Y’all know by now that instagram is a great way to connect with other like-minded people. It’s how I do my best networking since I’m a total introvert and loathe networking events.
As a blogger, instagram is also one of the main way I connect with companies and brands. It’s how many of the brands and companies I work with find me.
Instagram is like your free portfolio on the interwebs. It’s an opportunity for you to share who you are. And what’s the first way you make that impression? Your instagram bio. In those 150 characters you gotta make an impression.
When’s the last time you spruced up your instagram bio? Are you including all the necessary things needed to connect with the right brands [and people]?
Here’s what every blogger should have in their instagram bio:
Your name
If your instagram handle isn’t your name, make sure you put your name in your instagram bio! It sounds super obvious, but you’d be surprised how many people don’t include this.
Your location
Many influencer campaigns are location specific. Brands are looking to work with bloggers on the west coast but not people on the east coast. Companies are looking to invite some New York locals to an exciting event they are hosting. You get the gist.
Even though IG now has the option for business instagram accounts to include location, I strongly recommend you still include your location in your bio — that way your location is still noted on the desktop version of instagram as well.
Your email address
Similar to the location note above, even though instagram now includes a feature that gives businesses a shortcut for including their email address, I still recommend typing out your full email address in your bio too.
The reason for this is often times brands are creating lists of people they want to reach out to. When I worked in marketing I personally would make detailed google docs of people I wanted to contact for an influencer campaign. Including your email address in your bio makes it easier for brands to copy and paste it into a google doc — and they can also easily find your email address from the desktop version of instagram.
A little bit about who you are
Your instagram bio is that first impression of who you are to both brands and followers, what message do you want them to take from those 150 characters?
Use this space to share who you are and what you do.
One way I’ve seen this done effectively is with a concise, one sentence mission statement that addresses:
- what population you help specifically (Millennial women? Working mom? Budding entrepreneurs? Farmers in Kansas???)
- what you help them to do (get unstuck, balance being a boss lady while having a baby, optimize their business, reach out to local farmers markets — or whatever a farmer in Kansas does 😂)
For example, my one sentence mission statement for Kayla in the City is:
I inspire and uplift millennial women to live their best life through fitness, wellness and personal growth.
Play around with this one sentence mission statement to find the perfect combination of words that describe YOU and what you personally do.
Right now my own instagram bio is focused on the various things I have going on in my life: teaching yoga, writing and my [currently on hiatus] podcast. So that’s what I’ve decided to include for now.
Links to your work
On instagram you only got one place to drop a link — use it wisely! 99% of the time my link is to my blog. That’s where I want to direct people!
Sometimes I’ll use Linktree so I can include multiple links. This is super helpful if i’m driving ticket sales for an event I’m hosting or have a promo code for a brand I’m partnering with.
Be sure you don’t go overboard with links on your Linktree, though. Keep it simple so people can find the things they want to find. Don’t let your blog link get buried in a sea of promo codes.
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Now go forth and update your instagram bio!
Cyndi says
Thanks for the encouragement! I definitely need to up my Instagram game and bio!
Kayla says
Yes!!
Andrea says
This is so helpful! Updating my bio rn! Thanks for sharing!
Kayla says
Yayyy, happy to hear that!!
Vic says
I just updated my IG bio because of this post! Thanks for the tips 🙂
Kayla says
Yay!!!
Sally Pau says
I love this! I think having the right bio on Instagram is very important. Thanks for sharing!
Sally
http://www.mypracticalblog.com
Kayla says
it makes such a difference!