How long do you spend creating your Instagram posts?
We know A lot goes into producing a successful post. You strategize, draft, design and edit your posts leaving enough time to be approved and scheduled in advance. And we know how frustrating it can be when posts don’t perform as well as you expected or engagement is short-lived.
So, how can you maximize the impact of your posts and unlock their full engagement potential? That’s where Instagram Guides come in.
Guides are a collection of published posts displayed on your Instagram profile. Guides can help you provide valuable new content and get more likes, comments and shares long after you initially created your post.
In 2020, Instagram introduced Guides as “… a way to more easily find recommendations, tips, and other content from your favorite creators, public figures, organizations and publishers on Instagram”.
Like Stories Highlights, Guides let you reuse and curate content from your brand, your partners, and your community. But instead of using Stories, Guides Only Use published posts.
Let’s consider the different types of guides and how you can create your own guide to drive new engagement with existing content.
The 3 Type Guide on Instagram
There are three different types of Instagram Guides—Post, Product, and Location Guides. Each type breathes new life into existing posts and can help you reach people in new ways.
Below are the key benefits of each guide and the best ways to use them.
1. Instagram Post Guide
These guides let you curate your posts—and posts from other accounts—around themes and events. You can use them to introduce you to the people behind your brand and share content from creators. They’re a great way to share helpful resources like how-to guides and curated listicles. Some popular topics include how to celebrate Black History Month and how to take care of your mental health.
Note: When creating a post guide, you have to choose from your saved posts.
2. Product Instagram Guide
Product Guides feature ecommerce products sold on Instagram. You can use them to highlight your products or products from a brand or manufacturer that you partner with. Holiday product guides are excellent examples of how you can position your products around an exciting moment. Plus, product guides inspired by pop culture and current events add to the excitement—just make sure they’re a good fit for your brand.
For example, you can create product guides like “Clean Skincare Routine Starter Kit” or “What to Bring Camping Checklist.”
3. Keep Instagram Guide
Use location guides to spotlight specific places that are important to your community. They make it easy to curate a guide using posts from certain geotags. You can highlight multiple locations at a time, but make sure they share a similar theme. Location guides are ideal if you want to share content captured by your audience, such as on your university campus or from your brick-and-mortar store.
How to Create a Guide on Instagram: Your Digital Blueprint
After you’ve decided which guide is right for your brand, it’s time to start creating it. Follow these steps to bring your guide to life:
- From your profile, click the plus sign in the top right corner and select Guides.
- Select Post, Product or Location.
- Add a saved post, Instagram shop product or post from places.
- Name your guide and add a description. To use a different cover photo, tap Change cover photo.
- Keep adding locations, products or posts until your guide is complete.
- Tap “Next” in the upper right corner, and then tap “Share.” Your guide will now appear on your profile.
6 Instagram Guide Examples to Elevate Your Brand
Ready to create a guide for your brand? We’ve got six extraordinary Instagram guide examples to help inspire you. Each company or creator has a different approach, but they all use creativity to transform existing content into a new community touchpoint. Review these examples to find out how your brand can use each guide type.
post guide example
1. Indiana University
Indiana University’s guide, the Hoosier Hype Team, introduces you to the university’s 2020-2021 ambassadors. This is a classic example of how you can use a post guide to capture the attention of the people behind your brand.
These types of guides make your brand’s Instagram presence attractive, warm and authentic. You can use this same strategy when promoting to employees, creators you work with, or active members of your community.
2. Sprout Social
At Sprout Social, we use guides to help our community navigate holidays dedicated to diversity, equality and inclusion. Our guide, How Brands Can Celebrate Pride in 2021, combined findings from our social media listening data, the experiences of our LGBTQIA+ team members, and examples of brands making a positive impact over the past year.
This guide is a successful example of how you can address frequently asked questions or concerns from your community.
Pro Tip: When creating guides or other content about a specific community, be sure to thoughtfully incorporate the different perspectives of members of that community to engage in conversation.
product guide example
3. Petco
Petco knows that bringing a new pet into your life can be overwhelming. And so you can find everything you need to enter pet parenthood. This inspired the New Pet Guide: Dogs and Puppies and other checklists for new pet parents.
In its guide, Petco shares adorable user-generated posts created by members of its community to spotlight trending products.
They also share explanations about how to use their products and the benefits pets can bring. When creating product guides, spotlight real people who use your products to make them more relevant and inspiring.
4. Grove Allies
The Grove Collaborative has a product guide for plastic-free products. As part of their #BeyondPlastic campaign, this guide is a resource for all their plastic-free products and an update on their goal to be plastic-free by 2025. The guide is an impressive example of how you can start with a significant value to your brand and community, like sustainability, and use it to drive attention to a particular product line or campaign launch.
The Plastic-Free Product Guide is an accessible starter kit that will help Grove Allies followers envision new possibilities in their homes. What values are your followers trying to follow in their daily lives? Consider using this model to create a guide with your products.
place guide example
5. Hotel Whisperer
Danielle Pointdujour is an award-winning travel journalist and editor who shares travel recommendations on her account @hotelwhisperer. In her guides, including 8 luxurious South African getaways, she uses her travel expertise to manage beautiful hotels.
Her guides cover the highlights and must-see elements of each place. When creating your own space guide, look to Danielle for inspiration. Share exclusive tips or fun facts to give your followers a behind-the-scenes look. This will create an interesting, immersive experience.
6. Explore Uptown Chio’s
In Chicago, the Uptown neighborhood’s Chamber of Commerce creates guides to local restaurants, entertainment, and showcasing events. Their Argyle Lunar New Year Guide takes their community on a trip to Argyle Street.
Argyle Street is a historic district known for its South Asian, East Asian and Vietnamese businesses. In this guide, Explore Uptown Chi has images of local restaurants and their mouth-watering dishes. Image description includes Lunar New Year traditions, customs and stories from Argyle Street’s restaurants.
Learn from the Argyle Lunar New Year Guide and partner with other businesses, creators and community members. Work with them to weave education and user-generated content together.
How to Create Instagram Guides for Your Business
Now that you know why and how to create Instagram Guides, there’s only one thing left to do. It’s time to make your own.
Start by figuring out what type of guide will resonate with your community. Are they chatting about an upcoming event or popular show on Instagram? Or are they preparing to start the journey again and need a checklist? It’s important to meet your audience where they are.
After determining what your audience is looking for, take a look at your brand’s Instagram goals and existing posts. What type of guide can you create that integrates your goals and the needs of your community? Check out the digital blueprint above once you’re ready to get started.
Guides make it possible to rearrange existing posts into a meaningful new experience for your Instagram community. Many brands have yet to discover the benefits of using a guide. There’s plenty of room to create something unique and innovative without overloading yourself or your team.
For more ideas to help you optimize your Instagram presence, check out these 10 Tips to Grow a Real Audience.
6 examples to create and inspire you Instagram guide first appeared on Sprout Social.
