Instagram is growing faster than any other social network. It’s also got the most even age breakdown. More than 200 million people visit an Instagram business profile every single day.
Your Instagram profile creates the first impression of your brand
What an Instagram bio should do for your brand
Your Instagram bio shows visitors who you are, what you offer, and why they should care. It’s worth investing some time to get it right.
It might be the first point of contact for someone who’s discovered your brand by clicking through from an Instagram hashtag. Does your bio make it clear why someone should follow you? Does it showcase the very best of your brand?
A great Instagram bio highlights your brand personality and compels users to take action—whether that means clicking on your link, visiting your bricks-and-mortar shop, or simply following your account.
What’s included in your Instagram profile bio
Before you start thinking about what to write, you need to understand all the components of your profile.
Name
When introducing yourself, it makes sense to start with your name. Include your real brand name, of course, but you don’t have to stop there.
The name and username fields are the only parts of your Instagram profile that are included in Instagram searches. That means you can also include a variation or abbreviation of your name, if you think it’s a term people might use to search for you, like Saturday Night Live does.
Or, you could include an important keyword that might help people discover your
You can include up 30 characters.
Username
This is your identity on Instagram. It’s your @ handle, and it forms part of your profile URL (instagram.com/username). Use a consistent handle across social networks to make it easy for people to find you.
Website
This is the only place on Instagram where you can post a clickable link.
You can change the URL as often as you like. You might want to link to your newest or most important content (like your latest blog post or video), a special campaign, or a landing page specifically for visitors coming from Instagram.
Category
If you have a business profile on Instagram, you can choose a category for your business. This appears under your name and can help people see at a glance what you do.
Using a category for your business can free up space in your Instagram bio, since you don’t need to repeat this information. However, it only appears in the mobile view, so you can’t assume everyone will see it.
Contact information
Business profiles can include contact buttons that allow people to phone you, email you, or get directions to your business directly from Instagram.
When you add your address to your Instagram business profile, it appears below your bio but does not use up any of your bio character count. This is another great way to free up space for more compelling bio information.
Note: the contact information and contact buttons only appear on mobile, not in desktop view.
Call-to-Action Buttons
You can encourage people to take action straight from your Instagram bio with CTA buttons. These allow your followers to take actions like book a table at your restaurant, or buy tickets for your event.
Verified badge
That little blue checkmark is incredibly valuable, since it assures visitors they have reached your official Instagram account. Want one of your own? Check out our guide to getting verified on Instagram.
Bio
Finally, there’s the bio itself. Your Instagram profile bio gives you just 150 characters to explain who you are and what you do. It should also convey your brand’s unique personality and show your audience that they have come to the right place.
That’s a lot to ask of such a small amount of text. You’ll need to employ some creative Instagram bio ideas to make your bio stand out.
So, let’s dive into how to write the best bio for Instagram.
How to write the best Instagram bio
Convey personality
Your Instagram bio is your introduction to new followers. A boring bio is not going to inspire people to click the follow button, even if you’ve got some great photos in your feed.
Your photos show users what you do. Your bio is your chance to tell them who you are. This is social media, after all—it’s important to be human.
Convey important quick-hit information about your account here, too. What is your brand promise?
If you’re an individual entrepreneur, what are your special skills?
Are you a local business?
Is your product ethically made?
Canadian Blood Services does a great job of showing the importance of their work using an authoritative, human, and appropriately serious brand voice.
Imagine how weird it would sound if these two brands traded bio styles? But each one works perfectly for the brand it represents. That’s why you have to understand your unique brand voice and personality.
If you can, get a good copywriter involved. Make sure to follow the principles of great writing for social media. Many of the strategies for writing a great Instagram caption also apply here.
Include hashtags
Adding hashtags to your Instagram bio is a great way to link to tagged content. You could include a branded hashtag to promote and collect user-generated content.
Destination BC uses the hashtag #exploreBC to collect stunning user-generated photos from around the province.
You could also include a themed hashtag that highlights a current promotion or contest.
Keep in mind that Instagram bio hashtags are clickable, but they do not appear in hashtag search results. Don’t include hashtags that are not directly related to your business, because each one represents an opportunity for potential followers to click away.
Play with emoji
Emojis convey a lot of information in just one character. They’re a great way to highlight your brand personality and provide key details in a small space.
Emojis are also a great way to break your instagram bio up visually. If you feel like most emojis are too cute for your brand, keep it simple, even if it’s just a simple checkmark.
The Netflix food shows account DontWatchHungry uses a string of emojis to make sure visitors know at a glance they’ve reach a profile that’s all about food.
Use spacing and line breaks
People don’t tend to read information online. Instead, they scan for bite-sized chunks of information. Make that information easy to identify using line breaks.
Modern Tiny
It’s really easy to set this up using the Instagram web interface. Simply space your bio as you would like it to appear.
On mobile, your best bet is to create your bio with the spacing you want using a notes app. Then, copy and paste it into your bio field.
Write a compelling call to action
All good marketing material includes a clear and compelling call to action. Your Instagram bio is no exception. Give visitors clear direction. What is the first thing you want people to do after they visit your profile?
You might want to send people to a link where they can buy or book your products. But you might have a different conversion goal in mind. Maybe you want people to Like your Facebook page or sign up for your newsletter.
Maybe you want them to visit your website. You could say, “Visit our website,” of course. But you can also get more creative, like Victoria Emerson Design does with its call to action: Come see what you love.
Make sure your call to action supports your Instagram marketing goals, and aligns with the clickable link in your bio.
If your goal is to build an Instagram following, your call to action might be simply to ask visitors to follow your feed, or to share their photos with a branded hashtag.
Instagram bio ideas
Still not sure what to say in your bio, or how to make it stand out? Here are some Instagram bio ideas and examples to get you started.
Funny Instagram bios
While it won’t work for every brand, sometimes humor can be a great way to break the ice.
Old Spice uses humor that aligns with their well-known ad campaigns. “MUSCLES. SMELLS.” Yup, that’s Old Spice in a nutshell.
Use custom fonts
Technically, you can only use one “font” in your Instagram bio. But there are tools out there that will help you create the look of a custom font by mapping your text to existing special characters.
Here’s what my own Instagram bio looks like in a few different fonts, as created using the tool Instagram Fonts.
That third one is especially bonkers, but you could pick and choose a few words to incorporate strategically for visual appeal.
It’s not surprising to see this creative Instagram bio idea in use on an account that’s all about typography.
Like The Daily Type does, it’s a good idea to use this trick sparingly, rather than dressing your entire bio up in fancy fonts.
Once you find a font style you like, just copy-and-paste it into your Instagram bio.
Add special characters
We’ve already talked about using emojis. But you can also go old-school and use special text symbols to break ★ up ★ your ★ bio. (Remember Wingdings and Webdings? How very 1990s.)
This trick uses the same principle as the tip above, but instead of using symbols to create the look of a custom font, you can use them as retro emojis or unique bullet points, as in the account for the travel bloggers at Wander in Two.
The easiest way to find your special character is to open a new Google Doc, then click Insert and choose Special characters.
You can scroll through the available options, search by
Use Instagram bio quotes
Quotes can be a great way to express an idea or create a feeling of connection with like-minded people.
You don’t have to use a traditional quote that’s attributed to a real person. You could use a saying, a line from a poem or song, or any phrase that will mean something to potential followers. Just make sure to give credit where credit is due if you use someone else’s words.
Where you you find good Instagram bio quotes? The Quotations Page is a good place to start.
With these Instagram bio ideas in hand, you’re ready to create a
Culled from Hootsuite
