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Instagram Beginner Tip: Using Archive to Take Control of Your Feed

Are you a beginner and unsure what to do with old Instagram posts that might not work with your new strategy? Or are you running a big promotion but you don’t want it to ruin the look and feel of your feed? That’s why you need to use the Instagram archive. 
With the Instagram archive feature, there’s no need to keep outdated content in your feed or delete posts that you might want to refer back to in the future. In this blog post I’ll show you how you can take control of your Instagram feed by archiving your posts.

How to Archive Your Instagram Posts

This is probably one of the most frequently asked questions from my Ready, Set, Gram Community. You spend so much time creating shareable Instagram content. But what do you do when your Instagram strategy changes? Or your promotion ends? A lot of people don’t know what to do with posts that no longer serve their business.  Rather than deleting a post – especially when you put so much time and effort in making it – I suggest archiving it instead. Here’s how to use the Instagram archive: 
  • First, pick the photo you want to archive
Sue B Zimmerman’s Instagram photo shows her wearing a bright pink sweatshirt as she leans against a brick wall.
  • Then, tap on three dots and pick “archive”
Sue B Zimmerman’s Instagram photo is grayed out as a menu of options pops up at the bottom of the screen. Now your photo will be saved in the back end of Instagram, but it won’t show up on your feed. 

How to Recover an Archived Photo

Just because you’ve archived a photo doesn’t mean it’s gone forever. If you decide that you want the post on your feed again, or you just want to copy + paste the info in the caption, you can easily recover the archived post.  Here’s how: 
  • First, go to your Instagram photo archive
Sue B Zimmerman’s grid of archived Instagram photos and Stories.
  • Next, pick the photo you want to recover and tap on the three dots
Sue B Zimmerman’s Instagram photo shows her holding a small white sign promoting her Social Sip online series.
  • Finally, select show on profile 
Sue B Zimmerman’s archived photo is grayed out as a menu of options pops up at the bottom. Now, your post should appear back on your Instagram feed. 

Archive Photos When a Promo is Over

As a business owner you know there are probably few things that are as exhausting as launching a promotion or special giveaway. You spend a dizzying amount of time drafting and creating all of the content and strategy – so I understand why you might be hesitant to remove it from your feed.  But here’s the thing: What your followers see on your Instagram feed should be your most relevant content. The more outdated promo posts that people have to browse through means they’re spending less time focused on your most timely content.  Plus, since you’re archiving and not deleting the content, you can still refer back to it in the future. If anything, it can serve as a good reference point to reevaluate which Instagram strategies did and did not work. 

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