your phone’s camera roll. To do this, tap the small image square on the bottom left corner of your screen.

When you upload a series of images, adding detailed captions, your photos become a moving slideshow or photo album.

Upload your original images directly from your camera roll, then add detailed text.
Once you’ve added a photo, you can add text and other effects. A photo date stamp automatically appears on your photo. Just drag it off the screen to delete it.

To add and edit text, tap the “Aa” text tool on the top right corner. You can also add emojis to your text as well. Tap the text tool again to add another section of text.

Tap on the square smiley face button at the top of your screen to add a location, subject hashtag (i.e. #Happy2019), or mention an Instagram friend in your photo (@username).

Create your images, or “slides” in an external app first.
If you would like to mix things up and post photo collages that include larger blocks of text, it makes sense to use an external app to create image “slides” before adding them to your Instagram Story.

Nicole used this method. Using the mobile app StoryArt, (Android version) she followed the following steps to create her “Wedding” Story:

1. Download and open StoryArt and choose a template for your image “slides.”
2. Upload your pictures directly to StoryArt from your phone’s camera roll.
3. As you go, decide how many pictures you want on each “slide.”
4. Add all of your story text in one of the different template options within the app.
5. After you finish, save each slide to your camera roll, then post each one to your Story from your camera roll.

 If you’d like to view Nicole’s Wedding Story, visit her on Instagram: @nicolejkessler.

What Happens When You Share Your Story

As soon as you share your Story, it appears in a circle at the top of your followers Instagram feed. It’s available to view for 24 hours.

You don’t have to share a Story with every one of your followers. Here’s how you can share it with a select group of your closest friends.

How to Hang on to Your Stories
Even though your Stories disappear after 24 hours, you can make sure they automatically save to your Stories Archive. Go to your Profile Settings, scroll to Privacy and Security, then tap on “Story Controls.” Make sure the “Save to Archive” toggle is on (or blue).

You can also add stories to your profile as Highlights. This way, they remain in your Profile even after the story disappears. People can visit your profile to view your stories. Here are the steps to highlight a story.

How to Tag, or Mention Someone in Your Story
You may want to invite others who appear in your story to view it.

To mention a friend:

• Tap the camera icon in the top left of your screen, or swipe right from anywhere in Feed.
• Take a photo or video, then tap the “Aa” icon.
• Type “@” followed immediately by their username, then select the person you’d like to mention.

When you mention someone in your story, their username will appear in your story with an underline. Keep in mind that a viewer can tap on the mention and link to that profile.

You can mention up to 10 people in every photo or video you share. Everyone you mention will get a notification letting them know you’ve mentioned them in your story. They’ll also get a direct message from you that includes a preview of your story.

If you have a public account and tag someone in your story, that person can repost your story to their own Instagram account. Likewise, if someone mentions you in their story, you’ll receive a Direct Message notification with the option to repost it.

Try Experimenting With Instagram Stories

If you’ve recently snapped photos of a family holiday event or recent vacation, sharing those pictures in an Instagram story is a fun way to creatively tell the story.

This powerful Instagram tool allows you to include details and fun embellishments that take your posts from simple images to a storytelling photo album.

The process is user friendly, so if at first you don’t succeed, you can hit delete, and try again. If you get stuck, you can visit the Instagram Stories Help Center.

I’m going to give Instagram stories a try, and I hope you will too!