How to Optimise Your Instagram Profile
Writing the perfect Instagram bio is a craft all of its own. When someone lands on your account for the first time your bio will be the very first thing they see, and it’s highly influential as to whether they stick around to see more of your content. This makes it super important to pause and spend some time perfecting your bio, while also keeping it up to date when your circumstances change.
I’m going to take you through everything that you should consider when writing your own bio in order to make the maximum impact on your intended audience.
Firstly, think hard about what you want your handle to be (in other words, your username). Make it obvious exactly what you’re about. For example, my handle ‘Juliasbookcase’ makes it obvious that I run a bookstagram account. Think really hard about how you want to be seen on Instagram. How about ‘EditingWithJulia’, or ‘JuliasBookReviews’? Or you could go for something more general, like I did.
Add keywords into your Instagram name.
Decide whether you want to be known by your first name, or your first and last name. I would highly recommend adding a line next to your name and adding a few words that summarise what you do. For example, I have Julia | Books & Travel. Maybe you would want ‘Julia | Book Editor’ or Julia | Book Reviews. This is often the first thing that people will see when they interact with you so make it count. (Note that here I’m talking about your name and not your handle - see the image to the right.)
Fill your description with keywords.
Mine includes the words: ‘book blogger’, ‘bookshops’ and ‘exploring’. Make sure that you include your location, which can be as vague as you want - I have ‘England’ - and your email address if you want people to be able to reach out. It might be worth opening up a free Gmail account for this purpose. I work with a lot of brands so by having my email written out in my bio, along with my location, it makes it easier for PR professionals to contact me.
Finish off the little details
If you haven’t done this already, make sure you change your account from a ‘personal’ account to a ‘business’ or ‘creator’ account. There are no downsides to this and it means that you will have more options when it comes to monetising and analysing your account.
Make sure you add your personal website if you have one! Or even your Twitter account so that your followers can move over to that platform too (try to keep your handles consistent).
If you’ve followed all of these steps then you should now have an amazing, targeted bio that shows exactly what you’re about. Check out the links below for more Instagram tips and advice, and make sure to drop me a message on Insta if any of this has been unclear. Happy Instagramming!
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