A third of the most viewed Instagram stories are produced by businesses. But the stories disappear after 24 hours. With Instagram Highlights, you can give your best-received stories a permanent place on your Instagram profile.

Small businesses can tap into Instagram users' interest in Stories by creating selected collections of featured content with Instagram Highlights. While Instagram Stories build on the original "instant" aspect of Instagram, Instagram Highlights serve as a fixed place for businesses to showcase their best content, important resources and more.

How to add Highlights to Instagram

Before we dive into what to include in your Highlights, here's a quick overview of how to add highlights to Instagram.

To add active Stories to Featured:

• Open the story.
• Tap Highlight at the bottom of the story.
• Choose a current highlight or create a new one.

Instagram stories remain active on your profile for only 24 hours, but if you use the archive feature, you can store expired content for later use.

6 ways small businesses can use Instagram Highlights

Not sure how to decide which Instagram Stories deserve to be featured? Or need help getting your Instagram highlights to stand out? Try these tactics.

1. Create featured Instagram cover images

Instead of using awkward thumbnails as cover photos, create brand-specific covers so you have a consistent look across all Highlights. Highlighted icons give your profile a clean, professional look while showcasing your company's brand and style.

2. Keep your audience up to date

Instagram Stories are a great way to share announcements. If you want to keep your latest news in front of your audience, make space on your Instagram Highlights for weekly updates.

3. Reserve a place for access resources

People often find small businesses through social media, so commercial Instagram accounts should have many of the same resources as a website. Think about the information you normally have in your menu bar or footer (About Us, FAQ, Return Policy, etc.) and use your Highlights to keep that content available.

4. Reuse content

Start with images. Do you have any photos from a photo shoot that didn't make the cut elsewhere? Instagram Highlights gives you the opportunity to use photos that might not fit perfectly into the aesthetic you've created for your Instagram grid.

Instagram Highlights is also useful for repurposing blog posts. Try sharing snippets of posts as teasers. Creative and portable office supplies company Baronfig reuses blog posts on Eureka Bytes Highlights by turning key points from articles into simple images.

5. Bring something extra

Use Instagram Highlights to share additional content with your fans that they can't find anywhere else.

Let your audience know what goes on behind the scenes at your business. You can use Instagram Highlights to show how you create your products and package orders, or you can feature the employees who keep your business running. Instagram Highlights is also the perfect place to share "Instagram versus Reality" content, such as pre-edited photos next to the final image or the uncropped photo shoot setup.

6. Share the spotlight

Featuring influencers and people in your community not only brings fresh voices to your profile, but also shows your fans that you want to amplify voices other than your own.

Influencer marketing on Instagram is a great tool. If you're already working with contributors and influencers, amplify that content even further by giving it a permanent home on your Instagram Highlights.

Use Instagram Highlights to promote your business

According to a Facebook survey, 62% of people "become more interested in a brand or product after seeing it in Stories". With Instagram Highlights, you can extend the life of your best Stories and give potential customers more opportunities to see the content you worked so hard to create.

For small businesses, making time for social media is a challenge. Whenever you can find a way to make your efforts stretch a little further, you should take it. Start scheduling and measuring the impact of your Instagram Stories. If you still don't know how to get started with your strategy, contact us!