It doesn’t matter when you’re a business, an influencer, a blogger, or someone who wants to grow their audience in any niche or industry, Instagram is a platform you’re going to want to utilize. One of the most popular social media platforms, Instagram suits all ages and has millions of users access the site every single day – billions in total.
So, you’re reaching out, you’re posting content, and you’re doing everything you should be doing to grow your following, but the numbers just aren’t going up. What’s the problem? Well, firstly you’re probably going to want to look at your content, but one of the most overlooked areas of an Instagram profile is, in fact, the bio.
Whenever somebody clicks on your page, the first thing they’re going to see is your bio, which means you’ll want to do everything you can to make sure you’re optimizing your bio to attract the right people and get the followers best suited to you.
With this in mind, today we’re going to explore the nine essential tips you need to know to enhance your Instagram bio, doing everything you need to do to get the best results!
#1 – Avoid Buzzwords
There are far too many Instagram accounts out there using overused buzzwords that people simply don’t care about and overlook these days, and if your bio has them, yours is going to get overlooked too.
Things like saying you like travel, you’re an influencer, or an entrepreneur, or whatever. These are all words that have lost their impact over the years, so make sure you’re thinking outside the box and getting creative with the words you’re using, rather than sticking to generic terms. Inject a bit of your personality in here instead.
Some of the key buzzwords you’ll want to try and avoid include;
- Certified
- Focused
- Passionate
- Expert
- Leadership
- Excellent
- Creative
- And other words to this effect
#2 – Define Your Target Audience
Before you even settle in to start writing a word, it’s important to make sure you’re taking the time to define who your target audience is and the sort of people you’re trying to reach. With this information clear in your mind, you’ll be able to choose the language, tone of voice and, style you think best suits your audience.
#3 – Have a Laugh
When people log onto their social media profiles to have a scroll, they’re looking for entertainment, and one of the best places to give it to them is in your bio after you’ve connected with them and shown them some content that they’ve enjoyed, and thus clicked through.
By adding some humor to your bio, you can add another level of entertainment which will instantly hook the people reading it, making them want to click to know more about you in the future and follow what you’re up too!
#4 – Use Hashtags in Your Bio
It’s so important that you utilize hashtags in your Instagram bio, and it’s amazing to think about how many probably don’t even realize this is something you can do. By adding hashtags, you’re not only breaking up the wall of text of your bio content, making it a lot more eye-catching and easier to read, you’re also making your profile more discoverable.
While on the subject, it pays also to include keywords, preferably as hashtags, because this once again helps to make your profile more discoverable, especially with the types of audience that you’re trying to reach out to and connect with.
#5 – Be Proud of Yourself
It’s hard to put yourself in a position where you might come across as bragging about yourself when you’re writing online. However, while you probably wouldn’t brag about all your achievements with somebody face-to-face, your Instagram bio is all about you so there’s no reason why you can’t use this space to showcase who you are and what you’ve achieved.
#6 – Include Emojis
Just like in content marketing, people are immediately put off when they see a big wall of text. It looks like effort, and then nobody wants to read it, even if it’s the best text ever written. Instead, you’ll need to add some sparky visuals to spice things up.
Of course, the easiest way to do this is to add emojis simply. A popular way to include emojis is to use them as bullet points to describe the points you include in your bio. For example, you might write that you love to travel and you’ll include a little plane or beach emoji. You might say you like writing and have an emoji of a pen or a book.
The choice is yours, and with so many emojis out there, this is your chance to get creative. It’s also worth mentioning here that Instagram bio space supports text art symbols, so don’t be afraid to explore what’s out there to get the design and visual effect you’re looking for. Instagram is a visual platform, so be visual!
#7 – Make Sure to Include a CTA
Just like any other form of content, one of the most effective written techniques you can implement into your Instagram bio is including a call to action (CTA). This works well because your bio is designed in such a way that the one link you can share with your followers is directly below.
This means you can easily share the call to action to the link that you’re displaying. You can also use the downward pointing fingers or arrow to add even more emphasis to a link, if that’s your call to action. If you’re selling something like an online course, this can also be your call to action which you can include in your bio, directing people to go and check it out!
#8 – Use Online Tools for the Best Copy
Imagine reading someone’s Instagram bio and realizing it’s full of mistakes, typing errors, grammatical errors, and is just poorly written in general. This is instantly going to put you off, and the chances are you’ll just click off and forget about the profile.
This is why it’s so important to make sure you’re using professional online tools to make sure your bio copy is perfect for your profile, especially if you don’t have professional writing skills. If this sounds like you, here are some online tools to get you started:
#9 – Be Original
Perhaps the most important thing to remember when it comes to writing your bio is the fact you need to stand out from the crowd by simply being yourself. It’s all well and good looking at other people’s profiles for inspiration; the problem is that you don’t want to emulate them.
It’s important to make sure you’re implementing your own style and your own personality because this is what people are connecting with you for. They want to see you as a person, not a corporate drone that sounds like everybody else.
On Instagram specifically as a platform, it’s important to make sure you’re being genuine and authentic with what you post because this is what people are looking for when connecting online in this day and age.
Conclusion
As you can see, there are lots of things you’ll want to think about when it comes to writing your Instagram biography, and while it may seem like a lot, if you take the time to get it right, the results and the return from doing this will be indefinite and endless.
Make sure you’re trying out different types of styles and formats now and then in a form of testing to see what works for you. Also, don’t be afraid to experiment and to think outside the box to express yourself fully to reach out and grab people’s attention.