Instagram Will Let Users Draft Stories to Save For Later

Instagram users will soon be able to create stories and save them as drafts to publish later, the company confirms in an announcement.

Instagram has long offered the ability to save regular posts as drafts, while stories have always had to be created at the time of publishing.

If a user starts crafting an Instagram story, and wants to put more thought into it before publishing, there’s no way to save one’s work to finish at a later time.

There are several use cases where the ability to save story drafts will be a welcome addition to Instagram.

Adam Mosseri, head of Instagram, says this is a highly requested feature:

You asked and we’re delivering… story drafts coming soon ?

— Adam Mosseri ? (@mosseri) March 23, 2021

Instagram’s main Twitter account also confirmed this update is on the way soon:

Something new is coming ?

Soon you’ll be able to finish what you started with story drafts.

— Instagram (@instagram) March 23, 2021

Few specifics are available at this time, but it’s not too early to think about the ways this feature can be used in a strategic way.

How to Use Instagram Story Drafts

According to Instagram’s own data, there are 500 million accounts using stories ever day.

Of the accounts using Instagram stories, one-third of the most watched content comes from businesses.

One in five stories gets a direct message from its viewers, making this feature an effective way for businesses to remain visible and generate engagement.

That’s not lost on most businesses, as Instagram says over 50% of all business accounts on the site create stories in a given month.

Instagram stories are well regarded by influencers as well. A report on influencer marketing from MediaKix find Instagram stories are the second most effective content type – behind regular Instagram posts.

With all of that said, it’s worth looking at story drafts more closely and thinking about ways the feature can be used as a tool rather than an afterthought.

Here are a few uses cases that come to mind.

Create in Advance, Publish Later

The ability to schedule stories will give businesses the flexibility to craft Instagram stories in advance and publish at a later time.

This could either be done ahead of a big announcement, or simply to save for posting at a time when when a business’s audience is more active.

Businesses can create the content when they have time, save it, and hit the send button when their audience is most likely to see it.

Team Collaboration

Saving Instagram story drafts can be a useful addition to the workflow of teams that manage a single account.

Teams can collaborate on content by adding to and editing story drafts before they go live. Similar to how teams would collaborate on a WordPress post or a Google Doc.

If you’re a marketer working for a client that likes to review content before it gets published, drafts will make it easier to get their approval on stories.

Give it A Second Thought

Some content is better left in the drafts, but we often do not start second guessing our own content until after it’s been created.

If you’re having second thoughts after crafting a story, soon you can save your work and review it later rather than deleting it.

Look for this small but useful addition to Instagram to be available in the near future.

Sources: Instagram, MediaKix