5 Reasons Why You Should Use Instagram Guides
Social media platforms are constantly bringing out new features to keep us scrolling through content and posting new posts on their platforms. The latest offering from Instagram is the Guides feature. A Guide is, effectively, a kind of built-in blog post, meaning that users can create lists or recommendations on a certain topic. They involve using posts that have already been posted on Instagram, with new headings and descriptions. This presentation will run you through several reasons as to why you should take advantage of the new feature and use Instagram Guides.
Reason #1:
Instagram Guides are the best way to share your knowledge and recommendations. You create lists and compilations of posts centered around a particular theme. You can create Instagram Guides on any topic; from products, and places, to posts--the only requirement is that the posts have already been posted to an Instagram feed.
Reason #2:
Guides will help you to build a personal brand. It will add authority and strength to your posting, and make your business seem more reputable. You want your followers to trust and believe in you, so sharing your expertise in Guides is a fantastic way to cement your brand leadership.
Reason #3:
Guides are a method for you to create a new kind of content. They can aid in the transition of your brand, for example, becoming more of an expert on a subject, rather than an influence.
However, it does not have to be an entirely new type of content. Instead, it can supplement your existing posts. This will allow you to add detail that you simply cannot in a regular post.
Reason #4:
You can collate all your posts under one topic in one place which is easier for your audience to read. For example, for products, you can collect your behind-the-scenes pictures or the process. You could even do a Guide that is as simple as collecting your favorite cafes and restaurants.
Reason #5:
Even if it does not yield immediate results Guides are a long-term feature; they will still be available on your profile and presumably, the information will still be accurate. You can update your Guides and republish them in information orders, but it can still be a fantastic way to begin to position yourself as an authority on a certain topic.
Additionally, you can use Guides to share content from other creators. This is a great way to not only build relationships with other brands but also to insert yourself into the "in-crowd." By including your posts amongst the popular accounts and leaders in your industry you are raising your reputation and influence, too.
To conclude, using Instagram Guides will have numerous benefits for your business. Take the time to determine where and what Guides will best fit into your content strategy and most resonate with your audience--then let your wisdom do the talking, and watch your audience grow.
6 Quick Reasons To Use Instagram Guides To Grow Your Business
When new features are introduced on platforms, often, some users are hesitant to undertake the process of using them. When the feature is released, usually, there is not immediate uptake by all users. This can prevent other creators from using it as well; this is a misplaced fear. Instead, rather than shying away from using a new feature, you should be embracing it. This quick presentation will take you through some reasons why you should start using Instagram Guides today.
First, platforms tend to reward creatives that are brave enough to use new features. Therefore, you might find Instagram favoring your posts and improving your location in your followers' algorithms, as well as increasing your exposure to new followers.
If you are aiming to truly capitalize on the new update, work quickly. With quick uptake, you will find that you have less competition within the field of Guides. This means that your content does not have to be as refined as a post would need to be in order to send it out. Your followers will be more impressed with your Guides because they have less to compare them to. This is not to say of course that your Guides would not be good, simply that followers have low expectations, to begin with.
Nevertheless, Guides are a great way to give information on a certain topic. You can create collections of posts that are all based around the same thing. This is a great way to highlight certain areas of your feed without your followers having to scroll through all of your posts.
You can also show the content that is relevant to yours. By including content from other creators, you can give much-needed exposure to other creators, as well as building a community between your audience and theirs.
You can also use specific Guide features to recommend products that are tagged on the Instagram Shop features, as well as physical locations.
If you own a small business with a physical location that is tagged on Instagram this is an excellent way to promote your business. You can include photos that other users have put up in order to include some user-generated content and show your followers, future customers, that other people have enjoyed their time there. This is a way to amplify the word-of-mouth marketing, that many businesses rely so heavily upon.
Instagram Guides bring a new way to collaborate with other users.
You will be able to build a partnership with someone else by sharing their posts or them sharing yours in a Guide. This an excellent way to increase your exposure.
Instagram Guides operate as an authoritative thing, which means that your audience will perceive you as an expert in your given industry. It will add to brand power.
You can also present yourself as an expert in any given topic by creating a Guide on it. You can collate other users' posts on a topic and include yours in with them.
In conclusion, building a business on Instagram has never been easier. All you have to do is determine which elements will be the most effective for you and focus on them.
Best 5 Ways To Promote Your Instagram Guides
Instagram Guides are a new feature that is exclusive to Instagram. Instagram Guides are effectively a way to create blog posts within the app. No longer will users have to click external links to find new information, it will all be able to be found within the app. This means that the promotion will also mainly be in-app.
The easiest way to promote your Guide is to share it to your Instagram Story.
It would be more beneficial to do this at a popular time of day when your stories are getting the most number of views--you should also be mindful and make sure this is the time of day will target audience would be in a position where they could take the time to read your Guide thoroughly and engage properly with your content. For example, maybe you receive high engagement on simple posts or stories, like a morning coffee or inspirational quote in the morning, but for a Guide, which will take longer to engage effectively with, maybe it would not be conducive to post it in the morning if your audience is full of people who work nine to five, and only check Instagram briefly on coffee breaks.
You can also share your guys multiple times on your story. Although, you should be cautious of doing this too often in case your audience gets sick of the self-promotion--there is a fine line. Find the sweet spot and roll with it.
As you know, on your profile once you have created a Guide you will get the Guide tab which is the feed where the audience will scroll through all your Guides. To make sure people are aware of this you could add a story highlight to your profile titled information and share your Guide stories there. This seems minor but is a great way to remind your followers that Guides exist.
If using someone else’s post, first, consider asking them. You can also dm/comment to let them know and ask if they would share it, this way your post reaches a new audience.
If someone else uses your post in that Guide it is also polite to share it in your own story, this would build a good relationship between you and the Guide creator. Having such relationships are essential they could be sharing yours and you can build partnerships and come up with new content creations together.
Adding captions to posts to encourage your audience to visit your Guides is another possible strategy.
In essence, however, promote your Guides in ways that your audience will respond to. At the end of the day, the best promotion is good content, because that way, your audience will do the promotion for you!
How To Increase Engagement On Your Instagram Guides
It is not enough to just put content online. Your audience needs to interact with it and follow through on your call to action. Naturally, the goal of any social media post is to have it reach your audience and have them engage with it. It is not just about how many people see the post, it is about how many of them resonate with it and like, comment, share, and save it. Ultimately, what you want from your post is not for it to translate into sales (all though that is a happy part of it), but surely ultimately you want to change people's lives. This presentation will concentrate on the former: getting engagement on your Instagram Guides--the life-changing is something you will have to figure out for yourself!
The first, and best way to promote your Guide, is the share it to your Instagram story. Having a loyal following, full of audience members who regularly engage with your story and get high views will be incredibly beneficial here. Adding your Guide to your story is an easy way to draw your followers' attention to it and encourage them to view it.
Creating links between your content is a great way to encourage engagement. This includes adding captions to your posts suggesting that, for more information, your audience heads over to your Guides tab and read the appropriate Guide. Additionally, editing the caption to posts that are included in Guides (or adding a comment) suggesting something similar will direct your audience specifically to your Guide.
Another way to promote your Guides without strictly promoting your Guides is to run a question box on your Story. Ask your audience for questions, and when you receive a relevant question, rather than answering it straight up, post a link to your Guide instead.
Sharing other user's Guides (assuming they are not direct competition to your own) is a way to promote the concept of a Guide. It will also help build good relationships with your fellow creators.
Engagement will not just be about the engagement on the actual Guide itself, however. It will also be about the impact that your Guides have on the post you have included in the Guide. On the Guide, users will be able to click through onto the original post, this is a great way to encourage engagement on your regular posts. Therefore, when you are checking the analytics on your Guides, you should also analyze the difference between posts that have been included in your Guide and posts that were not.
There is a multitude of ways to encourage engagement on Guides. You will be able to use your already tried and tested methods for inciting engagement. The most important thing is to continue to monitor your engagement and test new methods--you have nothing to lose by being a little more creative! But, at the end of the day, the best way to encourage your audience to engage with your content (Guides included) is to make them relevant, appealing, and interesting... this will make liking, commenting, and sharing irresistible!
How To Promote Your Content Through Instagram Guides
When a new feature is introduced, one of the first questions creators often ask themselves, is how can I make this work for me? This, naturally, is a very common and valid question. But, once you have determined how it will work content-wise, you need to figure out how to promote it, and which way is going to be the most effective way to do both. This Guide will run into some of the ways that you can promote your own Instagram content through Guides.
A subtle way to promote your content is to create a Guide that is mostly comprised of other users’ posts but sneak your own posts in, too. This will not look like self-promotion, and it will also include your content amongst other popular, reputable, and valued creators.
If you have a product that is available on the Instagram stop you can create a product Guide. In this, you can explain your product a little bit better--perhaps the manufacturing process, your inspiration, the benefits, why you chose certain elements, and why it is perfect for the audience. You can even create a behind the scenes Guide or even in making all in order to further highlight your product.
If you are the owner of a small business that has a physical location that is available on Instagram, you should create a Guide to this business. If you have a cafe perhaps you could explain elements of the menu or elaborate on your coffee-making process (depending on your audience, they will love this). It is also a great way to utilize user-generated content and share posts that other people have made of your location. You do not have to be the owner of a location to make a Guide for it.
You may even find it conducive to include a discount code or some other kind of incentive to encourage people to share your Guide with others and then engage further with your product. For example, the tag of friends in comments or mention this Guide for a free coffee--friends who like to go to coffee together will share this post with their friends for the incentive.
Promoting your own content is as simple as including it in as many places as possible. Asking and encouraging other creators to include it in their Guides too will be a good way to reach new portions of your audience. Instagram Guides appear authoritative and reputable, so adding in your content will add to the power of your brand.
Do not forget to check the analytics of your posts to determine how intentionally promoting your content impacts the levels of engagement. Whether you analyze likes, saves, or the follow-through likeliness of your content, there are a plethora of ways to promote your content through Instagram Guides.
How To Use Instagram Guides To Create A Brand
As any feature is introduced, marketers must determine how it can be an asset to their social media marketing strategy--and Instagram Guides are no exception. Branding is a cornerstone of marketing and it is more essential than ever on social media. This presentation will outline how Instagram Guides can have many benefits, one of which is helping you build your personal brand more effectively.
Your brand is, in essence, how your audience perceives you. You should make sure that you are perceived in the best possible light. You want your audience to trust and respect you and to feel comfortable engaging and purchasing your products, or the ones you endorse. If your audience does not trust you or your content, they will not engage and they will not translate into monetary value for your brand. This Guide will show you how you can use Instagram Guides to present your brand as authoritative and knowledgeable and ensure that you stand out as an expert.
The goals of branding of course simple; raising brand awareness, gaining brand recognition, and finally achieving brand loyalty. A simple way to create a brand is to create a uniform persona that you use on your account. This means the personality that you used to post needs to be consistent and attractive to your audience, and align with the content you're posting. Your content and your brand need to align, if they do not work together, then your audience will be confused and disengage.
By using Guides, you will begin to stand out as a leader in your industry. By having the confidence to make recommendations, you are also influencing the markets. This is a huge power.
By creating a Guide, and, because “Guide,” by definition implies intelligence, strength, trust, and being a leader, you are creating a positive image for your brand. By creating Guides, you are effectively guiding your audience’s purchasing habits and online interactions, use your brand to build power and results.
Guides are also a great way to cement the personality of your brand. For example, if you tend to visit the same type of places; such as craft beer cafes or hipster coffee shops, or even secondhand stores or a certain type of high fashion, you can create Guides into these topics. They can be particularly good to be location-based for your local followers, or those looking for a tourist Guide into a certain area.
As all good marketers know, having a brand is one of the best ways to portray yourself as a successful business. Ensure that your Guides fit in with your brand and do not send mixed messages. Guides can be easy to integrate into your content strategy, and they can have great benefits for increase brand awareness, recognition, and loyalty.
How To Use Instagram Guides To Supplement Your Posts
Instagram Guides are a fantastic way to supplement your posts. With standard feed posts on Instagram, you are constrained with either posting text-heavy pictures across as many slides as you need or including information in a caption with a finite character count (that your followers may not read all the way through). And, if you have extra words that you need to add, you will have to paste them as a comment on your post. Naturally, this is not ideal for a lot of circumstances.
For this reason, the use of Instagram Guides may be incredibly useful for explaining text-heavy concepts or ideas—interspaced with visual aids.
Guides will not extend the number of words you can include in captions, but they will allow you to further express your ideas and expand on what you mean in a longer form manner.
Users will use Guides to actively look for information, meaning it is the perfect place to take an authoritative stance on issues and make recommendations on particular topics.
Instagram Guides can only be created based on posts that have already been posted--meaning you cannot upload pictures that have not already been posted on Instagram. This adds another dimension to your posts and is something that you can take into consideration when creating posts.
You can also supplement your posts with other user's posts this is a great way to show that you are not confined to your bubble and aware of the world that is going on around you. It is a way to cement yourself within your industry and prove yourself as an expert.
When using the product feature of Guides, this is a great way to add extra and additional information about a certain product; this could include reviews or explanations into the product's use or making method. You could also include behind the scenes looks.
Guides are a great way to collect all your posts on one theme in one place. This makes it easier for your audience to find certain posts without having to scroll through your entire fade. Additionally, your audience will be able to find recommendations and interact with your content in a more meaningful way that is entirely relevant to them.
Guides are the best way to add more detail to certain topics that you have branded yourself as an expert in. For a very basic example, if you post a lot of photos of brunch, creating Guides around the best brunch spots, or best coffee, or the most Instagrammable décor would be a fantastic way to take your content to a whole new level.
With the advent of this feature, Instagram has effectively created a way for you to expand on your content in a clean and concise manner, but not necessarily having to ruin the theme of your feed. It is a super-effective way to convey information and position yourself as an authority on any given thing. To conclude, Guides can the perfect way to expand on your posts and give your audience a deeper understanding of your content.
9 Quick Tips To Creating Successful Instagram Guides
Instagram gods are the latest feature created by Instagram. They were implemented in order for users should be able to create easy lists of their favorite posts, basically. Instagram Guides are a way to give recommendations and explanations on topics, and collect all your posts around a particular theme in one easy to find place. This presentation will run you over some simple tips for creating successful Instagram Guides.
The first step is obviously to make them clear and concise. It is better to have less content if the alternative content is reiteration and re-explanation. Do not just ramble on for the sake of it; have a relevant title, succinct headings, and appropriate descriptions, as well as making sure you are not cluttering it up by having too many posts.
The second tip is to ensure that your Guides are relevant to your content. You do not need to create new posts or avenues for your content in order to create a Guide. First, you should use and expand on the content you already have. Collate similar posts into useful resources in a Guide. Once you are more confident and familiar with the concepts (as well as familiarizing your audience with your new content type) begin to create posts with Guides in mind. Not all posts have to be included in a Guide, they can just provide
You will need to promote your Guides. The easiest way to do this is to share it in your Instagram Story. Your followers will see your story, and be able to click through to your Guide. Amend, or add comments on some of your posts to direct your followers to the Guide.
If you are using someone else's posts and content, you may wish to inform or ask them first. While not essential if the post is public, it is still a polite thing to do. You then may find yourself building partnerships and being promoted to new audiences. Including content from other reputable leaders is a great way to include yourself in a larger conversation and be viewed as trusted by the association.
You also need to encourage your audience to share your Guides. Getting your audience to promote your content is some of the best forms of marketing—it is the social media form of word of mouth.
You also need to make sure that your Guides will add value to your business. If you do not have that kind of relationship with your audience, or already promote certain places, products, or posts, your audience may view your Guides in a more skeptical manner.
Back up the posts you already have. You do not necessarily need to create brand new content to use in a Guide, you can use the posts you already have.
Use Guides to add further depth and detail to your brand and content. You will be able to expand and encourage your audience to engage with different content in different ways. You are able to go beyond surface-level posts and limited captions but going deeper into different themes and concepts.
Most of all, you need to have fun! If you are excited about and happy with your new content type—your audience will be, too.
So, there you have it! Guides are simple to use, and by implementing these tips you will be an expert in no time. They can add tremendous value to your brand authority and reputation, so determine how you can best maximize this!
The Most Effective Types Of Instagram Guides
Before starting to use Instagram Guides, it is important to try and gauge which type of Guides will be the most effective. There are three main types of Instagram Guides; posts, products, and places. Different Guides will present differently and give will you different results depending on your content and business structure. This presentation will give you some tips on the most effective kind of Instagram Guides.
To begin, it kind of goes without saying, but it is still important to mention, that the most effective types of Instagram Guides are, of course, the ones that are most appropriate for you. The best Guides align with your brand's values, appeal to your audience, and will benefit your business in some way. There is no point just doing Guides for the sake of it--determine what your audience will get from them, and how this will work for you, before just churning out content to appear relevant.
The most effective kind of Guide is one that best represents your content and resonates with your audience.
Product Guides
Product Guides can be used to share a particular product with your audience. You can include reviews or an explanation of how the product best functions. It is a great way to explain a more complicated product--for example, the manufacturing method or materials used for your audience. Product Guides can only be created about products that are listed on the Instagram Shop, so it is a great way to draw attention to your favorite products or options.
Place Guides
Place Guides are great to create a Guide to a place that has a location-tagged on Instagram. It is the best way to create a recommendation for a business.
Post Guides
Post Guides are the most versatile. You can create lists and compilations of posts centered around a certain theme. It is a useful way to share your expertise and group relevant posts together.
Additionally, you want to use an effective headline and name of your Guide, as well as helpful descriptions within your Guides. You want your language to be clear and concise, to demonstrate your point and be engaging. You should encourage your audience to share the Guides, too.
It can be beneficial to include some sort of call to action within a Guide; for example, a discount code or a "mention this Guide for a free...". There are many ways that you can be creative with Guides, so make sure you take any opportunity you can to do so.
The most effective Guides are going to be the ones that work towards meeting your business and engagement goals. So, think outside the box, use your imagination, and really Guide your audience into engaging with your content.
Ketosis Made Easy
If you are thinking about starting a keto diet, then you've probably heard a lot of hoopla about ketosis. Ketosis is one of the biggest benefits of the keto diet, but very few people take the time to explain what it is or why it matters.
In this tutorial, I'm going to give you an easy rundown of ketosis. Let's get started.
What is ketosis?
Ketosis is a metabolic process. It is your body's natural process of burning fat for fuel. Ketosis turns on when your body doesn't have enough carbohydrates to burn energy from glucose.
Ketosis occurs when there are a lot of ketones in your blood. Ketones can break through the brain-blood barrier, but they don't require insulin as a transporter like glucose.
How do I reach ketosis?
You can only reach ketosis by restricting your carb intake. You need to eat less than 50 grams of carbohydrates a day for about 3 or 4 days before ketosis actually kicks in for most healthy people. After that, you must maintain your low carbohydrate intake to sustain your ketosis.
Your exact body and needs will determine how many carbohydrates you are allowed to consume. For instance, some people will only be allowed to eat around 20 carbohydrates a day, while others will be able to eat around 40. Those with a more active lifestyle tend to eat more carbs.
What matters most is that you do what's best for your body to safely and effectively kickstart your ketosis.
You will restrict your carb intake by, you probably guessed it, cutting out foods that are high in carbohydrates. Bread, fruits, tubers, and legumes are some of the top food groups you must cut out to reach ketosis.
What should I expect from ketosis?
Ketosis has both positive and negative side effects. For most people, the positive side effects outweigh the negative by a long shot.
Most studies show that ketosis is great for weight loss since it burns fat instead of glucose. Other studies show that it helps reduce the risk of heart disease.
Those with diabetes or prediabetes will especially benefit from a keto diet. Due to ketosis, they can burn fuel through ketones instead of glucose, which requires insulin.
At the same time, there are some drawbacks to going into ketosis; for example, most people feel bad the first week of their ketosis. This is often called the "keto flu," although there is no official medical condition.
The following are possible side effects of ketosis:
● Headache
● Fatigue
● Brain fog
● Irritability
● Trouble sleeping
● Constipation
● Nausea
● Dizziness
● Sugar cravings
● Cramps
● Sore muscles
Final Thoughts
To recap, ketosis is your body's natural response for burning fuel if there are not enough carbohydrates in your system. The only way to reach ketosis is to restrict your carbohydrate intake. If you do this and reach ketosis, you can expect to lose weight, but there could be some negative side effects to look out for, as well.
