Declutter Your Feed: How to Hide Old and Off-Brand Instagram Posts

23
Apr 2019

Have you ever scrolled through your business’ Instagram feed and just felt it was time for a refresh? Perhaps the company has rebranded since the Instagram account was created and specific photos don’t reflect the new brand image. Or, you want to clean up the feed and craft a more cohesive grid aesthetic. But how can you revamp your feed without dumping all the pre-existing content and starting fresh?

Cue the Archive feature. The Archive feature enables you to remove a post from the public’s view, storing it in a private gallery for only you to see.

Why Hide and Not Delete?

As mentioned in Instagram’s original press announcement for the feature back in 2017, “your profile is a representation of who you are and evolves with you over time. With Archive, you now have more flexibility to shape your profile while still preserving moments that matter.” This concept is valid not only for individual users, but for brands as well. As brands become more established and mature, their image changes, making this feature an excellent tool for storing old content that you may want to reference and do not wish to delete outright.

Another example of when your brand may want to hide content is if your feed features any date-specific or seasonal promotional material. You may want to remove those posts from the public’s view, but keep them stored as a reference for future social promotions.

Or, perhaps your target audience has changed. Do you target consumers who grew up in a particular era, such as nineties kids or Baby Boomers? What may have resonated with your audience five years ago won’t appeal to them today. Nineties kids are no longer high school students, and many Baby Boomers are now in the twilight of their careers or retired. As your audience’s tastes change, so, too, should your content. Archiving any outdated posts can help you stay relevant.

Hiding posts is also useful if your feed showcases products that your business no longer carries. The Archive feature is an excellent option for preserving those posts without trashing them.

How Do You Hide Your Old Posts?

To hide a post, click the “…” icon located in the upper right corner of any photo in your feed. Tapping this button summons a menu of action items, the top item being “Archive.” Selecting “Archive” removes the post from your public feed and files it away.

To access your archived posts, visit your Instagram profile page and tap the reverse clock icon. Tapping the reverse clock reveals the private gallery of posts you’ve sequestered. Clicking the drop-down arrow next to the Archive header enables you to toggle between viewing archived posts from your Instagram feed or old Instagram Stories (which are saved automatically to the Archive).

What If I Want To Bring Back an Archived Post?

Restoring an archived post to your original feed is also easy. In the Archive gallery, click the post you’d like to restore. Again, tapping the menu icon (…) on the photo will reveal an action menu detailing two options: “Show on Profile” or “Delete.” Click “Show on Profile” to restore the post to your timeline. The post will appear back in your feed in its original chronological position, without notifying your followers of your changes.

You can also refer to the Archive gallery whenever you want to create Highlights of old Instagram Stories content.

And that’s all there is to it. If your business has evolved or rebranded recently, you may want to do some spring-cleaning and archive some posts today.

 

There are over 25m brand accounts on Instagram

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