InstaStack is a new tool to help you to discover Instagram social media network. If you want to connect your instagram account from menubar on your mac, InstaStack is your tool. Browse Photo Feeds. Browse your Instagram feed, photos you've uploaded, photos you've liked, and popular photos on Instagram. Create an account or log in to Instagram - A simple, fun & creative way to capture, edit & share photos, videos & messages with friends & family. Custom wedding invitation design studio specializing in unique wedding invitations, custom wedding invites, unique wedding programs, and wedding stationery. Our wedding collection includes wedding invitations (suites), wedding programs, save the date cards, wedding menus, wedding table place cards,. Instastack for Instagram. Instastack for Instagram is an Instagram desktop client. It's the most elegant way to browse Instagram on the Mac.
When Instagram announced the release of full-screen, vertical story ads this March, advertisers had reason to be excited. Story ads represented an alternative to News Feed ads—which, though still effective, had lost a bit of novelty. They'd also grown way more competitive:
Image via Statista
In September of last year, Instagram's 2 million monthly active advertisers (up from 1 million in March ‘17, and just 0.2 million in Feb ‘16) were all limited to News Feed. Story ads were not only a new placement, but an enticing one. Advertisers suddenly had access to a super immersive format—the same format future Instagram TV advertisers can expect, when that platform is ultimately monetized:
Full-screen. Vertical. Immersive. 400 million Instagram accounts—businesses and everyday consumers alike—leverage Stories to keep their followers apprised of their goings-on. Story ads give advertisers coveted access to that audience pool. The results, which we'll get into, have been encouraging. They also bode well for Facebook Story ads, which are set to drop imminently.
Instastack is an Instagram desktop client. It's the most elegant way to browse Instagram on the Mac. MenuBar Panel – InstaStack is a new tool to help you to discover Instagram social media network. If you want to connect your instagram account from menubar on your mac, InstaStack is your tool.
Today, we're going to give you the full skinny—how Instagram Stories work, how to set them up, and how to leverage them in conjunction with your existing News Feed ads to increase return on ad spend.
What are Instagram Story Ads?
Instagram Story Ads exist within Instagram Stories, which exist atop your News Feed. Naturally Instagram Stories themselves are also full-screen and vertical—so when you watch them, all you see on your mobile device is the content itself. When one Story ends—by way of it simply ending or you manually swiping through—the next one begins. In this way, once you are in the format, it super easy to access a continuous stream of full-screen content.
Story ads exist as dividers between Stories themselves—but, like News Feed ads, it's difficult to tell them apart from the rest of the organic content within the format:
Aside from the 'Sponsored' denotation, and, presumably, an increase in production value, they look just like organic posts. As you'll also notice in the above image, Story ads give you the ability to link within your post—which, in the world of organic posts, is a function reserved for accounts that are either verified or have more 10,000 followers.
To access your post link, users need merely swipe up on your CTA arrow, at which point they'll be taken to your landing page. If this is functionality you're interested in—if you want to send prospects to your product page, to your blog, or to a lead form—you were at one time limited to the four of the six marketing objectives for which Story ads were available. There are now seven objectives for which Instagram Story ads are available (Brand Awareness was added recently), and you can add CTA links to any of them:
- Brand Awareness: Increase awareness for your brand by finding people more likely to be interested in it.
- Reach: Show your ad to the maximum number of people.
- Video views: Get more people to view your video content.
- Conversions: Drive valuable actions on your app or website.
- App installs: Get more people to install your app.
- Lead Generation: Drive sales leads like email addresses and phone numbers.
- Traffic: Send more people to your website.
You can create Instagram Story ads in Creative Hub or Ads Manager. Let's run through the creation process in Ads Manager.
How to Make an Instagram Story Ad
In a new or existing campaign, select your marketing objective. Name your ad set, then—just as if you were creating a Facebook ad—refine your audience, targeting, and budgeting. You'll then want to toggle out of Automatic Placements, click Edit Placements, and select Instagram Stories:
Note: You can run Instagram Story ads in conjunction with other placements—but because of the unique nature of Story ad creative, you'll have to make some granular adjustments when you actually create your ad. If you're running a single image ad, for instance, you might need to upload separate images for Facebook News Feed and Instagram Stories. The good news: Facebook will tell you if that's the case:
That said, your goal should not be to find a few very close iterations of the same ad to run on multiple placements. Given the unique potential of Story ads—this a new format with new creative parameters—you should really devote the time to breaking it out into its own ad set.
We'll talk a little bit about the kind of creative that succeeds in this format in a jif. For now, here are some basic sizing and spec requirements to make sure you adhere to:
Instagram Story Ads Sizes and Specs
You have three sizing formats to choose from when creating your story ad: Square (1:1), Landscape (1.91:1), and Vertical (4:5). Recommended resolution is 1080 x 1920 pixels, but you can go as low as 600 x 1067 if you have to. Other specs to be aware of:
Image Creative
- File type: .jpg or .png
- File size: 30MB max
- Length: Images show for 5 seconds by default
Video Creative
- File type: .mp4 or .mov
- File size: 4GB max
- Length: Up to 15 seconds
- Supported codecs: H.264, VP8
Meet these basic requirements, and you've got yourself a functional Story ad. Now, you can get a little creative.
How to Prevent Swipe-Through
Advertisers new to Story ads will encounter a familiar question: How can I create an ad that's not intrusive, but still stops the proverbial thumb? As stated earlier, there's not much difference between an organic post and a paid post—whether you're scrolling through Stories or News Feed. In both formats, advertisers face the challenge of standing out from the crowd while not representing a complete departure from the content users go to the platform to consume—content which, in most cases, comes from friends, families, and brands they already know and trust.
That said, here are some tips for creating a great Instagram Story ad prospects will actually watch.
Use a Custom or Lookalike Audience
The best way to avoid swipe-through from prospects unfamiliar with your brand? Don't do it! Use Facebook Custom Audiences to remarket to prospects that are familiar with your brand. Using Custom Audiences, you can target Instagram users based on the five following segments:
- Customer File: Email addresses, phone numbers, or any other information you've acquire in lead generation.
- Website Traffic: People who have visited your website, blog, or a specific landing page.
- App Activity: People who have interacted with your app.
- Offline Activity: People who have interacted with your business, either in-store or by phone.
- Engagement: People who have engaged with your content on Facebook or Instagram.
An example: Michael Kors used the Carousel ad type (more on these in a second) to create this ad.
You can see the visually sleek creative, but what's important here is the targeting. In a campaign that yielded 20% higher return on ad spend, Michael Kors served its new Carousel to a lookalike audience based on characteristics of its existing customers. That campaign also yielded a 3% high click-through rate. Leveraging custom and lookalike audiences can you achieve similar results by getting your Story ads in front of more qualified eyes.
Try a Carousel
Carousel ads are great for Facebook, and they are equally well-suited for Instagram Story ad campaigns. One thing to keep in mind—Carousel ads for Instagram Stories can't run with any other placement, so they have to be built out in their own campaigns. Not that that should deter you; in a format in which air time is coveted, Carousels offer a distinct competitive advantage. Each Carousel contains up to three panels; and each panel can contain up to 15 seconds of video.
Instagram Stories are inherently quick-hitters. Carousels give you the opportunity to offer prospects a more in-depth and compelling glimpse into your brand—or, to offer 3 unique, compelling glimpses. That's invaluable air time.
Zoc 7 terminal. Like Facebook Carousels, Instagram Story Carousels give you the opportunity to link to a different landing page from each card. They also support metric reporting on a by-card basis—so if you're curious which cards your prospects are viewing, how long they're viewing them for, and where they're sliding up, you can easily access that information within Ads Manager.
Own the First Few Seconds
Given users' predilection to rapid-fire swiping (thanks, Tinder) it's crucial to own the first few seconds of your video. That means hitting a few checkmarks:
- Create something with volume. 60% of Stories are viewed with the sound on. Hit your prospects with an early hook that represents a welcome departure from soundless boomerangs and brunch pics.
- Put your stamp on it. Your brand appears in the form of your account name/icon at the top left of the ad; but if the user swipes immediately through, they're not going to bother looking at. Display your brand name/logo prominently in your creative within the first few seconds of your Story.
- Tell prospects what your selling. Even if your brand story requires 45 seconds of a Carousel ad to tell—don't bother saving your product until the very end. Beats By Dre found that its product-centric Story ads, which conveyed clearer call-to-actions and more compelling product creative, performed better than its lifestyle-centric Stories.
The Future of Brand Storytelling
The inception of Instagram TV, the imminent drop of Facebook Story ads, and the rise of Instagram Story Ads tell an interesting, ahem..story. People are interacting more and more meaningfully with brands on their mobile devices—and they increasingly want to do so in a format that is easy, convenient, mindless, and engrossing. Vertical, full-screen video is ideal for that type on content consumption. We are already seeing takes that the transition from News Feed ads to Story ads will be more substantial than the switch from desktop to mobile.
Long story short: get in on the vanguard of the movement, because Stories will soon be saturated with ads.
Most videos you see on Instagram is professionally edited content. Meaning more and more people are editing their Instagram videos on a computer using video editing software like Final Cut Pro and then push them to their smartphone to upload it on Instagram. But wouldn't it be awesome if you can just upload videos to Instagram from a computer directly.
Cleanusbdrive 1 5. So, the next time you are sitting at your computer and want to upload a video to Instagram that's saved on your hard drive, you don't have to use Airdrop or email that video to your mobile. So, whether you are social media managers or average users, here are some tools to upload a video to Instagram from a computer directly.
Related: 9 Ways to Post on Instagram From Computer
Instagram should allow uploading video from computer
Last year around May 2017, Instagram mobile sites allowed uploading pictures. Which means you can use this workaround on PC as well. Just change your desktop browser to a mobile view using the developer tools. You can upload pictures to Instagram from a computer without any need of third-party software. But unfortunately, this workaround doesn't work for videos.
Although there are some tools that will allow you to upload videos to Instagram from a computer, they are paid tools with a subscription fee except one. I will share a few quick and free, and some paid, ways to do the same.
Also Read: Try These 7 Online Video Editors without watermark
Video Specifications
Before you upload your video, make sure that it adheres to the following rules as prescribed by Instagram:
- File size limit is 100 MB
- Playback length is capped at 60 seconds
- Frame rate should be 30 FPS or less
- The maximum dimension should be 1080 or less
- The preferred format is MP4 (H.264 Codec & AAC audio, 3,500 kbps video bitrate)
- Landscape aspect ratio is 1:91:1
- Square aspect ratio is 1:1
- The vertical aspect ratio is 4:5.
Upload Video to Instagram from Computer Directly
1. Cloud Storage (Free)
Related: 9 Ways to Post on Instagram From Computer
Instagram should allow uploading video from computer
Last year around May 2017, Instagram mobile sites allowed uploading pictures. Which means you can use this workaround on PC as well. Just change your desktop browser to a mobile view using the developer tools. You can upload pictures to Instagram from a computer without any need of third-party software. But unfortunately, this workaround doesn't work for videos.
Although there are some tools that will allow you to upload videos to Instagram from a computer, they are paid tools with a subscription fee except one. I will share a few quick and free, and some paid, ways to do the same.
Also Read: Try These 7 Online Video Editors without watermark
Video Specifications
Before you upload your video, make sure that it adheres to the following rules as prescribed by Instagram:
- File size limit is 100 MB
- Playback length is capped at 60 seconds
- Frame rate should be 30 FPS or less
- The maximum dimension should be 1080 or less
- The preferred format is MP4 (H.264 Codec & AAC audio, 3,500 kbps video bitrate)
- Landscape aspect ratio is 1:91:1
- Square aspect ratio is 1:1
- The vertical aspect ratio is 4:5.
Upload Video to Instagram from Computer Directly
1. Cloud Storage (Free)
The oldest trick in the book. You create an account on Dropbox or you can use Google Drive on your computer linked to your Gmail account. Download and install it if you haven't done so already and create an account. Copy and paste the video into the Dropbox/Drive folder and let it sync.
Next, open the corresponding Dropbox app on your smartphone and select the video you just uploaded. There will be an option called 'Share'. When you click the share button, you will see other options like Instagram, Facebook, Twitter, and more depending on which apps you have installed on your smartphone. Select Instagram and the video will be uploaded.
Do you know what the problem with the cloud storage method is? You will have to deal with the video twice. First from computer to cloud and then from cloud to Instagram. This is still somewhat acceptable if the file size is small. What if it is not? Read on. Tor browser windows xp.
2. Gramblr (Free)
This is a desktop app that you can install on your Windows as well as Mac computer. Let's go through the steps and see how it works.
Visit the homepage and download the software. For the purpose of this guide, I will be using the Windows version. Install and launch the desktop app. You will be asked to create an account. Do it. You will have to enter your Instagram Id and password too. There is no verification so you will immediately see the interface with a drag and drop function.
When you have uploaded the video at Gramblr, you should see a thumbnail with options to trim the video. You will notice there is a horizontal line that you can drag back and forth to trim the video.
After you have trimmed the video, click the red thumbs up button on the upper right hand and you will be taken to the final step. Here, you can write a caption and either post the video on Instagram or you can schedule it to go live at a later date and time. You can see your history and gain followers, however, the later feature is only available in the paid version.
Note: In order for the schedule function to work, you must be running Gramblr, otherwise the schedule will fail.
After you are done, hit the big green 'Send!' button and the video will be live on your Instagram account. Though Gramblr is a free tool and does what it says on the tin, I found it to be a little buggy. It may or may not work in the first attempt, but it will eventually. For me, I had to try 3 times, but other users have reported it to be working just fine. I guess you will have to try it for yourself.
Check out Gramblr
3. Flume (macOS)
Flume is one of the best options out there for Mac users. It is as close as you could get to having an Instagram app on your Mac. It's not only a video uploader but operates exactly like the Instagram app on your mobile devices.
Flume app installer will have to be downloaded from the website directly. Unlike other third-party apps, Flume might not be visible on your launchpad. You can simply copy the installed app icon to the app folder or operate from a desktop icon itself. Once you open the app you'll see a phone like an app interface which is operable as such.
Instastack For Instagram 1 91 – Instagram Desktop Client Email
To upload a video simply click on the camera icon on the bottom left corner. A separate upload window will pop-up where you can upload the photo or video. To select a video from system drive click on the camera icon in the center or the three dots on the top right corner to select other options. Alternatively, you can simply drag and drop a video file onto the window.
Once the file has been inserted, you'll see a number of options similar to what the app offers on phone. You can edit, upload multiple parts of a video, apply a filter, and even select thumbnail for your video. You can also write a description, add hashtags and tag people in the usual manner.
Having done the complete process, all that remains is posting the video to your feed. But if you already haven't noticed, the upload feature of the app comes only in the pro version. So if you want to enjoy the benefits of the macOS app completely you'll have to spend a little. It's not much expensive given the features it offers.
Download Flume (Free, $10 one time fee for pro version)
4. Uplet (macOS)
As minimal as it could get, Uplet does exactly what is desired of it and nothing more. The app can be installed from the website directly as any other third-party app. You can access the app from your launchpad.
Once installed, you'll notice that the app has an extremely minimal interface. It's so minimal that you can't even resize the app window. It remains a tiny little window with just a few options.
Simply click on the add symbol on the screen to select one or multiple files. It doesn't say so but you may also drag and drop files onto the window. After the video is on the window you'll get uploading options.
Unfortunately, you can't do much before an upload except for writing the description and hashtags. Same goes for photos as well.
Just hit the share button and your file will start to upload. The upload process is instant and works exactly like an app. Now the free version has a limit of five uploads, after that, you'll need to buy a license according to your need.
Instastack For Instagram 1 91 – Instagram Desktop Client Permissions
Download Uplet (Free, $20 – $50 after trial)
Wrapping Up: Upload Video to Instagram from Computer
Uploading videos to Instagram from your desktop or computer should have been taken care of by Instagram but maybe, they are pushing users to the mobile app on purpose.
I liked Gramblr because it is a free desktop client that is quick and easy but a little buggy. And for macOS my favorite is Flume. Although its paid, you get a proper Instagram look-alike app on your laptop with similar interface and settings. Another way to go about it is by using an Android emulator like GennyMotion, however, in my experience, they are just too much work with less reliability. As of now, Gramblr is the only feasible option.
Instastack For Instagram 1 91 – Instagram Desktop Client Download
Related: Upload non-square picture on WhatsApp & Instagram
