Instagram announces the launch in Italy as well of the “Guide” format, introduced last May in collaboration with selected creators and now available to everyone.
What does this mean for the future of the most visual social there is?
How can we effectively leverage this new feature in our strategy?
I tell you about it in this article!
Air of change for Instagram
Every time a social announces the introduction of a new feature or sharing format, it creates a buzz in the digital marketing world: what possibilities will it be able to offer companies and content creators?
Instagram, in this sense, is probably the most transformative platform. Indeed, in recent years, the Facebook-controlled social has repeatedly attempted to renew itself by introducing more or less successful changes.
While initially the experience was limited to the posting of square photographs accompanied by dedicated hashtags, over time features have expanded, often with the aim of catching up with competitors.
To be fair, these new features were often stolen here and there from the hottest social media especially among the very young. Stories and filters from Snapchat, IG TV from YouTube and Reels from TikTok are the most striking examples of what has now become an established strategy of Zuckerberg’s giant. So much so that it has become something of a meme: if you introduce a successful feature on your social, rest assured that you will soon find it on Instagram as well.
At the same time, the intent to make the platform more suitable for effective use by businesses is well known, particularly for those sectors such as clothing and cosmetics that are the main players on Instagram. Among all, the introduction of tags for products and the creation of a “shop” section on the profile are proof of this direction.
Features of Instagram Guides.
With the new Guides feature, Instagram seems to definitely want to change what can be posted on one’s profile. No longer solely a focus on fast-viewing images and videos, but a greater emphasis on text and “editorial” and long-form content.
A blog?
That’s right. Sort of.
The idea is to offer a space in which to share stories, tips, tutorials and inspiration in more depth, while still maintaining a connection to the main content on social: posts and stories.
In practice, the guides are available in 3 formats:
- Places: allows you to share content related to a specific place, with photos and descriptions that tell the story.
- Products: allows you to collect several products, from your own company or others, in a single content.
- Posts: allows you to collect in a single content several posts published on your own profile or saved from those of others.
All formats, of course, allow for classic hashtags and mentions to other profiles, as well as the ability to choose a cover image.
The guides created are collected in a special tab on one’s profile, but they can also be shared on stories or sent in private messages.
How to use Instagram’s Guides
The introduction of Instagram’s Guides format promises to open up new storytelling possibilities for brands, content creators and influencers. In short, one more weapon to create the perfect social editorial plan!
Let’s look together at some possible ways to take advantage of this feature.
1. Create a showcase for products
One of the most useful possibilities offered by Guides is to gather several products into a single piece of content. For example, you could create a Guide for each collection or line of products offered, so as to describe their special features and tell the idea behind them.
Another possibility is to share tutorials in which different products are placed in the context of use, providing suggestions to users and incentivizing a complementary purchase.
Still, one could use a Guide as if it were a promotional flyer, to collect discounts and sales on occasions such as Black Friday or Valentine’s Day, all in a native and unobtrusive format for the user.
Read also: Retargeting (or remarketing): what it is and how it works
2. Doing brand and corporate storytelling
Instagram has become a very effective medium of corporate storytelling, thanks mainly to the use of stories to share everyday moments in the company. With Guides, the possibilities for telling the reality behind the brand and its story increase.
One potential use is to collect posts published by your employees and those who work with you, so as to create a sort of “bulletin board” for all content related to life in the company.
Alternatively, you could create Guides that perform the function of the “About Us” and “Our Story” pages of a website, so as to give first-time profile users an overview of your business.
3. Collaborate with content creators and influencers
Guides offer new opportunities to collaborate with content creators and influencers, improving integration between content and sponsorships.
For example, if your influencer marketing campaign for a product involves multiple creators, you have the option of merging all sponsored posts in one place, with the benefit of showing the product from different perspectives. Or, include all the posts published by influencers invited to an event you have organized.
The influencers themselves, when involved in a sponsorship, can use the Guides to tell their followers in more detail how they use the product and why they recommend it. In the case of sponsorship for a service such as hotels or restaurants, they can use the “place” format to share photographs and comments about their experience.
4. Share user content and contests
In addition to influencers, Guides allow you to engage more with page users as well. In fact, this feature is perfect for easily sharing your user generated content in a creative way that respects the style of your communication. In fact, all you need to do is create a dedicated Guide, in which users’ posts will be inserted within the text following a common thread that will accompany the reading.
Social media managers could then use the Guides to accompany the creation of a contest, so as to collect selected content created by users in relation to a specific hashtag associated with the initiative. In this way, anyone who might go looking for information about the contest can find a collection of UGCs showing what it is all about.
5. Organize editorial streams
If in your social plan you usually follow a division of content according to editorial streams, it might be useful to create Guides where the user can find all the posts related to a specific heading.
Organizing content in this way can bring several benefits:
- It gives the user an idea of order and consistency in the type of content the brand wants to share.
- It entices new visitors to follow the profile to receive more of that type of content.
- Allows previously published posts to be given new life.
Are Instagram Guides the future?
At this point you may be wondering: okay all very nice, but how many will use them?
Good question, but unfortunately we don’t have an answer yet.
Like all new features introduced by social, it is difficult to predict what the reaction of users will be to the novelty. They could become a key feature of the platform like Stories or fall into oblivion like Instagram TV.
What is certain is that, should the response be positive, it would be another step forward for Instagram in becoming an all-around social for sharing content.
