Instagram Guides were introduced earlier this year as part of Instagram’s response to the COVID-19 pandemic. Originally only available to health and wellness creators, their purpose was to provide users with information that would help them to feel better during difficult times.
This week, Instagram Guides were rolled out to all users – both business and personal.
What Is An Instagram Guide?
An Instagram Guide is a collection of posts or products. It’s a great way to collate posts which cover a similar topic or to showcase your products. There are no limits or restrictions on who can create a guide so anyone can get involved.
How To Create An Instagram Guide
To create an Instagram Guide, simply head to your profile page and click on the plus icon on the top-right. You should see a menu with all the different types of post that you can create, including Guides. Once you have selected ‘Guide’, you’ll be shown another menu with the options ‘Places’, ‘Products’, and ‘Posts’.
Before we continue, let me explain what these options mean. Places is perfect for travel creators or accounts with a local focus. Its purpose is to showcase the best of a location. If you choose to create a Places Guide, you’ll be able to search for posts by location. Instagram allows you to include posts from your own account or posts which you’ve saved, as well as giving you the option to search a location and choose posts from there.
Products is the best choice if you’re already making use of Instagram shops. You can add products from your own shop or from others. Your guide will then be a collection of shoppable links to posts. The best thing about product guides is that they can be viewed on the Shop tab so there’s a higher chance of other users seeing them than other types of guide.
Posts allows you to create a collection of posts, either from your own account or posts by other users that you’ve saved.
Once you’ve chosen which type of guide to make and selected the posts you want to include in your guide, you’ll need to give your guide a name. You also have the option to write a short description of your guide so that users know what it’s about. You also need to give each post a title but descriptions are optional.
After you’ve done this, you have the chance to choose the cover image for your guide. At the moment, you cannot upload a specific cover image, instead you must choose one of the images from the guide. You can then preview what your guide will look like and finally, publish it.
How To View Instagram Guides
Instagram Guides can be viewed from your profile. Once you have published your first guide, you’ll notice a new tab on your profile page. This is the Guides tab and tapping on it will show you all the guides you’ve created. The only way to see other users’ guides is to visit their profile and tap the Guides tab.
This means it is difficult for your guides to be seen by other users. You can share them to your Story and I would recommend doing this, otherwise only users who visit your profile will know about your guides.
There is an exception to this and that’s product guides. As I mentioned earlier, you can view product guides from the Shop tab. Beneath the search bar, you should see some buttons such as ‘Browse Shops’ and ‘See Editors’ Picks’. If you swipe left, there should be a button labelled ‘Explore Guides’. If you tap on this button, you’ll see a selection of product guides from different accounts.
Should I Make An Instagram Guide?
Yes! It’s always a good idea to make use of as many Instagram features as possible as it increases the chance of people finding your account. The best thing about Instagram Guides is that you don’t need to create any new content at all so they’re pretty quick and easy to create.
Have you made an Instagram Guide yet? Or will you be trying it out after reading this article? Let me know how you get on in the comments.