In today’s day and age, using social media to promote your business is a wise approach. Unfortunately, it is easy to lose yourself in the abundance of opportunities every social media platform has to offer. Whether it is TikTok or Instagram — the number of features present on these sites can overwhelm even a tech-savvy individual, leaving them guessing which of the available options they should explore.
Instagram Stories Highlights is one of the best tools used by modern-day marketers, but it also suffers from the issue mentioned above. While some businesses claim that creating Instagram Highlights is a straightforward way to attract more clients, it is not the norm.
In fact, depending on your company’s needs and goals, coming up with branded Instagram Highlights covers might turn out to be a fruitless endeavor. As a result, many people debate whether using them for business is actually worth it.
This article delves deep into this topic, presenting the arguments put forward by both sides and answering the titular question. Let’s get started!
Why Using Instagram Highlights Covers Might Not Be for You?
Much like using a high-performance computing (HPC) platform (such as the one offered by rescale.com) won’t be beneficial to every enterprise, the same can be said about Instagram Highlights covers. If you look at the bigger picture, you may even conclude that Instagram is not the best social media site to ensure your company’s success.
So, what factors determine whether you should use Instagram Highlights covers or not? Here are a few arguments that could dissuade you from doing so.
It Requires a Lot of Work
While it may sound pretty straightforward, using Instagram Highlights covers to their full potential can be tiresome. Even if you have the best people working on this task, constantly updating your Highlights to keep them up to date can lead to burnout among your employees.
First of all, you need to come up with imaginative designs that will tie in nicely with your brand’s image. If you aim to promote your products and services to a young audience, you might want to create colorful and straight-to-the-point covers. On the other hand, your Highlights covers should be more mature if you are after an older demographic.
For example, Highlights for Children uses simple, colorful icons to demonstrate what it has to offer:
Image source: https://www.instagram.com/highlightsforchildren/
Conversely, Macmillan Publishers uses the same color scheme throughout all of their Highlights covers, resulting in a sleek and elegant look:
Image source: https://www.instagram.com/macmillanusa/
You also need to carefully consider what you want to include in your Instagram Highlights and how you can represent it by using a limited selection of circular, tappable icons. After all, while you might want to include a Highlight dedicated to your company’s history, is it really worth it if you do not have a top-notch cover to go with it?
Another thing worth considering is using your Instagram Highlights in accordance with the latest trends. If you wish to showcase how inspired you are by the photos you see in your feed and use trending hashtags to promote your business, you have to be ready to jump on the occasion with your meticulously-crafted covers. And creating a visually-appealing icon usually takes a lot of time.
On the same note, creating a nice-looking Highlights cover from scratch is not as easy as many people think. More often than not, you need to overcome Instagram’s limitations to express the core message of your Highlights creatively. For example, you have to adhere to Instagram’s story cover dimensions of 1080 pixels by 1920 pixels.
Here are some other elements you need to keep in mind:
- Cultural context — Although Marshall McLuhan famously stated that we live in a global village, we are far from creating a one-size-fits-all culture. As such, you should always ensure your covers are culturally appropriate and will not backfire once published.
- Simplicity — Nowadays, companies simplify their logos to the point that they are no longer recognizable. However, avoiding complexity is a generally beneficial practice. So, when designing your covers, try to create icons that are simple but distinct enough to catch the viewer’s attention.
- Your values — Highlights covers you make should reflect your company’s values and be in line with its policy. When people see the cover, they should immediately know what values it communicates and what information they can find by clicking on it.
- Consistency — Being consistent in your Instagram account’s design is critical. Otherwise, you run the risk of making your business look unprofessional and unreliable.
Overall, creating Highlights covers suitable for your Instagram can be a hard row to hoe. It requires extensive planning and a lot of flexibility and perseverance — both of which are necessary ingredients to thrive in the virtual world.
It May Not Be as Beneficial as You Think
According to data presented on Brian Dean’s Backlinko Blog, people spend an average of 29 minutes a day on Instagram. During this period, they are subjected to numerous ads created by companies. It makes the task of getting your brand noticed by an average Instagram user much more challenging.
Even if your Instagram Highlights covers are simply superb, they won’t provide any profits for you if no one sees them. And, as there are over 200 million business accounts on Instagram globally, your chances of getting noticed are ever so slim.
That is not to mention that Instagram might not even be the best platform for pitching your content to a broader audience. Other social media sites, such as Facebook, Twitter, LinkedIn, and TikTok, might be better suited for your purposes. Each provides unique advantages that others lack, meaning you have to evaluate which one will give you more bang for the buck.
For instance, almost 50 percent of all TikTok’s active user accounts in the United States are run by users aged 29 and younger, making it a much better choice than Instagram if you plan to advertise your services and products to a younger crowd.
Finally, the advantages of creating Highlights covers for your Instagram account might be overshadowed by the disadvantages, such as the high time expenditure and stress. According to Amanda MacMillan’s article published by Time, Instagram is the worst social media platform for mental health. Besides, Instagram’s policies and trends can restrict your creativity, transforming your business from something unique into just another firm present on the platform.
How Can You Benefit From Using Instagram Highlights Covers?
Nevertheless, it is not all doom and gloom. While it can be challenging, creating fantastic Instagram Highlights covers can bring substantial benefits to your organization.
Here is why maximizing your story-cover potential might be a worthwhile investment.
It Keeps Your Audience Updated
Because Instagram Stories Highlights — unlike regular Stories — do not disappear 24 hours after posting, they can work as excellent anchor points for your customers. It means that they serve a useful role — one that can be further enhanced with the addition of tailor-made covers.
Clear and easily-understandable Highlights covers can help you communicate important information and allow your followers to find what they are looking for. Whether it is a brief statement on your company’s values or a guide on how to make a purchase on your website — the right cover will help both you and your clients achieve the desired result.
Many companies have already dedicated a part of their Highlights sections on Instagram for contact and news distribution purposes. An excellent example of this approach is Letterfolk’s Instagram, where you can find a FAQ section and a dedicated spot for sharing new stuff:
Image source: https://www.instagram.com/letterfolk/
Using your Instagram Highlights wisely and matching them with suitable covers, you can make your business stand out from the crowd. The key is keeping your Highlights covers consistent and in line with your other marketing materials.
It Increases Your Brand Awareness
Another thing Instagram Highlights covers can do is increase your brand awareness. How do they do this? By making every aspect of your Instagram account brand-oriented.
For starters, replacing the first frame of the story with an eye-catching, branded picture as a cover can work wonders when it comes to the readability of your Instagram. It makes the whole layout more inviting and clutter-free, encouraging people to stick around and browse through the Stories you publish.
Similarly, a cover featuring the colors of your brand or parts of its logo puts more emphasis on your company while removing the unnecessary or irrelevant elements. If the final result is a minimalistic design with only your brand colors, it makes them stand out more — putting your firm at the center of attention.
Do not be afraid to experiment with different styles before going live with your covers! Doing so ensures that your Highlights covers will be both visually appealing and relevant to the topic they represent.
You might even combine your covers with emojis, adding more visual cues to attract new followers. Alternatively, you can follow in the footsteps of sites like Zappos, replacing Highlights titles with emojis and using covers as Highlights names:
Image source: https://www.instagram.com/zappos/
All in all, using covers is much better for your brand awareness than not using them at all. It is yet another space that you can use to express your creativity and showcase why your company is different from others.
It Helps You Send the Right Message
Not using Instagram Highlights covers can be risky. Although no one can force you to optimize every aspect of your Instagram page, it can backfire in more than one way.
First and foremost, when you are not creating your own covers, you are missing out on an opportunity to make a statement and communicate your company’s mission through a popular medium. It might prevent you from reaching more potential followers who could one day turn into loyal clients.
Furthermore, putting out a Highlight with a randomly-created cover instead of a carefully-crafted one might result in confusion and misunderstandings, which is terrible for PR reasons. And in the worst-case scenario, it may even lead to a controversy, negatively affecting your business and reputation.
To prevent this from happening, you should select every cover photo on your Instagram with the utmost care. This way, you can send the message you always wanted to without worrying about a random story frame ruining your brand image.
If you are short on ideas, let yourself be inspired by other companies present on the platform! For example, you can follow Wren Kitchens’s example and stick to one color and simple pictograms or go with colorful and eye-catching designs, like the ones present on Planet Fitness’ Instagram.
Image source: https://www.instagram.com/wrenkitchens/
Image source: https://www.instagram.com/planetfitness/
You can also switch things up from time to time, organizing your Highlights differently and removing Stories that are no longer relevant. This way, you can keep your layout up to date and avoid the situation when it stops being enjoyable and becomes dull. Just remember not to make any revolutionary changes too soon or in disregard with the rest of your other communication channels.
The Bottom Line
Improving your brand awareness and growing your client base through social media is a powerful way to get new followers and engage with your current clients. Instagram Stories Highlights is one of the best tools you can use in this regard, allowing you to differentiate your business from the competition and more. However, in order to use this tool to its full potential, you might need to create unique and exciting covers.
On the other hand, depending on your business model, target audience, and other factors, you may be very well off without hand-picking every part of your Instagram account.
For instance, you can forgo using Highlights covers if you do not have a lot of time and resources or are unconvinced of their importance.
Ultimately, the decision whether to use Instagram covers or not is up to you. Although many businesses use them to deliver a more personalized customer experience, you can use them for a completely different purpose or not use them at all.