There’s this new interesting feature in your Insta Story. It’s called “Countdown”.
I’m going to show you how to use it and I will also share some cool tips, tricks and ideas.
But first, just to give you a general idea, this is how it roughly works:
- You create a “countdown” in your Insta Story (this can be a countdown to your birthday for example)
- People who watch your Insta Story can tap on your countdown
- When they tap on your countdown they have 2 options:
- 1. They can choose to set a reminder for themselves to celebrate with you when your countdown is over, or
- 2. They can share your countdown in their own Insta Stories
What can you use the countdown feature for?
Here are some ideas (shoutout to our @preview.app fam for coming up with some of these awesome ideas!):
General countdown ideas:
- Countdown until our birthday
- New Year
- The weekend (lol – idea by @joi.knows.how)
- Your vacations / holidays / break
- A movie coming out
- Event
- School start / end
- Your coffee / lunch / dinner
- Your favorite TV series
- You get to meet someone
- Concert day
- Your new Instagram theme (@yoco.studio, good idea!)
- Your next Instagram post
Countdown ideas for businesses:
- Build excitement for your launch
- Event day
- Your Insta Live
- New blog post
- Promote a fun challenge
- Time until an important / fun appointment
- Milestones
- Giveaways
- Pre-order
- Shipping time
- Your business’ birthday
- Any fun events / holidays related to your business (like National Coffee Day or Employee of the Month Day, etc…)
As you can see, the opportunities are endless.
Are you ready for the step-by-step tutorial now?
Let’s go.
1. Open your Insta Story
Take a photo or video. Or choose a photo or video from your phone’s camera roll.
2. Select the “Countdown” sticker
Now go in your Sticker section and select the “Countdown” sticker.
3. Write a name for your countdown and choose a date and time
If you want to set a specific time for your countdown, turn off the “All Day” button.
4. Change the color of your countdown box
Press on the colorful circle at the top of your screen to change the color of your countdown box.
5. Choose if you want to allow people to follow your countdown
You can also choose if you want to allow people to follow and share your countdown. If you allow them, they will be able to turn on a reminder so they can receive a notification when your countdown is over. This is awesome if you want people to celebrate your big day with you.
6. Post your countdown
When you are ready, share your Insta Story.
What happens next?
This is what people see when they watch your Insta Story.
7. People can tap on your Insta Story to set a reminder and share your countdown in their Insta Stories
Your countdown is interactive. It means that your followers can join your countdown excitement. When they tap on your countdown, they can do 2 things:
- Set a “reminder” so they can get notified when the countdown is over
- Share your countdown in their Insta Stories
What happens if they do one or the other thing?
7. You will receive a notification, in your notification center, if someone sets a reminder for your countdown
People can turn on a reminder to receive a notification when your countdown is over. If they do, you will receive a notification in your notification center. Your notification center is where you see who likes, comments and follows you.
At this stage, there is no other way to see who turns on the reminder for your countdown.
8. You will receive a notification, in your DMs (direct messages), if someone shares your countdown in their Insta Stories
If people share your countdown in their Insta Stories, you will receive a notification in your DMs. And you will also be able to re-share their Insta Story in your Stories to spread the love even more.
9. Your countdown is ALIVE! You can re-share it in your Insta Stories at any time!
The awesome thing about your Countdown is that it is saved in your Insta Story. It is not dead after your Story disappears in 24 hours. This means that you can re-share your countdown at anytime. Your countdown will automatically start where it should start.
For example, let’s say that today is the 1st of December and you have a big event starting on the 1st of January. You share a countdown in your Story on the 1st of December. But remember, Stories disappear after 24 hours. So some of your followers might miss your countdown on the 1st of December. Or maybe, you want to post your countdown again everyday to build up the excitement but you don’t want to start a new countdown.
All you have to do is select the countdown sticker in your Insta Stories, and select your countdown from the 1st of December (instead of creating a new one). Pretty cool right?
10. How to delete a countdown
If you start using the countdown sticker a lot, you will accumulate a lot of countdowns. The good news is that you can delete your old countdowns.
To delete:
- Go in your Insta Stories
- Select the “Countdown” sticker
- The sticker will appear on your screen
- Press on the 3 dots “…”
- Press “Delete”
Done!
That’s it!
I hope you found this tutorial useful. If you have any questions, please don’t hesitate to ask in the comments.
Until next time, see you on Instagram!
