Everything You Need to Know About Instagram Guides in 2026
Instagram Guides are the perfect tool for sharing curated, scrollable content with your community in 2026.
They provide users with a simple way to consume a collection of posts, products, or places on Instagram in an easy-to-digest format.
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Yet Guides remain relatively underutilized – which makes them a great opportunity to differentiate your brand on Instagram.
Contents
- What are Instagram Guides?
- How to create an Instagram Guide
- Different types of Instagram Guides
- Where to find Instagram Guides
- Instagram Guides: Best Practices
What is an Instagram Guide?
Instagram Guides are like miniature blogs right on Instagram.
They allow users to browse a curated stream of content with added commentary – similar to blog posts.
They can be used to create gift guides, product reviews, content roundups, FAQs guides, travel recommendations, restaurant reviews, and much more.
In addition, Guides are located in one dedicated place on your profile: the Instagram Guides tab.
When a user clicks on an individual post in a Guide, they are redirected back to the original post, which is great for reviving old content.
How to Create an Instagram Guide in 2026
To create your first Instagram Guide, tap the plus icon in the top right of your profile page and select the “Guide” option.
Here you can choose from three different formats: Places, Products, and Posts.
Select the type of guide you want to create and choose the posts you want to feature in the guide.
Here you can rearrange blocks, add a title, and upload a cover photo. You can also add headlines and comments to each content block (optional).
When you’re happy with your guide, select “Next” and then “Share”.
Published Instagram guides are not (yet) shared to your profile’s main feed.
Instead, they are placed on a special Guides tab on your profile.
What are the different types of Instagram guides?
1: Instagram Place Guides
The first format for Instagram guides is a collection of places. These guides work great for city guides, restaurant reviews, and travel recommendations.
You can search for places in Instagram’s library or select from places you’ve previously tagged or saved in posts from your feed.
When you select a place, you can choose an image that was tagged with that place to appear in your Instagram guide.
2: Instagram Product Guides
Another type of Instagram guide you can create is a product guide.
This guide is ideal for launching new products, recommending products, or creating gift guides.
You can attach and link any product listed on Instagram.
3: Instagram Post Guides
The third type of Instagram guide you can publish is an overview of posts from your feed.
Post guides are perfect for creating resource lists – whether it’s sharing educational content, favorite recipes, or reflecting on current news or events.
Where to Find Instagram Guides
To access Instagram guides, visit a user’s profile page and select the Guide icon at the top of their profile feed:
If you don’t see this icon, it’s because that user doesn’t have any published guides.
4 Best Practices for Instagram Guides in 2026
Ready to create the best Instagram guides for your brand? Here are four tips to keep in mind:
- Think about what your audience wants
- Share Instagram Guides in Stories
- Highlight your community
- Build strategic relationships
Tip #1: Think About What Your Audience Wants
Using the Instagram Guide feature is a great way to curate and organize content for your followers – the creative possibilities are endless.
Think about what content your audience is most interested in, and use that information to influence your Guide content.
For example, at Later our audience is full of small business owners, creators, and social media managers looking for social media tips.
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With this in mind, we created a Guide that highlights five of our favorite social media podcasts.
And when in doubt, ask your audience.
Share a question or poll sticker on Instagram Stories and ask your followers what type of Guides would interest them most.
Tip No. 2: Sharing Instagram Guides in Stories
Since Instagram Guides are not shared on the main channel of the user’s profile, you can provide them with additional support in Instagram Stories.
Fortunately, you can easily share Instagram Guides to Instagram Stories:
- Open the Instagram Guide
- Tap the paper airplane icon in the bottom left corner.
- Select the “Add guide to story” option.
It’s that simple!
Tip No. 3: Highlight Your Community
If you’re a brand, this is a great way to showcase your products to the world and provide valuable context.
Consider creating a guide that shows your customers how they wear or use your products, as @tjswim does:
You can find user-generated content (UGC) by manually browsing tagged photos and branded hashtag pages.
Tip No. 4: Use Guides to Build Strategic Relationships
Guides are a great way to highlight brands, creators, or colleagues in your network, which can be very important for building your profile.
If you’re a creator or brand in a particular niche, you can create an Instagram Guide that highlights 10 accounts relevant to your topic.
It’s a great conversation starter and can even lead to future partnerships or collaborations.
And there you have it – all the reasons why you should experiment with Instagram Guides this year.
It’s an underrated curation feature that opens up huge possibilities for storytelling and networking within the app. We can’t wait to see yours.
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Also read:
10 tips on how to quickly gain followers on Instagram
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Michal Záruba je specialista na digitální marketing a konzultant v oblasti sociálních médií a SEO. Více než 8 let pomáhá značkám růst online prostřednictvím strategického obsahu, optimalizace pro vyhledávače a efektivní komunikace na platformách jako LinkedIn, Instagram a YouTube.
Na svém blogu sdílí praktické tipy o tom, jak propojit SEO, sociální sítě a brand building do jedné funkční strategie. Zaměřuje se na to, jak firmy mohou využít moderní nástroje a algoritmy k tomu, aby jejich značka nezískala jen dosah, ale i důvěru.
Když zrovna netvoří obsah, přednáší o digitálním marketingu, školí týmy a sleduje nové trendy v AI a vyhledávání.