Instagram Guides are one of the most underrated Instagram features that you may not be using…yet.
But Instagram Guides are excellent for sharing curated content with your followers. Users can easily consume a collection of Instagram posts, products and more in an easy-to-digest format. For example, you can curate gift guides, product highlights, content roundups, FAQ guides and so on. Whatever is relevant for your brand and your followers.
(To create your first Instagram Guide, tap the plus icon on the top-right corner of your profile page and select “Guide.”)
There are three types of Instagram Guides:
- Place Guides, which is a collection of places that can be used for restaurant roundups, travel recommendations and city guides.
- Product Guides, which is a collection of product that works for product recommendations, gift guides and product releases.
- Post Guides, which is a collection of Instagram feed posts that can be used for curating lists of resources, sharing educational content, representing current events and more.
Instagram is the most-downloaded app in the world, so competition for users’ attention can be tough.
Using Instagram Guides can help your brand stand out. The following are four tips for using the mini-blog-like feature.
Consider what your audience wants
Because the creative opportunities are endless to curate and organize content for your followers, it’s best to start by thinking through what would be most helpful and engaging for your target audience.
The more you understand your audience, the easier this will be. What content have they engaged with the most in the past? What questions can you help answer for them? Use this to influence your Instagram Guides content.
You also can survey your audience with something as simple as a poll sticker on an Instagram Story if you want input directly from your followers.
Incorporate user-generated content in your Instagram Stories
One of the best, most-relatable ways to showcase your products is through user-generated content (otherwise referred to as UGC). UGC is unpaid or unsponsored social media posts that consumers share about a product or service.
About 85 percent of consumers think that visual UGC is more persuasive than branded photos or videos.
An Instagram Guide could easily be created to share how your customers are using your products. You can find UGC by manually scrolling through your tagged photos and branded hashtag page.
Check out our 10 tips to encourage more user-generated content surrounding your brand.
Share your Instagram Guides in Stories
Because Instagram Guides aren’t shared in your profile feed, it’s worthwhile to consider sharing them in your Instagram Stories.
You can easily do so by opening your Instagram Guide, clicking on the paper airplane icon in the bottom-left corner and selecting “add guide to your story.”
That way, you can easily promote your Instagram Guides amongst your followers.
Check out our nine tips to create engaging Instagram Stories.
Leverage Instagram Guides for strategic collaborations
Depending on the type of influencer marketing or brand collaborations you’re engaging in, Instagram Guides can be a powerful tool. You can spotlight other brands, creators or even peers in your network.
Brands are spending billions on influencer marketing.
In the simplest sense, an influencer is anyone with a digital following (or audience) on a social media platform (but not necessarily) whom you’d like to attract.
The purpose of influencer marketing involves increasing brand awareness, targeting new and niche audiences and increasing impressions and reach.
As you’re laying out the plan in your partnerships, consider opportunities to use Instagram Guides.
In conclusion
Instagram Guides are underrated but can clearly be used as a strategic content curation tool on the platform. Consider your audience and what they would most be interested in, as well as what pieces of content you’re regularly publishing that can be shared as a collection.
Check out our 16 Instagram marketing tips that you should know, as well as the 14 biggest mistakes businesses make on Instagram (and how to avoid them).
