12 Holiday Instagram Story Ideas for Your Business
The holidays are here, and we’ve put together a collection of ways to use Instagram Stories for your business this holiday season.
The holidays are ripe with opportunities to connect with your audience and help drive sales. Use IG Stories to promote holiday deals, show your customers you’re thankful for them, or simply spread some holiday cheer. Check out our holiday Story ideas below and use our professional templates designed to help you create in minutes.
Best practices: Instagram Stories
Instagram Stories are short photos or video clips, up to 15 seconds in length, that vanish 24 hours after posting. Rather than displaying within your primary Instagram feed, Stories are showcased at the top of the app, in a row with the Stories of all the other accounts you follow.
Stories offer engagement features that Reels and in-feed videos simply don't have. Within a single story, you can add clickable links to your website or landing page, engaging stickers like quizzes and polls, stickers, and more. These features make Stories a powerful engagement and sales tool! According to Hootsuite 58% of users said they’re more interested in a brand and 50% of users said they’ve visited a website to make a purchase after watching a Story.
Keep these best practices in mind to help your holiday Stories convert:
- Make videos 15 seconds or less
- Post 1 to 3 Stories a day maximum
- Use stories to show more personality, not just promos
- Use engaging stickers whenever it makes sense
Holiday Instagram Story Ideas
PRO TIP: Use the Ratio button at the top of your Animoto workspace to resize any template to a vertical 9:16 ratio. Doing so will optimize your video for mobile full-screen viewing in IG Stories.
Any of these ideas can also be shared with your Facebook audience through Facebook Stories! Check out our Facebook Stories guide to learn more.
1. Holiday Ad
One of the best ways to reach new customers is by running a paid Stories ad. Paid advertising lets you reach a wide targeted audience of potential customers. Check out our guide to targeted ads on Facebook and Instagram to learn how to get your Instagram Stories ad set up.
Our Annual Sale was made for sharing Black Friday deals but can easily be repurposed for the entire holiday season! Use our text as a guide to your message and upload any photos or video clips that you have on hand. Then fill in any blanks by browsing the Select stock library on our Professional plan, featuring 1 million+ photos and videos from Getty Images, or the Premium library on our Professional Plus plan, offering 100 million+ photos and video clips.
2. Gift Guide
The holidays are a busy time of year. Make the season a little easier for uncertain gift-givers with a gift guide highlighting your most popular items and services.
It’s helpful to create multiple Stories for different categories of gifts. For example, share a guide with “5 gift ideas for the plant-lover in your life” one day, then “Gift ideas for the busy college student” the next. Create an Instagram Stories Highlight so your gift guides have a place to live throughout the holiday season. Don't forget to bring your gift guides on-brand by adding your own custom font, brand colors, and brand logo to your video.
3. Last-Minute Gift Card Promo
Be a holiday hero for last-minute shoppers looking for a quick and easy gift. With our Last-Minute Gift Card Promo template, you can post Stories letting customers know that your gift cards are available and ready to be swiftly purchased in-store or online.
4. Small Business Promo
Ese our Small Business Saturday Promo template to encourage followers to shop small throughout the holiday season and beyond. Edit the text to fit your needs, then use Stories to promote your hottest holiday deals, share stats about the importance of buying small, and shout out local businesses that you support.
You could follow up your Story with a fun quiz or poll to see what holiday shoppers are looking out for!
5. Flash Sale
Because Instagram Stories are only live for 24 hours, they offer the perfect opportunity for a flash sale! Reward your loyal followers by sharing a special 24-hour promo and include a promo code in your Story.
Here’s an example, created by making just a simple text edit to the Cyber Monday Promo template.
6. Holiday Sale
Start teasing your upcoming holiday sale a few days in advance with our Holiday Promotion template. Add images of your most popular discounted items and edit the text to let customers know how long your sale’s going on for.
7. Holiday Event Promotion
Hosting a holiday event? Share a quick promo in your Instagram Story to let your followers know. Here’s an example created with the Holiday Event template. Use stock images or upload images from a similar event you’ve hosted in the past.
BONUS IDEA: After your event is over, create a recap to share on your Stories. Don’t forget to take pictures during the event so you’ve got something to show off!
8. Warm Holiday Greetings
While it is the season of spending, it’s also the season of spreading joy. Use our Christmas Greeting template to share a merry message and stay top of mind while customers tap through their Stories.
Similarly, make sure to recognize the Festival of Lights and those who celebrate it with an IG or Facebook Story using our Hanukkah Greetings template.
9. Holiday Quote
Spread a little holiday cheer with a short quote. Just add your favorite quote to our Simple Holiday Story template! It's easy to customize with your brand's holiday colors, product photos, and video clips.
10. Customer Call Out
The holiday season is a great time of year to show appreciation for your loyal customers. Use our Customer Thank You Card template to create a Story featuring a burst of festive images. Or, try compiling a burst of photos that your customers have shared featuring your brand or products that you have from throughout the year.
11. Fun Festive Facts
No matter the good or service you offer, the Fun Festive Facts template is an easy and, as the name suggests, fun way to encourage engagement.
Fun facts can range from stats and trivia all the way to the history of fruitcake, as exemplified below.
Holiday Instagram Story Design
Looking for ways to give your Instagram Stories more of a holiday feel? We've got some helpful and simple tips.
Use holiday colors
Dress up your Stories for the holidays by going outside of your typical brand color palette and using colors that are a little more festive. Need some help? We’ve put together a few color palettes for your holiday marketing needs.
Use holiday imagery
You can also give your Instagram Stories a holiday feel by using the festive imagery available in our Premium and Select stock libraries. Search for holiday-related terms to find the right pictures for your seasonal Stories.
Create holiday Instagram Stories with Animoto
Instagram Stories are still a compelling and engaging form of video! This season, you can make Stories an important piece of your holiday marketing calendar. Browse through our Holiday templates for even more inspiration and start your video-making journey for free. Merry video making!