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- LinkedIn Ads Strategies, Myths & Advertising Opportunities [PODCAST]
- YouTube Tests Product Tags in Selected Creator Videos as Part of Larger Shift Towards eCommerce
- Facebook Launches ‘Season of Support’ to Assist SMBs, Including New #BuyBlackFriday Push
- GE CMO Linda Boff on why marketers are the ‘soul’ of the business
How to Create Beautiful Instagram Highlight Covers (40 Free Icons)
When you think about the highlights of your life, what does the cover art look like? For example, a cover describing the adventures starring you and your pup may resemble a muddy paw or floofy ears.
Sharing these souvenir moments on social is fun, but for business, it’s pretty effective for building relationships between a brand and its followers too. Instagram Story Highlights offer a way for followers to rewatch top-notch video content. And like everything else, we have to intrigue folks enough to watch more. Enter IG Highlight Covers!
With Hootsuite’s help, let’s find out how to create beautiful and effective covers (aka the circles sitting underneath a bio on your IG profile.)
Covers typically contain images or icons with very brief descriptions that categorize them. If you’re just getting started on creating covers, check out Hootsuite’s 40 free icons and add your preferred backgrounds in Photoshop or Canva. Then add an image by selecting a highlight, tapping More at the bottom right corner, choosing Edit Highlight, selecting Edit Cover, then you have your image.
Some great tips for your covers and icons are:
- Show off your brand’s aesthetic. Stay within your brand and stick to your usual fonts and colors. Remember you’re working in a small space, so don’t go overboard on text!
- Don’t be afraid to experiment. Whether you’re showcasing products or people, make it fun or go for something more descriptive. Whatever better conveys your message and branding.
- Highlight the Stories that matter most. Not everything in your Stories belongs in Highlights. Think about what your audience really wants to see and keep this content in Highlights.
- Be consistent when organizing Highlights. Some organize it like a website menu (Home, About, Products, etc) while others, go with seasonal collections (New Arrivals, Fall Fashion, etc). Remember, keep audience perspective in mind. It’s not just about what looks nice.
Continue reading for an in-depth look at creating highlights and their covers.
AutoDraw
There are tons of free and paid sites to snag icons, but sometimes it’s more fun designing them from scratch! But hold up, before you non-designers out there try to skip this section, Google Creative Lab has a tool to help you draw like a pro.
AutoDraw pairs machine learning with tons of drawings so the program can recognize what it is you’re scribbling. For instance, start drawing your best version of a tree and it’ll predict what you’re drawing and offer some designs for trees.
Watch
Barbie and Nikki Discuss Racism
Uncomfortable conversations can lead to breakthroughs and a better world for us all. Open communication helps us navigate our current struggles and it’s important we continue acknowledging issues so we may overcome them.
Barbie delivers this vlog with the goal of highlighting the issue of racism for a younger demographic. Kids might be confused about protests and struggles the world is facing, but it’s important they learn about what we as a society are working to overcome.
