How To: Combine Images & Video On Instagram Stories
Daniel Flay charts the evolution of the Instagram Story.
© Roland Mouret
As fashion brands compete to create the most covetable Instagram Stories, a number of exciting new tools have popped up on the App store, promising to revolutionise the way that fashion retailers and publications share content on social media.
One of the most interesting developments is the ability to combine video and photographs in a single post. Although Insta-collages aren't anything new to the platform, the ability to do this on Stories is, and is set to be huge trend for 2018. Tools such as this allow brands to combine product stills and runway videos to create immersive, audiovisual content for followers to swoon over and shop.
PicPlayPost is at the forefront of this trend and is our default when creating Instagram Stories for clients. The easy-to-use interface allows users to choose from a number of templates, with stylised options and watermark removal incurring an extra (but affordable) cost.
Creating collages via the app couldn't be easier. Once you've selected your template, tapping 'ratio' will allow you to choose from a number of screen options including Youtube, Instagram and Instagram Stories. Currently 'premium' options don't allow you to alter the ratio for IG Stories, however this is something that can be rectified in-app when posting to Instagram.
The beauty of PicPlayPost it that videos and stills can be blended together for greater impact. Users have the option to choose from a number of coloured backgrounds, musical accompaniments and text options when devising their collage - however we prefer to add our finishing touches, such as hand-written notes, when it comes to sharing on Instagram. Images and videos added to the template can also be repositioned and resized with ease, as well as cut and edited to suit the timeframe of the story. Once completed, the file can be saved and shared in a number of ways. The app has the ability to share content straight to Instagram, Facebook and Youtube, as well as publish video, GIF and live photo content.
PicPlayPost has so far proven itself to be a useful tool for social media editors, and will undoubtedly give stagnant content a refresh. The tool is a relatively inexpensive way for brands to galvanise their IG Story strategy and acts as a time-effective and budget friendly choice for smaller designers who might not have the budget for graphic design time.
Words by Daniel Flay