Storytelling On Instagram

Where digital meets travel + lifestyle … A collection of can’t-miss news from this week. Sign up to get the TURNER Weekly Download in your inbox every Friday.

Instagram Storytellers

With 400 million users checking out Instagram Stories on a daily basis, the feature offers huge opportunities for brands. So it was only a matter of time before a design agency was founded with the express purpose of creating the very best Instagram Stories. Unfold, an Instagram Story template builder, is at the vanguard, with a new custom-branded Story series for the luxury fitness company Equinox. “How do you stand out in a flutter of stories, the endless streams of content?” Equinox’s chief marketing officer Vimla Black Gupta says. “We want to use [Unfold] as a gift we’re giving our influencers, to express themselves in a differentiated way in a super crowded medium.”

Do-It-Yourself Influencing

But who needs an entire agency, when apps will do? Vulture has rounded up some of the very best Instagram Stories apps. “Turns out all you need to con the world into thinking you’re living the influencer life are a couple of free apps and some patience,” writes Madison Malone Kircher. We especially like the cool, clean lines of Storyluxe. It has an array of free templates you’ll love. Kircher says she enjoyed the “black backgrounds with neon designs that you just slot your content into like the chill person you are. (Look how chill! She’s leaning against a brick wall! Her hair is a mess! Chill person, party of one!).”

Nano-Influence

Once you’re set up with the Instagram Stories template of your choice, you have to decide: what kind of influencer do you want to be? Maybe you should try becoming a “nano influencer.” They’re even smaller than micro influencers, usually defined as creators with between 1,000 and 5,000 followers. “Everyone who’s on Instagram has that friend who is just really popular and is racking up ‘likes’ and comments and has great content,” Obviously CEO Mae Karwowski told the New York Times. “We’ve seen a real push to work with smaller and smaller influencers, because their engagement is so high and we have the technology to work with a lot more influencers now and track and measure what is and isn’t working.”

Growing Power

But wait! Maybe you’re too late to get into the influencer game. No, you haven’t been usurped by a cat or a dog. Pet influencers are already passé. According to TubeFilter, “a handful of plant influencers are cropping up on Instagram as millennials are increasingly seeking out content about horticulture.” A biggie is HousePlantClub, which has earned nearly 500,000 followers. Another is BoysWithPlants, which delivers endless images of – you guessed it – boys with plants.

Weekly Moment of Zen

Rest in Peace, Marvel Comics wizard Stan Lee. Here’s a fun supercut of all of his Marvel movies cameos.