Creating impactful Instagram content takes time and effort. Strategizing, drafting, designing, and editing posts, and then scheduling them in advance can be frustrating, especially if engagement falls short. But what if you could maximize your posts’ impact and unlock their full engagement potential? Enter Instagram Guides.
Please note: As of June 2023, Instagram discontinued the Guides feature. While this article provides information on how the feature previously worked, it is no longer available on the platform. However, the strategies discussed for content curation and engagement are still relevant for other Instagram features and content formats.
Guides were collections of published posts featured on your Instagram profile. They allowed you to provide valuable content and gain more likes, comments, and shares long after the initial post. Launched in 2020, Instagram Guides offered a way to discover recommendations, tips, and other content from creators, public figures, organizations, and publishers. Similar to Stories Highlights, Guides repurposed and curated content from your brand, partners, and community but solely utilized published posts.
Let’s explore the different types of Guides and understand how you could have created your own to drive fresh engagement with existing content.
The 3 Types of Instagram Guides
There were three types of Instagram Guides: post, product, and place. Each type revitalized existing posts and helped reach people in new ways. Let’s examine the benefits and use cases of each Guide.
1. Post Instagram Guides
These Guides allowed you to curate your posts—and posts from other accounts—around specific themes and events. Use them to introduce the people behind your brand and share content from creators. They were also an excellent way to share helpful resources such as how-to guides and curated listicles. Popular topics included celebrating Black History Month and mental health care.
Remember that when creating post Guides, you had to choose from your saved posts.
2. Product Instagram Guides
Product Guides featured e-commerce products sold on Instagram. You could use them to highlight your products or products from partners. Holiday product Guides were great examples of how to position your products around an exciting event. Also, product Guides inspired by pop culture and topical events drove excitement, provided they aligned with your brand.
For example, you could create product Guides like a “Clean skincare routine starter kit” or a “What to bring camping checklist.”
3. Place Instagram Guides
Place Guides were used to spotlight specific locations important to your community by curating a Guide using posts from certain geotags. You could highlight multiple places at a time, ensuring they shared a common theme. Place Guides were ideal for sharing audience-captured content, such as from your university’s campus or brick-and-mortar store.
How to Create Guides on Instagram: A Step-by-Step Digital Blueprint
Although the Guides feature is no longer available, understanding how it worked can provide insights into content curation and strategy that can be applied to other platforms.
Here’s how you could have created a Guide:
- From your profile, click the plus sign in the top right corner and select Guide.
- Choose posts, products, or places.
- Add saved posts, Instagram Shop products, or posts from places.
- Name your Guide and add a description. To use a different cover photo, tap “Change cover photo.”
- Continue adding places, products, or posts until your Guide is complete.
- Tap “Next” in the upper right corner and then tap “Share.” Now your Guide will appear on your profile.
Instagram Guide Examples to Inspire Your Brand (While the Feature Lasted)
Several brands leveraged Instagram Guides effectively. Here are some examples:
Post Guide Examples
- Indiana University: Their Guide, Hoosier Hype Team, introduced the university’s 2020-2021 ambassadors, adding a personal touch to their brand. Guides like this made a brand’s Instagram presence personable, warm, and authentic.
- Sprout Social: Sprout Social used Guides to help their community navigate holidays dedicated to diversity, equity, and inclusion. Their Guide, How Brands Can Celebrate Pride in 2021, combined findings from social media listening data, the experiences of their LGBTQIA+ team members, and examples of brands who made a positive impact the previous year.
Product Guide Examples
- Petco: Petco addressed the overwhelming feeling of bringing a new pet home with their New Pet Guide: Dogs and Puppies. In their Guides, Petco shared adorable user-generated posts created by their community members to spotlight trending products.
- Grove Collaborative: Plastic-Free Products at Grove was a product Guide that supported their #BeyondPlastic campaign, serving as a resource for all their plastic-free products and updates on their goal to be plastic-free by 2025.
Place Guide Examples
- Hotel Whisperer: Travel journalist Danielle Pointdujour (@hotelwhisperer) curated elegant hotels in her Guides, including 8 Luxurious South African Escapes, sharing highlights and must-see elements from each location.
- Explore Uptown Chi: The Uptown neighborhood Chamber of Commerce in Chicago created Guides to showcase local restaurants, entertainment, and events. Their Argyle Lunar New Year Guide took their community on a journey to Argyle Street.
Key Takeaways: Adapting Guide Principles to Current Instagram Strategies
Although the Instagram Guide feature is no longer available, the principles of content curation and audience engagement remain relevant. Focus on identifying trending topics, understanding your audience’s needs, and leveraging existing content in innovative ways through features like Reels, Stories, and collections. Partnering with other businesses and community members can also create valuable and engaging content experiences.
By adapting these strategies, you can continue to build a meaningful presence on Instagram and connect with your audience effectively.
While Guides are no longer an option, explore other ways to repurpose existing posts into engaging content, keeping in mind what resonates with your community and aligns with your brand’s goals. For additional strategies, research ways to grow an authentic audience on Instagram.
