The more i read the more i realise I need to learn more 
… i use my android tablet for everything other than taking photos which i do with my iphone now. I hate using my phone as the screen is too small to see well enough, i am a typist so type quickly and he keys are too small so make too many errors and it goes on…i will though work through some of the things on Kims reply after my hols, I have 3 of them in the next few weeks so might be a while.
@Bearlescent It might be easiest to save this thread to your bookmarks?
If you go to the screen to add a story (before you go to select an image) and then look down the side you should see an ‘Aa’ icon. If you click on that it just gives you a coloured background to type on.
When you add photos to posts you often have the choice of it being square or 4:5, as when you first select your photo you should see a little icon with two arrows in the bottom left corner of the image (although it doesn’t seem to be giving me that if it’s already a square image), and clicking that will switch between the two.
It used to be that all photos on Instagram were square, then they added the choice of square or taller posts but the grid is still squares. It sounds like they’re testing/rolling out taller images in the grid now though, I guess because Instagram is designed for phones and phone screens are tall. Hopefully they don’t get rid of squares completely.
@LooneySpoons If you’re posting a story and want the image to fill the screen, then yes the image should be 9:16, but (at least on a phone) it lets you add a square photo or something of a different ratio, and just has some space to the top/bottom (which I find is often more useful than a full image when you want to put text with it/add stickers). If you want to make the image bigger or smaller, you can just pinch the image or spread your fingers to change the size and move it around the screen. That’s probably something you can only do from a phone though.
The suggestions of stories/reels it gives aren’t always great, but if you just make it from scratch on a phone you should have more control to get it looking nice.
Also, on the stickers screen search ‘Folksy’ and you’ll find some graphics designed for sellers to use, like ‘now on Folksy’.
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Ah thank you @konyskiw Kim, never thought of that I have just bookmarked the page so I can refer back to it.
I just added a story with some great walking bears ( from stickers I think…one of the icons at top of the screen anyway)
Brilliant …to the icon for just ading text to an Ig story…I might go and test it now.
I’m off SM just now, but, there is a wonderful lady I follow called Helen, ‘crochetcrazyhelen’ is her name, she and another lady she collaborated with share tons of useful tips and info on how to use stories etc actually Helen is also a Folksy seller so hopefully she’ll see this and reply. x
Thank you very much, I’m going to see it right away
Kim @konyskiw can I just say thank you for all your advice here. I watched the webinar and while I found it interesting, it also left me feeling confused at times and although I kind of knew what I should be doing I didn’t really know how to do it.
Yet, you’ve explained everything so much better. It’s like the phrase ‘why have a meeting when an email would have done’ well this is ‘why have a webinar when Kim could have explained it all in a thread’.
Also thank you to everyone else who has commented on this thread. All great comments and ideas.
Louise x
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I have to admit I struggle with IG especially the highlights but I think that is because I crated the videos on the pc then copied them to my phone in order to upload them. Even now I still do not know how I managed to post them as each time I seem to go around in circles but do managed to post them eventually.
I still do not know the difference between stories and highlights, it takes me a long time to learn something new, most of the time I just wing it or fly by the seat of my pants so to speak.
So if I look like I know what I am doing on IG I don’t lol
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Thanks Kim, that’s very useful info and will save me a lot of time (and faffing), much appreciated!
@thestitchyroom I’m glad you found it helpful 
The webinar had lots of useful information and tips (and I’m certainly not up to date on all of its ever changing preferences), but probably expects you to already have a certain knowledge of how to use Instagram’s features. It doesn’t cover the basics of how to post on Instagram,
@MinpinTowers The stories are the things that last 24 hours, that you view by clicking on the circles of profile pictures at the top of your Instagram feed. Highlights are where people save some of those stories so they can be permanently accessed from their profile page. If you click on someone’s profile, if you see the circles in between their bio and grid of photos, they’re the highlights.
There are a few different ways to get to the screen to add a story (from a phone), you can either swipe right when you’re viewing your Instagram feed, on the feed click your own profile circle at the top where there’s a + and ‘your story’, or click the + icon (where you normally add a post) and select story from the options at the bottom.
To add a highlight, go to your Instagram profile and you should see a circle with a + that says ‘new’ underneath. Click that to create a new highlight, and then it’ll show you all the stories you’ve posted in the past to choose which you want to include. When you have an existing highlight that you want to add a more recent story to, click on the highlight > click the 3 dots icon > click edit highlight > put it to the ‘stories’ tab rather than ‘selected’ > select whatever you want to add on.
And just to add, this is how it works on my android phone right now, things could be different on an iPhone or a computer, and Instagram also have a habit of changing things and rolling our new layouts/features to a few people at a time, so it’s hard to say for certain it’ll be the same for everyone.
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Thank you for taking the time to explain this, I will have to read and re-read several times before I understand it and it fully sinks in.
Hopefully with practice it will get easier.
It’s really tricky to pitch webinars at the right level for everyone, and in the case of Instagram some people will have been using it for years, whereas others will be brand new to it, so it’s difficult to know what to include and what to focus on.
We’ll put together a blog post that summarises the main points from the webinar but in the meantime here are some resources that might be useful:
Instagram basics: How to Use Instagram: A 101 Guide | Buffer
Image sizes/ration: Social media image sizes for all networks [September 2024]
Stories: https://about.instagram.com/features/stories
One of the things to note about Stories is that, although they are disappear (unless you save them to Highlights), they essentially double your chance of being seen. Some people scroll through their feed, other people scroll through their Stories, some do a mix of both. So if you can create content for your grid as well as Stories you increase your chance of being seen.
If you have any other questions that you’d like us to cover related to Instagram, just ask and we’ll try our best to answer!
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I finally watched the ‘longest ever webinar’ today … i did just leave it on next to me whilst sewing and used lots of post its to scribble notes on, not that any of my scribbles will make sense when i read it back .
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This did make me laugh Debby, I am always scribbling notes like that and then when I go to read it back I end up thinking ,“I wonder if this is important” , because I can’t make sense of it or can’t even read my writing .
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Ha ha yep @DawnChorusCreations …there must be at least 7 post it notes, they will now live on my desk for a couple of months, in the mean time they will get mixed up on several occasions with all other notes on scraps of paper then one day when I decide I need to clear all the paperwork I will attempt to fit them together and understand them along with receipts and dozens of lists of things I need to do which will include a list for sorting paperwork I write lists for everything.
The other side of me spends hours labelling everything that doesn’t move, I almost labelled the labeller and organise every tiny craft item, extreme OCD versus absolute choas lol 
I am pleased to hear I am not alone though