Supporting work · Owned platform · Instagram

Instagram Highlights + UTM redesign

The brand’s Instagram Highlights existed, but they had no clear job and no way to show whether anyone followed a link from them.

The design

I proposed and designed the replacement system: five highlights, each with a defined job, on a rolling refresh schedule, with custom UTM tracking on every CTA card. The tracking turned a static profile feature into something the team could evaluate.

Out of the same work came a universal CTA card standard, applied across all carousel output from May 2026.

A separate proposal followed. Carousels were running on Instagram only, so I made the case for Facebook and LinkedIn as well, along with the long-form caption and article-card approach that was adopted across four platforms in 2025.

Every placement gets a job and a measurement plan. Recreated system diagram; individual highlight names are internal.

The system, running

One highlight, three positions in its sequence. The structure is the same in all five.

Opening card of the Editor's Picks highlight, stating what the highlight is for — **The job, stated**Each highlight opens by saying what it collects and why

A story card inside the highlight: category label, headline, standfirst, and a tracked read link — **The card format**Category, headline, standfirst, tracked link, in that order every time

Closing call-to-action card of the highlight with a link sticker — **The CTA standard**Every sequence ends on the same tracked ask

Captured from the live Editor’s Picks highlight on Stand Together’s Instagram, July 2026, still running as designed. Each link sticker carries its own UTM, so the team can tell whether a highlight sends anyone to the site. The highlight itself is not linked here: Instagram story URLs require a login, and opening one notifies the account.

What it changed

The system was adopted as the operating standard and ran as designed. The highlights now had defined jobs, consistent CTA cards, and trackable links. No before-and-after performance result was isolated for the change.

Attribution Proposed and designed by me; implementation ran through the standard design and publishing workflow.

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