If you like staying organized, don’t forget about your social media. Just as cleaning out closets brings about order in your physical space, cleaning up your Instagram stories can help clear the air in your digital world.

Much of the issue with decaying Instagram Story Highlights lies in the fact that when a follower clicks on those cleverly crafted circles at the top of your page, they see your Story Highlights listed chronologically from oldest to newest. That’s right, those story posts that seemed interesting two years ago are still staring your followers in the face each time they click on your Story Highlights.

This presents an issue for those of us who post well-meaning highlights discussing sales and discounts, giveaways, product rollouts, and company updates that are time dependent.

For example, when your followers click on your “What’s New” Story Highlight they see information that is often years old. Instead of seeing what is *actually new*, they’ll be regaled with your Black Friday sale from 2020, clips from magazines that were shuttered years ago, and product rollout announcements showing bottles and logos that have since been redesigned.

The overall gist will be an account page that is a little crusty around the edges, instead of sparkling clean.

Most brands and businesses evolve their look over time. Logos change, graphic trends evolve, color palettes are updated and products are discontinued. Even celebrities that have used your products in the distant past may seem passe to your current audience.

In order for your Instagram Story Highlights to be just that, dazzling new highlights, it’s a good rule of thumb to go through and remove posts that:

1) Don’t reflect current circumstances - ie if What’s New is actually What’s Old;

2) Are older than 21 weeks (6 months) unless they really mark an important moment in time;

3) Don’t reflect what you’d like your followers to see today at this very moment.

Keep your feed fresh and your stories fresher by removing old highlights, and going forward, consider resisting the urge to Highlight each-and-every Story. While Instagram for some reason urges you to do this, most of your Story posts probably don’t merit true highlighting.

It’s key to impart the feeling of immediacy with your Instagram and Facebook stories -That you’re offering information that followers cannot resist clicking on when they see your logo appear at the top of their home feeds.

For holidays, seasons, and events, we like to create special Highlight files, and do a sequential post every few days or so. We’ll highlight these Stories, and once the season or event is over, go through and delete it. It’s much easier to manage time dependent posts and keep the account page looking fresh and clean.

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