What Makes a Perfect Instagram Profile

Instagram has more than 1 billion active accounts throughout the world. The number of Instagram’s daily active users is crossing the line of 500 million. And as a marketing platform, it is stronger than ever.  It would be weird for any marketer or business owner to ignore the possibilities that this social media offers.

Everything in the Instagram world begins with a profile. It applies to those of you who are starting to market your business on Instagram too. A few things that popular and effective profiles share include clear and readable names, interesting bio, and regularity in posting content.

If you want to bring your profile to the next level, make people want to follow you and interact with you, we’ve got something for you – a few tips how you can make your profile more appealing and effective for your marketing strategy.

Choose the right name

Your username should be easily accessed through search and should correspond with your brand’s name, obviously. If your brand’s name is taken as profile username, then place it in the very beginning. Make it recognizable.

Instagram profiles can also be searched by their “name” section. So it’s important to use your real business name as an Instagram name, to make it easier for people to find and access your profile.

Both “name” and username can be changed in the “Edit Profile” section.

Make yourself visible

It applies both to your profile “public” status (as opposed to “private”), and your profile picture. Use your logo or something original that will message people that this is you and nobody else. It’s good to keep a visual consistency among your social media channels in order to make people remember your brand.

But keep in mind that Instagram crops every profile image into a circle. You don’t have to upload a circle; a square-shaped photo would actually be the best variant.

You can upload and change your profile image in the Edit Profile section, again.

Adapt your picture to seasonal trends. Try to keep it fresh yet consistent. Saving a business logo with a seasonally themed background underneath is exactly what we mean. Christmas theme, Halloween theme, Pride Month theme, etc.

Kylie cosmetics logo with a Santa hat on is the perfect example.

It will add a bit of holiday spirit, festiveness to your profile, or just will make sure that people won’t get bored.

Get the most out of those 150 characters

Bio, together with your image is the first thing that pops in front of people’s eyes when they open the profile.

Text in bio can’t exceed 150 characters, and you need to really work this space. Be informative, be creative, be real. Tell people what, essentially, you do or are, and show them why they need to follow you.

A nice example of Instagram bio is Airbnb’s profile. As it currently goes:

“Airbnb opens the door to interesting homes and experiences. Share your stories with @Airbnb.”

It is original, it appeals to people’s desire to explore and live out new experiences. So they want to make it look as if they are not renting houses and apartments, they are offering stories.

So it’s good to stand out and bring your own personality.

Add a link to your bio

Some marketers get upset when they understand that Instagram doesn’t allow users to add links to their regular content. You can only do that in your profile’ s bio. Add your link to the “website” section and make it easy for visitors to check your website, or attract them to your new campaign. But be sure to update the link and check whether it works. We don’t our potential customers to find themselves on a 404 page instead of our website.

 It’s a good idea to share links to some of your latest updates, like new products, video and other types of contents, etc. to keep your audience engaged.

Turn on notifications

Don’t forget to turn on notifications, so that you can track when other people leave their reaction, comment, or mention you in real life. It’s good to have a connection with your audience that feels real, authentic, and quick responses can help to make it feel that way,

You can find notification settings in your Options menu.

Speak through pictures

Instagram is a visual platform, and the quality of photos plays a huge role in how users feel about you or your brand. Be careful with what you post: it’s better to post nothing than something not worth posting.

But a good Instagram picture is not just about the latest camera or perfect lighting (although they also play their role). It is about many factors.

Is your picture telling a story? Is it relatable to your audience? Don’t be afraid to add humor and your personality, people like to laugh and see living people.

Quality of photo is relevant, but you don’t have to go to the expensive photography courses to be able to take a good shot. Learn some basics about lighting, perspective, learn how to use grid, and basically do a lot of practice, if you manage visual content yourself. You can also always ask someone who has experience in photography to help you.

And even though Instagram was created as a platform for mobile photography, people are using professional cameras and professional editing software for editing their photos before uploading them. Good editing can add a new dimension to your picture and bring out the best of it. There are even simply (or sometimes advanced) editing tools available for mobile phones. Maybe that can be enough for your purposes.

Be consistent

If you don’t upload – there is a big possibility that people might start unsubscribing. It’s no science. Of course, you don’t have to flood the feed with the pictures of plants in your office just to post something, that would do the opposite. Instead, create a plan and concentrate on making good content interesting for your audience, and post it in the best time possible. There is no one recipe for everyone, but you sure can benefit from using these tips to upgrade your Instagram profile. And you may discover that for your niche Instagram marketing is the best way to promote business on social media.