So what are we looking for exactly? The purpose of having staff take over the Instagram stories during competitions is to show real time events and happenings during the busy hustle and bustle of the day! Our members and followers don’t get to see the behind the scenes and up close version of what happens and they LOVE it when they can! It’s about engaging with our community and members and showing what we really do during competitions!
Take photos and videos throughout your day with your teams, athletes and coaches and post stories on our platform during moments of downtime. By no means should you be ignoring your athletes to create insta stories, so make sure it’s during appropriate times.
Each story should feature a NEW athlete or team! Make sure to include all teams in your posts and don’t favorite just one! BE CREATIVE! – Make sure to utilize the stickers such as location stamps, polls, questions, hashtags, and stickers! This encourages engagement in our stories and ultimately helps us on the Instagram algorithm! Also make sure you are putting the team name in the story as well, at least for your first photo and/or video of them so people know who they are watching/seeing.
Instagram Stories 101:
- Ensure the content ALWAYS showcases happy smiling kids & coaches!
- Use the “live” setting on photos on your iphone- It creates cute little videos! That can be made into boomerangs easily!
- Take pictures/videos of NEW athletes/teams regularly
- Take pictures/videos in portrait mode for best format for stories
- Make sure to SAVE the photo or video prior to adding stickers or text
Make sure all photos/videos you are capturing are placed into the Shared Iphone Folder or Google Drive folder (whatever your gym uses) so that they can be utilized at a later date! When sharing into the folder make sure you note WHAT TEAM IT IS / ATHLETE / COACHES NAME if you know on each photo (or if you are uploading all of a team’s photos and videos at once you can put a note in the entire upload)! You can also go back when you have downtime and put notes underneath the pictures/videos.
Tips for taking the perfect photos/videos:
- Always make sure your camera on your phone is CLEAN! Give it a good wipe prior to taking photos.
- Make sure your photos are not taken too far away and are not blurry
- Make sure you let your subjects know you are taking photos (unless they are actively practicing or performing) This gives athletes/coaches the opportunity to give their best smile and that always makes the photos look so much better!! 🙂
PICTURE / VIDEO CHECKLISTS FOR COMPETITION:
I know firsthand it is difficult to snap every single of these moments for every single team, but try your best to get as many as you can! The goal is to have photos or videos of something from each and every team.
PRE / AFTER PERFORMANCE:
- Photos of “Friendships” – Ask athletes to put their arms around each other, get in for a close hug or a high five!
- Photos of Coaches & Athletes – Same poses as “Friendships”
- Photos of all of the ENTIRE teams prior to warming up!! (let the coach know you would like to take a quick team photo- set them up and ask them to give their best smile!)
- Pictures/videos of team warm-ups (Tumbling, Stunts, Dance, Jumps, etc)
- After Performance waiting for results
- Going Over Score Sheets / Replays with coaches
- Fun competition/showcase shenanigans
- Photo waiting to perform behind the stage
- Photo of coach Pre Performance “Pep Talk”
PERFORMANCE PICTURE / VIDEO CHECKLIST
- Photo athletes waiting for the music to start (These tend to be good photos as athletes are sitting still and smiling, snap photos of the girls who are in a closer range & snap a million of these!)
- Photo & Video of Stunts and Pyramids- Try to get photos of individual groups as well as the entire team
- Videos of Jumps & Dance
- Photos of athletes hitting sharp motions
- Photo of the excitement after the performance
- Photo of coaches in front of the mat cheering athletes on
PRO TIP!! You take a video AND snap photos at the same time on iPhones!! – UTILIZE THIS!! Make sure you have a FRONT ROW SEAT in front of the mat with no one in front of you when taking performance photos/videos!
During the performance it’s important to take photos and videos at the same time! – For fast-paced moments of routine (running tumbling, baskets, etc). Try to videotape in “Portrait” mode, but use your best discretion on this! For more slowed-down times during routines take the photos. Example- Stunts when they that “Hit” a count. Pyramids, dance, etc.
Here’s how to create an Insta Story Basics:
- Tap the plus button on the top-left side of our home screen or swipe left in our Feed. You can also quickly launch Stories by swiping right from the main screen.
- Tap the circle button at the bottom of the screen to take photos or tap and hold to record a video. You can also choose to start a live event (you do not need to utilize the live feature), a Boomerang or put the app in hands-free mode. To add photos or videos from your phone gallery, swipe up on the screen or tap the photo icon in the lower-left side of the screen. The app will automatically add a date sticker to your gallery photos, but you can remove it unless you feel it would be good in the story.
- Edit the photos or videos with text or add a drawing as you see fit. A good idea to add to all videos or pictures on the story is an explanation of “what is happening” AKA- If it’s team freshmen working hard on their stunt sequences, make sure you indicate that.
- Tap Done to save your Story.
- Tap the Add Your Story button to share our Story.