Basics to building a GREAT Instagram Profile

Instagram is now the second largest social media platform behind Facebook.

Have you ever looked at a profile on Instagram and just said, “WOW! This page looks amazing!”, and then followed a person or brand simply because of what you saw when you first landed on the page? Yeah, we have too.

A well done Instagram profile has a few key components that if done well, will help draw your audience in to find the information they want, as well as spend more time reviewing your content and interacting with your brand. A well done profile doesn’t happen overnight either. It can take time to cultivate all the necessary pieces.

In this article, we’ll review the key parts of your instagram profile and help you build each piece so when visitors come to your profile, they get the best experience possible.

Before we get to the pieces of the instagram profile, there’s a few simple rules to follow when building your instagram account.

Rule 1: Keep it Simple

Instagram Profiles are meant to be simple. That doesn’t mean it’s easy to create simplicity. To be honest, it’s actually quite difficult to narrow down everything your business may do into 150 characters and have it make an impact. Don’t be afraid to keep trying different ideas. Most importantly, be sure to list the reasons WHY they should find you.

Rule 2: Be Public

Instagram has the option to allow both public and private accounts. If you’re a business, your account should be public. Don’t require your audience to wait for your approval to have them follow you. As a business, the goal is to remove as many roadblocks as possible when it comes to connecting with your brand.

Rule 3: Be Consistent about posting

Building an audience on social media is all about time and trust. Opening up a social media account will not guarantee followers. A following must be built and cultivated, and the key to this is consistency. Not having a consistent posting schedule is like that friend who you’re not sure will show up to the party. In social media, consistency is the first step to trust. Be the account they rely on for content that matters. Whatever you choose as your posting schedule, whether it’s once a week or everyday, stick to it.

If you’re curious about how your instagram profile looks to your audience, reach out to us about a free digital audit, and we will review your entire digital footprint for you.

A How-to Guide for Setting up your Instagram Profile

Next, we’ll take a look at the different areas of your instagram profile to make sure everything looks fantastic for your audience. Here are the 5 items on your Instagram profile that we will focus on to help you create a stunning Instagram profile.

1 // Account Name

Choosing the account name for your social media profile is extremely important. It will become how your audience finds and recognizes your brand. While creativity is applauded here, don’t lose touch with your brand. Connect creativity with your brand, maybe a little humor, but don’t be so creative that your audience can’t associate you with your product. Make it easy to remember and easy to find.

2 // Profile Photo

After your name, this is the second thing your audience will see. If you’re a single person business, having your face as the profile photo is a great way to connect your audience with you personally. However, if you’re a business with more than 8-10 employees, consider putting your company logo as the photo. The brand needs to be bigger than the individuals who make it up, and a logo is easily recognizable and identifies not only the company, but creates a quick association with the brand, product, or service.

3 // Building a Bio

The bio in instagram is probably one of the toughest pieces to building a great Instagram profile. First, you only have 150 characters to use to make an impact. The secret, make every word count to make an impact, and make sure it resonates with your brand personality. Sesame Street, the television show seen everyday on PBS, takes the mission of their entire company and puts it into one powerful statement: Our nonprofit’s mission is to help kids grow smarter, stronger, kinder - in more than 150 countries around the world.
The next piece of your bio is the link section. Don’t waste this space and always make sure the link here is current. A common and highly recommended thing to do for your home page link is to use a Linktree. Linktree helps to combine all of your important web presence assets into one place for your audience. From the single link, your audience can then go to different places to see more about your business. Whether it’s your website, social profiles, or something else, using a Linktree can save you and your audience hours. Running a special promo? Add it to your Linktree for your audience.
Take advantage of highlights to feature important content. Is there content that has a great track record of building your audience, put it in your highlights and feature it in stories. Create a buzz for your highlights and then use the content in those highlights to tell your brand story or customer reviews. Highlights can also be a place that features your most watched content.

4 // The 9-grid

The 9-grid is the first photos/images/reels that show up in your instagram feed. If these photos look like garbage, your audience will quickly lose interest in seeing who you are and what you do.Your whole profile doesn’t need to be perfect, but it does need to look good and professional.

This goes back to what we mentioned earlier about being consistent. Post quality over quantity, and do it at intervals that allow you to maintain that quality. If you’re not great with a camera, hire out getting some great photos/graphics done for your grid and then pin these to the top of your profile.

5 // Content/Captions

Not every piece of content will go viral and not every caption will resonate with every member of your audience. The goal is to continue to make the effort. As business owners, we don’t know where each member of our audience is at, and we will probably never know how our content affects them. The key here is to consistently create high quality content that informs your audience of what you do and how you can help them.

By starting with these 5 things, you’ll be well on your way to a great Instagram profile and connecting with your audience.