Instagram Guide has been slowly rolling out and being tested on certain accounts before it went global. If you do not have access to this feature yet stick around. I’ll be showing you a trick for how you can get it on your account. You’ll then be able to create Instagram guide within a few minutes and add it to your Instagram profile. It will also help others to search for it and make you popular.
If you are new to Instagram or want to check out what all new features have been introduced, do see our beginner’s guide to Instagram 2021 version as well.
What are Instagram Guides?
Instagram Guide is a new tool that allows anyone to share their favorite products, places, or posts in the most beautiful, editorialized way on Instagram. This basically means that users now have the ability to create long-form text content in a dedicated tab on Instagram. Think of them as a blog post. They might also feel like Pinterest pins but with text. Instagram’s goal by allowing users to create Instagram guides was to make it easier to find, create and share certain products, places, and posts. They also want their users to stay on their platform for longer. So, by creating a blog-like content option, instead of having their users direct their followers to their website or blog they can now direct their followers to a guide. Overall making the Instagram app more successful.
Steps to create an Instagram Guide
To create any sort of new piece of content on Instagram the quickest way is using the plus button. It is in the top right corner of your Instagram profile page. You can find the plus button almost in the middle of your phone. Tap that button. Among various other options like “Post”, “Story”, “Story Highlight”, “Reel” etc. you will also see “Guide” at the bottom. You can tap it to start creating your first Instagram guide.
Also see – How to use copyrighted music on Instagram legally?
What if Instagram Guide option is not visible?
It may also happen that you do not see a guide option when you tap the plus button. The options may be limited to “Post”, “Story”, “Story Highlight”, “IGTV” and “Reel”. The Instagram guide option which should be at the bottom might be missing.
In this case, there are two ways to get it. First, you can update your Instagram app to the latest version. Just close the app, go to the app store and check if you have the latest version of Instagram. If not update it and try again. You should then be able to see the Instagram guide option available when you tap the plus icon in your profile.
If this doesn’t work, then there is a second option. You can visit anyone’s profile who has already created an Instagram guide. The guide’s tab is like a little newspaper. Tap on that and scroll to the bottom of the page. At the bottom of the page, Instagram will give you an option to create a guide for your account. If none of the people you know or any celebrities, you follow are using Instagram guide then you can go to Adam Mosseri’s Instagram profile. Adam Mosseri is the head of Instagram and uses almost all new features that Instagram releases. Adam’s Instagram handle is @mosseri. Adam Mosseri’s profile is one of the best examples of Instagram Guide.
Options available for creating Instagram Guide
You get three options when you try to create Instagram guide. Like, once you tap on the “Guide” option, it will ask you to choose a guide type. These three options are Places, Products, and Posts. You can think of them as more of a list of recommendations. So, when you click places, you can choose a place. And then you’re able to select photos that have been tagged to these locations and create a guide based on those photos. Basically, you can use anyone’s pictures. If people have been to a certain place and they have taken pictures which they upload to Instagram tagging this location, then you can use them. You could also go to your saved photos or your own posts to create a Place guide.
For products, you can search through different brand’s products. I believe it starts with brands that you’re already following. But you could search for a specific brand and then select products that they have listed. So, if you are into video games or gaming consoles then you can make a guide related to your gaming experience. Select all gaming products and accessories that you use to have a good gaming experience and create an Instagram guide. You can create a guide completely dedicated to it. If you have shared pictures of your gaming PC, your new console then you can use those Instagram posts of yours to create a guide as well.
A more general example would be your traveling accessories. If you travel a lot and have pictures of different places. Or if you have used different bags, kits, or electronics that you carry while you are on a trip, you can share them.
If you’re somebody like me who already has a bunch of captions written, then I would first start by going through your feed and saving your posts into their own folder. When you save a photo, you can save it to a collection. A collection will help you create guides quickly. You can just select pictures from one collection, then add a title, set the cover photo. Mention what the guide about? And maybe add a description that why do you like this place etc. and post it. Each collection of yours then would be considered a potential Instagram guide.
Checkout – Cool Instagram Username Generator.
Making your Instagram Guide Search Friendly
One thing I would recommend here is knowing a little bit of SEO. SEO is search engine optimization. It means that while creating Instagram guide you should mention general words that people use to search in your title and descriptions. Similar to hashtags but in Instagram guides, you don’t need to use hashtags. Rumor is Instagram will soon move to keyword scrapping in titles and descriptions to recommend guides to its users. Something like what Google does. Then hashtags will not be very relevant to Instagram guides. So, start putting words like ‘AT&T Stadium Football Live’ if you are posting about a recent match that you have been to at AT&T stadium. Or maybe ‘Things to carry while traveling’, or any other searchable terms that users may use. This will help your Instagram guide to be found by other users.
Once you have added the title and description, click ‘Next’. You will then see a few options. There will be options to preview your Instagram guide, share a guide to your profile, or save it as a draft, so you can complete it later. If you are done with your guide, then go ahead with the preview option. You will be able to see how your Instagram guide will look to your followers or people who will search for it. You can go back and make changes if you find any things incorrect in the preview or you feel like adding more pictures or text. Like you can add an address for the location, add more tips, anything that makes it more blog friendly.
Once you have edited it, go ahead and publish it. It will then be visible under the guides tab on you Instagram profile page.
You can also edit your guide after publishing it. So, if you have traveled to more places or purchased more travel accessories, then you can go back to your guide and edit it. Your guide has an edit option. You can tap it, scroll down and add more pictures. Add more text to the description or comment about new things. It also gives you an option to delete your Instagram guide. If you think it’s no longer relevant, then go ahead and delete your Instagram guide. But do be sure because once you have deleted it you will not be able to get it back.
You also have a copy link option. Like once you select the three dots on the top right corner of your Instagram guide, you’ll see a copy link option. You can use it to link this guide on your website or send the link to other people and even share it.
So, this was a short tutorial on how to create Instagram guide? There are many more features that Instagram keeps on updating and if you want to stay updated with them then do subscribe to our blog. We will make sure you are completely UpToDate and your followers are seeing the best of you on Instagram.
