by Areti Vassou
What is the first thing that someone sees about you on Instagram? Your Instagram bio details. Let’s start from the very beginning of your Instagram account. These optimization steps will skyrocket your Instagram and increase engagement.
Table of Contents
- What makes a strong Instagram bio?
- Instagram Business
- How people can contact you?
- Content & Hashtags
- Hashtags for your content
- Create a Content Calendar
- Create the perfect IG post
- Pay attention to alt text on images
- Instagram Stories, Videos, Reels
- Types of Instagram Content
- Grab the attention early
- Mention the right people
- Free Instagram inspiration
- Want to read more?
What makes a strong Instagram bio?
Clarity. Explain who you are, what you do, and why people should follow your Instagram account. You have five seconds to earn their attention and make visitors click the follow button. Take a piece of paper and answer the following questions:
- What is your account name?
- What is your title and your username?
- What is your brand’s strength ?
- What is your brand’s character?
- What tone do you use in real life? Have you applied the same tone? Serious? Formal? Business? Educational? Inspirational? Playful? Academic?
- What are your skills that you are really proud of?
- What kind of business do you own? Local? National? Multinational?
- What is your category?
- What makes your brand unique?
- What is the one thing you wish people remember about you and your brand?
- What is the first thing you want people to say about you and your brand?
- You want to shell or you want people to share your name?
- What is your call to action?
- Is your Instagram bio clear?
- Do you have a branded hashtag?
- Do visitors earn something new from your bio?
- Do your links bring value and traffic back to your website?
- Have you included your top keywords and interests into your bio?
- Do you have a business account?
- Have you activate the highlights section?
- Do highlights titles boost your main services, products and keywords?
- Do you check regulraly the insights section?
- Have you linked your instagram with your facebook business or personal account?
- Do you share your Instagram posts? Where?
- Have you added your Instagram link into your website? (integration)
- Are you contact details correct?
- Do you need to activate the Action Button?
- Have you added your precise location?
Take a look at this example:
Many people use their Instagram link in bio to send visitors to a landing page that doesn’t belong to their own website. My professional advice would be to spend some hours creating a dedicated landing page, into your own website, for all your Instagram visitors. Use the link in bio as a stepping stone for building more traffic for your own digital assets.
If you want people to visit your eshop, then create a welcome page and give them some first directions tips for your eshop best products. Maybe you want people to visit and like your Facebook page or sign up for your online course or your monthly newsletter. But if you are an Instagram blogger then just tell people how much you would love to see them following your Instagram account. Be polite and straightforward.
For example, our main goal is to make people see our latest workshops. As you can see, our link in bio states exactly that: Join our workshops ⤵️bit.ly/ideadecoworkshops
Instagram Business
Find the right category for your business. It appears under your name. Why you should add it? It puts your account into the right pool of interest because a category defines what you are going to provide. Also, it saves some space for more information in your Instagram bio. Remember that a category appears only in the mobile view.
To pick up a category, use your mobile, visit your profile page, click Edit Profile, then scroll down to Public Business Information.
How people can contact you?
Are all your contact buttons active? It is wise to provide as many contact details as possible, especially for business profiles. Give visitors the opportunity to call you, send you an email or get directions to your business. Your precise location is important if you accept clients in-house.
Content & Hashtags
It is a clever move to add hashtags in your bio. Although Bio hashtags are clickable links they don’t show in hashtag search results. Try to use only focused hashtags that add value to your business profile. And if you have branded hashtags it will help you to enrich your content with user-generated content.
Hashtags for your content
Use hashtags that really make sense to see into your Instagram feed. Think twice before you add any hashtag and check every single one if they are banned. See this updated list of banned hashtags. Keep in mind that is better to add hashtags after your caption and not into the comments section. Never forget to:
- Use relevant to your business hashtags.
- Combine well-known, niche, and specific hashtags.
- Limit hashtags to 5 to 15 per post.
- Don’t use generic hashtags.
- Write texts that are easy to the eye.
- Don’t use the same hashtags repeatedly.
- Take a look at your Instagram Insights and see which hashtags bring traffic.
- Avoid banned hashtags.
- Use the Instagram search bar to discover popular keywords.
Create a Content Calendar
Your Instagram Insights can provide all the information you need to craft a successful content calendar. Check which days & hours is the best for posting before you hit the publish button. Through insights, you can define the gender & age of your audience and the right time to post, among other things.
Now, form a flow of content and post as often as you can to support the content creation process. Some users prefer to post multiple times per day and some others post 2 or 3 times per week. Are you ready to post daily? Can you create unique content every day?
Treat your Instagram account as a form of blogging and business branding. Only when you are ready to answer the following questions then you will have a solid idea of what to do next:
- What will be the main topics you are going to post about?
- Why do you want to run an Instagram account?
- Which needs/queries you will cover?
These three questions are essential to help you build an Instagram clear identity and gradually build your own personal brand.
If you are launching a new Instagram account make it a priority to define your identity & personal voice from scratch. When you have a clear vision of why your Instagram exists then your future followers will find it easier to connect with you.
Create the perfect IG post
Let’s start with the basics. First of all your pictures should be excellent and full of real meaning. Showing your personality (brand or company or product or service) means that your pictures tell something new about your philosophy, values, and life story.
The text content is as important as the pictures. Unless you wish to use only photos and a couple of hashtags as part of your marketing strategy, it is not the better approach for Instagram communication. Your posts can have up to 2,200 characters (clicks) in length and a maximum of 30 hashtags. But prefer to use 5-15 hashtags. Always use location and at least one brand hashtag.
- Use different types of context
- If the picture is strong enough then keep your text short
- If you have to choose between a photo and a video, ALWAYS choose video.
- Use multiple photos
- Use stories
- Use Highlights
- Your posts should have a flow or connection
- Recycle your content every 30 days
- Pick the right set of hashtags for each capture
- AVOID banned hashtags
Be real and human. You are talking to real human beings. Yes! After all, it is about communication and engagement. Try to keep people close to your story with a certain quality and quantity of posts. Try to be more of a joy giver and entertain your audience. In case you wish to prompt your followers to take action, please be polite and less salesy.
Instagram recommends avoiding content that is “low-quality, objectionable, or sensitive,” as well as content that “may be inappropriate for younger viewers.” Never post content that is:
- Clickbait or engagement bait
- Exaggerated health claims
- Unoriginal content
- Misleading claims or content
- Buying likes
- Hate speech
Pay attention to alt text on images
Alt text on Instagram is a text description of an image or video that makes the content accessible to those with visual impairments. Add alt text because it is helpful to have a description of the content in case the photo fails to load.
Alt text provides information to the algorithm and search results about the content of your photo. If you want to add alt text, tap Advanced Settings at the bottom of the screen where you write your caption. For an existing photo, tap the three dots icon, then tap Edit. At the bottom right of the image, tap Edit Alt Text and save.
Instagram Stories, Videos, Reels
Instagram Stories is a feature that lets you share all the moments of your day, not just the ones you want to keep on your profile. An Instagram Story is a photo or video that automatically disappears within 24 hours. As you share multiple photos and videos, they appear together in a slideshow format: your story. These are the ones where you can keep them longer in your highlights. You can add the Questions sticker and other interactive features to your Stories to share and get feedback from friends and clients.
Instagram Story Highlights are collections of Stories that you curate, located at the top of your profile in the form of tappable circles. They were introduced in 2017 as a way for users to keep their favorite or most relevant Stories around for more than 24 hours.
Instagram Carousels just like Instagram feed videos, carousel posts on Instagram can also be square (1080 x 1080p), landscape (1080 x 608p), or portrait (1080 x 1350p). It is important to note that once you have selected your first video in a carousel, all your videos will be cropped to the same aspect ratio and dimensions.
Instagram Videos give brands more ways to use the power of video. Videos make it easier to reach new audiences and create meaningful connections. Videos give you the ability to share complex, in-depth stories that can’t be conveyed in a single image. It has to be a minimum of 3 seconds to a maximum of 1 minute long. The video file size cannot exceed 4GB. Stories’ aspect ratios range from a minimum of 1080 x 608 pixels to a maximum of 1080 x 1920 pixels. If you prefer your stories to fill the whole screen, without any borders – it is recommended your video be shot with a resolution of 1080 x 1920p. Read more information in this article: Instagram Videos.
Instagram Reels Reels are short, entertaining videos where you can express your creativity. People come to Reels to participate in cultural trends, collaborate with the community and discover new ideas. Just like Instagram Stories, Reels are meant to be viewed vertically on mobile. Reels are also mostly shot using the Instagram app so you can make the most of their available effects and transitions. The best resolution for Instagram reels is 1080 x 1920p.
Types of Instagram Content
These 12 types of content work very well on Instagram:
- Giveaways
- Featured posts
- Videos
- Behind the scenes
- Recipes, how to
- Brand story
- Testimonials
- Storytelling facts
- Case studies
- Real life moments
- Quotes
- Lifestyle & travel posts
Grab the attention early
Start with the most important part of your post at the beginning and just give a hint of what to expect if a visitor wishes to view more on your Instagram.
See this example: “Are you a blogger struggling to cope with SEO optimization but you keep hitting the wall? “
The target of this post is a Seminar about SEO optimization for bloggers. And the picture supports the same target. The What, Who, Where, How, and Why are covered in a blink of an eye.
Mention the right people
When you mention someone you compliment this person and the Instagram account he/she has. Especially in a collaboration or to express your admiration or support, mention is a must-do practice. But tagging a person is not polite if you don’t have his/her permission.
Free Instagram Inspiration
We all have been there, facing our Instagram feed without any new ideas for any captivating posts. Here is a list of Instagram post ideas from our Content Strategy. Enjoy them!
Last month our Instagram engagement reached a new record. We received many private messages and had the pleasure to close some of the best business collaborations for this year. This is a valuable lesson of what really matters in social media.
Don’t worry about how many likes you have or how many new followers you gained. Focus mainly on the engagement interaction, how many people actually comment, save, and send you a message for a business request.
Want to read more?
Later Blog: Just like you spend time finding photos that look great in your feed, you need to invest a good amount of time finding a great cover photo for your video. Otherwise, all that hard work you put into actually creating your video will go to waste! Continue reading…
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