When it comes to spreading influence on Instagram, it all starts with your bio. Many make the assumption that creating a bio is a simple and straightforward process that doesn’t require much thought, but this is totally incorrect. When you create an Instagram, there’s a substantial amount of strategy and creativity needed.
Recent research has shown that it only takes seven seconds for people to form an opinion about you, which is why creating a great Instagram bio is imperative. Here’s a quick guide to creating a great bio that will get the attention of your followers and those who will want to follow you.
Focus On Your Name In The Instagram Bio
When filling in the name field on Instagram, it can often pay to put down more than just your first name. Something as simple as putting both your first and last name, along with your job title, can give people a better impression of who you are and what you do. On top of giving out detailed information, Instagram uses your name field for search queries, meaning optimizing the space for keywords will return a substantial gain.
If you’re targeting a specific audience, that audience will ultimately come to you to have their questions answered. This means that putting keywords in your name and description spaces will lead people to your profile whenever they’re searching for a particular answer to one of their questions. If you’re a chef, for example, and are trying to reach an audience who will come to you for cooking advice, you can include the keyword “chef recipes” or “cooking recipes” as keywords.
Know Your Audience and What You Can Do For Them
A great Instagram will describe who you are as a person in addition to what you can do for those who subscribe to your page. Instagram is just like any other social media platform – people join it and follow others to search for entertainment or answers to specific questions they have. In creating an Instagram account, you’re becoming a form of expertise about what you know and want to relay to others.
This expertise should be somewhat specific and present in your bio, letting people know what you can offer them and why they’re following you, to begin with. You should always put your job description in your bio and elaborate on what fields you work within and know well. Keep the information descriptive concise, letting people know in as few words as possible what you do.
Focus on Keywords
Your name area is not the only place you should have keywords for the followers you’re trying to attract. Instagram is filled with great opportunities to write in keywords that will be picked by Google and other search engines. As long the keywords you use speak directly to issues your followers would like to be in the know about, you’ll have no time attracting more people to your Instagram.
Instagram also limits the number of characters you can use for most posts, so using keywords is a great way to let people know what you and your account are all about in a glance. This method is great for social media whose users favor convenience and speed over in-depth analysis and deep comprehension. To get a better idea of who’s following you, create a persona. Think about their income, their marriage status, their desires, and fears. Knowing your ideal follower on a psychological level will aid you in creating a curated account.
Add Some Contact Info
Some users are afraid to add too much about themselves to social media sites, but adding information is a great way to attract followers and give people a better idea of who you are as both an entity and a person. You can create an Instagram business profile to add contact information for your Instagram bio, using information such as your e-mail address, your phone number, and your physical store address.
The more points of contact your followers have with your business, the easier it will be to spread the word about your products and grow your business. An Instagram business profile is also a great idea because it doesn’t actually use up any space in your actual bio. If you want your followers to be able to easily contact your place of business, it’s always best to put it directly into your bio. Just as people use Google for details about stores they like, many are starting to use Instagram for the same reason.
Don’t Be Afraid to Get Creative
It’s always important to relay who you are and what you do to your followers, but it’s also important to have fun with the format and let others know that you’re loose and not so serious. Internet users across the board favor brands that aren’t obsessed with their own businesses 24/7. De-tethering yourself from your business persona creates a sense of intimacy with other users and spreads trust across your Instagram and for your brand.
Creating this trust and having fun is not complicated; you can use emojis to appear loose and highlight any specific calls to action you’d like to make. You can also add a hashtag to your bio and add space breaks so your bio doesn’t appear bulky and unwieldy. Keep your bio flowing and succinct.
Be Active With Users and Accounts
Another major mistake many influencers make is to think that all of their social media is one-way. This couldn’t be further from the truth, as the accounts that are well respected and followed in massive numbers frequently reach out to the community. Social media isn’t just about accruing followers to your account; it’s about engaging with those followers to construct trust between you and them.
You can do this by posting polls and other questions to your account or reaching out to similar accounts and bringing them to the attention of your followers. It can seem counterproductive to bring your followers to accounts that are similar to yours, but it’s all about creating trust and enlightening your users. When you appear as a source of valuable information, it raises your “social credit” and reinforces the idea that you’re a good follow.
Utilize LinkIn.bio
Instagram only allows its users to link to one external site in their bio. Many choose to link to their homepage, which is a decent idea, but it doesn’t truly take advantage of the possibilities. Those who want to drive traffic to different pages of their site need to update their URL every time there’s a new opportunity and page to drive that traffic to.
This is a waste of time and energy because there’s a tool called Linkin.bio that people can use to streamline the process and save themselves a headache. Instead of having to constantly update one link, Linkin.bio will create a landing page for all of your Instagram posts. This makes it exceedingly easy to drive your followers to whichever posts you want them to see without the need for any updating.
The tool is also user-friendly and completely free, a great resource for any serious Instagram influencer. It’s always frustrating for your followers to read about a new product you’re offering, only for them to click your link and find out you haven’t updated it to that product. Those worries disappear with Linkin.bio.
This guide will be here when you need it to help you through your initial understanding of your IG bio. Take it slow, and you’ll be an expert in no time. Happy Advertising! ☺
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