The article has been updated. First published: October 22, 2018

The growing functionality of the Stories section has long made working with Instagram Stories a separate strategy for interacting with subscribers. In Stories, they make quests and advertise blogs and products, conduct surveys and communicate in joint live broadcasts. The course “Instagram Stories for Business 2.0” will help you hone your skills with this tool. Read more about it at the link above.

Previously, Stories were available for 24 hours, but thanks to the popularity of the format, the developers of Instagram allowed to save content – using the new Stories format, Highlights Stories. It is also called the “Relevant” section – it allows you to save stories forever, and also to fix them immediately after the description of the profile. You can also sort, name, and change the look of pinned stories.

And if you need to plan Stories, use SMMplanner’s super-advanced Story Maker for Instagram.

You can make the Trending Stories section visually attractive by editing their covers – this way you can improve the overall look of your account.

Let’s figure out how to do it yourself, without resorting to the services of different “specialists”.

How to add a cover to Stories

Let me tell you a little secret. To add a cover to Stories, you don’t have to publish it to Stories, as many do. Incomprehensible symbols will only cause negativity in your readers.

I advise you to do it as follows:

• Press the desired “window” Story Highlights

• Click “Edit Current” and then “Edit Cover”

• Open the gallery. The button is hidden at the very beginning of the row (left)

• Select the desired image and save the cover

Stories cover apps

Okay, we learned how to load covers. But how do you find a unique cover that suits your style? Collected several ways, you will definitely find something for yourself.

1. Flaticon

This resource offers tens of thousands of icons on a wide variety of topics. You can use ready-made thematic catalogs or type the desired topic into the search (for example, “food”) – the service will show all the icons that match the request.

2. Pinterest (App on the App Store or Google Play)

We go into the application and write in the search “Instagram Covers”. You will be given bright and interesting collections suitable for a variety of different accounts.

3. Canva (App on the App Store or Google Play)

Those who read the SMMPlanner blog know what Canva is. If not, read the article “Designing Content Without Photoshop.” So Kanve can create an icon or an inscription to your taste by yourself, however, it will take some time.

The whole procedure consists of several steps:

• We create a new template.
• In the “Elements” section, look for a suitable image (or upload your own).
• Place it in the center.
• We save and upload to Instagram.

4. App For Type

This method is suitable for those who love bright and interesting lettering. The application contains a lot of labels, settings and more than 50 fonts.

5. Google

You heard right. This is not a banter, but real advice. Even on Google you can find something interesting. Try it, it gives pretty good results.

Ideas and varieties of cover design for Stories

When drawing up a strategy or preparing a content plan, bloggers and SMMs are guided by the target audience. You will laugh, but when choosing a cover, you need to do the same.

Covers are different, and this is why the profile is perceived differently. Conventionally, they can be divided into 3 categories:

• Standard covers

Suitable for bloggers, ordinary users and all accounts with a lifestyle theme.

• Thematic covers

It will be useful for specialists of any profession.

• Business covers

For example, they didn’t bother at Black Star (by the way, you already know how to make a similar cover for yourself). But if you want to stand out, you can’t go without covers like the ones on the right.

Advice for those who want to update the cover, but do not want to dig into the applications: you can save any of these collections and upload it to Instagram right now.

Leah Canary, SMM specialist:

In addition to the obvious function of navigating and stimulating a sense of beauty, Highlights Stories are great at helping businesses implement user engagement activities in content, including sales promotion. This means that you can collect and share subscribers’ reviews about your goods and services in the “Actual” section, save contests and winners, write about delivery conditions, payments, returns and other relevant information. And my advice to you – since the signatures for the icons of Actual Stories do not contain a sufficient number of characters, it is best to turn to the creation of high-quality, easily and quickly understandable to the user, covers. Do not force the guest of your Instagram to think and search, make it easier for him to buy the user, since the functionality allows.

Do Story Highlights Need Covers

It seemed to me that only the lazy is not using covers for Stories. Not! It took me about an hour to find the examples above. Many people still don’t use Story’s Highlights at all.

This means that even now, this method is great for standing out.

Yes, this will not in any way affect the increase in reach or the influx of subscribers, but it will help in something else. For example, I recently searched Instagram for people who do home baking. With equal criteria, one of the accounts I found stood out – as you might have guessed, it was well-designed, and Stories were packaged in windows with bright, and most importantly, understandable covers on the splash screen. This was the end of my search and I happily made an order.

To cling to the cover or not – the choice is yours, but it will definitely not harm you.

Let’s summarize

It’s quick and easy to create covers if you know where to look for inspiration or ready-made options. Use any of the above methods: Flaticon and Pinterest are a treasure trove of cool icons, collections, and so on, and in Canva and App For Type you can make your own unique cover.

One thing is obvious – there is nothing complicated about it. With the help of these services (even without a sense of taste!), It will turn out to collect something interesting for any account.

And how to post a photo on Instagram from a computer, read the link.

Register now in SMMplanner and schedule posts on Instagram and Instagram Stories.