What Do I Put in My Instagram Profile?

Simply put: Tell them what you’re going to do for them.

I know this is counter-intuitive because it’s YOUR account, but people follow you for what they can glean from your posts. Especially if they don’t know you personally, they are looking to follow accounts of people who post about things they are interested in.

In other words: It’s not about you.

Ouch. I know that can sting, but it should also give you a sense of freedom as well. The pressure is off to impress them. Your job is to serve them.

They are more likely to follow you if you are clear about the purpose of your account than if they have to guess at what you do or what types of things you’ll post. You only get 150 characters to do this and it can be tough to cram in all your awesomeness 😉

Here’s a list of options to help you craft a bio people want to follow. You will run out of characters before you include all of these, so weigh what’s most important to you:

• Add a qualifier to the name field – ex: wellness coach – this field is searchable and has great SEO cred
• Answer the question: What kind of information can people expect when I post? AKA – Your mission statement. Ex: Career coaching advice for the millennial mom. 
• Give some street cred for why you know what you’re talking about. This could be: Founder of / Creator of / Awards you’ve won / Featured in 
• Hashtags you started or populate
• Tag your business account, podcast or other accounts you manage 
• Link to website, lead magnet, latest promotion or @linktr.ee – wherever you want them to go next

Keep in mind that your profile can change whenever you want. Not that I would recommend changing it all the time, but I would review it every 6 months or so to make sure it’s still relevant.