How to create an Instagram bio to attract your ideal audience?
You have just seconds to convince a user visiting your Instagram profile that they are in the right place and it’s your brand that will deliver exactly what they’re looking for. At a first glance your potential new follower will see your profile photo, your username and your bio. That’s it! That’s all you’re working with to grab their attention and entice them to want to see more, scroll down and get to know you. No surprise then that it’s super important to make a spectacularly good first impression. To get you in the right gear to engage your users we’re going to give you some Top Tips to build yourself an IRRESISTIBLE Instagram bio. Let’s go!
Think like your audience!
The magical first question to ask yourself is “What are my audience looking for when they visit my profile?” Space is (very) limited so your Instagram Bio has to be crystal clear and very concise. In order to get straight to the point and succinctly give your visitors what they’re looking for, you have to think like your audience. “If I were a user logging onto my account, what would immediately arouse my interest and compel me to explore further?” Once you have that insight, there are many strategies that you can follow depending on your sector or the type of communication you have for your brand.
Understanding “how your audience thinks”, allows you to take real advantage of those 150 characters. Show your value, highlight how your products meet their needs, share who you are and above all, convey what a uniquely, boldly, brilliant brand you have.
How to take advantage of “your name” to improve your brand positioning
Careful, we are not referring to your handle, which comes after the @. What we’re talking about here is just below; the name that appears in bold. Usually, the same name is repeated with capital letters and spaces, it can however, have another far more interesting use. As the space of the bio is so limited, this name which appears so prominently may also be exchanged for a short phrase, a slogan or motto to improve your positioning.
Imagine that you are the manufacturer of handmade furniture, you can put your brand name in the nickname section and below include the phrase “manufacturer of handmade furniture”. Not only will it differentiate you, it also becomes a solid SEO resource. By using identified keywords that best promote your brand it helps Instagram put you in front of your potential audience.
How to use hashtags and benefit when you mention other accounts.
Mentions are a cool resource, that do more than simply “generate traffic”. Including mentions of other accounts in your bio can be highly effective provided you have something or someone else to mention. Ideally, you would mention your own brands’ “sister” accounts. That is, other accounts that are directly or indirectly co-dependent in order to generate traffic between the two. DO NOT use this technique with, for example, suppliers or brands that are part of your product catalogue as this won’t provide you with any benefits and may compromise the bio aesthetic.
Hashtags are effective when you use them to link your brand to a message or a campaign. Instead of using generic hashtags such as #sneakers, #bags or #pianocords in your bio, use hashtags to reinforce your brand via a slogan or involve your audience in a campaign.
Use Linkin.bio
Instagram only allows you to include one link in your Bio, which makes optimizing links tricky! On top of that you’re not able to add links to individual posts, which is why you’ll often see Instagram users close their captions with “link in bio.” As a result, you need to be very precise and know exactly where you want to take your audience. The most common route is to link to the Homepage of your website, your Blog or Shop and that’s fine, because it gets your audience where you want them to go, but there is an alternative…
Linkin.bio is a tool that allows you to connect different links to the same Instagram profile. How? By creating a “feed” in which you can associate an independent link to posts. Clicking on a photo that interests them, will take them to the specific link you’ve associated with it.
This is a very useful tool that mitigates the main problem that Instagram has: the links. Use it in your bio and give more depth to your Instagram strategy by generating traffic and facilitating access to your products.
Contact info
First and foremost, an Instagram Bio has to be useful. And what’s more useful to your audience than knowing how to reach you? An Instagram Business Account provides the option to add tabs with contact information such as your phone number or email. This is a fabulous opportunity to make your contact information more accessible to users without gobbling up your precious 150 characters of Bio.
This isn’t for everyone though! If you are a restaurant or business that does home delivery, having your phone number or email “at hand” in the bio may be a more effective call to action than slipped out of sight behind a button. Wherever you decide to put it, your contact must be included in your profile somewhere.
If you’re just not getting enough out of your Instagram profile or you want to improve your digital communication, feel free to get in touch. As part of our “Project Pandemic Program” we’ll happily give you a free digital audit and analyze the potential of your brand from a digital marketing perspective. You can depend on us to help take your brand to the next level.
