Instagram has become one of the biggest social platforms in recent years, especially in the retail, food, and tourism industries. Having a great looking feed can help you attract followers and customers but have you put much thought into your Instagram profile itself?
A well-crafted profile can take your account to the next level and help increase leads and sales from Instagram. It’s another chance you have to connect with visitors and turn them into followers. If used correctly, you can then turn those Instagram followers into website visitors. But how do you know if your profile is really rocking it? Start by checking off these six steps:
Craft Your Name
This seems like a no-brainer but did you know that you can get creative here. You have 30 characters to play with so why not add in a unique skill or title? Instead of “Jane Doe” you could have “Jane Doe – Digital Marketer”. You can even use emojis if that helps get your identity and brand across.
Choose the Right Profile Photo
If you’re a brand, your profile photo should be your logo. You want to use something identifiable to the company that followers will recognize immediately when they see it in their feed without having to read a word. If your brand is a personal one (think solopreneur, blogger, etc.) then your face might be that identifiable element. If so, choose a photo that’s high quality and representative of your overall feed aesthetic.
Write an Engaging Bio
Your bio should tell people, as succinctly as possible, what you’re about. List your skills, interests, business niche. Keywords won’t help you be found on Instagram but they can help people identify and connect with you. Emojis have become their own language so don’t be afraid to add a few to your bio if they relate to what you do.
Tip: Write your bio in Word or a note app and then paste it into your Instagram account to get those hard returns that make your bio stand out.
Have a Call to Action
What is the one thing you want your Instagram followers to do, other than like and comment on your photos? Read your latest article? Buy your product? Sign up for your newsletter? Decide what your currently priority is (they can change over time) and be sure to end your bio with a call to action, specifically asking your followers to do that thing.
Don’t Use Link Shorteners
While it might be tempting to use a link shortener like Bit.ly to make your one clickable link in Instagram shorter, by masking the destination you may actually deter people from clicking on it. If there’s nothing to indicate what to expect when the link is clicked, visitors would feel less compelled to do so. Your profile link is the one spot you have, outside of ads, to get Instagram followers onto your website. Make it crystal clear where they’ll end up when they click your link.
If you’re using a link shorteners for analytics purposes, Google Analytics will track how many times your link was clicked and show Instagram as the attribution so there’s no need to track twice.
Change Your Links Regularly
Your website link shouldn’t be a set it and forget it thing. Every time you have new content on your site or something you want to promote, update your link and tell people about it. While you can’t link directly in a photo caption, you can tell folks to go check out the link in your Instagram profile. You know what, sometimes people will actually do what you tell them, so don’t be afraid to tell them about what you’ve got going on.
A good Instagram bio will provide more opportunities for you to connect with users and increase your following. Stand out from the crowd by showing your personality and making it crystal clear what you do and what you want your followers to do.
