Building a Useful Instagram Profile

Before we get too far, YES your profile header matters, YES you need to make sure it’s perfect, and NO it’s not that hard as long as you follow a few guidelines!

Okay, now that we’ve cleared up the first few questions, let’s get straight into it.

First, let’s talk about setting a goal for your profile. Typically you want your profile header to leave an impression about who you are and what your brand represents. So as long as you have a defined brand (see our e-book for steps to get you there), the profile shouldn’t be too difficult. That being said, your goal for what you want your profile header to do, needs to be specific, so think about it- Do you want people to take action as soon as they see your profile, or do you want to focus on showing off your work? Is your goal to get more clients, or become more influential in your specific niche? While you may be thinking “Yes…Yes…Yes…Yes" you do need to have a primary goal for your account and craft your profile section to achieve that goal.

Once you have your primary goal, it’s time to center yourself and channel your brand vibe into an amazing bio. Below are all elements that you should focus on and/or include:

Name Field

This is where you can make an impact on Instagram SEO. Instagram uses your name field and your user name as keywords when serving people search results. Because of this, it’s important that you use these two fields to your advantage. While your username should likely be as close to your business name as possible (in most cases) you can use your name field to add modifiers or keywords to your name as long they’re under 30 characters total.

examples: “Jane Doe - Balayage Queen” or “Dave Doe | Top Barber”

These names include both the salon owner’s name and something related to what they do. They also aren’t a bunch of keywords without context. That being said, don’t force it! If it doesn’t fit in with your brand or you can’t adequately add anything to the end with the 30-character limit, using your name is just fine.

Website

Likely the most important piece of your bio. This link is the only segment of your profile you can place a clickable externally-facing URL, other than purchasing links they incorporated a few years ago. So make sure this goes somewhere useful! We recommend using a link hub service like linktr.ee, or if you are a later.com user, linkin.bio so you can have multiple places visitors can go from one single link. These are very helpful if you have more goals than just booking new clients.

Bio

Your bio is the largest part of your profile header, and while it does NOT affect your Instagram SEO, it does make an impact on anyone who reaches your account page. In order to make a more impactful bio, we suggest including the following:

Location

Adding your location is critical if you are looking to use your Instagram as a funnel to get new clients to a physical location. It is one of the first questions a potential client will ask after finding you online, so make it easy on them!

Spaces, Line-breaks, and Dashes

Instagram is a visual-heavy platform, so who wants to read a bunch of info in full sentence form? - no one. Using line breaks, dashes and extra spaces can place your information in a more interesting way. Just make sure that when you add these, you are avoiding the “…more” link added to bios that are too long. You want to ensure you get everything you need in 5 lines or less.

Emojis

Speaking of spaces and line breaks, emojis are great for breaking up text and providing a more visually appealing element to your bio. They can also more interestingly differentiate elements of your business, what’s important to your brand, and identify what people visiting your profile should focus on without just using bullet points. So if it fits your brand, USE’EM!

Hashtags

Include a branding hashtag for your clients and followers to use so they can accredit you easily, in addition to actually tagging your account of course. It also helps visitors see more of your work without having to go searching on the discover page. This will help set the brand tone and do it right upfront.

Below are some great examples of various ways to write a bio that works for a specific brand and personal style!

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