If you weren’t born into the generation encompassed by it, navigating the ins and outs of social media can be tricky.
Staying on top of trends and keeping ‘up to date with updates’ can be overwhelming, but never fear; Brand Warrior is here.
You may be in the dark about Instagram Stories and Highlights.
Instagram Stories are posts that last for 24 hours – the Stories of users that you follow appear at the top of your feed with a colourful ring to indicate that there is a new Story published. They allow users to share moments of their day that appear together in a slideshow format – on your Story! Stories were introduced in 2016, and Highlights and Story Archives were created a year later to revisit Stories beyond their 24-hour life.
Ok… so what?
Instagram Stories are useful in increasing brand visibility, personality, and engagement. Think about your Highlights being precisely that - a feature of your best Instagram Stories to highlight your brand's best.
Keep up!
Instagram Stories are displayed chronologically in the Highlight Reel, meaning your oldest Story posts, even from 180 weeks ago, will be the first to appear on your Highlight Reel when people land on your Insta page.
So, think about what you want potential customers to see and shape the content with this in mind - what do you want to show and tell them?
Continually audit, cleanse, and plan your content, always looking to highlight your brand’s best and design your content using your brand communication pillars. Remove the Stories that are no longer relevant, and remember, often less is more. Get rid of the old product, past events, opening hours that no longer apply and outdated offerings, as it’s not serving you or your brand a purpose.
A curated feed needs curated highlights.
Nowadays, Instagram is a popular social platform for Australians, with close to 10 million Aussies on Instagram! This means your Instagram account plays a large role in positioning your brand. A lot of effort goes into ensuring your feed posts are curated and promoting the right messages for your brand, and this effort needs to extend to your Stories and Highlights.
Even though Stories are designed to capture your business happenings ‘in the moment’, you still want to showcase the best of your brand, meaning good quality photos and videos with text, colours, or stickers that align with your brand style (style guide) and messaging.
This extends to saving customer or client stories where you have been tagged. We LOVE sharing client stories, but sometimes they don’t align with our brand, are outdated, or the quality isn’t that great. If this is the case, leave them off the Highlight.
It’s cool to match!
We recommend designing covers for your Highlights so that all your icons are the same colour/pattern/theme, ensuring consistency and levelling up the professionalism of your brand.
When choosing the cover of your Highlights, you may opt for a story featured in the Highlight, or you can upload an image from your camera roll (this is where the cover design comes in).
Like the look of these? Get in touch with our creative whiz, Maddie, to workshop what Highlight covers best represent your brand.
Show off 😉
Highlights are a great way to give future customers or clients a quick look at what you’re about and what other people have said about you!
Dedicate a Reel to testimonials or reviews and show off why people love your brand and what you do.
Did you know that 95% of customers read reviews before making a purchase, 93% of customers will read testimonials of local businesses to determine their quality, and 72% of customers won’t take any buying actions until they’ve read reviews?
Pick out your favourite brand testimonials and HIGHLIGHT them! As soon as potential customers discover your profile, they can quickly learn about the best of your brand.
Do you still have questions on Highlights, or are you keen to learn more? Don’t be afraid to reach out and contact us!