Stories disappear after 24 hours, but the visibility they create for your brand doesn't. There are two ways to bring them into Discover, both paid add-ons, and you can use them together:
- Custom Accounts: track the Stories of the Voices you pick, for an event or a campaign. Self-serve, in a few minutes. Best for fashion weeks, launches, ambassadors and influencer campaigns.
- The Curated Panel: Stories from around 12,500 key Voices in fashion, luxury, lifestyle and beauty, in every analysis you run, on your brand alone and/or your competitors. Best for your brand's full Instagram picture, on its own and/or against your competitors.
Every Story comes with its MIV, the Voice who posted it and their Voice type, reach and estimated impressions, and the image or video itself, kept after the Story expires.
Which one do I need?
Custom Accounts and the Curated Panel answer different questions. Many brands use both: the panel for the market view, Custom Accounts for the moments and Voices that matter most to them.
| Custom Accounts | Curated Panel | |
|---|---|---|
| The question it answers | "Which Stories did my Voices post during my event or campaign, and what did each bring?" | "How do Stories perform for my brand, and/or against my competitors, across the market?" |
| Who chooses the accounts | You: any public Instagram account | Launchmetrics: around 12,500 key Voices (media, influencers, celebrities), updated twice a year |
| What you do | Create a tracker: Voices, dates, and hashtags and mentions or Capture all | Nothing: Stories flow in automatically |
| Where Stories appear | The feed you choose for each tracker | All your social feeds |
| Stories captured | From your tracker's live date | Since 1 October 2026 |
| Brand or competitors | Stories from the Voices you add, for your brand | Your brand alone, and/or the competitors you follow |
| How it works commercially | Paid add-on, using units: 1 unit = 1 Voice tracked for 1 month | Paid add-on: no units |
| Best for | Fashion weeks, launches, ambassadors, influencer campaigns | Your brand's full Instagram picture, alone and/or against your competitors |
Before you start: activation
Both are paid add-ons to Discover. Once you've subscribed, your account manager activates them for your account: you can't switch them on yourself.
Custom Accounts
- Once activated, Story Tracking appears in the three-dots menu on your feed pages, and your units are added.
- Don't see Story Tracking? It isn't activated for your user yet: ask your account manager.
- Need more units later? Ask your account manager.
Curated Panel
- Once activated, Stories start appearing in all your social feeds.
- Want Stories posted before activation? Stories since 1 October 2026 can be recovered: ask your account manager.
- No Stories in your feeds? Check with your account manager that the panel is on.
Included for everyone: Post Type reporting in Advanced Excel (see the last section) needs no activation.
Custom Accounts: set up a tracker
Step 1: Open Story Tracking
Once Custom Accounts is activated for you, go to any feed page, open the three-dots menu and click Story Tracking. Then click Create to start a new tracker.
Step 2: Name it and set the dates
Give your tracker a name, choose the Discover feed the Stories should go to (social feeds only) and your Brand, then set a Live date and an End date. Leave the end date empty to keep it running.
Step 3: Choose what to capture
Add the Hashtags and mentions that identify your Stories (at least 2 characters, press Enter to add each one). Or switch on Capture all to bring in every Story your Voices post, tagged or not. Save at any time: your tracker stays a Draft and drafts are free.
Step 4: Add your Voices
Paste Instagram handles or profile URLs, one per line, up to 500 at a time. Duplicates are skipped, and any Voice that isn't in Discover yet is created for you.
Step 5: Check the cost
Tracking allowance shows the units you have and how many this tracker will use. 1 unit = 1 Voice tracked for 1 month, counted from the tracker's start date, and a started month counts as a full one. Units are paid upfront, at launch. Need more? Click Request more units or ask your account manager.
Step 6: Review and launch
Check the summary, tick the approval box and click Launch. Units are used once, at launch. Tracking starts on your live date, and you can still add or remove Voices afterwards.
Custom Accounts: manage your trackers
Keep an eye on everything in one place
The tiles show the units you have left and how many trackers are Live, Pending (live date still to come) or Ending within 7 days. Search, sort, and switch between Active and Archived. Use the three-dots menu on a tracker to duplicate or archive it.
Check your Voices
Each Voice shows its status while it's linked to its Instagram profile. If a Voice shows as not found, there's no public profile for that handle: check for a typo or a private account.
Good to know
- Edit any time: add or remove Voices, change the name, brand, hashtags and mentions. Dates and feed are fixed: duplicate the tracker to change them.
- No double count: a Voice counts once per month, even if it's in several trackers or you remove and add it again.
- Archive is final: an archived tracker stops sending Stories to your feed.
-
Both paid add-ons? Voices already in the Curated Panel don't use units.
Curated Panel: find and analyse Stories
Step 1: Open any social feed
Once the panel is activated, there's nothing to set up or launch. Stories from the panel that name, @mention or hashtag your brand, and/or the competitors you follow, appear in all your social feeds automatically.
Step 2: Analyse Stories like any other post
Each Story shows the Voice, date, reach and its MIV for the brand it mentions, next to your print, online and social coverage.
Step 3: Open the Story, even after it expires
The image or video stays available in Discover after the Story disappears from Instagram, so you can always see what was posted.
Tip: to see only Stories on a feed page, paste this in the search bar: urls.url:*instagram.com\/stories\/*
The panel is updated twice a year. To follow a specific account that isn't in it, use Custom Accounts.
Report on Stories with Post Type (included for everyone)
Split your Instagram results by format, Post, Reels, Stories and Carousel, in Advanced Excel. No set-up, and it works on content collected before too.
Step 1: Pick the formats
Open the Channel filter, expand Instagram, tick the formats you need and click Done.
Step 2: Group by Post Type
In New Report (Excel), click Add next to Groups, choose Post Type and preview the data.
Step 3: See which formats drive your MIV
You get one row per format, ready to export. Use it to compare formats over time, or to isolate Stories for a campaign report.
Tips for best results
- Launch early: trackers capture from launch, so set them up before the live date.
- Use Capture all for key moments: otherwise only Stories with your hashtags or mentions are captured.
- Trim your list: remove Voices you no longer need, especially on long trackers.
- Stories are text-matched: your brand must be named, @mentioned or hashtagged.
Need a hand? Your account manager can walk you through it.