Influencers and social media gurus are stepping up their Instagram game with highlights. Besides the aesthetic appeal, highlights can add a lot to your profile, give visitors a sneak peek at your life and quickly take followers to your… well, highlights. We’ve all got highlights that play a role in our narrative, so why not pin it to the top of your profile? If you’re interested in creating compelling, story-like highlights for your profile, read on to learn more!
1. Highlight your brand
Stories aren’t the only things we’re highlighting! We also love to use these icons to highlight your brand. And sometimes, that means deciding on your brand identity first. Think about Target or Victoria’s Secret. As soon as you see the logo or name, you know exactly what you’re getting. Eventually, you want to get to this point as an influencer — where people know your brand by your visual identity. Incorporating some of your brand into your Instagram highlight icons helps boost brand awareness and recognition so that your followers and profile visitors continue to know who you are as an influencer.
2. Give ‘em a name
We’ll get to the illustrations in a minute, but let’s start with the names. Your highlights have a tiny bit of space open to your wordsmithing prowess, so don’t let it go to waste! Name these highlights something catchy, creative and most importantly, descriptive. When someone clicks on your highlights, they should know ahead of time what they expect to see.
3. Decide on a color
If you’ve already established a set of visual guidelines for your brand, then you already have a color or two. If not, now’s the perfect time to decide on a color palette. We say “palette” because one color can really limit yourself. While it’s nice to have one color that pops out and sings praises to your brand, it’s limiting when creating social posts and photos. Take some time to sit down and think about what your colors will say about you, your presence and what you represent.
4. Consistency + creativity
There’s a secret formula to the art of engaging, compelling Instagram highlights. That formula is consistency + creativity. You want your followers to know that your highlights will be posted at a regular cadence. That way, they keep coming back for more! At the same time, it’s important to always be changing it up. Keep it creative, mix it up with different kinds of posts, different angles and witty captions.
5. Relevance
Have you ever clicked on someone’s highlights only to find photos that don’t make any sense and don’t even match the name for them? That’s why it’s important that you keep it relevant. If your brand is all about clothes, it will feel a little out of place to have a highlights tab for trucks. Or, if you have a highlights tab called “Shopping tips,” make sure that’s exactly what it is. You’ll lose interest if your names are misleading.