What highlights should a business have on its Instagram profile?

Highlights sit directly under your bio, above the grid, which makes them the closest thing Instagram has to a shop menu. Most new visitors tap at least one before deciding whether to message or move on. The best way to choose them is to read a month of your DMs and list the questions that keep repeating. For a salon that is usually the service list, bridal packages, location with parking directions, and before-and-after work. For a home bakery it is flavours, how far ahead to order, delivery areas such as DHA or PWD, and payment by JazzCash or Easypaisa. Each repeated question deserves a highlight.

Order matters. Put the highlight that answers the most common question first, because many people only look at the first two or three. Keep the names short so they are not cut off on a phone, and use simple, matching covers so the row reads clearly; a jumble of selfie thumbnails makes it hard to tell what each one holds. Inside each highlight, start with a story that states the answer outright, then add proof — a customer's message, a short clip, a photo of the actual place.

The usual failure is neglect. Highlights are set up once and then show last year's prices, a phone number that changed, or a branch that closed. If you write "prices on request", say how to request them. When we manage an account we review highlights each month against the questions that came in, and update them when an offer changes, because an out-of-date highlight creates exactly the confused DMs it was meant to prevent.