The Best Instagram Bios Should be Created by You

by Andrea Haymon

There is very limited space available for information on Instagram. Getting the attention of your audience is crucial and with very little real estate, experts tend to put significant emphasis on creating top notch bios for your IG account.

The BIO section should reflect your goals for your company and your account. Below you will find some creative ideas and ways to write your bio for your account.

What you should try to accomplish with your Instagram BIO

A decent Instagram bio will achieve a multiplicity of goals.

• Who you are and What you do

• Where can we find you

If your Instagram Bio is Great it should:

• Successfully convey the personality of you/your business

• Inspire the user to take some type of action

Starbucks has a minimalist design for their bio

The Components of a Bio

There are several components to a bio and understanding the purpose of each will help you achieve your goals. From here you can make sure the users know ho you are and what to expect from your account when they follow you.

Your Profile Picture

Your profile picture is as important visually as the rest of your posts, using your logo or a representation of what you do or who you are works well. The photo you choose should be as stunning on your profile area as it is when it is minimized on the Instagram feed.

You may have noticed the verification badge on some businesses or celebrity profile photos. This ensures user know which profile is real. You may not be eligible for this verification badge as yet.

User Name & Name

At the top of the profile page your username will appear. Other accounts will use this to tag you. On the Bio your actual name will show up and is in bold on the profile. You can be found by either your username or your name when users are searching for you on Instagram, so be very careful when you create both of these.

The Bio

You are given a paltry 150 characters to state who you are, what you do and convince users to take action. There are several different ways companies use this space.

Website

This is the one and only space on Instagram you can provide a link to your website. Carefully consider where on your website you want to send someone.

Category

Beneath the company name is The Category this is directly tied to the Facebook page you link your account to. You must have a business account to use this feature. Specifying your company’s category here frees up space on the Bio itself. You can indicate whether you are a donut shop, celebrity or celebrity donut shop.

Call-to-Action Buttons

This area was recently added for Business Accounts, again freeing up precious real estate in the bio area. These buttons are only available for use in the app view, you cannot access them on the web view.

Click to Edit Profile and then select Contact Options to access this feature. You must have a Business Account to view these fields.

You will notice when you add this information you are using up instant viewing of your photos. However, it is worth using this to help your customers and users find you easily and quickly.

Makeup Bestie Beauty has done an incredible job of filling in this information.

Email

To generate an Email button on your profile you must enter your email address in this section. These buttons can be found below the other information. When a customer clicks Email, the app will prompt you to open the default mail app on your phone.

Directions

Should you have a brick and mortar location, having your full address here will allow customers find you quickly. By clicking this button, the app will take them to the map on their phone so they can get directions to you.

Call

You can add your phone number as well to have additional ways for customers to contact you. By clicking this button the app will prompt them to directly call the company.

How to Add Hashtags & Profile Links in Your Bio

In your Bio you have the ability to use hashtags that relate to your bio and company. You can also use profile links to help users find your other related IG accounts. This creates a world of new possibilities for marketers. This is very useful when you have multiple brands or as using multiple accounts targeting different audiences.

To easily direct people to your brand you can add the brand hashtag to your bio. By typing in the hashtag they find you and just tap the hashtag in your bio and see all the relevant posts.

Profile Designs

Using link breaks and emojis in your bio is creative and fun. Please note: what shows up one way on the app may look entirely different on the web.

Instagram Bio Ideas & Examples to Learn From

You can use the bio section in many ways, and each company and brand vary this. Do not be afraid to experiment what works best for your brand. Use analytics to compare results from each way you design your bio. Here are many examples of how companies are taking advantage of their 150 characters:

Simplistic: Nike uses their brand hashtag and web address only here. Everyone already knows what they do.

Emojis and Links: The Real Nixie is using Emojis to grab your attention and Profile Links to their affiliates. They also give you an action to take.

View Something: Even Justin Bieber knows the website field is a hot commodity. He doesn’t have to tell you who he is, so he tells you to go view his newest song. View my song, love it, download it. He doesn’t say that explicitly, but this is exactly what will happen.

Adjust and Analyze

Whatever strategy you try, make sure you track your profile analytics as well as traffic that you are sending to your website. It is good business practices to continue to modify and play around with the design of your bio. This is the only way to know what works for you. This is also a great place to be less structured and more creative, Instagram was meant for creativity.

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