Your Instagram bio is prime real estate to tell your potential audience what to expect from you, your brand, and|or business. Think of the 150 characters area as your elevator pitch to get the new job the job that you can’t live without.
Let’s Talk Bio Picture!
Before we jump into what you should write in your bio, let’s chat about your profile picture. I know many of us tend to want to make it our logo or an image we found online and liked but I’m here tell you DON’T. JUST DON’T!
It has worked wonders for me when I took Melissa from Woods and Wool advice a couple of years ago and changed my profile picture to one of me. It makes your page more personal. As small business owners, we need to relate and connect more with our audience than big, faceless brands. So first thing you need to do is change your profile picture. Make it something that shows your face, a bit of your shoulders and maybe some yarn or your product. Steer away from photos that are a super coloe up of your face.
The Sections of the Bio
Let’s break down the remainder of your bio into sections. Once you click “edit bio” you will have different section depending on whether you have a business account or a creator account. I recommend you look into both and see which one works best for you. I will write a blog post on it and share some tips on Instagram if enough of you guys leave a comment below about the two accounts. I have used both and they each have their benefits. I would say that you should NOT have a private or personnel account if you’re a business.
The Name Section
You have 30 characters for this area. Always putting your first name or both first and last name in your bio if you’re last name isn’t long like mine. It gives potential collaborators your name so they can reach out to you and lets your audience know who they are interacting with when they comment on your post, DM you, etc. This also makes it if someone is following you on another platform and there’s let say desamourdesigns, desamourdesigns_, and a desamourdesigns1_ accounts on Instagram, they can find you simply by seeing the name alongside the handle in their search.
If you have space I would suggest you add something like Firstname|Crochet designer or what you do in the community. If you’re a tester write Firstname|Pattern Tester. This is a game-changer because having the important keyword in your bio will allow someone who is searching for Crochet Designers|Pattern Testers on Instagram to find your account through the search results.
Do not use this space to repeat your username. It’s already your instagram handle so make the best use of the 30 characters you have. If your username is desamourdesigns, do NOT enter desamour designs in the name section. It’s already displayed in bold letters for everyone to see at the top of your page.
Use Imojis
I personally have the Haitian flag next to my first name because my Haitian culture is a big part of who I am and my business. Use imojis that make sense with your business. They are great ways to break down the bio and make it more readable for your audience. Keep them professional and only use them if they align with the voice of your brand and are relevant. Remember if you are using them in your bio section (we’re talking about it below) we only have 150 characters to make a good impression here, let’s not waste it on unimportant clutter. If you’re using in the name section where you have 30 characters make good use of it.
Your Username
That’s your Instagram handle and it will be what people search for when they look you up on the platform. This is the @yourusername or the http://www.instagram.com/yourusername part. I suggest you use your business name. Keep professional and catchy|funny or use a word that’s directly related to your business like ElisaCraft, Elisacrochet, or Elisabakery if possible. That’s usually your business name so make it something you will be ok with for years to come or you’ll have to do a rebrand down the line. (I’m speaking from experience here lol. Don’t do what I did!). Keep it consistent across all your other platforms so that people can find you easily as they try to follow you.
Your Bio Section
This is where you tell your potential audience why they should follow you or care about your little corner of Instagram. If you offer patterns and|or finished goods say that but keep it brief since you only have 150 characters. Talk about classes you offer, the core values of your brand, if you’re an ethical business, if you only use recycled yarn, the types of patterns you like to test, etc. I think you get the gist.
In mine, I currently have that I offer free and paid patterns for beginners and intermediate crocheters (I tell them what they can get from me). I change it and add “NEW PATTERN: the pattern name” when I have a recent pattern release or the same thing for a new blog post. I also have “New business tips every Wednesday” so they know to expect a business tip on my page every Wednesday (I tell them what to expect from me and when). Your bio is about what value you will bring to your current and potential followers.
Let your voice speak in your bio. This is the voice your audience will expect to see when they read your caption, blog posts, etc. If your business voice is casual be casual, if it’s funny be funny and always be consistent.
Use Brand Hashtags!
You could also add your own hashtag in your bio. Do NOT use a general hashtag like #crochet #crochetaddicts because they will not lead to anything that shows your contribution to the community. If you’ve created a hashtag for your audience to use when they make your patterns or use your products, it should be in your bio.
I started and still run the BIPOC MAL, so I have the hashtags for the MAL in my bio for anyone who would like to follow it, know where it began, join or so that they can know that it exist to begin with. I recommend you create a hashtag with your business handle and share that there while encouraging others to use by putting it in your patterns, on your products, your other social media platforms, or even reminding buyers to use it to share your products as they’re using them. I include #desamourdesigns in my Etsy thank you note, patterns, Instagram posts and in relevant blog posts.
Think of it as your brand portfolio on Instagram; it can have posts you’ve shared, posts of makers who have used your patterns, people using your products. Lots and lots of potential here. We’ll talk more about hashtags and brand hashtags in detail in another post.
Have a Call to Action
Always have a call to action such as “Visit my blog”, “Find my patterns at the link below”, “Follow for more tester pictures”. Make your call to action about your goal for your business at the moment. If you want to grow your following then “Follow for more …” would be a great call to action.
Make your Bio Easy to Read
Use line breaks to make your bio easy to read. We are visual beings and a bunch of Dori running around. Research show most human has the attention span of a goldfish; 8 seconds! Big cluster of words is not appealing and we tend to skim through content anyway. Using line breaks makes your bio easier to digest and gets your point across in seconds.
This can be done while using Instagram on your computer or tablet, however, if you are editing your bio on your phone, I would recommend typing it your notes and copy-paste to Instagram once you’re satisfied.
Add your Location
If you deliver to a certain area or you would like to be found when someone searches for your location, add your city and state or the equivalent in your country. You could say “serving the NJ area” or “free delivery to NJ residents”. If you have a Business Account, you can add your city and state to help local entities promote your business, find new opportunities through collaborations with local makers, designers etc. Use each and every opportunity Instagram offers you to put your business in front of your ideal audience.
Make it Easy to Find You & Your Products!
Instagram grants us mere mortals ONE clickable link. Make the most of that link making it the place where you want to drive the most traffic and have the most control over retaining your audience: blog or website. If you don’t have a blog you could use your Etsy| Ravelry|Shopify etc. I recommend something that is yours because your audience can easily be recommended another shop, especially with Etsy, and you’ve sent someone else a sale.
If you’re like me and have multiple things you would like your audience to find such as your blog posts, Youtube, shops, etc, I recommend you use a third party link that is free such as Linktree, Smart Bio from Tailwind, or the other 100 or so similar apps out there. You are also welcome to create a link landing page using Mailchimp which would also be free or create one on your website by creating a page like the one in my bio.
This was a lot of information but each of them are essential in their own way and help you attrack and retain the type of followers you want. I hope you enjoyed this blog and I’ll see you next Wednesday with another.
Leave a comment and tell me which section of the bio you learned the most about today? Or tell me what you would like to see me talk about next.
Thanks for sharing such a useful and informative post. Learned a lot
I’m glad you did! I plan on sharing every Wednesday 😊