Instagram has quickly become an important medium for bloggers to grow their business. Instagram is all about visuals so having a profile that stands out is a must! Click here for more information on how to create your own Instagram highlights.
Hello everyone & welcome back to my blog! In today’s post, I am going to be talking about something that does not really have to do with travel, which is new for me! I want to start including blogging tips and lifestyle posts on my blog. Would anyone be interested in that? Let me know in the comments section below!
Instagram stories are a recent feature and it is a great way to share behind the scenes and raw moments with viewers and potential business partners. These days, authenticity is key when it comes to establishing yourself in the Instagram world. Your followers want to be included in your journey and what better way to do that than showing snippets of your day?
However, as you might already know, Instagram stories disappear after 24hours. There is no need to fret because Instagram Highlights are here to the rescue!
What are Instagram Highlights & how do they work?
☆ Basically, in a nutshell, highlights are like a collection of your stories saved on your profile. Simply create a category that pertains to that particular story or a collection of stories and save it to your profile for your viewers to watch again and for any Instagrammer who is interested in following you!
How can highlights help with my Instagram brand, blog, business etc?
✼ Since your highlights are displayed on your profile for pretty much forever (unless you decide to remove them), potential business partners and viewers can look through them and get an idea of who you are and what your brand stands for. This is beneficial for anyone who wants to work with you.
✼ You can promote your recent blog posts or an affiliate link for example and add a Swipe Up feature that takes your viewers directly to your post. However, as mentioned above, these stories disappear after 24h! Therefore, if you want to keep your affiliate links and blog posts links available for potential customers and followers, create a highlight for them!
✼ Instagram highlights can be used to display frequently asked questions. You can display them on your profile so your followers can go through them if they would like to get more info about you and your business!
Should I stick to my brand colours?
❥ Yes. I recommend sticking to your brand colours/logos! Firstly, it makes your profile look more professional and presentable and secondly, it helps readers and followers make the link from your profile to your brand.
❥ For example, my brand colours are warm tone, fall-ish colours and gold foil. My Instagram highlights all have those colours.
TIP: To help me find my colors & color codes, I always use Google and Pinterest. Simply type in for example ‘warm color palettes’, ‘pastel color palletes’ etc and find one that you like!
26th October: I updated my highlights to the following! I still stayed true to my warm brand colors.
How to make your own highlights in Photoshop:
✑ I always gravitate to Photoshop when it comes to designing for my blog. There are of course other tools that are much easier to use, such as Canva (Scroll down to see how to make highlights in Canva!)
Step #1:
✑ Open up Photoshop and go to File > New, or press on CTRL + N if you’re on Windows or CMD+N if you’re on Mac. When the window pops up, simply add your dimensions. There are no fixed dimensions however, I always use 1080x1920px. Click on OK and you can see your document!
TIP: You can create a template and that will save you some time from having to put in your dimensions every time. Simply click on Save Preset > give it a name >OK.
Step #2:
✑ My highlights are simply one colour so all you have to do is click on the Paint Bucket Tool, select the colour that you want, click on the document you created and tada, you’re all done! It is very simple.
Step #3:
✑ Once you are satisfied with how your image looks, simply click on Layers > Flatten Image. Afterwards, click on File > Save As and save your image to your computer.
⇢ After you’re done saving your images to your desktop, simply send the pictures to your phone. You can do this by email, sending them to yourself on Messenger or if you have a Mac & iPhone, you can use AirDrop. I always use the latter. It’s the easiest and ensures that my images don’t loose their quality!
How to use my highlights:
✗ Download the document from Google Drive. To download it, simply hover over the front image and click on the arrow sign on the top right corner and select where you want to save your folder.
✗ Go to where you saved your folder and double click on the folder and Photoshop opens. Tada!
✗ I wrote down the instructions on how you can edit and save the highlights. Basically, you can edit the image by image by unchecking the eye. You can change the backgrounds colour to whatever your brand colours are.
✗ To save, make sure to uncheck any highlights you are not using. Then, click on Layer > Merge Visible. Then go to File > Save As making sure that the .png option is selected and you’re done!
How to add your Instagram highlight covers to your profile:
To add your highlights, you’ll need to follow a few simple steps. Before, you had to post them on your stories to be able to add them as a cover. However recently, the rules have changed — hooray!
Step #1:
⇢ Open up the Instagram App
Step #2:
⇢ Tap the +New (Highlight) button
Step #3:
⇢ Scroll through your Archives and select the stories you want to add to that particular highlight. For example, if you want to add a highlight about FAQs, select all the stories where you answered questions from your followers. Once you’re done selecting your stories, click on Next.
Step #4:
⇢ Select Edit Cover. Here you’ll see the below icon where you can upload your own photos from your Camera Roll
When you’re here, you can also give your highlight a name. I recommend keeping it short and sweet. That way, it is fully displayed on your profile. You can choose to keep them small caps like mine, or all CAPITAL LETTERS or C A P I T A L L E T T E R S W I T H S P A C I N G, just an emoji and so on. The possibilities are endless!
Step #5:
You can edit your highlight to make it look however you want by zooming in and out. Once you’re happy with your cover, click on Done and Add and you’re done!
Congratulations 🎉 You now have highlights with your own covers displayed on your profile! Repeat the above steps for all your highlights. You can create as many as your heart desires! I create one for every destination we visit. I also have one dedicated to my blog, my relationship and my home in Germany!
How to make your own Instagram highlight covers in Canva:
If you’re not tech-savvy, there is no need to worry! A free tool that a lot of bloggers and influencers make use of is Canva.com It is very easy to use and you can pretty much make anything – from Facebook covers, to Pinterest graphics to Instagram Highlight Covers!
💡You can also download Canva on your phone which makes it easier to download and upload to Instagram!
This section is going to be divided into two. The first section is going to show you how to use Canva’s already available templates and how you can change it up and downloading it to your computer. The second section is going to show you how to create your own covers from scratch. Let’s begin!
Using Canva’s templates:
Step #1:
✒︎ Head over to Canva.On the homepage, you will see a search bar. Type in Instagram Highlight Story Cover and click on the drop-down menu option.
STEP #2:
✒︎ A new window should open up with your document.
#STEP 3:
✒︎ One thing I love about Canva is that they have free templates that you can use. If you like one of the templates (displayed on the left), simply click on it. You can also edit it! These templates usually come in packs. For example, I clicked on the coffee template and six templates with the same design concept came up!
Step #4:
⇢ You can keep them like this if you like them that way and save them, or you can change it up. For example, if you want to change the background colour, simply click on the image and click on the small square at the top of the page. A drop-down menu with all the colours will appear. Click on the plus (+) sign if you want to add your own custom colour.
STEP #5:
✒︎ Click on the Download button on the right-hand corner and you’re done! Follow the above steps to add your images to your Instagram profile!
Creating your own custom highlight in Canva:
Step #1:
✒︎ Go to Step #1 & Step #2 from the previous section.
Once you have your blank document open, you can let your imagination run wild!
Step #2:
✒︎ To change your background colour, click on the Bkground option on the left-hand side and add your brand’s custom colours. If you’re using textures like I am, simply click on Photos, upload your image and drag it onto your document.
Step #3:
✒︎ Click on Text to add your own text. They have a ton of font options and designs! They also have combos that you can choose from.
Step #4:
✒︎ To add your own icon, simply click on Elements and search what you’re looking for. Note: some of the icons are premium meaning that you have to purchase them.
Step #5:
✒︎ To repeat the process, click on +Add A New Page and design the rest of your highlights!
Step #6:
✒︎ Once you are done and satisfied with your work, click on Download located on the right-hand side of the toolbar.
Step #7:
✒︎ Scroll up to HOW TO ADD YOUR INSTAGRAM HIGHLIGHT COVERS TO YOUR PROFILE section and follow those steps to add them to your Instagram profile.
TIP: Canva also have a mobile app. This makes designing on the go a lot easier!
That wasn’t too hard, was it?! Like I mentioned earlier, Instagram is all about visuals so make sure that your profile is popping! I plan on adding more blogging tips blog posts to my blog as well as lifestyle posts! Would any of you be interested in that? Let me know in the comments section below! Furthermore, if you have any questions/comments/concerns, feel free to leave them in the comments section below or direct message me!
In the meantime, don’t forget to follow me Instagram, pin this blog post to your Pinterest boards and I will see you all in my next post!
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