How to Use Instagram Guides to Share Long Form Educational Content
Published on 27.08.2025 by Chizoba T
Instagram’s not just reels and aesthetics anymore, but most people will still treat it like a highlight reel. Just quick scrolling, short captions, and content that disappears in a day.
If you’re trying to share something that teaches, that kind of setup doesn’t cut it. You either end up cramming tips into a tiny caption or chopping long-form content into a video that barely gets viewed.
Therefore, Instagram Guides was made to solve those issues. They let you slow things down to post longer content in a way that turns your profile into a resource hub rather than some scattered feed.
If you’ve got educational content to share, Instagram Guides is the place to go. It doesn’t require any extra effort, no technical skills, and definitely no fancy setup. It just needs your long-form content that could either be how-tos or longer tutorials.
It’s all about teaching without getting people to leave Instagram. As you read on, we’ll show you how to use Instagram Guides properly, which involves making content that’s worth people’s time.
Let’s get started!
What Are Instagram Guides?
Instagram Guides are one of those features that quietly exist in the background. They’re useful, but you won’t see many people using them that often.
This feature lets you group together existing posts while adding commentary in between, which can then be published as a single mini-blog post straight into your profile.
There are three types of Instagram Guide topics:
- Places: for location-based recommendations.
- Products: for curating your mini-catalogue.
- Posts: for grouping educational content.
The Posts format lets you stitch together multiple related posts. It also lets you write long-form text sections between each post. The structure makes it super easy to walk your audience through a topic step-by-step.
Instead of tossing info across ten different posts, you can tie it all together under one umbrella. The guide can become a go-to reference point that lives as evergreen content on your profile page.
Guides are also a way to bring life to older content. If you’ve already made educational posts before, you can just group them to make it easier for anyone to go through.
Since Guides lets you add written intros before each post, you’re not stuck with Instagram’s short caption limits. The extra space gives you room to explain and build on concepts without having to sacrifice visual engagement.
Why Guides Work For Educational Content
Instagram isn’t built for deep dives. That sounds a bit contradictory, considering you’re going to post long-form content on the app. The platform is fast, visual, and usually focuses on surface-level content. But that’s why Guides work because they slow people’s scrolling.
Instead of forcing your audience to piece together a topic from scattered reels and posts, Guides gives you a way to package the whole thing into one clear flow. This makes your posts super user-friendly, especially for educational content when you’re trying to explain something step-wise.
Instagram Guides also rewards binge-worthy content. Once someone opens your Guides and goes through them, the time they spend engaging is very useful. Longer engagement times build your reach and get your content in front of more people.
Guides also work because they don’t require people to put in extra effort. Compared to blog posts or YouTube videos, Guides feel more casual. Users aren’t required to leave the app, click on any links, or spend 10 minutes watching a video. They can just read at their own pace, share specific sections, and come back later when they want to.
Creating Your Instagram Guide
Setting up an Instagram Guide is just like posting something on the app. All you have to do is:
- Find the + sign on your Instagram Profile
- Click on Guides
- Select any one of the three Guide options
- Add your posts and information
- Format everything properly
- Post!
It’s that simple!
How to Structure a Strong Instagram Guide
Your Instagram Guide needs to be simple and easy to follow. They’re meant to be made for people who want answers without putting in the effort.
Start With a Clear Title
No need to complicate anything. A clear title always beats something that may confuse your readers.
Think about how someone would go looking for the info in your blog post. Use a keyword or similar info in your title so that it can pop up as a search result.
Split it into Clear Sections
Each guide is built around posts. Group your points together so that they make sense and sound natural. If it’s an explanation post, it needs to start easily before diving into the harder topics.
Each section should be able to still make sense as its own post. Simultaneously, it should also be able to make sense as a part of your mini-blog post. The layout needs to feel like each topic belongs there for a reason.
Add Content Within the Intro Box
Each guide comes with a small place to add an intro to your post. Use it to tell people what your guide is going to look like, the topics they’ll come across, and what it’s useful for.
Types of Educational Content That Instagram Guides Are Made For
Not every type of content belongs in an Instagram Guide. Some things are better left as reels or smaller posts. But when you’ve got a longer topic to talk about, Guides is where you should go.
Step-By-Step Content
Instagram Guides’ whole point is explained through its name. Posts here are meant to be guides, and that’s why anything that walks someone through steps works perfectly in a Guide post.
The feature is designed in a way that lets you easily break down each stage into its own post while giving it context. It’s like posting on your website’s blog but as an Instagram post.
Educational Series or Lessons
Many Instagram accounts post multiple posts and stories across their feed to explain a topic. But with Instagram Guides, that doesn’t have to look so disconnected from each other.
Through this feature, you can organize all the important content in one place while adding more explanations and content. You can make it easier for someone to binge through your stuff without having to dig around your profile.
Clearing Up Questions
Many Instagram accounts also work as shops, and so many of these accounts have FAQs to share.
With Guides, these can be bundled together. This works well for topics that require a bit more explanation, especially when you’re planning to help readers understand without having to explain all over again.
Sharing Recommendations
Guides also come with their own subgroups, like Places or Products. This can be the place for you to share your recommendations about which places to go for specific events.
Similarly, you can post product reviews while grouping together similar content. It can all be in one easy-to-find resource post.
Getting Viewers to Your Guides
Guides can stand out amongst your content, but that also means people have to find what you’re posting.
Many creators focus on promoting their Instagram Guides on their stories. This allows their following base to find out that their previous content has been compiled together, but it’s also important to keep posting to your stories.
Your Instagram stories will disappear after a day, and many followers and even newer ones, won’t notice that your guide is up. Bringing attention to it through Stories can get more reads on your Guides.
You can also repost posts that are already in the Guide. A guide is built off of existing posts. Now and then, you can reshare one of the key posts in the guide. This gives you the space to show that these posts are part of a bigger guide.
When and How to Update Your Guides
Unlike reels or stories, Guides aren’t built to be left alone after they’ve been posted. They’re designed to be revisited, which means you should be updating them regularly. Your Instagram Guides should be updated if something changes in your guide.
Depending on what your guide is about, something new could have emerged, or something old could now be useful. Go through your Guides consistently to ensure that it doesn’t hold useless or outdated content.
You can update your Guides by either:
- Removing posts that no longer fit
- Reordering posts to fix the flow
- Adding short update notes in your intro box
When You Shouldn’t Use Instagram Guides
Just because Instagram Guides can be used doesn’t mean your content actually belongs on it. Many content creators and brands have time-sensitive content, which can include trendy topics, short sales, and flash events.
That’s not the kind of format that works with Instagram Guides. Here, the type of content that’s preferred is evergreen info that people can continue to come back to without it being useless later.
Guides are also not worth using if there’s not enough content to support your main topic—a guide that’s just made to be there can feel empty and useless. Instead, you can still post these topics as separate posts.
Guides are also not great for quick conversions or hard sells. They’re more about value and providing educational content. If your content is more about pushing limited-time offers or bringing in immediate traffic, you’re better off sticking to regular posts and stories.
Final Thoughts
Instagram Guides doesn’t give trends as much importance as Instagram stories and reels do. It’s a feature that’s made for long-form content on a platform where quick scrolls dominate.
The feature is made so that you can educate and connect the dots for your audience. It’s made so that you don’t have to go around spamming people’s feeds with multiple stories, posts, and reels. Instead, you can work on putting everything together in one place where people don’t have to click on anything extra or dedicate their time to watching a video.
So, start grouping your content and scrap the longer-form content that you cropped for reels and posts. Instead, use the platform as a way to bring your mini-blog posts straight to people’s Instagram feeds!