You can add photos and videos to your Instagram stories, but that’s not all. You can spice them up with music, stickers, posts, comments, and more. Here’s everything you need to know.

1Set the Mood With Music

you may add music clips from Instagram’s library to give your stories a soundtrack. People will then hear that music when viewing your story, which can be effective if you’re trying to set a mood.

To do that, tap theMusicicon in the top menu when creating your story. you may then look for a song in theFor YouorBrowsetab (tap thePlaybutton on the right side of the song to listen to a sample). Alternatively, you can search for the music using the search bar at the top.

When you’re done, tap the song to select it. You can change the clip’s duration by tapping the number (it will be 15 seconds by default) on the left side of the song’s progress bar. Then, select a different duration on the menu.

You can choose a specific part of the song to play based on the duration of the clip. To do that, move the bar at the bottom of the track left or right. While doing that, pay attention to the timestamp or lyrics that appear above the progress bar to find the perfect place to start playback.

you’re able to also choose to display the lyrics or cover art for the song by selecting one of the options above the progress bar.

Afterward, tapDonein the top right corner to add the song to your story. Now people will enjoy the story, along with the perfect soundtrack. You can evenadd music to your Instagram notesoradd a soundtrack to your Instagram carousels.

2Make Stories Interactive with Stickers

Adding stickers to an Instagram story makes it a fun and interactive experience. It’s an excellent way to get others to engage with your post. Popular stickers include mentions, locations, hashtags, polls, and quizzes.

To add a sticker when creating your Instagram story, tap theStickerbutton—the square icon with a smiley face—in the top menu. You will then see a bunch of stickers that you can choose from. Each one will have specific steps to complete before adding it to the story.

For instance, if you tapMention, you need to start typing the handle of the person you want to mention. When their name appears in the list below, tap it to tag them.

If you tapPoll, you need to enter the questions and answers. Then, tapDonein the top right corner to add the poll to the story.

you’re able to add more than one sticker to your story. Just be careful not to include too many as your story will become cluttered.

3Create Cutouts for Your Stories

A special kind of sticker you’re able to add to your Instagram story is a Cutout. Instagram can make one for you by intelligently cutting out an object (e.g., person, building, plant, or electronic device) in an image and turning it into a mini image you can use in stories and reels. You canadd Cutouts to your Instagram storyusing your own pictures or someone else’s post.

4Share Other People’s Instagram Posts in Your Stories

If you like someone’s post, you don’t need to take a screenshot to repost on your story. Instagram lets you post it directly.

To do that, tapSend—the paper plane icon—below the post. Then, tapAdd to Storyin the bottom menu (you might need to swipe the menu to the left to see the options clearly). You will now see the post added to your story.

When you post the story, Instagram will notify the person that you shared their post along with it. Keep that in mind when sharing other people’s posts.

5You Can Also Share Other People’s Comments

Just like an Instagram post, you can also add someone else’s comment directly to your story. To do that, swipe the comment you want to post to the left to reveal more options. Then, tap the plus icon in the menu to add it to your story.

You can now post your story, along with the comment. Remember that Instagram will also notify the person that you have shared their comment.

6Add Meta AI-Generated Images to Your Stories

If you don’t have an image to post to your story, why not let Meta AI generate one for you? It’s easy to do, too.

Open the Instagram app and tap the search icon in the bottom menu. Then, tap the Meta AI icon on the left side of the search bar to start a chat.

Then, prompt Meta AI to generate an image—we told it to create a random image. After Meta AI does its thing, tap the image to open it and then tapSend—the paper plane icon—in the top-right corner of the screen. Finally, tapAdd to Storyin the menu.

Adding fun items to your Instagram story is an excellent way to keep your audience engaged. Instagram will probably include more things to make your stories interesting in the future. But for now, these are the ones you can take advantage of.