It seems there is always a new update within Instagram these days, and stories, which were once a pure and authentic way to connect with your audience/followers, have become curated and branded, just like 90% of Instagram pages in your feed.

Although it’s annoying to follow perfectly curated blogger accounts that lose their magic and sense of authenticity, for brands and bloggers, this is one update I can get behind: the highlight story reel. It’s SO PRETTY and makes a jumbled story of mish-mashed content so much easier to read/find what you’re looking for. It also makes it really clear what you talk about, so you can clean up your bio (I’ll do that eventually).

Anyway, I was able to update my highlight reel icon images super easily through using Canva, so after I got asked a few times how I did it, I made this horribly jankey self-held video at 11pm where you can learn how to do this in about 5 minutes. The video quality is .1/10, but it will help. So, you’re welcome despite the shitty quality.

end up with cut graphics like this (just please be original and use your own icons and background color instead of just copying this):

Hope this was helpful! From one busy mama to you (and way past our bedtimes!), I’m sending lots of love! xo, shelley

PS here’s the second part on how to pull them from your story to your profile using the example of what I did for work at FIT4MOM:

STEP 1 –

Add your picture into your story

STEP 2 –

Once the image is in your story (like you can view below), click the highlight option on the bottom right

Once you click that, your screen will look like this:

Click the + “new” circle

It will then ask you to name the new title for your highlight button

So add a title:

Click add

Your new highlight icon will now show!

Keep adding images to your story and follow the same steps until all topics/icons/highlights that you want are there

All done!

Check out FIT4MOM and my feed for more inspo!

Quick highlight video below: