How to Add Highlights on Instagram

Your Instagram Highlights act as a visual navigation menu for your brand, sitting just below your bio for every new visitor to see. They're your chance to make a fantastic first impression, guiding followers to exactly what you want them to know, see, and do. This guide breaks down exactly how to add, manage, and design your Instagram Highlights to turn your profile into a powerful brand asset.

What Are Instagram Highlights? Your Profile's Secret Weapon

Put simply, Instagram Highlights are curated collections of your past Instagram Stories that you choose to save permanently to your profile. While a regular Story vanishes after 24 hours, a Highlight lives on your profile grid until you decide to delete it. Think of them as organized folders or categories for your best content.

But why do they matter so much? Because they turn your transient Story content into a long-lasting resource. For businesses, creators, and brands, this is a game-changer. They serve several vital functions:

• Showcase Your Best Content: They give your most valuable content a permanent home, long after the 24-hour clock runs out. This is perfect for tutorials, top-performing product showcases, or answers to frequently asked questions.
• Act as a Navigation Menu: New visitors often don’t have time to scroll through hundreds of posts. Highlights are like a well-organized website menu, pointing people directly to sections like "About Us," "Services," "Reviews," or "Shop Now."
• Humanize Your Brand: Use them to share behind-the-scenes content, team member introductions, user-generated content, or fun Q&,A sessions. This builds trust and gives your brand personality.
• Drive Traffic and Sales: With Highlights, you can group all your product-related Stories, link to blog posts, or create a collection of testimonials that push potential customers closer to making a purchase.

By curating these small collections, you create an on-demand, easy-to-browse library of what makes your brand special, saving you and your followers time.

How to Create Instagram Highlights: A Step-by-Step Guide

There are two primary ways to create a Highlight on your Instagram profile: by adding a live, active Story or by pulling from your Story Archive. We'll walk through both methods.

Method 1: Adding a Story That's Live Right Now

This is the quickest way to create a Highlight on the fly. When you've just posted a Story that you know instantly deserves a permanent spot on your profile, follow these steps:

1. View your active Story. Tap on your profile picture at the top-left of your feed to watch the Story you want to save.
2. Find the "Highlight" icon. While viewing the Story, look at the bottom-right corner of the screen. You will see a small icon of a heart inside a circle. Tap it.
3. Add to an existing or new Highlight. A pop-up will appear, giving you two choices. You can either add the Story to one of your existing Highlights or tap the "New" button (with a `+` symbol) to create a brand-new one.
4. Name your new Highlight. If you chose "New," you'll be prompted to give your Highlight a name. Keep it short and descriptive (max 15 characters). Once you've entered the name, tap "Add."

That's it! The new Highlight will instantly appear on your profile. You can keep adding other active Stories to it using the same process.

Method 2: Using Stories from Your Archive

This method is perfect for building a comprehensive Highlight from content you've posted in the past. To do this, Instagram needs to have been saving your Stories automatically. By default, this is on, but you can double-check by going to your mobile profile > Settings and privacy > Archiving and downloading and making sure "Save story to archive" is toggled on.

Once you've confirmed your archive is active, you can build Highlights from all your past Stories:

1. Go to your Instagram profile. Navigate to your main profile page.
2. Tap the "New" button. Directly below your bio and follower count, you will see a series of circular icons. If you don't have any Highlights yet, you'll see a single circle with a `+` sign labeled "New." Tap it. If you already have Highlights, just press the `+ New` button.
3. Select Stories from your Archive. Tapping "New" will automatically open your Story Archive. Here, you can see all your previously posted Stories, neatly organized by date. Tap the small circle in the corner of each Story you want to include in this collection. A blue checkmark will appear on each one you select.
4. Tap "Next." Once you've chosen all the Stories, press the "Next" button in the top-right corner.
5. Edit your cover and name. On this screen, you can give your Highlight a title. Remember, the 15-character limit is strict, so use concise language. Next, tap "Edit Cover." This is your chance to choose the thumbnail image for your Highlight. You can either select one of the Stories you've just added or tap the small image icon to upload a custom cover directly from your camera roll.
6. Finalize and add. After setting your title and cover, tap "Add" (on iOS) or "Done" (on Android). The Highlight will be published to your profile, ready for your followers to see.

Beyond the Basics: Strategy and Design for Effective Highlights

Creating Highlights is easy, but making them effective tools for your brand requires a little bit of strategy and creative flair. Focusing on design and smart categorization can transform them from a simple feature into a major asset.

Designing Eye-Catching Highlight Covers

The first thing people notice about your Highlights is their cover images. While Instagram defaults to using a cropped snippet from one of your Stories, this can look cluttered and unprofessional. Custom covers give your profile a clean, cohesive, and branded appearance.

How to Create and Add Custom Covers:

• Use a simple design tool. You don’t need to be a graphic designer. User-friendly tools like Canva have tons of templates specifically for Instagram Story Highlight covers. You can quickly create a set of simple, icon-based covers that match your brand's colors and fonts.
• Get the dimensions right. Create your design on a 1080 x 1920 pixels canvas (the standard Story size). However, remember that Instagram will crop it into a circle. Keep your main icon or text right in the center to avoid it getting cut off.
• How to update an existing cover: You don't need to add a new image to your Story just to make it a cover. Simply tap and hold the Highlight you want to edit on your profile, select "Edit Highlight," then tap "Edit Cover." From there, tap the image gallery icon and select your custom-designed cover from your phone's camera roll. Adjust the zoom and position, then tap "Done."

Smart Highlight Categories Every Brand Can Use

Your Highlight categories should function like a guide for your audience, answering their most common questions before they even ask. Organize them strategically to reflect what your followers or customers need most. Here are some proven ideas based on different brand types:

• For E-commerce and Product Brands:
  • 'New' or 'New In': Showcase your latest arrivals.
  • 'Reviews': Compile screenshots of positive customer feedback and user-generated content.
  • 'How to Use': Create short video tutorials for your products.
  • 'FAQ': Answer common questions about shipping, returns, and materials.
  • 'Sale': A dedicated space for all your current promotions.
• For Service Providers and Consultants:
  • 'Services': Break down your different offerings in quick, digestible slides.
  • 'ROI/Results': Share case studies or testimonials showcasing client success.
  • 'Book Now': Direct people to your booking link.
  • 'Behind the Scenes': Show your process or a day in the life to build trust.
  • 'Q&,A': Answer questions about your industry or expertise.
• For Creators and Influencers:
  • 'About Me': Introduce yourself and your mission.
  • 'Partners': A place to store sponsored content or highlight favorite brand collaborations.
  • 'Tutorials': Group how-to guides related to your niche (e.g., 'Makeup,' 'Editing,' 'Recipes').
  • 'Travel': Organize clips from various trips.
  • 'Press': Share any features or interviews.

Quick Tips for Pro-Level Highlights

• Keep titles short and sweet. The 15-character limit (including spaces) is smaller than you think. Use clear, simple titles like "FAQs," "About," "Team," or "Reviews."
• Organize from left to right. Place your most important Highlight on the far left, as it’s the first one people will see. To reorder, you have to add and remove Stories to put a Highlight at the "most recently updated" position. An easier hack? Edit the Highlight you want to move, add any random Story from your archive, save it, then immediately go back and remove that Story. This "update" will move it to the number one spot.
• Don't create too many. Having 15-20 Highlights is overwhelming. Aim for 4-8 core categories that cover the most critical parts of your brand. Less clutter makes it easier for your audience to find what they need.
• Remember the 100-Story limit. Each Highlight can hold up to 100 individual Stories. Older ones are automatically removed as you add new ones beyond this limit, though this is rarely an issue for most accounts.
• Refresh them regularly. Audit your Highlights once a quarter. Remove outdated information, check for broken links, and add any new, relevant Story content to keep them fresh.

Final Thoughts

In the end, Instagram Highlights are far more than just a place to save old Stories. They offer a powerful opportunity to curate your brand narrative, guide new followers through your value proposition, and keep your best content accessible 24/7. By using a strategic approach to categorization and branded design, you can transform your profile into a dynamic and highly effective business tool.

Of course, great Highlights start with great Stories. Consistent, engaging content is the fuel that makes this feature work, but it can be exhausting. At Postbase, we built our platform specifically for the content that matters today, like Stories and Reels. We give you a visual calendar to plan everything out, helping you create a steady stream of compelling content to fill those Highlights without feeling overwhelmed by the daily demands of social media.