Even though it might seem like a small part of your profile, it can be difficult to come up with the perfect Instagram bio for your business. Your bio sets the stage for your appearance on the platform. And to summarize what your company stands for in only 150 characters, it is no wonder why people overthink it.
We’ve broken down the elements that go into the best Instagram bios for business and how to write one for your brand.
Why is my Instagram Bio so important?
First of all, why does it matter so much? An Instagram bio plays a critical role in creating your brand identity, as basic as it might seem. It reveals who you are to people and what you are offering. You can also use the same room to tell them why your business and its services should be important to them.
In certain instances, whether anyone finds you through an Instagram hashtag or by clicking through a paid post or sharing stories, your Instagram profile may be the first point of contact. When clarifying why they should follow you, your bio is your first impression.
That’s why you should concentrate on developing a bio on Instagram that efficiently portrays your brand personality and sets up your unique value proposition. In other words, it should factor into the overall business plan for Instagram.
What goes into a bio on Instagram?
One main part of making the ideal Instagram business profile is writing your Instagram bio for business. Here are the critical elements that go into your bio on Instagram:
1. Username and Name
Your username is your @handle and your identity on your Instagram. It is part of your Instagram profile URL (instagram.com/myusername) and is at the top of your profile page in a prominent position. Your name is your actual or full brand name. If your brand has commonly used abbreviations you may decide to use that as your username.
For instance, the username for World Health Organization is just @who in the following Instagram business profile example, but the name section has the organization’s full name.
2. Profile Image
This should be important to the visual identity of your brand. A company logo, a brick-and-mortar location or even a picture of a product may be included. But it should look fantastic and be important to your business, regardless of which picture you want to use.
Even the classic golden arches allow for a perfect profile shot for McDonald’s.
To help build a recognizable and authoritative brand identity, make sure to select photos that are visually consistent across all your profiles. One way to ensure that all your Instagram photos comply with brand expectations, whether your profile logo or in-feed content, is to use a platform like the Canva to store approved photos.
3. Bio
This is the segment where you get to express yourself under your name (or in this case, your brand personality). You only have 150 characters in order to tell users what the profile is about, what your brand offers and why they should follow you. So you don’t have much to work with, which makes planning ahead and perfecting your Instagram company bio even more important.
Be sure to read the section on the end: Tips on Composing The Best Business Instagram Bios
4. The Link in Bio
This is the only Instagram section that allows you to add a connection that can be clicked, so make sure you use this room wisely. Although you can only add one link in your bio, you can also update this link frequently. To optimize the single connection cap many brands use a service like Linktree as a landing page for all of their links. While this sounds appealing we have found it to be an additional barrier for your followers to get to where you want them to go.
5. The Category
Instagram also enables you to specify which category your brand falls under. If you want to allow it, it shows up right under your company name, so it helps free up room for other important information in your bio.
6. Buttons for Call-To-Action
If you make the most of the call-to-action buttons available for Instagram Business accounts, you could further free up space in your profile. This enables users to take action directly on the mobile app from your Instagram profile, making it easier for consumers to convert from ticket transactions to booking tables to behavior.
7. Contact Info
Options for contact provide prospective customers with the details they need to communicate with your business. Make the most of the email and call buttons without taking up precious space in your bio to highlight your company contact info.
Tips on Composing The Best Business Instagram Bios
Let’s take a look at tips on how to write the best Instagram bios for companies, now that you know what goes into an IG bio:
1. Know what your mission is
Since you have to remain within the 150-character cap, when you write an Instagram bio for business, it is important that you have a good sense of direction. Having a clear objective will allow you to narrow down on what to say.
You might, for example, simply use it to express the personality of your brand and announce your presence on Instagram. You can also use it to sell the new products and deals or tell people what your company does. If you promote sales and new items, make sure that your staff is able to update your bio on a regular basis to ensure that this information is up to date.
This segment is often used by several organizations to communicate their brand mission and what they stand for. Check out the following example from ClickFunnels’ Instagram business profile. The company’s bio tells us a little bit about what the ideals of its brand are.
2. Let the personality of your brand shine through
Make the most of your Instagram Business Bio by expressing your brand’s personality. For example, in its bio, Old Spice uses a fun and “off the wall” tone when using the chance to build its “out of the ordinary” brand authority.
Some companies can also add appropriate emojis if that kind of strategy fits the personality of the company. Check out how Wendy’s only uses emojis in their bio.
3. Include hashtags and profile links that are important
Instagram helps you to add your bio to clickable hashtags and profile links. So to direct customers to your other Instagram handles or to related, tagged content, in order to make the most of this feature.
For organizations that handle several accounts, the choice of adding profile links is perfect.
As for hashtags, adding them to your bio helps you to lead your audience to user-generated content that is stunningly tagged. Check out how perfectly H&M utilizes both links and hashtags in their profile.
4. Ensure that it’s easy to read
Your Instagram bio should be able to express what your company does or what it provides, as described earlier. So it’s critical that people can read and process the data easily without too much trouble. Formatting (such as line breaks and spacing) allows it easier for relevant data to be read and emphasized at a glance.
As in the following Instagram business profile example from Café Gratitude, you might use a pipe or vertical bar character to space out your data.
You may also use line breaks in a list format to style your data. See how Perpetual Motion Marketing uses lists in its bio, using emojis as a kind of bullet point.
Bear in mind that your overall character count will factor in certain characters and line breaks. So make sure that you use them to stop going over the character limit sparingly and strategically. You may also test various formats to see if they affect your overall participation in the profile.
5. Include a convincing call to action
Although the call-to-action buttons in your bio free up a lot of space, being more direct with your CTA doesn’t hurt. Make sure that when they visit your page, people know exactly what they need to do by having a CTA in your bio.
Depending on the objective of your Instagram business account, get very precise about this. You can invite them to visit your website, buy your product, check out your latest blog post, download your new guide, or even use your branded hashtag to share their own images. “If you want to grow your Instagram following, for your regular content such as daily recipes, fashion updates, and so on, you could even add a CTA to “follow us.
Ready to create an Instagram bio that is impactful?
In boosting your social presence, your Instagram bio could make all the difference. It’s the perfect place to highlight the identity of your brand and show your creative side. It could also help you highlight and entertain your audience with your individuality.
If you are ever interested in having one of our team members sit down with you and build out a social media content strategy for your business. Please contact rebecca@pmmarketing.co (not .com).
