Instagram Features and How to Use Them [ CHEAT SHEET ]

Instagram is a powerful tool for business. Its features can help you build engagement with followers and reach potential customers. With new options rolling out regularly, it can be hard to keep up. Use this cheat sheet to understand each feature, why it matters, and how to use it.

Let’s get started:

Your Profile (formerly called your “timeline”)

What is it: Your public hub. It includes your grid, bio, link, and ‘highlights’ (which we’ll cover a bit later).

Why you use it: Many people meet your brand here first. Keep your bio relevant, add your location or service area, choose a clear profile photo, keep Highlights tidy, and post fresh, on-brand content.

Use your timeline to post a mix of content that will appeal to your audience. This is where you post a mix of the three E’s: engaging, entertaining, and educational, as well as promotional. People might hit your timeline to see who you are, find your website, send you a message, or browse your content. This is where you make your first impression so make it a lasting one.

How to use it:

1. Open Instagram, then tap your profile picture in the bottom right.
2. Tap Edit profile to update your name, username, bio, link, and other details.
3. Tap the Create or + button to add a new post, reel, or story.
4. Post a mix of the Three Es, Entertain, Engage, Educate, plus promotional content when appropriate.

STORIES

What is it: What it is: Short, ephemeral content that stays live for 24 hours, then moves to your private archive. You can add stickers, polls, questions, and links via the Link sticker. (Instagram retired the old Swipe Up gesture. Use Link stickers instead.)

Why you use it: Stories keep you top of feed, invite quick interactions, and are ideal for timely updates, polls, and behind-the-scenes moments. Stories are also a great place to gain feedback (through polls), use the Ask a Question feature to interact with your audience either for fun or to gain feedback, and encourage them to share your content when you post shareable things.

How to use it:

1. From your home screen, tap your profile circle at the top, then tap Add to story.
   
2. Capture a photo or video, or tap the gallery icon to upload.
   
3. Add text, stickers, polls, questions, and the Link sticker for URLs.
   
4. Add captions for accessibility and for viewers who watch without sound.
   
5. Post to share.

Note: When you upload a video, you will want to add captions to the audio so folks can read without sound. This not only makes sure your content is relevant to the viewers who watch videos with sound off, but it is accessible for the hearing impaired as well.

After you film/upload your video, click the square smiley face option, and then click “CC Captions”

You can also create layouts, polls, Ask A Question, quizzes – play around with all the features and have fun with it!

REELS

What is it: Short-form video that can now run up to 20 minutes, with editing tools, effects, audio, and captions.

Why to use it: Reels can reach beyond followers through the Reels feed and recommendations. They are perfect for quick tips, tutorials, transformations, and personality-driven clips.

How to use it:

To view Reels, click on the little play/TV box at the bottom of your home screen

To make a Reel:

1. Tap Create or the + button, then choose Reel.
   
2. Record or upload clips, then add music, effects, text, and captions.
   
3. Choose a cover, write a descriptive caption with keywords, and share to your profile and the Reels feed

INSTAGRAM LIVE

What is it: Real-time broadcasting to your followers. You can schedule Lives, add a title, and bring on guests.

Why to use it: Going live is a great way to connect with your audience in real-time. Great for launches, interviews, Q and A, product demos, and community conversations.

It’s also a great way to go on with Q&A to answer audience questions. This helps followers see a human side of your business.

When you go live, your profile photo shows “Live” on the top where your Stories typically are, so you’ll also be front and center to all your followers.

How to use it:

1. Open the camera and select Live.
   
2. Add a title and, if needed, schedule in advance.
   
3. Tap Go live. Use comments, questions, and guest options to interact.

a. Comment box allows you to type back to your audience (but, you’ll likely want to address the comments live as you speak)

b. Question mark box allows you to share submitted audience questions

c. DM paper plane icon allows you to direct message your live stream

d. The double face icon adds another user to the live stream to co-host. You’d use this feature for a live chat, for example, with an “expert”

e. The filter face icon allows you to apply filters

f. The camera roll icon lets you add an image into your stream

HIGHLIGHTS

What is it: Highlights are an area where you can group past Stories together. They live permanently on your profile as curated collections of your stories that followers can watch any time.

Why to use it: Highlights allow people to quickly find information about your business. One popular way to use it is to group content about promotions, products, or anything relevant so your followers can tap to find information. Some restaurants, for example, will have a MENU highlight or a HOURS highlight. But, the sky is the limit! Use it in any way that makes sense for your business.

How to use it:

1. On your profile, tap the New highlight circle under your bio.
   
2. Select archived Stories to include, then choose a name and cover.
   
3. To add more later, press and hold a Highlight, then tap Edit Highlight

a. You can upload one or click from one of the stories. We recommend designing your highlight covers in a tool like Canva to make them look on brand

Pulling it all together…

When using the Instagram content suite of features, it’s important to think about how anything you do can live across multiple areas on the app. For example, a Reel can become a Story, and then you can also use it to make a Post. Here’s a sample scenario:

You’re hosting a live chat with an industry expert on Instagram Live next week.

1. Create teaser content Posts and Stories with an image, date, and time
2. Introduce the expert on your Stories
3. Post a Q&A on your Stories and a Post graphic/image with a caption prompt to collect topics before the event
4. Create a quick Reel promotion for your Live a few days before (post this on your Stories)
5. Host the Live Chat
6. Break up the content into a Reel teaser
7. Post on IGTV
8. Take quotes from the chat, and make graphic Posts

See how one piece of content can live on and on, before and after? With careful planning, you can ensure your investment in Instagram content can go the distance.

Play around with the features and see what really resonates with your audience. Watch how other brands do content and get inspired! If you need help, talk to the pros. We’re here to guide you with a customized content strategy and can help manage it all for you.

MAIN FEED

What is it: The home screen that shows posts from accounts you follow and recommended content based on your activity.

Why you use it: This is where you practice proactive community management. Engage with posts you follow so you build relationships and stay visible.

How to use it: Save posts, share posts to Stories, comment thoughtfully, and explore hashtags and locations to discover new accounts.

SAVES AND COLLECTIONS

What is it: Saves is a great feature which is often underutilized! Save any post and organize it into private Collections, including collaborative Collections with friends or teammates.

Why you use it: You can save collections in folders and organize them for ideas, competition, potential clients, inspiration – you name it! You can look at your saved posts once a week and engage with posts from the accounts you’ve saved posts from to make sure you never forget your engagement strategy.

How to use it:

To save a post:

1. Tap the bookmark icon on a post to save it.
2. Go to Profile → Menu → Saved, then create or manage Collections.
3. For collaborative Collections, choose Share Collection and invite collaborators.
4. For information on how to save posts into collections, check out this in-depth blog for a how-to guide

NOTIFICATIONS (THE BELL)

What is it: A profile-level bell that lets you enable alerts for Posts, Stories, Reels, and when an account goes Live.

Why to use it: Never miss a post from an account you want to keep your eye on, whether it’s a partner, top customer, or your competition.

How to use it:

1. Visit the account’s profile.
   
2. Tap the Notifications bell in the top right.
   
3. Toggle Posts, Stories, Reels, and Goes live.

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Pulling it all together

Plan content that can move across features. For example, tease an upcoming Live with a Reel, post reminders in Stories with a Link sticker to a landing page, save the best moments to Highlights, and repurpose key clips as standard video posts. With a little planning, one idea can carry across your profile, Stories, Reels, and Live.