Have you ever come across an Instagram profile and think to yourself, this is my type of homie, and instantly follow them on the spot? Yeah, me too. Sometimes I come across such a killer bio that I don't even have to scroll through the feed to see if I want to follow. I wonder how in the hell did this person write such a killer Instagram bio?
Today I'm showing you how you can be that super cool chick everyone wants to be friends with on IG. Make sure to download my free checklist at the end of this post to make sure you write a killer IG bio and crush the competition.
1. YOUR BIO PHOTO
First things first, let's start with your profile photo shall we? Whether you're a brand, small business or blogger, you should be using a headshot for your profile pic, not your logo. No reason to be shy here, show your freaking face people! What are you so afraid of?
This is especially important when you're trying to grow your followers... and when are we NOT trying to gain followers? Let's say you just commented and/or liked someones photo they just posted. They see your logo pop up in their recent activity and they probably won't think much of it, they may even assume it's a spam account trying to sell followers or something of the sort. If they see someones face they don't recognize, they're more likely to think to themselves 'who is this person? I don't recognize them'. They then click on you pic and go to your profile. If they like what they see, they'll most likely start following you, which is what we want.
A face as your photo lets people know you're an actual real life person on the other end and you'll actually interact with them. Unless you're a major brand like Nike or Levi's go change your pic to a headshot stat. Below is an example of my current profile pic. I took this photo in my office against a white wall, with my phone!
2. MAKE IT SHORT AND TO THE POINT
You've only got a few sentences to draw people in here and let them know exactly what it is that you do. Try thinking of the most important 2-3 words that describe your brand or what you do, and work off that. Below is an example of my good friend Cyndie Spiegel's Instagram bio. She's able to include everything she does in a SINGLE sentence, and she did it damn good! It's short and straight to the point. She could have easily just wrote something like 'I'm a business coach for entrepreneurs and small business owners helping them on their journey to success'. But who in the hell would remember that? NO ONE! Take notes people because she hit the sweet spot.
3. BE RELATABLE
Okay, so I don't mean be mushy here and tell your entire story, no one wants that. What I mean is to make whoever is reading your bio FEEL something. You want them to read and say, 'hell yes, that's my kinda girl... FOLLOWING'! Don't be all business all day, add a little personality to it. Add a bit of your brands quirky traits or your likes.
Last week I was at a conference, Alt Summit, where I met Luvvie. After hearing her speak I knew I had to follow her Instagram. I went to her profile and instantly knew she was MY type of girl. Why? Just take a look at her bio below and you'll see why.
4. EMOJIS = HELL YES!
Emojis break up a normally boring bio of text and draws the persons eye in. It makes them actually WANT to read the bio to see why those super cool emojis are there.
I always love seeing emojis in an IG bio. Mostly because it's unexpected. In a world of business, seriousness and corporate talk, it's nice to see emojis where they would normally not belong. Think about it, if you worked in a normal 9-5 job and report to some kind of boss, you would probably never use an emoji in an email or text message. We try so hard to be professional 100% of the time that we forget to be ourselves. It's our biz, we can do whatever we want... let's have a little fun.
Everyone and their mom uses emojis (well my mom does). Why? Because a picture speaks 1,000 words right? Sometimes it's just easier to insert a fun emoji then explain what we mean. We want whoever is reading our bio to FEEL something so they'll stay and hopefully give you a follow. What better way to do that than insert the perfect emoji of how you want them to feel? Take a look at my friend Gilit's IG profile. That unicorn emoji instantly makes me smile and want to be her friend.
5. INCLUDE YOUR EMAIL
I ALWAYS recommend including your email in your IG bio. Why? No matter what your business is, you've got to make it simple for people to contact you. If not, you could be missing out on some MAJOR opportunities.
Let's say an editor from a major website happens to come across your IG account somehow. They're scrolling through your profile and see something they LOVE. They may think to themselves... 'I love this and I want to feature it', or 'this is pretty impressive, I want to include this in my next story'. Hell yes, right? Well the first thing they'll need is your email so they can contact you. You could make it super hard by only having a link to your website that they have to click... then scroll around aimlessly trying to find your email. Or you could make it simple by already having it there in your bio.
This way they're able to contact you immediately while it's a fresh idea of theirs, rather than forgetting to find your email later. Not to mention, it's a great way to let your customers/readers know how to contact you. Below is an example of my good friend Hillary's bio where she included her email in a fun way.
Alright, now that you've got the basics and know how to write a killer Instagram profile, go give yourself an IG bio makeover. You no longer have a reason to have a lame or mediocre bio, you've got the skills to be a bio rockstar.
To help get you started, I've put together an IG bio must have checklist to ensure you crush the competition with a killer, standout, bio!!! Make sure to grab it HERE!
For more Instagram tips (I grew my account from 0 to 10k in just 9 months) click HERE!
Follow me on Instagram HERE!
- Lindsay White
Professional Gangsta Boss
Lot801 Marketing