I’ve had a couple of people reach out to me and ask me how I made my cute little icons in the highlights section of my Instagram profile.

Well, first I gotta tell ya that while everyone is going crazy over canva…I LOVE spark post by adobe creative cloud! I have an account with adobe creative cloud, so I so I learned about the app that way. I made my Instagram highlight icons through that app. Since most people I know use canva. I thought I’d give you a step by step instruction using them!

But honestly, if you like to go against the grain and be a rebel…than download spark post. It’s FREE and I like it better than canva….ok, off my soapbox!

Before we get started. You have to make sure you’ve created all the Highlight Groups you want.

Simply go to your profile and click the + sign icon right under your profile. Here you’ll select whatever stories you’ve posted that have a certain theme. For instance, if you have a podcast that you want to highlight, you would click all the stories you’ve posted that talk about your podcast. Hit Next, give it a name and add it. Now do this multiple times until you think you’ve told your story! Here is a screen shot of mine.

Now to the Nitty and the Gritty!!

5 super simple steps to create icons for Instagram Story Highlights.

These are LITERALLY step by step…but I just wanted to make sure I cover every base!:)

Open The Canva app…

Step ONE
-Tap the Your Story icon on the top

Step TWO
-Open a blank document

Step THREE
-Tap the blank doc to select a color you want your highlight icons to be. I chose a peach color. You can choose the same color for all or use different colors. It depends on your brand!
-If you change the variation of the color, be sure to write the number down to use the smae color for all the icons you create!

Side note…I’m starting to feel Like New Kids on the Block circa 1990 aka “Step by Step” I hear Donnie Walberg counting! 😉

Step FOUR
– Tap the plus sign at the VERY bottom of the screen
-Then click Graphics

Step FIVE
-In the search box search for what you’d like the icon to be based on the highlight group. If you want to highlight podcasts than type in headphones or podcast. I chose headphone because all the microphones cost extra money (and I don’t want to pay any money if I don’t have to)

Hit Share and save you image! Now you have you final product!

Now do this over and over until you’ve got all your story highlight groups covered. And do not delete the images from your story, they have to go through the full 24 hours in your stories!

Next, you need to put them on your profile. If you know how to do this, skip to the bottom. If you need help…keep reading!

To put them on your Instagram add each image you just made to your Instagram stories. Once they are in your stories…

1. Tap the highlight icon on the bottom right
2. Select the highlight group you want them to be a cover for
3. Do this for all the images you created

Now…go to your profile. Click ONE of the highlight groups. Click ONE of the highlight stories within that group and click the 3 dots on the bottom that say more under it!

1. Tap Edit Highlight
2. Tap Edit Cover
3. Then select the icon you just created for that group!

Do that for every group and you should have perfectly awesome highlight icons for your Instagram story highlights!

Now, my goal is to continually give you guys marketing tips and hack so you can DIY your marketing!! You may want to sign up for my mailing list so you don’t miss out!!