Jeff Bullas

Instagram Guides are an excellent but often underutilised feature for curating your existing content into a single, easy-to-digest, long-form resource for your audience. To use them effectively, you should think like a magazine editor, grouping your content into compelling themes.

There are several effective ways to use them creatively. First, you can create a step-by-step tutorial or a “how-to” guide. You can do this by compiling a series of your past posts, whether they are videos or images, that each represent a single step in a larger process. For example, a food blogger could create a Guide titled, “How to Make the Perfect Sourdough,” by combining several posts that cover each stage of the process.

Second, you can build a gift guide or a curated product collection. This is very effective for businesses or creators who use affiliate marketing. You can create a Guide such as, “My Top 5 Favourite Tech Gadgets for Creators,” and feature five different product posts, adding your own commentary on why you recommend each one.

Third, you can create a travel guide or a list of local recommendations. If you are a travel creator or a local business, you can use the “Places” guide format to curate a list of your favourite locations, such as “A Guide to the Best Coffee Shops in Sydney.”

Fourth, you can compile a Frequently Asked Questions (FAQ) guide. Go through your comments and DMs, find the most common questions your audience asks, and then create a Guide that compiles posts that answer each of those questions. This creates an incredibly valuable, go-to resource that you can direct people to.

And fifth, you can collaborate with other creators. You could create a joint guide where you and another creator in your niche both contribute posts to a shared theme. For example, you could create a Guide on “Top 10 Marketing Books to Read,” with each of you contributing five book recommendation posts.

When creating a Guide, always give it a compelling title and choose a good cover image. It is also important to write a short introduction for the Guide itself and to add unique commentary for each post you include within it, as this is what provides the context and new value. Once your Guide is published, make sure to share it to your Stories to let your audience know it exists.

The “tweet-style” image post is a very popular and effective format on Instagram. It works well because it is simple, highly readable, and allows you to deliver a powerful, concise message in a visually clean way that stands out in the feed.

There are several best practices for creating them effectively. First, the content of the text itself must be valuable and impactful. This format is best suited for short, punchy statements. This could be a strong opinion, a controversial take on an industry topic, a highly relatable thought, a quick practical tip, or a powerful quote. The text is the hero of the post, so it needs to be compelling on its own.

Second, the design should be clean, simple, and easy to read. The most common style mimics the look of a post from Twitter/X. It typically includes your profile picture, your name, and your handle, all set against a plain or subtly branded background. The key is to use a very clear font with high contrast.

Third, it is best to use a dedicated tool or create a template. While you could simply screenshot a real tweet, it is far more professional and flexible to recreate the look using a design tool. You can find online “tweet generator” websites for this purpose, but for brand consistency, it is more effective to create your own reusable template in a tool like Canva. This allows you to use your specific brand colours and fonts.

Fourth, you must write a compelling caption to expand on the idea. The image contains the hook, but your caption is where you can provide more context, elaborate on your point, and, most importantly, ask a question to drive discussion in the comments section. You should not just repeat the text from the image in your caption.

And fifth, you should include a strong call to action in your caption. Because this format often delivers a single, valuable insight, it is perfectly suited for encouraging a “Save” or a “Share.” Your caption could end with a prompt like, “Save this post to remember this tip” or “Share this to your Story if you agree.”

This format is effective because it is easy for users to consume quickly while scrolling, it stands out in a visually busy feed, and its self-contained, valuable nature makes it highly shareable to people’s Stories.

In summary, the key to an effective tweet-style post is to combine a short, powerful piece of text with a clean, simple design. You should then use the caption to expand on the idea and include a strong call to action, usually encouraging your audience to save or share the post.

The rules for using popular music in Facebook Stories depend almost entirely on whether you are posting from a personal profile for non-commercial purposes or from a Business Page for commercial purposes.

First, let us consider personal profiles. For general, non-commercial use, you can typically use the popular music available within the Facebook Music Sticker in your Stories. Meta has licensing agreements with major music labels that allow for the personal use of their songs in user-generated content on its platforms. This is why you have access to a vast library of popular tracks.

Second, the rules are much stricter for Business Pages and any commercial content. The licensing agreements that Meta holds for popular music generally do not cover commercial use. This means if you are creating a Story to advertise or promote a product, service, or your brand, you cannot use a popular, copyrighted song from the main music library. Doing so could be a violation of copyright law and Facebook’s terms of service.

To solve this problem for businesses, Meta provides the Meta Sound Collection. This is a large library of royalty-free music and sound effects that have been pre-cleared for commercial use in content on both Facebook and Instagram, including in ads. Business Pages should exclusively use music from this collection to ensure they are legally compliant.

If a business uses a popular song in a commercial Story without the proper license, the audio in the Story may be muted, the content may be removed by Facebook, or the Page could face other restrictions.

The simple rule of thumb is this: if your Story has a commercial purpose (i.e., it promotes your business or its products), you must use audio from the Meta Sound Collection or another royalty-free music source for which you have a commercial license. If it is a personal, non-commercial Story on your personal profile, using music from the general library is typically acceptable under the platform’s user agreements.

Using the correct image sizes for different Facebook placements is essential for ensuring your content looks professional and is displayed clearly on all devices. While Facebook automatically resizes images, uploading them at the recommended dimensions will always provide the best results.

Here are the key specifications for the most common placements as of 2025.

First, for standard Facebook Feed posts, you have a couple of excellent options. For a square image, the recommended size is 1080 by 1080 pixels. For a vertical image, which takes up more screen space on mobile feeds and can be more effective for engagement, you should use a 4:5 aspect ratio, with a recommended size of 1080 by 1350 pixels. While you can still post horizontal images, square and vertical formats are generally prioritised for mobile viewing.

Second, for Facebook Stories, which are designed to fill the entire mobile screen, you must use a 9:16 aspect ratio. The ideal resolution for this is 1080 by 1920 pixels. When designing your Story, it is also important to be mindful of the “safe zones.” Avoid placing any critical text or logos at the very top or bottom of the image, as they may be covered by your profile icon or other interface elements.

Third, for your Facebook Page Cover Photo, the display changes between desktop and mobile. To create an image that works well on both, a common best practice is to design it at a larger size, such as 1920 by 730 pixels, but ensure that all of your essential text and logos are placed within a central “safe zone” that will be visible regardless of the device it is viewed on.

And fourth, for your Profile Picture, this will be displayed as a circle. It should be uploaded at a minimum of 170 by 170 pixels, but for the best quality, uploading a higher resolution square image, such as 1080 by 1080 pixels, is recommended. Ensure your logo or main subject is centred so it is not cut off.

For the file format, using a high-quality JPG is best for most photographic images. For images that contain text or logos, or that require a transparent background, a PNG file is the better choice.

In summary, for the best results in the feed, use a resolution of 1080 pixels wide, with either a square (1080×1080) or vertical (1080×1350) format. For Stories, always use 1080×1920.

The most effective way to feature a video in an email to maximise clicks involves using a visually engaging and clickable image, because direct video embedding is not a reliable option across all email clients.

First, the most successful and standard professional practice is to use an animated GIF with a ‘play’ button icon overlaid on top. A short, looping GIF created from an exciting or intriguing part of your video creates a sense of motion that is highly effective at capturing a reader’s attention in a crowded inbox. The play button signals that the content is a video and that the element is clickable.

Second, if an animated GIF is not feasible, the next best option is a high-quality static image thumbnail, also with a clear play button icon overlaid. The thumbnail you choose should be visually compelling and representative of the video’s content.

The reason this image-based approach is used instead of directly embedding a playable video is due to the lack of consistent support for that feature across major email clients, particularly versions of Outlook and Gmail. Attempting to embed a video directly will lead to a broken or non-functional experience for a large portion of your subscribers, which will suppress clicks.

Regardless of whether you use a static image or a GIF, the entire image area should be linked directly to the video on its hosting platform, such as YouTube or Vimeo. This creates a large, easy-to-tap target for your users, which is especially important for those on mobile devices.

This visual element should be supported by concise, curiosity-driven copy and a clear call-to-action button with text like “Watch the Full Video Now.”

In summary, for the most clicks, the proven best practice is to use an optimised animated GIF of an exciting part of your video, place a play button icon on it, and link that entire image to where the video is hosted. This method is reliable, visually engaging, and highly effective at encouraging subscribers to click through to watch.

While the idea of embedding a playable audio clip directly into an email is very appealing for engagement, its effectiveness in practice is severely limited by a major technical challenge: a lack of consistent support across major email clients.

First, to make audio playable within an email, you typically need to use the HTML5

Second, while some email clients, particularly Apple Mail, do have better support for embedded audio, you cannot control which email client your subscriber uses to open your message. Because of this inconsistency, you cannot guarantee a reliable or uniform experience for your audience, which makes it a risky strategy for any important piece of content.

Third, the much safer, more reliable, and universally recommended best practice is to simulate an audio player. This is a very effective alternative. You would create a static image that looks like an audio player – this could be a simple bar with a “play” button icon, or perhaps an image of your podcast cover art with a waveform graphic overlaid on it.

You then take this entire image and link it directly to your audio file. This could be a link to the episode on your website, on a podcast platform like Spotify, or a direct link to the audio file itself.

When a subscriber clicks this image, they are taken to a web page where the audio will play for them reliably in their browser. This method works across all email clients, provides a consistent experience for every user, and still effectively drives traffic to your audio content. It also allows you to accurately track the clicks on that link, giving you a clear measure of engagement.

In summary, due to the inconsistent support across major email clients, embedding playable audio directly into an email is not a recommended or reliable practice. The standard professional approach is to use a compelling image that looks like an audio player and link it to your audio content hosted online.

The YouTube Audio Library and Creator Music are two distinct platforms provided by YouTube for sourcing soundtracks for your videos. They serve very different purposes and operate on completely different models.

First, the YouTube Audio Library is the platform’s long-standing collection of completely free-to-use production music and sound effects. You can use any track from this library in your monetised videos without having to worry about copyright claims or losing ad revenue. The only condition is that some tracks may require you to provide attribution in your video description. It primarily consists of stock-style music suitable for backgrounds, not popular commercial songs.

Second, Creator Music is a newer catalogue designed to give creators a legitimate way to use popular, commercial music from well-known artists in their videos. It is not a free library. Instead, it offers two main options for using a track. For some songs, you have the option to pay an upfront licensing fee. Once you pay this fee, you can use the music in your video and keep all of the subsequent ad revenue yourself. For other songs, you may be able to use them at no upfront cost, but you must agree to a revenue sharing arrangement with the music rights holders. This means you and the artist’s record label will each receive a percentage of the ad revenue generated by your video.

The core difference is this: The Audio Library provides free production music that will never impact your ability to monetise your video. Creator Music provides access to popular, copyrighted songs in exchange for either an upfront payment or a share of your video’s future earnings.

If you simply need good quality background music for your video and want to ensure you keep 100% of your ad revenue without any complications, you should continue to use the Audio Library.

If you believe that using a specific, well-known popular song will significantly enhance your video and lead to many more views, and you are willing to either pay for a license or share the ad revenue, then Creator Music is the platform to use for that purpose.

It is also worth noting that the availability of specific tracks and the terms within Creator Music can vary by region, so you should always check the details for your location within your YouTube Studio.

Making a solo-hosted video podcast visually engaging is a common challenge, but it can be effectively overcome by layering in various visual elements to break up the monotony of a single static shot.

There are several effective techniques you can employ. First, you should use multiple camera angles, even if you only have one camera. You can simulate a multi-camera setup by first recording your entire episode with your main camera in a standard medium shot. Afterwards, you can re-record yourself delivering a few key phrases or simply listening intently from a different angle, such as a tighter close-up or a side profile. You can then cut to these different angles during the editing process to create dynamic shifts in perspective.

Second, you need to make extensive use of B-roll footage. While you are talking about a specific concept, you should cut away from your face to show relevant stock footage, screen recordings, photos, or video clips that help to illustrate your point. This not only adds crucial visual interest but also helps your audience to better understand the topic you are discussing.

Third, you should incorporate on-screen graphics and text overlays. You can use animated text to highlight key takeaways, important statistics, or questions for the audience. Simple graphics, icons, or even full-screen slides can be used to present data or summarise a section of your talk. This visually reinforces your message and keeps the screen active.

Fourth, you can use dynamic “punch-in” zooms in your editing software. During a long take of you speaking, you can add a subtle digital zoom in on your face to add emphasis to a key point, and then zoom back out for the next section. This simple technique helps to break up the shot and makes the viewing experience more dynamic.

Fifth, ensure your background is visually interesting but not distracting. A well-lit, curated background with some depth adds significant production value compared to just sitting in front of a plain, flat wall.

And sixth, do not underestimate the importance of your own on-screen energy. Be expressive with your hands and your facial expressions. Your body language is a key visual element that can help to keep your audience engaged.

The overall goal is to give the viewer’s eye something new and relevant to look at every 10 to 20 seconds. By combining different camera angles, frequent B-roll, on-screen graphics, and simple editing tricks, you can make a solo video podcast feel highly engaging and professional.