First impressions are everything — especially on Instagram. But before you can plan your Instagram feed, you need to focus on writing an effective Instagram bio that catches your ideal audiences’ attention. This is one of the most overlooked aspects of Instagram. Aspiring influencers are so focused on creating content that they tend to neglect their Instagram bio. Although writing your bio may seem simple enough, a limited character count makes it difficult to decide what to include and what not to include. To help you out, here’s how you can create a good bio on Instagram.
How to Create a Good Bio on Instagram
If you’re struggling to turn page visitors into followers, you might want to focus on your Instagram bio. This area of your profile is like a written out version of your elevator pitch with a clickable link. With 150 characters, explaining what your business and brand is all about is essential but tricky. In order to stand out from the crowd, your Instagram bio has to be hyperfocused on how you serve your ideal audiences. Here are some tips on how your Instagram bio can work to convert more followers.
Add Targeted Keywords in Your Name Field
Did you know that the name field is the only searchable section of your Instagram bio? For instance, if someone is searching “travel blogger” on Instagram, you want to make sure the words “travel blogger” appear in your name. By doing so, you’ll stand a chance of popping up in someone’s search suggestions, helping you stand out from the crowd.
Optimizing this space helps to boost your profile’s searchability, so use it wisely. Since the name field allows a maximum of 30 characters, being strategic with what you decide to write is key. If your name is short enough, you can insert your first name, last name, followed by your targeted keyword.
If your name is too long, it’s better to opt for your targeted keyword instead, as the popular female travel account @girlsthatwander has done.
Perfect Your Elevator Pitch
With only 150 characters available, your Instagram bio needs to pack a punch and capture your ideal audiences’ attention immediately. A good Instagram bio should go beyond what you do or specialize in — it should tell your audience what kind of value you’ll be delivering them. By doing so, you’ll speak directly to your audience. Addressing their interests will set your Instagram account up as a resource for their pain points.
For example, Ryan and Sam from @ourtravelpassport write “inspiring you to travel and sharing how to do it”. A new visitor to their page will know that they provide travel tips and destination guides.
Here’s another example from Sam @samvanderwielen. If you’re a coach or online service provider, a great way to structure your elevator pitch is to address who you help and what you do.
Optimize the Link in Your Bio
The link in your bio is the one place on Instagram to insert a clickable link. To fully optimize this space, think about where you’d like to direct any potential viewer. If you’re a blogger, you might want to direct them to your blog or your latest post. Building your email list? Insert a link to a landing page to your freebie. And if you have several links you’d like to share, consider creating a page on your blog to house all your clickable links. Or if you’d rather, you could house all your links on linktr.ee.
Here’s an example of a page of links hosted on your site (mine), and one that’s hosted through a 3rd party like linktr.ee (Jaci Marie’s)
Add a Call to Action
Once you know which links you’d like to direct your profile visitors to, add a call to action to your bio right above the clickable link. Not only will this inform any visitors about what your link includes, but it’ll also pique their curiosity.
For instance, the link in Jen Morilla’s bio leads visitors to her Two Weeks Notice waitlist. In the bio right above the link space, she includes a call to action that encourages viewers to join her waitlist by clicking on the link below.
Add Your Email Address
As a general rule of thumb, it’s always a good idea to make it as easy as possible for brands and visitors to contact you. Adding your email to your bio will take out the guesswork for brands who are trying to book you for a campaign.
If you have a business profile, Instagram gives you the option to add important contact information including your email, phone number, and physical address. This will show up as a button on your page, so you won’t have to use up any of your precious 150 characters. Just keep in mind that the email button isn’t available on Instagram’s desktop version.
Pro-tip: I suggest creating an email specifically for brand collaborations and inquiries from Instagram instead of sharing your personal email. And unless you’re a brick and mortar store, do not include your physical address and personal phone number.
Pick the Perfect Profile Picture
We all know how important your Instagram feed aesthetic is. The style of your feed alone is enough to warrant a follow from someone who visits your profile. So why not choose a profile picture that incorporates your editing and photography style right off the bat? Remember, first impressions are everything. Your profile picture will show up in suggested search results. So put your best profile picture foot forward and give your target audience a preview of your photography style.
@colormecourtney and @mossonyi do a great job of getting that message across. Courtney’s page is bright, colorful, and bubbly — and her profile picture displays that. Onyi’s feed is elegant and editorial goals, which you can gather from her profile picture alone.
If you have a branded hashtag or multiple accounts, adding them to your bio is one way to raise brand awareness. Any account or hashtag that you add to your Instagram bio turns into another clickable link. It’s a great way to send profile visitors to a related account or to browse any content posted under your branded hashtag.
For instance, on the Her Life, By Design podcast Instagram profile, I tagged my main account in the bio which links directly to my profile.
And since Brittany Krystle has a branded hashtag for her Beyond Influential podcast, she’s added it to her bio as well.
Lisa Homsy added both a branded hashtag and a tag to her primary account in her @presetsbylisa Instagram bio.
Get Creative
One of the best Instagram bio ideas is to simply get creative! Whether it’s through your copy or by adding emojis that are on brand, a little creativity goes a long way. Line breaks are a great way to organize the copy in your Instagram bio. It also makes your bio easier to read. You may even consider adding black and white symbols to separate each line break in a creative way.
And if you’re feeling bold, you could use different fonts in your bio to highlight different text.
Head here to add black and white symbols to your Instagram bio, and here to use different fonts.
Carefully Curate Story Highlights
Although story highlights are not technically a part of your bio, they appear right before the content on your Instagram feed. If you want to go the extra mile, create branded Instagram story covers for each highlight. You can design a highlight cover easily in Canva using your brand colors. Or use a photo of choice that best represents the content under that highlight.
Think about your story highlights as a video extension of your Instagram bio. If it’s enticing enough, profile visitors will click on it and consume more of your content. This will increase the likelihood of turning profile visitors into dedicated followers.
It’s All in Your Bio!
In this day and age, having a presence on Instagram is essential for any business. Whether you’re an influencer, a coach, or a brick-and-mortar store, your Instagram bio serves as your online business card, portfolio, and product pitch. With a limited character count, crafting a good Instagram bio is harder than it looks. These Instagram bio ideas and tips are a great place to start! In order to stand out from the crowd, you need to provide value and inspiration to your target audience. And before you do so with your content, you need to make sure you’re delivering in your bio.
Thank you, this was very helpful!
Yay, I’m so glad! Thank you for reading xo
Thank you, your content is very helpful and I could immediately make a few changes in my Bio ! 🙂
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