With more than 200 million users visiting at least one Business Profile daily, Instagram is more than just a social network—it’s your brand’s digital storefront.
However, just like a messy store doesn’t give the best first impression to your customers, a disorganized Instagram profile can do more harm than good.
In this post, we’ll explore how you can use covers for your Instagram Highlights to showcase the best of your brand. As a thank you to our dedicated readers, we’ll also give you a designer pack of icons that will boost the look of your profile right away.
If only all renovations were this easy.
What are covers for Instagram Stories Highlights?
Instagram introduced Stories Highlights in December 2017 to let users like you “hold on to your favorite moments from Instagram Stories and share them in ways that help you express yourself.”
Since then, brands have found many creative ways to share the best of their stories. One effective way has been with the use of “covers.”
You’ve probably noticed these visually-appealing icons popping up on the profiles of your favorite Instagram users—and for good reason.
Brands and influencers like Alexandra Grant of To Vogue or Bust, Monika Hibbs, and home and garden site Jungalow use covers for their Instagram Stories Highlights to showcase their brand and bring added value to their audience.
As you can see, using covers with appropriate icons make these profiles easier to navigate—and their content easier to find and engage with.
Why brands should use Instagram Stories Highlights
Boost the longevity of your content
Instagram Stories Highlights lets your brand showcase your best Stories and post them permanently on your Instagram profile.
As explained in our post 14 exciting new things to try on social media in 2018, “This feature is super valuable for brands because, unlike self-destructing Story content, Stories Highlights can be saved, reposted, and measured for long-term performance.”
This means that content such as a question and answer session you do with your followers can live permanently on your profile as an FAQ, so you aren’t wasting time constantly explaining the same things over and over again.
Drive more traffic to your website
Since you can share unlimited links in your Stories with the “swipe up” feature, Highlights enables you to drive more traffic to your website.
This let’s you direct your audience to external pages. Giving one use-case example, AdWeek explains, “Marketers can link to lead-generation forms from their respective email marketing software and boom, your email list is going off the roof.”
Whether you’re trying to increase sales by linking to a product page or growing your email list, Highlights allow you to host these valuable links for as long as your business needs.
Establish a solid brand
By adding covers to your Instagram Stories Highlights, you show your audience that your business is dedicated to making their experience as elevated as possible.
Clear and compelling covers and icons are a great way to give visitors to your profile a…
