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What Are Instagram Guides? How To Use Them?

“60% of Instagram users discover new products on the platform”. As per reports, engagement with brands on Instagram remains the highest; ten times higher than Facebook, 54 times higher than Pinterest, and 84 times higher than Twitter. 

Instagram has released the Guide feature globally for all users to help businesses and content creators gain the most out of their Instagram marketing. The goal is to allow users to quickly discover tips, recommendations, and different content from their preferred publishers, organizations, creators & public figures. 

With the tool, it is possible to access curated lists of content and texts illustrated with posts of a profile or products for sale on Instagram shopping. In addition to browsing community-created guides, you can create your own material through the app. 

The “Guides” tab can be found within social network profiles, signaled by a flyer icon. In addition, you can find specific guides about products in the Instagram Shopping area, with lists & indications.

See below to learn what Instagram guides are? How to use them for your brand? We will cover everything in this Guide.

Instagram Guides: What are they?

Instagram Guides is a feature that allows you to bring together different contents of the same theme in one place. Above all, it serves as a curator of content that your audience can access in a more organized and practical way, unlike the feed that works as a mix of scattered content.

Try to think of Guides as several categorized folders where you find related content. It’s like a reading list where all posts connect and complement each other.

There, you can insert your best posts and even add extra information to complement them. It is similar to a blog in that it allows brands and creators to develop denser content.

In Instagram Guides, you can also gather content generated by users other than your own. We’ll talk more about this later.

How to use Instagram Guides?

Now, let’s see step-by-step for you to learn how to use Guides. It’s effortless and intuitive, so you’ll hardly have any problems. Follow the steps below to learn more!

Access the Guides

There are two ways to view Instagram Guides. The first is through a user’s feed; go to the feed and click on a magazine-like tab. You can see it next to the IGTV and Reels tabs. By clicking on the account, you will find all of that user’s Guides folders.

The other option is through the Product Guides that are inside Instagram Shopping. To access them, click on the Shopping tab and, below the search bar, drag to the side to find the “Explore Guides” button. Thus, you will see several Guides related to products in this feature that is very similar to Instagram’s “Explore.”

Create and share a Guide

To create your first Instagram Guide, click on the Guides tab in your feed and select the “+” icon. Instagram will ask you if you want to create a Place, Product, or Publication Guide. Understand the differences in each of the categories below!

The “Location” Guides

With this type of Guide, you can recommend places to your followers, such as restaurants, bars, beaches, tourist sites, among others. It’s great for brands and content creators in the travel or gastronomy niche.

All Instagram users can recommend their favorite restaurants, cafes, malls, hotels, and tourist spots through the guides. This is an opportunity to change your influencer marketing a bit. We can imagine that an establishment asks an influencer to appear at its top to increase its notoriety, for example.

The “Products” Guides

With the Product Guide, you can indicate your favorite brands and products, as long as they are linked to Instagram Shopping. This option is perfect for content creators and influencers who are both paid and unpaid partnerships. Currently, brands invest a lot in referral marketing due to the high financial return.

The “Publications” Guides

The Publication Guides tab allows you to select content and publications posted or saved by you. So, yes, you can curate other users’ content. 

We can use this format to group tips on the same topic, recipes, commitments, or simply tell stories. Businesses can take advantage of publication guides to create visual storytelling.

Usually, a thread is created around the same category, season, or type of product/service. In this way, brands or influencers can regularly enrich it.

4 Ways to Create Content on Instagram Guides

Instagram Guides can be used in several strategic ways. Because it looks like an internal social network blog, its possibilities are endless. Here are some examples of content creation for the Guides:

Curatorship for news platforms

Contrary to what many people think, newspapers and news sites can also naturally use Guide. It is possible to gather news on the same topic in one Guide, which improves the customer experience. For example, a newspaper could collect all relevant information about COVID-19 into one Guide.

Curatorship for brands

For brands that use Instagram Shopping, it is possible to curate their products as a catalog. In addition, if you use the Product Guide, you gain more chances to appear in Explore, generating more visibility for your profile and, consequently, more buyers.

However, be sure to create Publication Guides, especially if you post relevant content and tips. Ideally, brands should not only focus on their products but also on producing valuable content. So, take advantage of the Guide to gather your best posts.

Curatorship for influencers

The cool thing about Instagram Guide is that it has become an excellent opportunity for influencers and creators. When creating your Guides, you can indicate partner brands and products, another way to monetize your Instagram.

However, also be sure to publish Guides with your most relevant content. If you are from the fitness niche, for example, it is possible to share all your posts related to recipes, exercises, and fitness routines in one Guide.

Curatorship for NGOs

Finally, let’s not forget the first profiles that had access to the Guides: charitable institutions. That’s because they can use the feature to share their tips and other profiles related to wellness, health, and social causes. By doing this curation, you support professionals in the field and help raise awareness.

Wrapping Up

Anyway, Instagram Guides are an indeed striking feature to showcase all content on a topic with your potential users. Instagram Guides is here to stay. After all, with so much information disseminated on social networks and the Internet, there must be a specific content organization. Also, through the Guides, you may end up being discovered by referring someone. So don’t hesitate to use this fantastic feature! 

What do you think? Have you created any Instagram guides yet? If not, then head to Seahawk; we can provide you leading marketing services for your brand or services! 

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