The ultimate guide to Instagram Guides

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One of Instagram’s newest features, Instagram Guides have had a little upgrade in 2021 which means they can be another great tool to help you create and curate content within the Instagram app.

Caroline recently filmed an Instagram Live to share how and why to use Instagram Guides in 2022.

Click here to view the video.

The Ultimate Guide to Instagram Guides

It feels like Instagram is always bringing out a new feature from IGTV to reels and now to Guides, there is always something new to learn and test. With the new tweaks Instagram has made, Instagram Guides can be useful for branding building, no matter what your brand does.

Creating guides is not about creating new content, instead, it’s about curating content whether it’s your own or other peoples.

Here are 3 ways to use Instagram Guides:

Places: Instagram Guides which are location focused

Products: Instagram Guides recommending products you love and/or sell

Posts: Instagram Guides including posts you have created or saved

Why use Instagram Guides?

Instagram Guides show on your profile which means if someone visits your Instagram profile they will be able to see what guides you have shared. These are another excellent way to build authority within your niche.

Recently Instagram began rolling out the option to share your guides to your feed. This means your followers can now see them as they scroll their own feed. For me, this has improved Guides and gives more of a reason for you to use them.

Instagram also added the function of comments and likes.

Instagram Guides can also be shared with Instagram Stories as another way to reach your audience. You can even save them within your Instagram Story Highlights.

Although at the moment, there are no analytics for Instagram Guides and hashtags don’t work, I wouldn’t be surprised if Instagram adds more features to Guides in the future. If by then, you’re already an Instagram Guides pro, you will be ahead of the game!

You can currently add 30 pieces of content to each Instagram Guide.

How to use Instagram Guides

Once you’ve tried out an Instagram Guide, you will see they are simple to use and can be another great addition to your content curation within Instagram.

Ideas to use Places on Instagram Guides:

If you have a physical location you can share posts that have been geotagged at your location. This a great way to showcase your customers and the positive experiences of your location.

You can also use places if you want to share a guide of a specific area, this is especially useful if you are a travel blogger.

You could also share your favourite places within a location such as coffee shops & shops if they have geo-tagged a specific place within their posts.

Ideas to use products on Instagram Guides:

If you sell products and have Instagram shopping set up on your account you can create guides with these products. A great way to utilise these would be for specific reasons such as a spring edit or Christmas gift guide.

You can also share your favourite products from your favourite brands, again if they have shared their products on Instagram you can include them in your guide.

Ideas to use posts on Instagram Guides:

This is the easiest way to start your first Instagram guide.

You can create guides on your posts. For example, if you have posted about what you do or your expertise then you could create guides around these. Here at Gillian Sarah, we could create a guide on Instagram where we add posts we’ve posted that share Instagram tips!

You can also create guides from posts you’ve saved. To do this I would recommend creating a collection of everything you want to include and then you can use this saved collection to create your guide.

Create Instagram Guides

A final point to note on Instagram Guides is if you include other people’s content within your guides they will receive an Instagram notification. Guides can be great conversation starters and you might also find the brands share your guides to their story to give you greater reach!

It’s time to go create your Instagram Guide!

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