Create an Awesome Instagram Profile

Curating the perfect Instagram profile might seem straightforward, but it requires some strategy, creativity and simple tactics.

With over 75 million daily users and an engagement rate almost 60x higher than Facebook, your business can’t afford to not be on Instagram.

But before you start with random posts, you’ll need to master the basics. In this post, we’ll teach you everything your business needs to know about building an awesome Instagram profile.

How to make your Instagram Profile look good

Every business knows that first impressions count, but did you know that you only have a limited time to make a good one?

In fact, according to research people make an impression of you within the first 7 seconds – and this is much less online.
If you’re using Instagram for business, you’ll want to ensure that you show up in a trustworthy manner in order to attract new customers and retain existing ones and a key part of that is making your Instagram profile look good and fit in with your brand.

Whether you’re social media savvy or are just starting out, we have a few tips and tricks to help you boost your Instagram profile and build brand awareness for your business.

Tip 1 – Choose your Instagram Name

Before you start posting consistently to Instagram, you’ll need to choose a unique username that represents your business or a searchable keyword.

If your business name is unavailable, try adding your business’ location to the name or something else that makes you stand out from the crowd.

For example, if your business name is “Marco’s Cafe” but the username “@marcoscafe” is unavailable, consider adding your location to your username eg. “@marcoscafenyc” to show that your cafe is located in New York City.

Just as important as your Instagram name is the name section of your profile. You should ensure that you have an easily searchable business name to make it easier for users to find your page.

In this instance, you could have “Marco’s Cafe” or “Marco’s Cafe New York” if there are multiple locations with the same name.

Tip 2 – Use an on-brand Instagram profile picture

Your Instagram profile picture is one of the first things people see when they go to your Instagram profile as it’s displayed proudly in the top left-hand corner.

Your Instagram profile picture should be something instantly recognisable for your brand, and should ideally link back to your other social networking profiles.

For most businesses, the profile picture on Instagram will be their company logo:

Tip 3 – Add your contact information

Instagram for business has a great feature that makes it much easier for your followers and new customers to get in touch with you – a dedicated contact button!

With Instagram for business, you can add contact details such as your email address, phone number, or physical location depending on how you want your followers to contact you.

If you’re unsure how to add the contact button to your Instagram profile, don’t worry. It’s easy to do once you know how.

To add this to your profile, all you need is an Instagram business account.

Once you have this simply head to your profile, click ‘edit profile’ and then select the ‘contact options’ button under the public business information section

If you connect your account to a Facebook Business Page it will give you the option to copy over all the information from Facebook.

Tip 4 – What should I write in my Instagram profile?

A good Instagram bio can make a long-lasting impression on potential followers by providing snippets of information about your business alongside your content.

As you only get 150 characters, you want to make it count.

Create an informative bio that tells people who you are, what you do, and what they can expect to see from your account. More importantly, give users a reason to follow you!

In addition, you can add your business location, contact details, and anything else you feel may be important to tell users who aren’t familiar with your business.

While your Instagram bio is the perfect place to inform users about your business, it’s also a great place to show your personality too.
Make sure you don’t set your profile private as nobody will see it!

Some great ways to make your Instagram bio stand out:

Use Emojis to break up text-heavy sections of your Instagram bio

A great way to break up text-heavy sections in your Instagram bio is to add relevant emojis. You can also use emojis to highlight a call to action, such as clicking a link:

Use a branded hashtag

If you are running a campaign or simply want a way to collate user-generated content, a branded hashtag in your Instagram bio can help with this.

Glasses brand Glasses Direct encourages followers to use #myglassesmyway for a chance to be featured:

Add Line Breaks to Your Bio

Adding line breaks to your Instagram bio is a great way to break up the information in your Instagram profile.

The best way to do this is to edit your Instagram bio in the web version of the app.

As you can see below, this makes your Instagram bio easier to read: 

Tip 5 – Add a trackable link in your bio

One of the great things about Instagram is that it allows you to add a link to your profile.

This can be a link directing users to your company’s website, a competition, blog post, an upcoming event, landing page, or your online store. Whatever you choose to add as a link, you want to make sure that it’s trackable.

Adding this link in your bio will allow you to see where your leads are coming from, which can help you with your social media marketing strategy going forward.

Custom Tracking

Generating a custom, trackable URL can be done with Google Analytics and you should measure the metrics of your links regularly to inform your content strategy.

A great way to get users to click on the link in your bio is by leading them to it in photo captions.

So, if you have something you’re promoting or want to drive traffic to, post pictures on your Instagram profile and mention the link in your caption.

Changing Bio Link

Changing the link in your Instagram bio is really easy – just head to your Instagram profile and click edit profile. You can then insert your trackable link into the URL box:

Tip 6 – Adopt a theme for your Instagram page

One of the most simple, yet effective ways to make your Instagram business profile attractive to your audience is by posting photos in a colour theme.

You can use the same colour in a variety of ways by using filters, background colours, and objects. A great example of a colour theme is @wishuponacupcake_. All their images feature bright pastel colours meaning their feed flows effortlessly.

This allows for diversity and will keep your loyal following engaged whilst allowing you to reach new followers. As always, you want to ensure your posts fit with your brand personality and that you show up on all of your social accounts in a similar manner.

As well as creating an aesthetically pleasing theme, the message you convey with your images is also incredibly important so use the captions to your advantage.

By showing that your account has personality, it opens up your comments section for engagement which is essential in any successful social media strategy.

Tip 7 – Take high-quality photos

When your target audience visits your profile, one of the first things that they’ll do is scroll through your photos.

The quality of images will be a deciding factor as to whether that user follows you or not so you should curate your photos wherever possible rather than posting an image that will generate a few likes.

Think of the pictures you post this way: if you don’t have anything meaningful to share, don’t share it at all.

The recipe for great, high-quality photos is this – a relevant subject, a well-framed image and a nice editing job.

Tip 8 – Post pictures consistently to your Instagram feed

Rather than posting any old photos, you should focus on high-quality images that generate engagement with other users.

To ensure that you’re consistently active on your business account, you should schedule photos and plan out your posts.

A great way of doing this is by having a robust content strategy and content calendar.

Spacing your posts out will not only allow your audience to stay engaged but will also allow you to understand the times when your audience is the most engaged.

Tip 9 – Use relevant hashtags

Instagram accounts that use relevant hashtags in their captions will not only draw in the right audience, but they’ll also gain more likes too.

Finding the right hashtags for your photos is easy with a little research. All you need to do is type in the hashtag to the search bar to see which hashtags are performing well and how many tags there are with that hashtag.

Tip 10 – Engage with your audience

Posting pictures is all well and good but it’s only half of what it takes to create the perfect Instagram profile. The second half requires you to consistently engage with your audience after your images have been posted.

Engaging with your audience means that you have taken the time to read what they have to say and have commented accordingly.
If you are proactive, you can gain plenty of loyal followers this way turning hundreds to thousands.

Some great ways to engage with your followers are:

• Respond to every comment you get with at least 5 words (excluding emojis)

• Like and comment on your follower’s content

• Reply to Instagram stories and live sessions

• Use call to actions on some posts to drive engagement

• Try not cross-promote to too many different platforms as it confuses customers

You should also want to connect with other people in your niche. Explore accounts that use a similar hashtag to yours as these will most likely be interested in your content too.

Final thoughts: How to Create an Awesome Instagram Profile

Your Instagram profile is a piece of valuable real estate, so you want to make sure that you’re utilising it to its full potential.

If you’re just starting out with your business on Instagram, take our tips on board on how to create an awesome profile and you’ll make a lasting first impression, attracting many followers.

Keep abreast of updates, engage with your audience and make people laugh. The perfect profile is within your reach – it just takes work to get it there.

And, if you’re already established on the platform consider updating your profile to utilise some of our top tips!