Instagram Highlights: Do I need them?

The importance of social media in a business has evolved: from simply being a marketing tool, to being the whole platform upon which a business can be built on.
Meaning that everyday there are more and more companies out there who started their small business who’s only selling platform was a social media profile online. Therefore Instagram has become one of the leading social media networks in the world. And it has revolutionized the industry ever since.

Most importantly what began as a platform to post photos of your life and have your friends follow you and like it. Now became a platform where thousands of people can follow someone else like a stranger with the interest of seeing their life in pictures. These people make a living out of it, and they are called “influencers”.

Instagram became a marketplace. People and companies can build and sell their services solely upon this platform. You can purchase products directly through it where before it was only used to showcase them.

Instagram highlights are stories that you chose to feature on your profile page permanently under a specific “highlight”. Stories posted on IG only last 24 hours for followers. As a user you can find them in your archive. What these highlights allow is to keep this information showcased on your profile permanently. Or at least until you chose to remove it from there.

The benefits of using it are several and they can vary depending on the type of Instagram profile. Wether it’s a store, a company profile, or a personal profile; the benefits are several and are listed here below…

• Sell / Market a Product: One of the ways to use a highlight can be to display a single product and put it’s specifications. If you have a very particular and limited product, you can do a highlight per every one with information, photos and reviews you have re-posted. Or if you want to give special attention to a particular product / service, then a highlight would be a perfect way to do it too.

• Display Important Information: Additionally this exposes other types of information with a different purpose that is not necessarily basic company info. For example, you can have a highlight of customer testimonies, reviews, your company values, etc. All with the purpose of branding or positive marketing.

• Give Important Introductory Information: If your brand or company has information that you have to repeat a lot; you can use highlights to put this information on your profile already. This way followers can read it and inform themselves first and have no need to ask. Examples can be opening schedule, price information, menus, how to buy process, etc.

• Partnerships / Sponsors: Different types of deals and sponsorships based on this platflorm have arised and become popularly seeked. An IG highlight flaunts or exhibits permanently on a profile a particular product, service or company with which that profile would have a partership with.

Visually this Instagram feature allows for more color to be present in the profile. Which allows you to make your company’s profile look more elaborate, profesional and with more personality. At MediaCenter we like to incorporate Instagram highlights as a part of our content strategy for every profile. We believe in all the benefits listed above and think it is a great part of a social media business plan. Therefore in conclusion; using Instagram highlights can be a great addition to your profile and a great marketing  tool for your business.