Renu Sharma — January 4, 2019 — January 4, 2019
Ever since Instagram has offered the option to retain old Instagram Stories as Highlights, the feature has taken the platform by a storm. Brands and individuals have wasted no time in utilizing this feature to their advantage.
The feature was quickly adopted by brands, marketers, and individual users. From showcasing new products and promoting marketing campaigns to sharing customer testimonials, brands are leveraging Instagram Highlights in varied ways.
For those of you who are not up to speed on what Instagram Highlights are, they are just a grouping of archived Stories that are worthy enough to be highlighted. So, if you have not leveraged this feature yet, start using it right now.
Following are some of the numerous ways in which you can leverage Instagram Highlights for your brand:
1. Showcase Product Collections
Instagram Highlights are a great way for brands to showcase their products right at the center of their profile. You can use customized story-groupings to showcase products in a myriad of ways:
- Start a Highlight for New Product Launches
You can use Instagram Highlights to showcase new or featured products. These are shown right at the top of your Instagram page, making it an ideal place for announcing new product launches.
For example, Anthropologie uses Instagram Highlights to showcase new product launches and also adds direct purchase links.
Image via Instagram
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Add a Highlight for Different Product Collections
You can showcase your different product collections, such as Winter 2018 and Summer 2019, using different Instagram Highlights. This will make it easier for customers to scroll through products that they are specifically looking for.
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Showcase Products by Product Categories to Feature Your Entire Collection
You can also showcase products by product categories. You can create a Instagram Highlight for accessories, another for women’s apparel, and so on.
For example, H&M showcases their products using Instagram Highlights. They group their Stories both by product categories and by season, as shown in the image below.
Image via Instagram
No matter how you choose to segment your Highlights, Instagram Highlights provide a good means of showcasing your products.
2. Answer Frequently Asked Questions
Answering customers’ questions is a great way to engage your customers and retain them. Using Instagram Highlights to answer FAQs not only helps your customers get a solution to their problems, but it also increases your Instagram page’s engagement rate.
For example, Package Free Shop uses Instagram Highlights to answer their customers’ most frequently asked questions.
Image via Instagram
3. Promote a Brand Hashtag
Whether you are running a marketing campaign or a contest using a hashtag, what better way to promote it than to feature it in your Instagram Highlights?
For example, LLIKEtoKNOW.it promoted their #FollowMyStory campaign in their Instagram Highlights. As part of the campaign, the brand invited influencers to share their stories and what inspires them. After getting several such entries, the brand collated the interviews and published a book.
Image via Instagram
4. Provide Hacks, Tips, and Tricks
Two of the best ways to engage your customers is to provide them with a solution for their problems or teach them how to use your products. Using Instagram Highlights to give advice, tips, and tricks to use your product in creative ways can achieve that.
Some examples of brands doing this are:
J.Crew’s Gift Guide
Fashion brand, J.Crew leveraged the Highlights feature to present a gift guide to their customers, featuring their own products (of course).
Image via Instagram
Huda Beauty’s Beauty Tips
Huda Beauty is a cosmetics brand that often uses the Highlights feature to offer beauty and makeup tutorials to their customers.
Image via Instagram
5. Customer Reviews and Mentions
Highlights are also a good way to showcase what your users are saying about you. It can be a positive customer review or a post in which a user tagged your brand while featuring your products. You can use this feature to show what others are saying about your brand and build brand credibility.
In the example below, Perfect Bar has showcased customer reviews in their Instagram Story Highlights.
Image via Instagram
6. Promote Quizzes, Contests, and Giveaways
A lot of brands use Highlights to promote their giveaways and contests or run quizzes. Here are a few examples:
Beauty brand, Glossier, often runs quizzes on their website and promotes them in their Instagram Highlights. Following is an example:
Image via Instagram
Pacific Northwest Wonderland used the Highlights feature to promote their giveaway, as shown below:
Image via Instagram
7. Add Footage From Brand or Industry Events
You can also use this feature to highlight pictures or videos from your company’s events or any events that you attended. This is a good way to keep your audience engaged.
For example, Lakme often highlights stories from the “Lakme Fashion Week” event that they sponsors. The brand not only posts pictures from their events but also uses Highlights to promote the events and create buzz around them.
Image via Instagram
Salesforce is another brand that uses Highlights to post about their brand events. Recently, they organized a community event and posted Stories both to promote the event and to showcase pictures and videos from the event. After the event was over, they used Highlights to show sneak peeks from the event.
Image via Instagram
8. Show Behind-the-Scenes Actions
Many brands use Highlights to showcase behind-the-scenes footage from their offices or factories to get customers to further connect with their brand and culture. This humanizes the brand, especially in the cases of online brands, and makes it easier for consumers to connect with the brand.
Image via Instagram
Conclusion
Instagram Highlights is a useful feature that you can leverage in numerous ways. If it is still not a part of your Instagram marketing strategy, go and create your first Instagram Highlight today. Use the tips mentioned above to use this feature for your brand.
Know of any more innovative ways in which brands can use Instagram Highlights? Let us know in the comments below.
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