Instagram Stories are a powerful marketing tool.
How powerful, you ask? Well, 58% of users claim to have become interested in a brand or product after seeing it in Stories. That’s an impressive statistic and proves the feature is vital for social selling.
But if you’re not saving your lucrative Stories to your Instagram Highlights, you’re leaving money on the table.
Here are five Instagram Highlight ideas to help elevate your brand’s presence and drive more sales on autopilot.
Let’s go!
5 Instagram Story Highlight Ideas to Make More Sales
Your Instagram Story Highlights are valuable sales real estate on your Instagram Profile. Not only do Highlights extend the life of your Stories content, but they offer the opportunity to share valuable information with profile visitors (from showcasing your best-selling products to answering frequently asked questions).
Here are some of the best ideas and how to make the most of them and grow your brand’s Instagram account.
Cha-ching.
1. Tell Your Brand Story
Not sure where to start with your Instagram Highlights?
Take notes from Hilary Duff, and go back, back to the beginning.
When a user lands on your profile, your bio will set the first impression. But with only 150 characters available, it’s hard to tell potential followers everything you want them to know.
That’s where creating an Instagram Highlight enters the chat. It gives you the opportunity to develop a relationship with your audience and convince someone to stick around.
Hop onto this Highlight idea and introduce your brand to your followers.
Answer questions like:
• Who are you?
• What is your “Big Why”?
• How did your business start?
• What can people expect from your account?
Once all your Stories are live, save them to an Instagram Story Highlight titled “Our Story”, “About”, or “Start Here”.
Bonus: Throw in a “Ask Me A Question” sticker at the end of your Stories. It’s a great way to encourage engagement with your audience and catch any points you want to elaborate on that are integral to your story.
2. Showcase Your Price List or Menu
Are you a hairdresser, tattoo artist, or restaurant? As a service provider, one of the most common questions users are likely to have is this: how much does your service or offering cost?
Make it easy for followers to find your offerings, business hours and price list with your Story Highlights. The more you make users hunt for information, the higher your risk of losing the sale.
Let’s look at an example.
@nails_by_boon (a nail tech artist) has a “Price” Highlight on her Instagram page, but it offers more than a price list.
She walks you through her client process, what you can expect, and what she does and doesn’t offer. At the end of the Instagram Highlight, Boon has an up-to-date price list.
By providing this information in a Story Highlight, it does two things:
1. It reduces the amount of DMs asking the same questions over and over.
2. It gives you curated answers (which you can share via a handy link) to provide to potential clients and customers.
3. Create Instagram Story Highlights for Each Product or Category
Let’s be honest.
You’re on Instagram to grow an audience to boost your sales.
To do that, you need to make sure your products or services are on your Instagram Story Highlights tab.
Take a page from @wearetala’s book and create Instagram Story Highlights for each product or category.
The brand creates a highlight for each new collection with all the product information. It details each item, the available colours, size options, and product features.
For users, it’s a valuable resource to figure out:
1. What products to add to their cart on launch day
2. The answers to product-specific questions – fast
In short, it helps take the fatigue out of buying decisions and makes the process as streamlined as possible for customers.
4. Create an FAQ Section
You know that Questions sticker? It’s an Instagram Story Highlights gold mine.
Not only is it a fantastic way to engage your audience, but you can also turn each response into a valuable piece of content.
All you have to do is save it under a “Q&A” Highlight.
Think of it like the FAQ section on a website.
You’re creating a valuable resource for your audience, and it helps users self-educate without having to wait for you to reply to a DM.
Start with answering your follower’s biggest industry and product-specific questions.
@mondayhaircare (an aesthetic haircare brand) does an excellent job with this in their FAQ Highlight (and take note of their Instagram Highlight cover design!).
The brand answers questions like:
• Do you test on animals?
• What is SLS, and do you use it in your products?
• Do your products use fragrance?
• What are the products in your range?
• Where can I order your products?
• Why are your formulas different in different countries?
• Are your products sustainable?
• Can I use your product on my extensions?
With a limit of 100 Stories in a single Instagram Highlight, you’ll have enough room to answer FAQs and save questions you receive from your audience.
5. Highlight Customer Testimonials and Reviews
Your most powerful selling tool on Instagram?
Social proof.
It plays into the basic human instinct of following the actions of others, and it helps to develop brand credibility, lowering the barriers to making an online purchase.
One of the best ways to make sure your testimonials and reviews are pulling their weight is with a dedicated Instagram Highlight.
Whether you’re selling a physical product or something intangible like an online course, users need to trust your brand before purchasing.
By showcasing what your customers say about your brand, you’re reassuring potential buyers and showing (not telling) that your product or service is worth every dollar.
Plus, when people can see real people ordering and receiving your products, it reinforces you’re a real business and not a scam.
Schedule Your Instagram Stories with Plann
Ready to start creating your Instagram Stories and give your Instagram Highlights tab a makeover?
Great!
…But don’t stop there.
Sign up for a free 7-day trial with Plann and gain access to our Canva integration. Without leaving your Plann workspace, you can create visually appealing posts and Instagram Highlight covers that match your brand identity.
When you’re done, schedule each Instagram Story push notification to go out when your audience is online and engagement is high.
It’s a match made in social heaven.
