Since its inception, Instagram has evolved to become more than a photo-sharing platform for the University. It bolsters engagement not only through visual storytelling, but it also provides exposure for many other facets of UConn. Instagram highlights are a great tool to not only achieve, but archive this goal. Our social media audience consists of the UConn community, the media, donors, government, athletics, and the Storrs residential community. With so many audiences to cater to, Instagram Story Highlights allow our Social Media Content Producer team to categorize our content in a way that is easily accessible for each audience segment. Those highlights are organized as ‘News’, ‘Podcasts’, ‘Events’, ‘Student Life’, ‘Research’, ‘Campus Beauty’, ‘Alumni’, and ‘Athletics.’
Before adding content to our Story, and ultimately to each of these Highlights, our team follows a storyboard format to create a narrative to showcase what is being captured. For example, if you were to take a look at our ‘Events Highlights’, you would see our coverage of the semesterly Involvement Fair. We first introduced the event with a title and caption, and then captured positive moments throughout the fair. The Instagram Story is then wrapped up with a certain sentiment or summary towards the end to signify to viewers that this particular Story is over.
However, not all eyes are on our Instagram Story at all times, and that’s a challenge when trying to maximize reach for ephemeral visual content. This is where the highlights come in. When organizing our content after the initial Instagram Story has expired, our team considers which highlight is appropriate to put each of our Stories in. These highlights can then cater to our audience’s demand, which is the ultimate point of social, isn’t it?