There is a new tool to Instagram’s armoury – it’s called ‘Guides’ and is a new feature to recommend helpful tips to other users. In essence, the new tool will allow users to add words, photos and videos – creating a blog-type post.

The feature was rolled out to a select group of users earlier in the year, and focussed initially on wellness – with mindfulness, yoga and mental health topics all proving to be popular subjects. The change now embraces other types of content and means users can curate guides and make recommendations on products and services.

The new feature helps business owners share additional ‘long-form’ content and should help increase the amount of time consumers look at your content. Viewers won’t have to click to an external website or a blog to discover more – instead they can consume the ‘blog’ directly in the guide. Great news for creators and viewers!

How do you find ‘Guides?

‘Guides’ appears between the grid icon and tagged photos icon on your profile (it’s shaped like a booklet). It is expected that they will also show in the ‘Explore’ tab. People that read the guides can share them in their own story or via DM.

We believe Guides will be available to all, via the user profile and the ‘Explore’ function

What else is new?

In addition to the ubiquitous rollout of ‘Guides’, Instagram have also announced an update to the platform’s’ search functionality. The changes will mean that users can now use keywords – something that will help users better access relevant content,. With the changes, user aren’t restricted to searching for accounts or hashtags, users will also now be able to use search terms appropriate to their interests.

This is a fascinating change and starts to bring the concept of SEO to Instagram for the first time – definitely something to keep an eye on for brands looking at fresh ways to promote themselves.

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