Instagram Highlights are the first thing new visitors explore after your bio. Here's what to feature as a coach and how to organize Highlights that convert.
TL;DR
- Instagram Highlights appear permanently on your profile. They're what new visitors see after your bio.
- Your Highlights should act as a mini website: who you are, what you offer, results, and how to start.
- Aim for 4-6 Highlights categories. Too many overwhelms; too few underutilizes the space.
- Save Stories to Highlights deliberately, not automatically. Curate, don't dump.
- Update Highlights quarterly. Stale content signals an inactive profile to new visitors.
When someone discovers your profile for the first time, they read your bio, look at your photo, and then, if they're interested, they scroll through your Highlights before deciding whether to follow you.
Most coaches either skip Highlights entirely (leaving that row empty under their bio) or they save random Stories with no thought to curation. Both are missed opportunities.
Your Instagram Highlights are permanent, curated collections of Stories that tell a complete story to anyone who visits your profile. Done well, they function like a condensed version of your website: who you are, what you do, who you help, what results look like, and how to get started.
For the full Instagram strategy that makes Highlights part of a complete system, see the Instagram for coaches guide. For what to post on Stories so you have good material to save, see the Instagram story ideas for coaches guide.
The Core Highlights Every Coach Should Have
1. "About Me" or "Start Here"
This is the first Highlight someone should see when they visit your profile. It answers the question every new visitor has: "Is this person relevant to me?"
What to include:
- Who you are and who you work with (specific)
- Your coaching approach or philosophy in brief
- What someone gets from following you
- A face-to-camera Story or two so visitors can see your energy and personality
Keep this to 5-8 cards. Long enough to give a genuine picture; short enough to get through.
2. "Work With Me" or "Coaching"
This Highlight explains your services. New visitors who are already interested need to know what working with you looks like.
What to include:
- Your coaching format (1:1, group, programs)
- Who it's for, described specifically
- What the process looks like
- Pricing or at least a range, if you share it publicly
- A clear call to action: "DM me to chat" or "link in bio to book a call"
This doesn't have to be a full sales pitch. It just needs to answer the basic questions so someone doesn't have to DM you to find out if they can afford you.
3. "Results" or "Client Stories"
Social proof. This is often the most-viewed Highlight on a coaching profile because it answers the question every potential client is asking: "Does this actually work?"
What to include:
- Client testimonials and quotes (with permission)
- Before-and-after transformation summaries
- Specific outcomes clients have achieved
- Screenshots of client messages describing results (anonymized if needed)
Be specific and honest. "She completely transformed" tells no one anything. "She went from applying to 40 jobs with no callbacks to landing her target role in 11 weeks" tells someone a lot.
Keep this Highlight updated. Stale testimonials from two years ago are less credible than recent ones.
4. "Free Resources" or "Freebies"
If you have a lead magnet, a free guide, a quiz, or any free resource, highlight it. Many coaches have these but bury them in the bio link or forget to mention them.
What to include:
- A brief description of each free resource
- The value it provides
- How to access it (usually a link sticker or a DM prompt)
This Highlight serves two purposes: it converts interested visitors into email subscribers or DM conversations, and it demonstrates that you give real value before anyone pays you a penny.
5. "FAQ" or "Common Questions"
The questions you get in DMs over and over are exactly the questions new visitors are wondering. Answer them proactively.
Common FAQ topics for coaching Highlights:
- How does coaching work?
- How long does it take to see results?
- What's the investment?
- How is this different from therapy?
- How do I know if I'm ready?
- What happens in a discovery call?
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Answering these in a Highlight removes objections before the DM conversation even starts.
6. Niche-Specific Educational Highlights
One or two Highlights dedicated to your area of expertise. These demonstrate your depth and give new visitors immediate value before they even follow you.
For a career coach: "Career Pivots" or "Job Search Tips"
For a relationship coach: "Attachment Styles" or "Communication Tools"
For a health coach: "Nutrition Basics" or "Habit Building"
For a business coach: "Pricing" or "Client Getting"
These are your best educational Stories, saved and organized by topic. They function like mini-courses that live permanently on your profile.
Highlights to Add Once You Have the Basics
"Behind the Scenes." Stories showing your coaching setup, your day, your process. For coaches who want to humanize their profile and give visitors a feel for who they are.
"Podcast / Press." If you've been featured in podcasts, articles, or media, save those Stories here. Third-party validation that lives on your profile.
"Events" or "Workshops." If you run live events or workshops, a Highlight where you document them, before, during, and after, adds social proof and shows an active coaching practice.
"Testimonials." A dedicated Highlight just for client quotes and testimonials, separate from your "Results" category which might include outcome stories. Some coaches prefer combining these; others split them.
What Makes a Good Highlight
It's curated, not comprehensive. Don't save every Story to every Highlight. Pick the best ones. A Highlight with 5 excellent cards is more compelling than a Highlight with 40 mediocre ones.
The first card sets expectations. The first Story in a Highlight is what someone sees when they tap the Highlight cover. Make it a clear intro card that tells them what they're about to see.
Covers are consistent and clean. The small circular covers under your bio should look intentional, not random. Use simple icons, consistent colors, or minimal text. Canva has free templates for this.
It answers a specific question. Each Highlight should have a clear purpose. If you're not sure why a card should be saved to Highlights, it probably shouldn't be.
Common Mistakes to Avoid
Saving everything. The temptation when you first set up Highlights is to save large batches of old Stories. Resist this. Curate deliberately.
Never updating them. Highlights with Stories from two years ago that reference outdated offers or expired events look neglected. Review your Highlights quarterly and remove anything that's no longer accurate or relevant.
Too many categories. More than 6-7 Highlights and the row becomes unwieldy. Visitors don't know where to start and often don't start anywhere. Consolidate categories if needed.
Generic cover icons with no clear labeling. If someone looks at your Highlights row and can't tell what's in each one, add a one-word label to the cover. "About," "Results," "Coaching," "FAQ" are all clear enough to be useful.
Making Highlights Part of Your Profile Review
Set a quarterly reminder to review your Highlights. Remove outdated content. Add new client testimonials. Update your "Work With Me" Highlight if your offer has changed. Check that all link stickers in saved Stories still work.
This quarterly maintenance takes 30-45 minutes and keeps your profile working hard for you around the clock, even when you're not actively posting.
New visitors arrive on your profile at all hours. Your Highlights are the welcome mat, so make sure they reflect what you're actually offering today, not who you were a year ago.
For coaches building a complete Instagram presence, Highlights are the final piece that ties everything together. Your bio tells people who you are. Your feed and Reels show your expertise. Your Stories build the relationship. Your Highlights capture the best of all of it and make it accessible forever.
To see how Highlights fit into a full monthly Instagram strategy, the Instagram content calendar for coaches shows when and how to create content worth saving. And for the broader question of how Instagram connects to your overall client-getting system, how to find coaching clients covers the full picture.
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