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Stories — vertical posts with a built-in script

A feed post and a Story are not the same kind of content. A feed post is a caption + image, evergreen, on your grid forever. A Story is a 24-hour vertical moment — usually no caption visible, often a hand-typed text overlay, sometimes a face talking to the camera. The Composer used to only know how to draft feed posts. Now there’s a Story mode that produces the right shape on both sides — the image AND the words.

What it does

When you flip the post-kind chip from Feed post to Story, three things change:

  • Aspect ratio is locked to 9:16 — vertical, the only shape Stories and Reels accept. The picker disables the other aspect chips so you can’t accidentally save a square image as a Story.
  • The AI writes a script, not a caption. Instead of one flowing paragraph, you get a structured breakdown: a one-line hook, three to five short beats (one per line), and a closing CTA. Each line stands alone — it’ll either appear as a separate text-overlay frame on a Story OR be what you read aloud between visual cuts if you film yourself.
  • The image is generated with overlay headroom. Stories crop the top 15% and bottom 20% — the AI is told to keep critical detail out of those bands so your text overlay (or the Instagram chrome) doesn’t cover the dish.

If your account is connected to Meta, scheduling a Story publishes it as an actual Instagram Story (24-hour lifespan, doesn’t appear on your grid). The script lives on the saved draft so you can paste it as overlay text when posting, or as a teleprompter if you’re recording a Reel by hand.

The rule

Feed post = caption + image, lives on the grid forever. Story = 9:16 cover + a script for the moment, gone in 24 hours.

How to use it

Open Growth → Composer.

Switching to Story mode

Just below the source picker, you’ll see a new Post kind field with two chips: Feed post and Story. The default is Feed post — the same flow you’ve used so far. Click Story and watch what changes:

  • The Aspect ratio card greys out the Square and Portrait chips and locks to 9:16.
  • The hint under the aspect picker says “Locked to 9:16 for Stories.”
  • The Generate-post button still says “Generate post” — but what comes back will be a script.

Pick your dish or write a freeform topic (same as always). Click Generate post. The right column fills in:

  • The Caption field now contains line-broken text starting with HOOK: and continuing through BEAT 1, BEAT 2, BEAT 3, and a closing CTA:. Each line is short enough to fit comfortably as an overlay frame.
  • The Hashtags row shows 3–6 hashtags (fewer than feed posts; Stories show hashtags less prominently).
  • The Alt text is still there for accessibility.

Click Generate under the Image section — a vertical 9:16 cover image lands in the preview, framed with breathing room top and bottom.

Saving and scheduling

Save as draft stores the post as you’d expect. In the Calendar, drafts marked as Stories show with the same drag-and-schedule controls. When you schedule and the time arrives (or you click Publish now), the publisher routes through Instagram’s Story endpoint and the cover image lands on your Stories tray for 24 hours.

If you’d rather post manually, click Copy caption in the Calendar’s detail panel — the entire script goes to your clipboard with the line breaks intact. Paste into Instagram’s Story text tool one beat at a time, OR into a Reel description, OR keep it as your teleprompter while you film.

Worked example

Marco wants to push tomorrow’s truffle pizza as a Story tonight. He opens Growth → Composer. Source: A dish → Pizza Tartufata. Picks Story. The aspect chip moves to 9:16 automatically.

Anything specific to highlight? He types: “It’s October, truffles just arrived, want urgency.”

Hits Generate post. The caption comes back:

HOOK: October walked into the kitchen.


BEAT 1: Black truffles from Alba — today.
BEAT 2: Shaved over our 60-hour dough.
BEAT 3: Tonight only. While they last.


CTA: DM @iosteriabangkok to book.

He clicks Generate under Image. A vertical shot lands — the pizza on a wooden board, dim warm light from one side, the top quarter intentionally empty for a header overlay, the bottom third empty for a footer.

Save as draft. Opens Calendar, finds the draft, schedules for 18:00. The detail panel shows “Will auto-publish at 18:00 today via your connected Instagram.”

At 18:00 the cron fires, the image lands as a Story on iO Osteria’s Instagram. Marco’s phone buzzes with the first DM 90 seconds later — someone asking if there’s a table for two.

  • Composer — same UI, just with the Post-kind chip on.
  • Calendar — drafts and Stories show together; the time-picker behaviour is identical.
  • Connections — auto-publish to Stories needs the same Meta connection as feed posts.
  • Voice & Brand — your tone, sign-offs, and brand colours flow through Story scripts just like they do for feed captions.