What does it mean when your post gets pinned on Instagram?

Instagram is now (finally?) giving us the option to pin posts to our profile grids. To be honest, I’m really freaking happy about this update! This is so valuable to so many.

Why?

Well, the “fun” thing about Instagram is that our profile grid (not what’s in the feed when someone is scrolling, but what’s in your grid when someone comes to your profile) is just a bunch of photos. If the post is a video, they see the thumbnail. If it’s a carousel, they see the first image. And a lot of times, those images in and of themselves don’t really explain what the post is about – that’s what the caption does. But you can’t see the caption in the profile grid.

So, let’s say you did this awesome “about me” post or a “meet the team” post or a “here’s what you get when you work with me” post or “how to contact customer support” post or some other super helpful, relevant, and informative post that you would want people to see… but unless that text is on the thumbnail or image, no one looking at the long grid of photos would know which one to select.

UNTIL NOW

This is why I’m so excited about pinned posts. Now, when you have those great “first impression” posts that you want new visitors to see, you can pin those to the top of your grid so that when they come to your profile and start looking at your posts, those important ones are the first ones they see. Regardless of when they were originally posted.

And, you can update the pinned posts anytime. So if you post something newer, more relevant, with updated details, or timely to news or trends, boom! New post gets pinned and you’re ready for viewers.

Ok, so now that you can see WHY this is so relevant, how do you pin posts?

How to Pin Posts on Instagram

It’s actually super easy!

You can pin anything that is normally in the profile feed/grid – aka photos, videos, carousel posts, and Reels. NOT Stories.

So, first thing, find any post in your existing feed (you can’t pin an unpublished post before you post it). Then tap on the three dot button in the upper right corner of the post.

Then, from the menu options that appear, choose “Pin to Profile”.

That’s literally all you have to do! Like I said, super easy.

To unpin a post, basically do the same thing: go to the pinned post, tap the three dot button, select “Unpin post”, and you’re done.

Once a post is pinned to your profile, the post will show the thumbtack/pin icon in the upper right corner when viewed in the grid. The pin doesn’t appear when the post is viewed.

Ok, but a few things to be aware of:

• You can only pin up to 3 posts – once three are pinned, you have to unpin one to pin a new one.
• The pinned posts appear in the order in which they were pinned with the most recently pinned post being the first one in the grid. So if you know you want to pin two posts and you want Post A to be the first post in the grid (left most) and Post B to be the second in the grid (center), then pin Post B FIRST and Post A second.
• When a post is pinned, it no longer appears in its original space on the grid – it only appears once, pinned at the top. If you unpin it, it returns to it’s original placement in the grid.
• If you upload a new post that is not pinned, it appears AFTER any pinned posts.
• When someone selects a post to view in your grid, they will scroll through the list of posts in the order in which they appear – ie. if they start with the first post (a pinned post), they see that one and scroll down to the next and so on as one continuous feed.

So there you have it, all the things you need to know about pinned posts on Instagram. I hope you’re just as excited to go try them out!

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