How to Use Instagram Guides for Your Business

To help users more easily discover and sift through targeted content, Instagram launched a new format: Instagram Guides. Similar to scrolling through a blog post, Guides are a fun and effective way to feature places, products, or posts – either your own or others – while showcasing unique, easy-to-digest content.

Each Guide starts by sharing a cover image (you select this!), the number of posts featured, the title, and the account that posted it (that’s you). There’s also space to type a short introduction to your readers, where you can incorporate a searchable hashtag. All posts or products featured will have a title, an optional short description, and an image, or slide of images, which will automatically populate from the post or product you selected. Just like everything on Instagram, it’s image forward and visually appealing for your audience.

Here are some tips to create your very own.

Tips for Creating and Sharing a Guide

Creating a Guide

You can create a Guide directly from your Profile, selecting the + menu at the top right. From there, select the type of guide you’d like to create. When using Guides for your business you can recommend products, from either your brand or another’s, or posts you’ve created and saved.

After selecting which Guide you’d like to create, choose which products or posts you’d like to feature. Add a title, change the cover photo (if you’d like), and write a description to communicate with your audience what you’re sharing.

How to Share

Once your Guide is live, it will show up on your profile and on the Explore page. Share it in your Stories, or send it directly to others through a DM.

https://about.instagram.com/blog/announcements/expanding-guides-on-instagram

Content Ideas for your Guide

A Gift Guide

Create a gift guide (great for the holidays!) to share a list of products you sell that would be great gift ideas. If your focus is on one product in particular, think about creating a gift guide that highlights other products, made by other brands, that would pair well with yours, plus your own.

An Educational Guide

Take an educational approach to educate your audience on a product you currently sell or on a product you recently launched. Share how it’s used, what it’s made with, or the benefits of using it. This can help your audience, or a potential buyer, understand if it’s right for them.

@alyssainthecity

A How-to Guide

Consider having someone – a paid influencer, user, or model – style how they use your product throughout their day or week. If it’s a piece of clothing, consider having them record content of how they style it for different occasions. If it’s a self-care product, have them share how they use it and how it works for them. After it’s posted to your feed or theirs, compile it into a Guide with descriptions.

Instagram Guides are a fun way to share content that’s easy to locate and digest without someone having to scroll through your feed to find it. Featuring products in your Guide is also a way for users to make informed, in-app purchases.

Sources:

https://later.com/blog/instagram-guides/

https://about.instagram.com/blog/announcements/expanding-guides-on-instagram