We’ve made it to Friday, everyone! As a blogger, social media is a huge part of my branding, growth and success. Although I constantly have a love/hate relationship with Instagram (more love than hate most days), I know how vital it is (underneath my blog, of course) to the growth of my online community and relationship building with my audience. Today I wanted to share how to curate the perfect Instagram bio that will help you attract new followers, book work with brands and increase traffic to your other online outlets.

Your Instagram bio serves as a little blurb about you letting fellow ‘grammers know who you are and what you’re about. Unlike your blog, this is a much more condensed version of an “About Me” page and must be crafted in a way that’s intriguing, yet to the point with a splash of personal flair. These specific tips are catered more towards bloggers and influencers, but most of the things I’ll be talking about in this post apply to other kinds of Instagram profiles as well.

@ a b b y s a y l o r

As for my Instagram bio history, this is something I’ve found myself changing time and time again. I’ve always been a bit indecisive on what exactly I want to express in my bio and how I want to display it visually. I know this sounds like a bunch of meaningless hoopla in the grand scheme of things, but the truth is that good branding starts at the bones and is cohesively carried out in even the tiniest of details.

I’ve finally pinpointed I bio I feel really represents me and my online pretense (wooo hooo!), and I’m here to share the tips that helped me get to this point. So grab your phone, open up your Instagram app and get ready to tweak!

Here’s what you need to include.

1. YOUR NAME + BRAND NAME
This may seem like a no-brainer, but lots of people, specifically bloggers, have names for their business (i.e. Barefoot Blonde) that they obviously don’t go by and both are equally important to include on your profile. Don’t make people search for your name, and keep it simple and straight forward.

2. LOCATION
You absolutely need to include where you live. It doesn’t have to be super specific, but the nearest large city will totally suffice. It’s a huge pet peeve of mine (and for brands too!) when I follow someone and can’t figure out where they’re based out of, where their photos are taken, etc. Where you’re from is a huge part of who you are and the setting of your images, so let your followers know where that is!

3. WHAT YOU POST ABOUT
Do you share fashion, fitness, food, beauty or lifestyle posts? Give people an idea of what your feed consists of so they know what kind of content to expect from you. This will also help you connect with other people with common interests, allowing you to build your online community on the ‘gram.

4. A LITTLE ABOUT YOU
How old are you? What do you do for a living? What are your hobbies? These are all things that will help people quickly get to know who you are and what you’re about. You don’t need to go into fine detail here, just a little blurb will get the message across.

5. HOW TO CONTACT YOU
If you’re aiming to work with brands or are promoting your business, include an email address for others to be able to easily get in touch with you without having to ask you for your contact information. DMs can get messy, especially when talking business, so I highly suggest utilizing your bio for moving that on over to your email account.

6. PERSONAL FLAIR
Make it YOU — add an emoji or two, space out your information on different lines… whatever appeals to you! I always say less is more, so if you’re afraid of going too overboard, stick to something minimalistic. However, don’t be shy to let your personality shine through, even when being confined within a short character count.

__________

Those are all the key things you need to curate the perfect and most effective Instagram bio! I hope you’ve found the post helpful and if you ever need any additional branding assistance, remember I offer all of those services in my creative shop, Bone & Bloom. Thanks so much for reading & I hope you all have an amazing weekend! I’m off to an early Cinco de Mayo celebration with my family tonight, AKA stuffing my face with lots of chips and salsa. 🙂