Instagram Story Highlights can be a really incredible tool for wow-ing your clients so that they not only hit that follow button, but they are just ready and waiting to gobble up and engage with your content. By utilizing Highlights to categorize your stories, it makes it really easy for your audience to engage with the content you're creating in the way that will be the most beneficial to them (which is a really good thing). It's also a really great way to tell people exactly what you do and what your business is all about without losing their attention or asking too much from them. But where the heck do you start? Right here, sister.

Question: how many times have you rewritten your Instagram profile text – that little bit of copy that you get on your Instagram profile for your bio? Once a day? Monthly? Weekly? You want to get the wording just right – a well-written bio will let your audience know that they're in the right spot so they don't hesitate to click that follow button. Second question: how much time have you spent perfectly curating your Instagram feed? An embarrassing amount, right? And there's no shame in that game. Putting together a really intentional Instagram profile and feed can make or break your account. There is a new feature on your Instagram profile that's equally important as these other two features... and you might be completely overlooking it and missing out on a BIG opportunity!

Picture this: you're strolling through the aisles at Target, checking out the new Chip & Jo collection, wondering which new shiplap paraphernalia you will be adding to your collection this week. Suddenly, a friendly face comes around the corner. Let's say you have a massage business... and she was your client last week. When she sees you, her face lights up and she rushes over. She gives you a big old hug and proceeds to tell you about her incredible experience with you. She is over the moon delighted with your service and won't stop raving, so you whip out your phone and create an Instagram story together. In it, she gushes about her experience, sharing the most heartfelt incredible testimonial. When you get home, you start to panic because you remember that Instagram stories only last for 24 hours. This is a literally the best testimonial you've ever received in your whole life and it's going to go expire. What the heck do you do? What if I told you there's a really, really easy solution to this problem AND that it will take less than 15 seconds to set up?

With all the new things happening on Instagram every single day it's super easy to just put on your earmuffs and start tuning everything out, right? It's a lot. However, there is one huge thing that I want to be sure you are taking note of on Instagram... something really, really big. This is the biggest update that's been rolled out recently and it is a huge opportunity to grow and attract your perfect audience. So what is it? Instagram Story Highlights.

Let's talk about visibility for a second, shall we? We're all on social media to be visible. We're posting to our instagram feed because we want people to see it. We're posting instagram stories because we want people to see them. In generally, we want more people to see them and then less, right? There is one strategy in particular that can absolutely blow up the visibility of your Instagram stories that just not enough people are using – geotags and hashtags, my friend. 

Have you ever opened up your Instagram and seen something that made you outraged? Not something classically offensive, but rather a beautiful, perfectly formatted caption with clean line breaks? We're talking zero periods, no emojis breaking up the spaces... just gorgeous white space in between each chunk of text? To be honest, this used to drive me insane. I would see these beautiful captions without the little period in between lines and wonder, "How the heck are they doing this?" Now, I know the answer and I'm going to share with you today.

There's one thing I've heard one thing loud and freaking clear, over and over. There's something that you HATE on Instagram: the Follow Unfollow strategy. Have you heard of it? It's the sleaziest, ickiest, grossest feeling growth strategy out there, but people use it. Let's be honest, though, whatever the platform is, there's always going to be people doing things a little bit then everybody agrees with. To tell you the truth, it's not just happening right now. It's been happening for years. Here's what you can do about it.

One great way to get people to watch (and rewatch) your Instagram stories is to use create intrigue. If a viewer taps your story and sees a feature they’ve never seen before, a little lightbulb goes off in their head telling them to keep coming back for more. It also designates you as a savvy Instagram user who stays ahead of trends and makes you stand out amongst the sea of stories so people come back again and again. I remember the first time I saw animated text on a video in an Instagram story – I watched it several times then spent probably an hour scouring my app, trying to find this cool feature. Today, I’m going to break down, step-by-step, how to add animated text to your photos and videos on Instagram.

Ever found yourself in phone-out zone-out mode? Mindlessly scrolling through your camera roll looking for something great post on Instagram? Or, even worse, scrolling through Instagram to try to find some inspiration for what post on Instagram? It feels like a dog chasing its own tail, once you start there’s really no end in sight. Luckily, you’re not alone. We’ve all been there – content creation overwhelm is no joke. It can start to feel like a monkey on your back, it’ll wear you down and exhaust you pretty quickly. Here are some no-fail ideas that will pick you back up when you’re feeling uninspired.

Instagram Stories are the place to be. Due to algorithmic changes and an oversaturation of posts in the news feed, posts simply aren’t seeing the play they used to. But have no fear, friend, engagement has not disappeared, it’s just moved from the feed to Stories. For this reason, interesting, engaging stories are more important than ever before. A really simple thing you can do to add visual interest and a whole lot of a personality to your Instagram Story is to add GIFs. The best part? It’s really really freaking easy.