5 Steps to Perfect Instagram Bio in 2019

Mia -

They say that first impressions are half the battle, and it certainly applies to brand marketing on Instagram. Good bio means business as it’s the first thing your potential customers see.

Will they follow? Will they click the link to visit the site? Will they share your account with friends? All depends on they way you design your Instagram profile.

STEP #1 | SEO the name field

Username and name are the only fields that count in Instagram search queries. Filling in the name field with your personal or brand name will only do good if you are as big as, for instance, Kat Von D Beauty brand.

Think of keywords your target customer could search by to find you services, and use them! It could be what you do or your products — personal trainer, esthetician, handmade soaps, nail salon, tex mex restaurant, vehicle repair service, — you name it.

Take The Moment skincare brand’s profile as an example:

While The Moment’s username doesn’t explicitly tell us about what or who it’s for right off the bat, their name does the job quite well. Moreover, this name significantly improves the chances to end up on higher position in results when users search by the keywords “wellness” and “clean beauty.”

STEP #2 | Sum your brand (and its contact info) up

The actual bio field has room only for 150 characters, so it’s crucial to use this limited space wisely. Tell the world what you do, what you offer, and how you can help others. Express your values and what makes you different from your competitors. Include your contact information (business email, phone, city) and specifications like working hours, tour dates, sales.

Let’s take a look at the sthlmraw’s account bio.

It’s an example of a transformation-focused, right on target description of a specialty service. All covered: What is it? Vegan cafe. What does it do? Provides plant-based food. What makes it different? The highest quality experience among local vegan joints. Where’s it located? Stockholm. When’s it available? Open hours stated. Bonus: Dogs friendly, which could be quite relevant to animal lovers that make the most of a vegan cafe’s target audience.

Indicating your city of residence could be important. Think if it makes a difference for your clients, and if so — don’t hesitate to include the city name in your bio. Tagging multiple places is a good idea for brands and invidiuals doing business on the go, to let followers know where you’ve been, where you are at now and where they may catch you next.

STEP #3 | Include branded hashtag, tag other accounts

Throw in some of the business niche-relevant and branded hashtags, it will invite your Instagram account visitors to interact with your bio, see more brand-related content, participate in your campaign. Tag brand founder to make the business more personalized; let the audience know the man behind the business and/or their other projects.

Morphe’s account bio features their branded hashtag, #MorpheBabe. Just one click away from a variety of creative makeup looks made with Morphe products by their customers:

Another good example is khazu89’s bio.

He states his occupation through hashtags, mentions an Instagram handle of his client that demonstrates the effectiveness of Khazu’s service, he credits his coaches AND includes an Itunes link to his music album. This bio is interactive, informative, and structural. Bravo!

Though your website frontpage may seem *and it is* an appropriate option for the website field, it’s best to pick something more specific. Something that would direct your profile visitors to download your freebie, see your products on sale, read your latest piece, to do somethin’!

And don’t just throw the link out there — use a call-to-action phrase to let visitors know what to do, to make them want to click your link.

Wayne Goss links his latest synthetics brush collection released on BeautyLish, instead of a plain personal MUA site URL. He encourages profile visitors to buy the brushes and communicates their worldwide purchase availability.

Minimalistic, yet straight to the point bio of the Houston ballet company profile.

STEP #5 | Create your brand’s Instagram Story Highlights collection

Instagram Highlights are basically Story archives attached to profiles. As they are located right under the bio section, and visible both on mobile and web version of Instagram (unlike the action buttons and business profile category field that can only be seen via the app), it’s recommended to put effort in creating a collection for your profile.

Think of categories you would have used on your website homepage (FAQ, products on sale, prices, reviews, directions, etc.) and create a series of Instagram stories for each category. Design same-style covers to inspire to your followers to click, tap and swipe the Hightlights’ thumbnails!

Instagram accounts with Highlights to take the cue from:

FINISH LINE | What’s next?

After taking your bio to the next level by following the 5-step routine, it’s time to attract as many people as possible to check out the new look. As a helping hand, we recommend using Combin, the Instagram management tool our seasoned developers created in collaboration with Instagram marketering experts.

Combin provides functionality for:

  • Reminding your current audience about your Instagram account
  • Searching and engaging potential followers
  • Analyzing and engaging competitor’s followers, commenters, likers
  • Tracking branded hashtags
  • Monitoring audience growth

Watch this short video guide to learn how to manage and grow your Instagram account with Combin. Get free version, available for Windows, Mac OS X and Linux.

Don’t miss our next 1.9 version release that promises a search by bio functionality among many other new features. Follow us on Twitter and Reddit to be up to date with the latest Combin news.