You’ve probably spent hours creating engaging Instagram Stories. You share a tip, answer a question, or give a behind-the-scenes look at your business. But after 24 hours, it’s gone. That’s a lot of wasted effort, and your best content disappears into the void.
For a service-based business, your Instagram bio and a single link are often not enough to convince someone to hire you. They need to see your expertise, your client results, and a clear path to working with you. This is the moment most businesses lose a potential client.
But what if your best content lived forever? What if your Instagram profile acted like a mini-website that worked for you 24/7, turning casual followers into paying clients? That’s the power of Instagram Highlights.
Highlights are your digital storefront. They are where you take your most valuable, trust-building content and organize it for a new visitor to binge-watch. We’ve put together a comprehensive list of highlight ideas designed specifically for service-based businesses to help you build authority and turn followers into paying clients. It’s time to stop letting your best content disappear. Let’s get to it.
Part 1: The Foundation: Who You Are and What You Do
When a potential client lands on your Instagram profile, they have a lot of questions. Who are you? What do you do? Can I trust you? Your story highlights are your chance to answer all of these questions instantly and turn a casual visitor into a warm lead. Think of this section as the foundational pillars of your brand.
Here are the key highlights you need to build a strong foundation:
- About Us: This is where you tell your brand’s story. Who are you? What’s your mission? Why do you do what you do? This builds a powerful human connection and makes your brand relatable.
- Our Story: This highlight allows you to share a more in-depth look at your journey. You can show the milestones, the challenges, and the victories that have shaped your brand. It’s an easy way to build trust with new followers.
- Our Brand: This highlight is for showing off the visual identity of your business. You can showcase your brand’s colors, fonts, and overall aesthetic. This creates an immediate visual connection that makes your brand more memorable.
- Services: This highlight is crucial because it’s where you clearly lay out what you offer. This is where a potential client can learn about your services, their benefits, and how you can help them.
- Start Here: This is a fantastic highlight for new visitors. You can use it as a mini-tour of your profile, guiding them to your most important content and helping them get to know your brand quickly.
Part 2: The Proof: Showcasing Your Expertise & Results
You’ve shown your audience who you are. Now it’s time to prove your value. The second part of your highlight strategy is all about social proof. People are more likely to hire you if they see that you’ve already helped others. This section is your digital portfolio, working 24/7 to build trust and authority.
Here are the key highlights you need to showcase your expertise and results:
- Client Results: This is a crucial highlight for any service-based business. Create a highlight that shows your clients’ transformations. This could be a before-and-after photo, a screenshot of a sales page, or a video of a client celebrating their success. This tangible proof builds massive trust.
- Client Love: This is where you collect screenshots of positive feedback from your clients. A quick screenshot of a client saying “I loved working with you!” or “This was so helpful!” is a powerful tool. It shows your audience that you are not only an expert but also a pleasure to work with.
- Reviews: If your business has a Google My Business page, a Yelp profile, or any other platform with reviews, you can screenshot those and add them to this highlight. This provides third-party validation that makes your brand more trustworthy.
- Clients: This is a great highlight for showcasing your client roster. This could be a list of logos of companies you’ve worked with or a carousel of photos of the amazing people you’ve helped. This builds credibility and shows potential clients that they will be in good company.
Part 3: The Process & The Call to Action
You’ve shown them who you are and proven your expertise with social proof. Now it’s time to show them how you work and, most importantly, how they can work with you. This section is all about converting that warm lead into a paying client. These highlights are your final call to action.
Here are the key highlights you need to showcase your process and drive conversions:
- Tools: Every expert has a set of tools they rely on. Create a highlight that showcases the tools, apps, or software that you use to get results for your clients. This builds authority and shows that your process is professional and streamlined.
- Tips: A highlight full of valuable tips is a great way to continuously provide value to your audience. You can use this to answer common questions, share quick hacks, or give away a small piece of your expertise for free.
- BTS (Behind the Scenes): People love to see behind the curtain. A behind-the-scenes highlight shows the human element of your business. You can show yourself working, highlight a team meeting, or share the process of creating a new product or service. This builds a powerful connection with your audience.
- Sneak Peak: This is a great highlight for building hype. Use it to give your audience a sneak peek into a new service, product, or program that’s coming soon.
- Sign Up, Waitlist, & Open Now: These are your most powerful conversion highlights. You should have a dedicated highlight for people to sign up for your newsletter, join a waitlist for a future program, or get a direct link to a service that is currently available. These are the highlights that directly drive business.
Part 4: The Bonuses
You’ve built the foundation, shown your results, and created a clear path for conversion. Now it’s time to go above and beyond. These final highlight ideas are your bonuses—they are for giving away extra value and showcasing special offerings that will delight your audience and get them to take action.
- Freebies: Everyone loves a freebie. Use a highlight to showcase your free resources, like a free guide, a checklist, or a webinar. This is a great way to grow your email list and provide massive value to new followers, turning them into warm leads.
- Add-Ons: If you have any additional services or special offers, you can use a highlight to showcase them. This is a great way to upsell your existing clients or show potential clients the full range of what you offer.
- Clients: This is another great highlight for showcasing your client roster. This could be a list of logos of companies you’ve worked with or a carousel of photos of the amazing people you’ve helped. This builds credibility and shows potential clients that they will be in good company.
Conclusion: Your Next Step to a Better Bio
You’ve got the full blueprint. We’ve taken the concept of Instagram Highlights and transformed it from an afterthought into a strategic tool for your service-based business. You now have a clear guide on how to build a digital storefront that works for you 24/7, turning casual visitors into warm leads and paying clients.
But a list of ideas is useless without action. The most successful service-based businesses don’t just have pretty highlights; they have a system in place to continuously provide value, build trust, and guide their audience to a clear call to action. They understand that every highlight is a chance to prove their expertise and get one step closer to their next client.
So, here’s your final step:
- Stop letting your best content disappear. Go to your profile right now and find your most valuable Stories.
- Pick a category to start with. Don’t try to create all of these highlights at once. Choose one section, whether it’s “The Foundation” or “The Proof,” and start there.
- Take action. Create a new highlight, give it a clear title, and add your best content.
It’s time to stop just posting and start converting.