How to Boost an Instagram Story

Your Instagram Story just went live, but the views aren't climbing as high as you'd hoped. Getting more eyes on your Stories is a common goal for creators and brands, and thankfully, it doesn't require a secret formula. This guide breaks down exactly what you can do to get your Stories in front of the right audience, covering both Instagram’s built-in Boost feature and the organic strategies that build a loyal following over time.

What "Boosting" an Instagram Story Actually Means

First, let’s talk about the big blue button. When you "boost" an Instagram Story, you're paying to turn it into an ad. Instead of only being shown to a portion of your followers, Instagram will show it to a wider audience that you define. It’s an advertisement in its simplest form on the platform - a way to get guaranteed reach beyond your organic following.

This is a great tool for a few specific situations:

• Promoting a limited-time offer: Running a 24-hour flash sale? A boost ensures your offer gets seen before it expires.
• Announcing an event: Whether it’s a webinar, a live performance, or a pop-up shop, boosting an announcement can help fill seats.
• Launching a new product or service: Put your big reveal in front of potential new customers.
• Amplifying your best content: If a Story is already performing well with your current followers, boosting it can give it the momentum it needs to reach new people likely to enjoy it, too.

A Step-by-Step Guide to Boosting Your Instagram Story

The process is incredibly straightforward, which is exactly why it’s so popular. Here’s how you do it:

1. Open Your Story: Navigate to the active Story you want to promote. You can boost any Story that doesn't use copyrighted music, interactive stickers like polls or quizzes, or certain camera effects. The video or image must be your original content.
2. Hit the Boost Button: Tap the "More" icon (the three little dots) in the bottom-right corner of your Story slide. From the menu that pops up, select "Boost Story."
3. Choose Your Goal: Instagram will ask you what result you want from this ad. You have three main choices:
   • More Profile Visits: This is ideal for growing your following. It encourages people to visit your Instagram profile, learn more about you, and hopefully hit "Follow."
   • More Website Visits: If your Story features a link sticker, you can use this goal to drive traffic directly to a webpage, like a product landing page, a blog post, or your homepage.
   • More Messages: This option adds a "Send Message" call-to-action, encouraging users to start a conversation with you in your DMs. It’s excellent for lead generation or customer service.
4. Define Your Audience: This is where you tell Instagram who to show your Story to. You have a few options:
   • Automatic: Let Instagram’s algorithm decide. It will target people who are similar to your existing followers, which can be a good, hands-off choice if you already have an engaged audience.
   • Create Your Own: This gives you manual control. You can build a target audience based on location (country, city, or a specific radius), interests (based on accounts they follow and content they interact with), and demographics (age and gender). Be specific but not so narrow that your potential audience size becomes tiny.
5. Set Your Budget and Duration: Tell Instagram how much you’re willing to spend per day and for how many days you want the boost to run. The platform will give you an estimated reach based on your spending. You can start small - even $5 a day can show your Story to hundreds or thousands of new people.
6. Review and Boost: Give everything one last look to make sure your goal, audience, budget, and payment method are all correct. Once you confirm, Instagram will review your Story ad (this is usually quick), and once approved, it will start running. You can track its performance directly from the story itself or within your professional dashboard.

Beyond the Boost Button: 10 Powerful Ways to Boost Your Stories Organically

Paid ads are a fantastic tool, but they aren't the whole picture. The true strength of your Instagram marketing comes from building an audience that genuinely wants to see your content. The following strategies help you get more views on your Stories for free by making them more discoverable and engaging for both new and existing followers.

1. Use Hyper-Relevant Hashtags

The hashtag sticker is one of the easiest ways to expand your Story’s reach. When someone searches for or follows a hashtag, your Story has a chance of appearing on that hashtag's public Story feed. Stick to a mix of tags: one or two broad ones (like #SocialMediaMarketing) and several niche, highly specific ones (like #BrandStrategyTips). Pro tip: You can shrink your hashtags down with your fingers and hide them behind a GIF or another visual element if you want to keep your Story looking clean.

2. Leverage Location Tags

Just like hashtags, location tags add your Story to a corresponding feed. If you’re a local coffee shop in Brooklyn, tagging "Brooklyn, New York" exposes your beautiful latte art Story to anyone looking at content from that area. This is a must for brick-and-mortar businesses, event marketers, and travel creators trying to attract a geographically-defined audience.

3. Get Interactive with Engagement Stickers

The Instagram algorithm shows people more of what they interact with. Give your viewers something to do! Engagement stickers are your best friend for this.

• Polls &, Quizzes: Ask your audience for their opinion or test their knowledge. These stickers are low-effort for your followers to engage with (just a tap) and provide you with valuable feedback.
• Question Stickers: Use this for open-ended feedback. Host a Q&,A, ask for content ideas, or gather testimonials. Sharing the responses in subsequent Stories creates a great content loop.
• "Add Yours" Sticker: Kickstart a user-generated content (UGC) thread. Post a picture of your desk setup and encourage others to add theirs. Every person who contributes shares the thread with their own followers, creating a massive chain reaction that drives new viewers back to you.

Every interaction sends a positive signal to the algorithm that your content is worth watching, which can increase its placement in your followers' Story trays.

4. Mention and Tag Other Accounts

Mentioning another account (@username) sends them a notification and gives them the ability to reshare your Story to their own audience with a single tap. It's one of the most effective ways to cross-promote. Tag collaborators, suppliers, customers (with their permission!), or bigger brands in your niche whose content you admire. Don't be spammy, but whenever it's natural and relevant, a mention can organically place your brand in front of a whole new set of eyes.

5. Master Your Posting Cadence and Timing

Consistency keeps you top of mind and at the front of your followers' Story tray. But it’s not just about posting every day - it's about posting when your audience is listening. Dive into your Instagram Insights (navigate to your Professional Dashboard >, Account Insights) to see when your followers are most active. Scheduling your most important Stories to go live during these peak windows increases the chance of immediate engagement.

6. Create Visually Stopping Content

This may sound obvious, but it’s often overlooked. In a sea of content, visuals are what stop the scroll (or, in this case, the tap-through). Use high-quality photos and videos. Your smartphone camera is powerful enough, but pay attention to good lighting and clear audio. Use Instagram's native tools - fun text layouts, GIFs, and background music - to make your Stories feel dynamic and purpose-built for the platform.

7. Tell a Complete Story

Don't just post a single, random image. Use multiple frames to build a narrative with a beginning, middle, and end. Maybe you're showing the step-by-step process of creating a product, taking people on a "behind the scenes" tour of your office, or telling a customer success story. This engaging framework keeps viewers tapping forward to see what happens next instead of swiping away.

8. Drive Traffic from Your Other Content

Don’t assume your followers see everything you post. Use your other content formats to point people toward your Stories. In the caption of a new Reel or feed post, add a simple call-to-action like, "I'm answering all your questions about this in my Stories right now!" This cross-promotion ensures your already-engaged audience from the feed knows there’s immediate value waiting for them in your Stories.

9. Go Live and Share the Replay

Instagram Live sessions get premium placement at the very front of the Story tray, and they send a notification to a portion of your followers when you start. It’s an amazing tool for real-time engagement. After your broadcast ends, you have the option to share the replay to your Stories for the next 24 hours. This gives your Live a second life, allowing people who missed it to catch up on your awesome content.

10. Analyze What Works and Double Down

Check your Story analytics regularly. For any given Story, you can swipe up to see key metrics like Reach (how many unique people saw it), Impressions, Link Clicks, and navigational actions like Taps Back, Taps Forward, and Exits. Look for patterns. Which types of content get the lowest Exit rates? Which ones get the most DMs or sticker taps? Data doesn't lie. Find out what your audience loves and create more of it.

Final Thoughts

Boosting an Instagram Story is a two-sided coin. The paid "Boost" feature offers a quick and predictable way to get more reach, perfect for specific campaigns and promotions. But a truly successful strategy is built on organic methods that create content people want to engage with, share, and come back for every day.

Creating great Stories consistently is easier when you're not scrambling for ideas last minute. That’s why many brands use a visual calendar to map out their core 'tentpole' content in advance. At Postbase, we built our platform with a visual-first approach, so you can see your entire content strategy at a glance. By scheduling your feed posts, Reels, and other updates ahead of time, you free up the mental space to focus on creating the dynamic, in-the-moment Stories that genuinely connect with your audience.