If you haven’t been hiding under a rock and you’ve been on Instagram recently, you would have noticed that business pages have a nifty little feature – icons that appear below your bio and above the posts which, when done right, simply cry out ‘CLICK ME’. These icons are Instagram Highlight Covers and if you have an Insta business page you should definitely be using them.
If this is new to you then follow on, I’ll cover everything you need to know about what they are and how to use these Instagram story highlights for your business.
How to use Instagram Highlight Covers
Instagram Stories work great promotionally, and help to connect you with your audience on a personal and creative level. But they only stay in your feed for 24 hours, making them dynamic and also exclusive.
The Highlights section however, enables you to save stories of your choice so your visitors can view them anytime (or how ever long you decide) – beyond this 24 hour period.
They also enable you to organise the stories you want to keep into groups, kind of like having different folders on different topics. These can be organised in a way that best encompasses the whole brand experience your business offers.
You can choose a name and picture/icon for a story you’d like to keep as a Highlight. This is a fantastic way to showcase, or ‘highlight’ (see what I did there?) particular products, processes or services that you think will show off your brand well.
What You Need to Know About Instagram Stories
The benefits of Insta stories for business can’t be understated. They are a great way to connect and engage with your audience, especially new visitors, and are also a really good way to get perceptive insights into how your marketing is going.
They are quick and punchy, and although they are essentially a ‘throw-away’ item, you shouldn’t throw away your opportunity to utilise them. This is a brilliant way to talk to your audience and give them a solid, tangible, authentic experience of your brand.
It’s not just for young people and influencers – these are for everyone.
How to Create a Story Highlight
You can create a Highlight in a number of ways:
- you can choose a current story and then add this to your Highlights.
- you can select a story from your archives to be added to your Highlights.
- you can also create a new Highlight from any picture in your phone’s gallery and give it a name.
To create a new highlight from an image in your phone
- click the plus (+) sign in the top right corner of your Insta page and choose ‘Story Highlight’ as your option.
- You can then select what stories you would like to include in your new highlight.
1. Select ‘+’ , 2. Choose ‘Story Highlight’ 3. Select the stories you would like to include in the Highlight.
- From here you can give your highlight a title and either use the selected story as the cover OR … you can edit the cover and select to use an image from your phone, resize and select done.
- You can then select the stories that you want added to that Highlight.
1. Give the Highlight a Title, 2. Use Current Image or Select from phone, 3. Edit and Save.
A similar process is used when creating from a current story (done when you are creating a new story) or from one in your archives (found in the general menu).
Choose Your Cover Wisely
You can use any single image for your Cover, but you can also create a Cover specifically to reflect exactly what you want it to be.
Because these pictures are one of the first things visitors to your Instagram page see you want them to grab attention instantly. You shouldn’t just choose any image to use as your Highlight Cover, but create something perfectly tailored for the job.
If you are creative you can use a platform like Canva, Photoshop, or Adobe to make your own (Canva has template Instagram Stories that you can adjust to suit your needs). But if the idea of this has you rocking in the corner, you can also engage a graphic designer (like me) to craft something beautiful and custom for you OR you can start by nabbing our free instagram highlight covers HERE.
Tips for Instagram Highlight Covers that Stand Out from the Rest
Highlight Covers are another great opportunity to express your individual business brand. If you have a brand kit a great place to start is to use this as the basis for your Covers. (If you don’t have a brand kit, this is something I can help you with…)
Even without a brand kit, the covers are a good way to show your brand’s individuality and personality. Some of the ways you can do this include:
- Using covers that are a pattern or repetition of the same colour and layout
- Using headings that all start with the same letter, or use emojis instead of words
- Use images that are all in the same colour palette
- Use text in the covers instead of images, again repeating brand elements such as colour and font
- Get a series of icons designed just for you
- Use photos of your team or customers
- Use shots of your products
Bless your gram with our Free Instagram Stories Highlight Covers HERE
Why You Should use this Space to Help Support Your Branding?
Brand Consistency!
- it helps to build a relationship with your customers. They start to become familiar with your brand and to trust it.
- it helps you to create and then communicate a clear message to your audience of who your brand is, what it stands for and what they can expect from you.
- it sets you apart from your competitors and helps you to stand out from the crowd.
- it makes you look and feel more polished and professional.
Your repeated use of branding should give your audience the same experience of your business each time they come into contact with it. They will start to know what to expect, and should already have positive feelings about you upon each new interaction. If you’d like to learn more about why brand consistency is the bomb, check out my blog HERE.
You should seize every opportunity for getting your branding in front of your customers. I can’t state this enough. Every chance you miss is a moment you could enhance your relationship with your customers and cement yourself in the minds of your ideal buyers.
Don’t have my free Instagram Highlight Icon Covers yet? Grab them HERE
If you would like to chat about ways to show your brand’s unique identity through Highlight Covers, get in contact HERE.
