After the reels, Instagram continues to add new features to its platform. Functions able to improve the user experience, and to give more space to interaction with their followers. SmmStore.Ca also offer like these services to make your profile more and more attractive with plenty of audience.
Last November, Instagram guides were launched, a new format created to share targeted and “sliding” content. This new feature gives users an easier way to share and use helpful tips and tricks, in an easy-to-view format.
The Guide’s feature was initially enabled for only a select number of health and wellness promoters, in an effort to provide resources to the people who are battling the pandemic. After a few weeks, the possibility was expanded. And, now, everyone can further expand their ability to create useful and valuable content for their community.
Where are the guides located? The brochure icon identifies them, between the TV icon and the photo icon with the tag. Anyone who sees a guide that they find interesting can share it in their stories and direct messages. Thus, here is that the content can go viral increasing the visibility of whoever created that guide.
Instagram guides, the three formats and their usefulness
To create your first guide, tap the plus icon at the top right of your profile page and select “Help”. From here you can choose between 3 different guide formats:
- Places: Recommend places in your city and beyond
- Products: Recommend your favorite products
- Posts: Recommend posts you’ve created or saved
The post formats
The guide in post format can be used to create an Instagram post thread (already present on your profile), with their title and with ad hoc comments. Much loved by influencers, it’s a perfect format for inspiring, telling stories, and giving advice on a topic you master.
Once you’ve selected your posts, you can add a catchy title and cover photo to the Guide. The title can contain up to 63 characters (with spaces), while the description is up to 2200. In the descriptions you can add hashtags and tag other accounts. The cover photo must not come from one of the selected posts – you can choose it from any post on your profile.
The products format
The product format guide is very useful for brands and stores that want to promote and make the products that can be purchased on Instagram even more attractive. It also allows you to collaborate more profitably and easier with influencers, who can themselves create lists of recommended products, as long as these are available on IG Shopping.
Brands can curate product lists with usage guides, gift guides, or other types of content to inspire people to see their products in a different light.
The places format
The place guide is perfect for sharing your location-based recommendations, from city guides you visit to the restaurants and cafes you recommend trying.
Name the guide and add a description; you can use images in the positions you have tagged or images of other users tagged in that same position. This makes location tags on Instagram even more important to marketers.
This type of feature is therefore ideal for travel bloggers, travel agencies and content creators who are passionate about travel.
Why use Instagram guides
If you are active on Instagram, you probably share a lot of content every week. Although these are valuable, after seeing them for the first time it is possible that a user “will miss them”.
With guides you can maximize the duration of your content. When a user clicks on the individual post in a Guide, they are redirected to the original publication. And, this becomes an evergreen content.
How the Guides work
After explaining what Instagram guides are and how they differ from other content, it’s time to understand how they work and how you can create them.
To simplify the process, we have chosen to explain step by step everything there is to do:
- Go to your profile and choose the posts you want to include in the guide
- Browse and take note of the posts to include – you can add up to 30 posts, including feed posts, IGTV, photos and carousel videos (you really have a huge choice)
- From your profile page, at the top, click on the “+” icon
- Choose the type of guide from the list displayed: there are three possibilities to choose from (in this case we are trying to make a post format guide)
- Select all posts for the Instagram guide. Make sure you pay attention to the order, so that each one appears in the right place
- Tap “Next” and choose a cover image for your guide from the images in your feed
- Give your guide a title (you have 3 lines of text)
- Add a description: Since headlines are short, make sure you use the description to give the audience all the great information you want to give
- Links are not clickable in guides, so make sure your links are in your profile bio
- Finally, add a title for each Help post (you can also add descriptions in individual posts)
- Press “Publish” and you will see a new icon for the Guides on your profile
5 tips to make the most of the Guides
What is the best way to use the guides? Here are five tips for using the new format:
- Use a product guide to share the list of suppliers or collaborators you work with
- Spend time creating posts on your IG feed about the different services you offer in your business, then create a guide that connects all services in one place
- If you have a place or location that people will tag in their posts (cafes, restaurants, bars, shops, workshops, etc.), create a post guide called ” customer reviews ” or “customer feedback” and include all posts. where people tag you
- If you’ve made a series of posts, create a guide that joins them all together, to get a better overview of the story you’re telling and to offer easier navigation.
- If there is a cause, charity, or movement that is important to your business, create a Guide with a combination of resourceful posts explaining that you are connected to the cause and other ways to donate money or get involved
Some interesting examples of Instagram guides
In 20 minutes or less, you can curate your own personal Instagram guide and share it. The intuitive process allows for creativity and helps audiences view your content in an easy and engaging way.
Creating Instagram guides is a great alternative to blog posts , especially during particular times of the year or if you’re looking to get traffic to your website . Another benefit of using Instagram guides? They are highly shareable!
One of the best ways to grow your following and Instagram likes on Instagram is to create authentic shareable content, and Instagram guides can help you do that. If you create a guide that your audience finds valuable, they may feel inclined to share it in their own stories.
Here are four creative examples of Instagram guides:
- Gift guides
- Main features of the product
- Practical guides and tips
- Answer the frequently asked questions
Gift guides
What better way to use Instagram guides than to create a gift guide? For a special time like Christmas or Mother’s Day, creating a gift guide is a great way to give your audience what they’re often looking for – gift ideas. In a few simple steps, you can curate an Instagram guide dedicated to your products or a collection of products from other brands and small businesses, taking care of any collaborations with brand ambassadors.
Main features of the product
Using Instagram guides to highlight your products is a great way to curate and organize content for your followers. You can choose your products based on bestsellers, new releases, categories or demographics.
Practical guides and tips
Have you ever dreamed of being able to offer your followers a large list of tips and tricks, or an in-depth guide to your service? Now you can! Businesses and influencers are getting creative with Instagram’s Guides feature. By curating these lists, you offer additional information that will hopefully inspire them to share your tips with their followers.
Frequent questions
Whether you’re an influencer, content creator, or small business owner, you’ll likely get tons of questions in private messages. If there are any frequently asked questions, it might be worth creating a guide dedicated to that topic.