A prospect's first impression of your business matters both online and offline. Beginning from how you create your website to your online presence, you determine people's impressions of your business. Interestingly, as far as Instagram (IG) is concerned, your bio says a lot about your business.
Researchers say that people can have an impression of you merely seven seconds after meeting you in-person. What's more surprising is that the time frame is shorter online. Therefore, you ought to take time crafting your Instagram bio as it can generate leads for your business and help you close deals.
While an Instagram bio for some may be filled with humor, it may not work for your business. Your Instagram bio should reflect what you do and be attractive enough to get a following from other Instagram users.
Wondering how to craft creative Instagram bios and attract your target audience? Keep reading!
What is an Instagram bio?
Just like many social media platforms, Instagram also has a bio. Your bio is the best place to tell your visitors about the kind of person you are (if it's a personal account) or what your business is about. Also, an Instagram bio rests atop your Instagram profile page and is about 150 characters long. The bio length often makes it difficult for people to describe their businesses well, but you can get creative with it.
Furthermore, bearing in mind the bio character count, your bio should be informative and readable. You can add emojis as a professional to keep things on a lighter note. Also, you can use quotes that perfectly describe your business. In all, ensure your bio reflects what you do and is attractive enough to gain new followers.
In your Instagram bio, you can include hashtags, your contact information, and more. Here are some Instagram bio ideas:
- You can make your Instagram bio funny
- Get creative with your bio. E.g., “If you ain’t Croc-ing, you ain’t rocking.” @crocs
- Add quotes to your Instagram bio. E.g., “We’re all born naked, and the rest is drag.” – RuPaul
- Make it fun by adding emojis
- Give it a clever quip
- Make it short but impactful
Importance of an Instagram bio for your business
Having an Instagram bio is crucial for the growth and success of your business. Several benefits come with a well-structured and perfect Instagram bio.
Source: Yourdmac
It tells people who you are and what you offer
A perfectly structured and cool Instagram bio establishes your brand's presence and tells people who you are and what your business is all about. It is a space where you give visitors an initial introduction to what you offer.
A cool Instagram bio should contain your username and profile photo. Your username should give Instagram users an idea of your brand, business goals, products, and who you are.
For instance, if you own a makeup brand, you can include words or phrases like ‘glam,' ‘beauty,’ or ‘touch-up' in your username. You can also add a makeup emoji like this lipstick 💄 for more color.
Just make sure you think of creative ideas for your username, profile photo, and other aspects of your Instagram bio.
It allows you to target your ideal clientele
A perfectly crafted Instagram bio will help you draw the attention of your target clientele to your business. The links and branded hashtags on your bio page will direct potential clients to your business account, especially when they search for your product or services.
You can also connect your Instagram bio profile to other social media platforms or employ the use of paid ads to broaden your chances of reaching your target audience.
It helps you gain more followers
A great Instagram bio is an excellent step to gaining more followers on Instagram. Having a lot of Instagram followers grants you the opportunity to interact with many people and attain feedback on your account and posts.
A high Instagram follower count can also help to give your business brand legitimacy if handled properly. Instagram bios can help you gain thousands of followers if it is well-crafted and attractive, giving you a greater chance of getting patronages for your business.
An Instagram bio gives users the first impression of your brand
Your Instagram business profile page is likely the first point of contact whether an Instagram user discovers your brand from a paid Instagram post, through a branded hashtag, or shares on Stories.
Your Instagram bio is essential in giving users a good and favorable first impression. It’ll also give users clear reasons why they should follow and support you. You can also use your Instagram bios to tell your target audience why your business is worth their time and trust.
What should the Instagram bio for your business contain?
Crafting an Instagram bio for your business is an essential aspect of creating a fantastic Instagram profile. These are the vital elements your Instagram bio should contain:
Username and name
Every Instagram business profile has a “username” and “name.” Your Instagram “username” is a critical aspect of your Instagram profile URL. It is your Instagram identity and @handle, and it retains a notable position at the top of your Instagram profile page. Whereas your “name” can be your complete brand name or real name.
You can learn about name variations and abbreviations commonly used for brand names from data sources such as keyword research and audience. You can also consider adding an abbreviation or using a name variation from those sources to your username.
Source: SproutSocial
For example, in the Instagram bio example above, the full business name is ‘Sprouts Farmers Market,’ and it is included in the name section. Whereas the username is simply ‘@sprouts’, making it a creative bio addition.
Profile picture
Your business's profile picture is relevant and crucial to your brand's visual identity. You can include a product picture, a brick-and-mortar site, or your brand logo. Whichever choice you make for your profile picture, ensure it looks incredibly attractive and pertinent to your business.
Source: Sprout Social
Famous brands, like National Geographic TV (NatGeo TV), have visual identities that are generally recognized. The simple well-known yellow rectangle logo of NatGeo TV makes an excellent profile, and you can make yours just as simple if your brand is popular.
Ensure you select visually coordinated and harmonized pictures throughout your profile page to create an authoritative and identifiable brand identity. You can use reputable tools, such as Sprout’s Asset Library, to help ensure your Instagram images are in accordance with brand standards. These tools can reserve approved images so every team member can use them on all social media platforms.
Source: Sprout social
Instagram bio section
The Instagram bio section is the segment below your name where you can express your brand's personality and description. The section allows for 150 characters to describe to your audience what your Instagram profile is all about, what your business has to offer, and why Instagram users should become followers.
The limited character space means you have little to work with, making it a very vital section. So you have to ensure you plan ahead and create the perfect Instagram business bio. You can learn various tips and tricks on creating an amazing Instagram bio as you continue reading this article.
Website
The website section is the only segment on an Instagram profile page that allows for the addition of a clickable bio link, so ensure you utilize this space judiciously. You can include a URL to your Instagram homepage and also update the Instagram bio link often by posting new projects, contents, products, etc.
Source: Sprout Social
Several business brands use services such as Linktree to make the most of the single bio link limit by directing Instagram users to a landing page with many shortcuts to product pages and featured content.
Category
Instagram allows business owners to specify the category their brand belongs to, whether it’s an entertainment and media company or a restaurant. This section is positioned right below your business name if you decide to activate it. It also helps to create more space for other vital details in your Instagram bio.
Call-to-action buttons
You can create more space on your profile page if you wisely utilize the call-to-action buttons available for business accounts on Instagram. The buttons allow users to take immediate actions, such as booking tables, buying tickets, ordering products, etc., straight from your profile. Also, it's important that you use tools to track your sales and tasks to avoid losses.
Source: Sprout Social
Contact info
Contact options offer potential clients the information they need to link up with your business. Maximize the call and email buttons to draw attention to your brand's contact info while taking up little space in your bio.
Tips on how to create the perfect Instagram bio for your business
As you can see, there’s a fine art to crafting a great Instagram bio, but we have the tips to help you make the most of yours.
Make your brand personality visible
Maximize your business’s Instagram bio to communicate your brand personality to the public. The tone you use, the things you say, and the language you use matter in maximizing your bio.
Source: Sprout Social
For example, Reese's employs a friendly and amusing tone in its Instagram bio while using the chance to institute its brand authority.
A number of brands may also include pertinent emojis if the manner of approach fits the business personality. However, note that a screen reader may misinterpret certain emojis and characters.
Ensure you keep the best practices for accessibility in mind for every one of your followers and avoid filling the entire bio with words, characters, or emojis that are difficult to read or comprehend for clients who use screen readers.
Be conscious of your goals
It is essential you have a clear orientation of your goal when you’re crafting an Instagram bio for your business because of the 150-character limitation. A clear understanding of what you desire in your bio allows you to get straight to the point.
There are several ways to utilize your Instagram bio. You can use it for advertising your newest offers or products or telling people about your business's purpose and function. You can also use it to communicate your brand's personality to the public and declare your Instagram presence.
If you want to use your business bio for promotion or advertisement purposes, ensure you and your team regularly refresh your bio and update the information. A number of businesses also use their Instagram bio to reveal their brand's mission and what they represent.
Source: Sprout Social
The Instagram business profile (Black Elephant Coffee) above is an Instagram bio example. The business' bio tells its audience a bit about what they sell and what its brand values are.
Add applicable profile links and hashtags
Instagram allows business account owners to add clickable profile links and hashtags to their Instagram bios. Therefore, ensure you maximize these features so that they direct clients to other pertinent, tagged content or Instagram handles.
Source: Sprout Social
The profile link option is excellent for brands managing multiple accounts. The image above shows how Madewell included a link to their Instagram bio for menswear.
Source: Sprout Social
Adding hashtags to your Instagram bio will allow you to direct your clientele to amazing user-generated content that is tagged. You can also use a branded Instagram hashtag to receive user-generated content, just like Canva.
Source: Sprout Social
On the other hand, you can also utilize branded hashtags to advertise an upcoming/new release or a particular campaign. An Instagram bio example is OnePlus which used the hashtag #OnePlus8T to advertise the launch occasion. Also, you can use a calendar to keep track of upcoming business events.
Think like a search engine
Despite the fact that your Instagram business bio is not related to an actual SEO and doesn’t make your info more searchable, you can still emphasize your keywords. Use individual phrases or words, like “professional photographer” or “calligrapher,” that your brand wants to be known for.
While crafting your Instagram bio and adding additional business information, such as your products and services, slogan, values, and skills, ensure you think carefully about each word you choose.
Add a captivating call-to-action
The call-to-action (CTA) button on Instagram creates a lot of space in Instagram bios. However, being more direct with your CTA is an excellent idea. Make sure people know what they should do next after they’ve viewed your profile by adding a CTA to your bio.
Depending on the aim of your Instagram business profile, you need to be very careful and specific about this feature. You can invite Instagram users to shop your feed, visit your business website, download your current business guide, read your newest blog post, or share their personal pictures using your business’ branded hashtag.
If you want to increase your Instagram followers, you can also add a call-to-action button to “follow us” for consistent content like fashion updates, daily recipes, menus, etc.
Ensure it is easy to read
Your business Instagram bio must be able to communicate what your brand offers and what it does. So it is essential that people are able to read and understand the information easily with little stress. Formatting features like spacing and line breaks make it simpler to read and emphasize the most vital information.
Source: Sprout Social
You can use a vertical bar or pipe character to spread out your bio information like in the business profile example above from Café Gratitude.
Source: Sprout Social
You can also utilize line breaks to craft your bio information into a list format, as shown above. The brand thredUP proficiently used the list format in its bio by using emojis as a form of bullet point.
Also, note that these line breaks and characters are included in your full character count. So, ensure you use them moderately and in strategic areas to avoid exceeding the 150-character limit. You can also analyze various formatting options to find out how they influence your general profile engagement.
Express yourself
No matter how serious your business is, Instagram is a social media platform that promotes entertainment and fun. You can use the templates of various funny Instagram bios to relay your personality to your target audience.
Engaging Instagram accounts with numerous followers is usually creative and pleasant. So, make your bio fun to read by adding information such as your interests, hobbies, etc., to your business bio.
Things to avoid when creating an Instagram bio for your business
One way to generate traffic–paid and organic–on social media is via Instagram marketing. Although effective, as a business owner involved in digital marketing, check if Instagram marketing is what your business needs. For instance, if your target audience are lovers of visuals (pictures and videos) and are young, Instagram is just right for you.
But there are some things that can make your bio wack, like solely talking about yourself or not even having a bio at all. Here are five mistakes to avoid when creating a bio:
Forgetting to include a call-to-action in your bio
If you're serious about securing the bag, a call-to-action shouldn't be missing from your Instagram bio. With a CTA, your Instagram followers have clear-cut instructions on how to interact with your Instagram business account.
Not having a bio
What's worse than leaving out a CTA in your bio is not having a bio at all. When you leave the space for your bio empty, you're not going to be visible, which indirectly means no growth and monetization. Therefore, rather than not having a bio, look up persuasive bio templates online or get creative.
Not using custom fonts
Using custom fonts for your Instagram bio doesn't just make your bio look stylish but also authentic. All you need to do is search online for sites that change fonts for social media.
After getting your most preferred style, copy your bio from your Instagram account and paste it into the space provided by the site. Select the font style of your choice, copy the edited bio, and paste it into your Instagram account. With this tip, you have a good Instagram bio that is attractive to your followers.
Unclear/lacking Instagram profile picture
Establishing a brand is the first step in running an Instagram business and making money while at it. However, you may not do well in establishing your brand if you don't have a brand logo. Also, if your profile picture is blank or doesn't depict what you do, you won't be getting new leads.
Typically, your brand logo should clearly depict your brand design or name. If your brand name on your logo isn't visible enough, people may find it difficult to trust your brand. Also, your brand may look spammish or fraudulent.
Excluding your business address
It's important that your followers know where you're located if your business offers a service or sells a product. You don't particularly need to put your home address; your city will be perfect. Also, including your business contact info helps local customers to support your business.
Forcing potential clients to look through your website before having an idea of where your business is located isn't very nice. Often, new followers become discouraged if your location isn't included in your bio.
How to optimize your IG bio for lead generation
Instagram is an excellent platform for brands to promote and grow their businesses. However, creating a perfect Instagram business profile requires a lot of work and patience. The following tips will guide you on how to optimize your Instagram bio for lead generation:
Go for an Instagram business account
Millions of businesses make use of Instagram business accounts to acquire beneficial promotional and analytic tools. Contrary to personal Instagram accounts, business accounts offer users analytics that are associated with follower development and post performances.
Instagram business account users have their office hours and location in a separate section, away from the conventional Instagram bio.
An Instagram business account offers greater flexibility to its user and boosts business content with a few clicks. You can easily switch your Instagram personal account to a business account to take advantage of these extra features.
Post multi-grid pictures to make an impact
As a brand owner, your business bio must be impactful, and the best way to attain this is to create a multi-grid collage, forming an explicit image. Famous brands such as Rolls-Royce depend on the multi-grid technique to share enormous images that may not appear accurate when cropped to fit a post.
Source: Rolls-Royce
A/B test your business bio
It can sometimes be difficult to know whether your Instagram business bio is advantageous to your marketing goals. The most appropriate way to know if your business bio is efficient is through an A/B test. The first step is to choose a measurable dependent variable (e.g., tracking link URL clicks).
The next step is to create various conspicuously differing Instagram bios and rotate them uniformly to ensure each profile is shown to about an equal number of Instagram followers for an equal amount of time. Lastly, analyze the URL performance data to conclude the most effective profile when it comes to generating URL clicks.
Concentrate on quality instead of quantity of followers
Several Instagram business account users assume having a multitude of followers is crucial in creating a completely optimized Instagram bio. However, a quick examination of the Instagram bios of some of the world's largest companies proves that follower quality is more crucial than quantity.
Several ‘clickbait' Instagram profiles have hundreds of thousands to millions of followers, which is way more than those of reputable companies. And yet, they don’t generate as much engagement as companies with fewer but more active followers. Instagram marketers should concentrate on establishing a plan that engages potential clientele instead of increasing the number of followers.
Invest in a robust Instagram analytics solution
The singular method to figure out whether your Instagram strategy is actively working is to use analytical tools to prove it. A number of analytics platforms offer an abundance of information that a regular Instagram business account cannot access.
These platforms provide essential information on the performance of your Instagram business bio. They calculate the effectiveness of your tracking link, determine the posts that rouse the followers' interests the most, and pinpoint the best period to post newer content.
On a final note
Although the internet is replete with Instagram bio examples, they may not be suitable for your brand or business. For instance, if you're into makeup, your bio shouldn’t just be full of quotes. Instead, it should reflect that you're in the cosmetics industry. Likewise, a poorly written bio may not give your business the visibility and scalability it deserves.
With a great Instagram bio, you can scale your business conveniently while generating leads. And as you grow your followers, you’ll need to have a strong system in place to make the most of this new following. Thankfully, with Indy's tools, creating invoices and receiving payments is no hassle. Not only does Indy help you save time, but you also save money by making your business more efficient. Get started with Indy today.
