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Instagram Highlights for Businesses

Someone holding an iPhone and logging into Instagram. Learn how to create Instagram Highlights for businesses.

These days, simply having an Instagram account for your business isn’t enough. There has to be thought and intention put behind every post, because 200 million people are actively visiting business profiles each day, according to Sprout Social. Your profile should be professional, yet stylish enough to make people want to follow and engage with you.

A great, easy way to add a little something extra to your profile is by using Instagram Story Highlights. Unlike Stories, Instagram Highlights allow you to organize your archived stories to put them front and center on your profile so your followers can watch them any time. With highlights, you can showcase different aspects of your business and brand, making them perfect for any organization to use.

Creating Highlights

Before you can create a highlights reel, you need to create stories. To make sure your story stands out to your viewers against the competition, you can use Instagram apps, such as Unfold or Canva, to create cohesive and stylish photos.

Just like with stories, you need to take the time to strategize how you want to organize your highlights. The great thing about them is that they allow you to create whatever categories or topics you want in order to ultimately benefit your followers. You can use them to feature services or products (especially with the swipe up feature to bring traffic back to your website), behind-the-scenes content, events, takeovers, episodic content, etc. The ways you can group your highlights are endless and completely customizable.

Cover Photos

Once you’ve selected the group of stories you want for a highlight, you can choose a cover photo that is displayed on your profile. You can either choose an image from one of the stories in that particular highlight, or you can upload your own image. Everyone does this differently, but it is important to try to be consistent with your brand aesthetic. A key point to remember when creating highlights is to keep your cover picture and description relevant.

Tatcha provides an excellent example of Instagram Highlights for businesses with these simple yet matching thumbnails.

If you are trying to keep it simple, the best way to do this is to choose a thumbnail you already have. Make sure the one you choose is relevant to the highlight—even better if it matches your theme. These are some brands that use this method while still making it match their profile:

 

 

Online Optimism is a great example of Instagram Highlights for businesses that use on-brand background colors for cover photos.

An easy way to step up your highlights game without trying too hard is by making the cover photo a simple background color that matches your aesthetic. These are some great examples—if we do say so ourselves—of brands that use this method to give their profiles a pop of color:

 

 

Visit New Orleans offers a perfect local example of Instagram Highlights for businesses that use icons as cover photos.The most common type of cover photo is one that features an icon or some type of text. Surprisingly, it’s not as complicated as you may think to create your own icon.  Here are some examples of brands that use cute icons to clearly communicate what each highlight is about:

Need Help?

Utilizing Instagram Stories Highlights is an easy way to enhance your profile. It can even help attract new followers, increase brand awareness, and showcase valuable content. Just make sure the information you’re sharing on your highlights is useful to your followers while also complementing your account!

Need help making it happen? Our social media team can handle all your Instagram marketing needs. Contact us today to learn more!