This week Instagram announced updates to its popular ‘Stories’ feature, allowing users to automatically archive story content after they expire in 24 hours. Users can then revisit and share moments from a ‘Highlight’ on their public profiles.

These feature enhancements offer yet more ways to deliver quality, helpful, and valuable content to your opted-in following on the massively popular social platform.

In related video marketing news, YouTube’s spin on ‘stories’—called ‘Reels’—will also have a save option. The video platform said in a blog post it plans to experiment with a beta version of Reels to learn and improve the product before expanding to more creators.

Consider the intimate nature of Instagram, YouTube, and other social platforms—the appeal of capturing life’s special moments and memories through image and video—and harness this personal connection to build better engagements. Here are three ideas to help you make the most of archive and highlights, with inspiration from real merchants:

Use archived video content to:

1. HIGHLIGHT PRODUCT LINES AND CAMPAIGNS

Create an archive library of footage related to your latest product offering or launch. Build a collection of videos that excite and educate your following.

KicksUSA uses Instagram stories to tease video content showing off the latest footwear styles available on their store.

2. TELL YOUR FOLLOWERS WHERE THEY CAN SHOP YOUR PRODUCTS

Share the good word about your brand with User Generated Content. Encourage shoppers to take pictures of their experiences and interactions with your brand and products, collect posts using a hashtag, and share in your archives.

S’well uses Instagram stories to inform the world about where to buy their products. They also share a call to action for users to submit their photos. S’well also highlights accessories to encourage upsells.

3. GIVE A GLOBAL VIEW OF YOUR BRAND’S FOOTPRINT

Set up an archive that highlights footage of your various store locations, or places you can engage with your brand. Offer a view of your philanthropic efforts or event schedule. This will entice foot traffic by giving online exclusive shoppers a reason to come and see what’s new.

Peet’s Coffee uses Instagram stories to highlight their promotional events all over the world, but also to get the message out when help is needed at a local level.

INSTAGRAM TIPS (VIA THE INSTAGRAM BLOG)

To create a highlight, tap the “New” circle at the far left. From there, you can choose any stories from your archive, select a cover for your highlight and give it a name. Once you’re done, your highlight will appear as a circle on your profile that plays as a stand-alone story when someone taps it. Highlights stay on your profile until you remove them, and you can have as many highlights as you’d like. To edit or remove a highlight, just tap and hold that highlight on your profile.

To access the stories in your archive, tap the Archive icon on your profile. From there, you can easily switch between your Posts Archive and your new Stories Archive. In your Stories Archive, your stories will appear in a grid with the most recent stories at the bottom. The first story from each day will show a date indicator to help you navigate your archive as you scroll. Tap on any story in your archive to watch it. From there, you can add it to your story, share it as a post or add it to a highlight on your profile.

Magento Head of Global Content Amanda Batista contributed to this post.