How to Optimize Your Instagram Bio in 2022: Tips and Tricks!

Instagram still remains to be one of the giants when it comes to social media platforms.

Even with the rise of the likes of TikTok, it has still carved out a place in a lot of people’s app galleries as a way for people to showcase their personal brand via imagery.

This means it can still be used to leverage your brand.

In this guide, we take a look at how you can optimize your Instagram bio for growth in 2022.

Mind you.

This is not a be-all and end-all guide, but rather the best practices that you should be taking a look at to leverage the platform to bring in leads.

How to Optimize Your Instagram Bio: The Basics

There are different ways to approach optimizing your LinkedIn bio.

You can use a chunk of text that tells people about who you are.

You can scrap the introduction altogether and put something mysterious.

Or maybe, you want to skip words altogether and just put it together with a bunch of emojis that describe who you are. (A good example of this is that fast-food chain we all love 😉 )

It pretty much depends on you.

First of all, you want to determine your branding.

From there you can move on with the approach you want to take.

The following are a list of best practices that you can follow.

Tell People About What You Do

There are different ways of doing this:

• Add your company vision, if it’s short enough to fit.
• A one-liner that adds mystery (or fun) to what you do.
• Describe how you or your brand can change people’s lives in one sentence.
• Your personal vision statement.
• A quick quote from a business leader or renowned visionary in your field.

Or

• A quick list that serves as a complete factsheet about you.

Given that we find lists very effective, since we use them on LinkedIn headlines, we’ve found that they work well on Instagram bio optimizations.

Here’s why.

A list allows you to create visually appealing bios with line breaks that are easy to read.

It’s also easier to add more information about your brand without it being too text-heavy.

If you’re going for a list make sure that you:

• Tell people what you do in ten words or less
• Add some social credibility, e.g. list of your clients, achievements, etc.
• Add your business type, if you can
• Add a quick fact about you

Add a Link to Your Website or Landing Page

One of the most essential things I’ll recommend is to make sure that you have a link feeding through either your landing page or a website that you manage.

Add a Way for People to Contact You

If you want a quick way for people to connect with you that’s not through DMs — because sliding into DMs isn’t always the way to go — you can even add a number for prospects to reach you on or a general company email catchall inbox.

This allows people who have inquiries to have a way of contacting you properly.

There are even some who put their meeting links here. But it’s not really the best use of the space since you can place that in your link area and it’s  always best to make your profile look less of a funnel and more of a portfolio.

When in doubt just add your email address here.

Special Characters in Your Instagram Bio

Yes, you can use emojis in your Instagram bio.

And, please use them.

The reason we like emojis so much on Instagram is the fact that they allow you to break up chunks of text into bits that are visually pleasing.

Here’s the thing.

Even if bios are so shortly worded out, people still don’t want to read things that appear text-heavy.

The reason prospects are on IG in the first place is not to read, but rather look at the photos and posts that you have.

If you want to optimize your Instagram bio a little bit more, make sure you add some text that’s in bold, too. We have a guide on LinkedIn formatting that uses the same principle on Instagram.

You need to insert special characters to utilize line breaks properly.

Add Your Company or Personal IG Handle!

If you’re optimizing your company account, then add your personal IG handle. You can also do this the other way around with your personal account tagging your company account.

The reason why this is something we recommend is so that you can separate your work and personal life with different accounts, while still giving people context on what you do.

You automatically give people who follow your personal account a chance to work with you. On the flipside, people who follow your business account get a chance to discover you on a more personal level.

It makes you more relatable!

Add Hashtags

Do you have a company hashtag you want to use?

Or, maybe you just want to make sure that you’re relevant in your niche.

In that case, feel free to add hashtags to your bio.

They make it easier for Instagram to “see” your profile and categorize it with the hashtags that you’re using!

Keep It Short and Make it “Look” Short

Instagram only allows 150 characters in their bio.

But, do you ever notice that the bios of some people seem to run so long?

That’s because they are not optimized well.

Text breaks, using short lines and phrases, spacing words with special characters all contribute to making your bio look short and sweet.

Again, to remind you, people aren’t here to read, they’re here to look at photos.

The moment they see something that looks text-heavy, they won’t hesitate to be turned off by it.

Instagram Posts Should Reflect Your Bio

If your reels and stories, help draw attention to your bio and reel people in, your posts are still going to take the largest spaces in terms of screen real estate.

This means that whatever posts are on your Instagram right now have to also reflect the bio you’ve created.

For example, if you can yourself a “person of adventure” then at least one of the 9 visible posts on your profile underneath your bio has to indicate that you go on an adventure.

As much as your would love to have people judge you with the quality of your bio, they’re still going to be taking a look at your posts to see if there is a connection between what you say you do and what you post.

Think about it as social credibility.

On LinkedIn, you don’t expect a member of the academe not to post things that are intellectually inclined. That just creates a disconnect.

Make sure the branding of your posts also reflects the branding you’ve chosen on your bio. 

How Do You Get Verified on Instagram?

Takeaways

Don’t overdo your bio.

Keep it simple.

People aren’t here to read, they’re here to “view.”

What you want to do is tell people about what you do, quickly and efficiently.

When in doubt, structure it like a LinkedIn headline – with fewer characters of course.

Happy IG-ing!