Use keywords for the name field

If you click on Edit Profile, the first field you will find is Name. This is different from your Username, which forms your Instagram profile URL (http://instagram.com/username) and gives your profile page its brand name.

The Name field, in fact, makes up the first 30 characters of your Instagram bio and is key to helping with Instagram SEO.

When people search on Instagram, the words in the Name field are analyzed for matches. So if you want to rank well in searches from an Instagram SEO perspective, it is crucial you use keywords relevant to your niche in the Name section (not necessarily your business name, as the title suggests).

Emojis can also be searched for, and so should also be featured in the Name field if appropriate. For more information on how to select and write a Username and Name, and how they help with SEO on Instagram, check out this article.

Writing the bio

An Instagram bio has to make an impact on your audience. It has to tell people what your business is, what you do, and why they need you. It also has to convince people to not only follow you, but to complete a particular task of your choosing (like visiting your website).

And as you are only allowed 150 characters for your bio (plus the 30 characters for your Instagram Name) this is not an easy task! So let’s have a look at what text you should include in your bio.

Specific niche or service – If you are in a specific profession or industry niche, or are known for offering a particular service, then it is important to make this clear in your Instagram bio to help you immediately connect with the right crowd.

Skills and experience – Sharing your skills and experience will help present a professional business, building trust with your target audience and giving them an insight into what you offer.

Hobbies and interests – If your brand is based on you as an individual, then building a relationship with your followers is key. Share a bit about who you are – your hobbies, interests, values, and beliefs – to come across as likable and engaging.

Use your brand’s voice with a touch of humor – Using your brand’s voice is a must, as this will ensure consistency across your social networks and enable your audience to immediately recognize you. However, a splash of humor will add a personal touch, making your brand more relatable.

Evidently, there is much to consider when writing your Instagram bio. But we aren’t finished there. Let’s look at other elements you should include to create an effective bio.

Add emojis

Using emojis in your Instagram bio will give your profile a visually fresh and fun feel while helping your brand stand out from the crowd.

Emojis also take up less space than words, enabling you to add extra info about your brand that the character count wouldn’t allow for with text.

Here are some top tips for using emojis in your Instagram bio:

• Be creative and try a combination of words interspersed with emojis
• Use emojis to emphasize key points in your content or as bullet points to break up the text and make it easier to read
• Emojis should always be relevant to your brand and add value to your bio.

It is not a good idea to use just emojis on their own with no text. This can be confusing to your audience and is a waste of precious brand promotion space.

And remember, once chosen, emojis aren’t set in stone. Play around with different emojis over time to see what fits best with your brand.

For more on emojis, here are 5 Steps to Using Emojis for Marketing.

Use hashtags

Adding your branded hashtag to your bio is another important Instagram strategy. This will help not only drive post engagement, but also create a community around your brand.

By giving your followers a way to share their content with you and your community via your branded hashtag, you will quickly create a strong interactive hub on Instagram.

This can help promote your business and enable your brand to reach a wider audience.

Call to action

Your Instagram bio is the perfect place to add a call to action. Tell your audience what you want them to do, and if possible, how to do it. For example, ask your audience to follow you on Instagram or other social media channels. If your organization provides a service, display your email to encourage people to get in touch for a discussion or quote.

Brick-and-mortar stores should include their address and opening times, so people can easily find and visit them.

If you want your audience to open a particular web page, ask them to do so and then add the URL to the Website field (covered in more detail next).

Give spacing and line breaks as and when needed

Sometimes, it’s difficult for people to scan through your bio when it contains a large piece of information.

Breaking down your bio into a list or bullet format with neat spacing helps people consume the information with ease.

Having a list also enables you to include call-to-action buttons along with your bio.

Website URL: How to put a link in your Instagram bio

Instagram only allows you one clickable link, which appears at the bottom of your bio. Most Instagrammers display their website’s homepage URL, which makes sense if your goal is to drive traffic to your site.

However, as your business and Instagram goals change over time, so should your website URL link.

Consider linking to your latest product page, a landing page for a recent marketing campaign, your newest blog content, or contact page.

There are many possibilities here, so make the most of the link in your Instagram bio by changing it up in line with your business objectives.

Choose a profile picture

The final step in this process is selecting a profile picture. The obvious choice for this is your brand logo, which you already use on your website, marketing material, and other social media channels.

Using an identifiable symbol will make it easy for your target audience to recognize you. It will also help raise awareness of your brand by making sure it is constantly visible within your niche on social media.

Instagram Stories Highlights

Instagram Stories Highlights is one of the exciting features which a huge number of brands use for different purposes like promoting their products, reminding people about the upcoming event, glimpse of behind-the-scenes activities, polls or quizzes, and a lot more.

Hubspot makes use of this feature well to educate their audience, according to their areas of interest and then guide them with a blog post once they tap on the story.

The segmentation of users by Hubspot helps them acquire quality leads. If you’re new to Instagram Stories Highlights, follow the steps mentioned here to create story highlights for your brand.

Other strategies that you can try out

Instagram fonts

Brands can also experiment sometimes by using Instagram custom fonts in their bio.

They can use it in some parts of their bio on important occasions like brand announcements, sale, events, webinars, etc to grab immediate attention of the user.

There are plenty of tools available in the market to apply these custom fonts with ease.

Instagram symbols

Like Instagram fonts, brands can easily copy and paste their choice of symbols on their Instagram bio using tools like Cool Symbol.

Instagram quotes

Brands can display famous quotes on their bio from time to time, which users might enjoy when they land on their page.

Sale/event/product announcement

Instagram bio is a great place to announce the live events which are happening and for future announcements. Fans can keep a tab of the activity happening at your end by just checking your bio.