Take a LIKE: Top Tips on How You Can Easily Upgrade Your Instagram Profile
Starbucks, Ben & Jerry’s, Nike, and MAC Cosmetics have one thing in common: they all use Instagram to drive brand awareness and delight customers. For example, Nike’s Instagram feed features inspirational stories, ad campaign images, and behind-the-scenes shots. Vogue, on the other hand, leverages the platform to drive website traffic, share red-carpet looks, and inspire women from around the world.
However, building a successful Instagram account isn’t as easy as it seems, and, like with most things, it’s the little details that matter. In addition to a well-thought-out marketing strategy, you must continuously test and optimize your Instagram posts.
For starters, use an image resizer to make your photos smaller or larger without sacrificing quality. Adjust them for each platform you’re on to ensure they look great on any device. Apart from that, you need to research and define your audience, conduct A/B testing, and plan your content. Go one step further and engage with top influencers to grow your reach.
Remember, building an Instagram following takes time and often involves a steep learning curve. What works for your competitors may not work for you, and vice versa.
With that in mind, here are five quick, simple ways to optimize your Instagram business profile and stand out from the crowd.
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Make the Most Out of Your Instagram Bio
You only get one chance to make a first impression, so why not take full advantage of your Instagram bio?
This brief description can keep users scrolling for more or turn them away. Not only does it show people who you are and what you do, but it can also drive traffic to your website or blog. In some cases, it may be the first point of contact between a business and its potential customers.
At the very least, your Instagram bio should include your brand name, a short description, and a link to your site or online portfolio. Most importantly, it should tell people what’s in it for them.
For example, National Geographic‘s Instagram bio doesn’t say, “We’re one of the oldest and most popular magazines in the world” or something along those lines. Instead, it says, “Experience the world through the eyes of National Geographic photographers.” Basically, it tells people what kind of content they can expect to see.
Make sure your bio reflects your brand’s image. Keep it short and sweet, add relevant keywords, and include a strong call-to-action (CTA). You can also specify which category your business falls under, such as visual arts, health and beauty, or clothing.
Leverage Keywords to Boost Your Visibility
Just like your business website or blog, your Instagram pages should include relevant keywords and key phrases. This practice can boost its visibility on Instagram, allowing users to find it more easily.
Ideally, include a primary keyword in your display name, username, bio, Instagram captions, and image ALT text. Sure, there’s no need to use it in every caption, but try to do it whenever possible. Your captions may also include secondary keywords where appropriate.
If, say, you’re a personal trainer, you can use “personal trainer” as your primary keyword and “PT,” “fitness trainer,” or “fitness coach” as secondary keywords. To reach a local audience, include your city’s name in the targeted keywords.
You should also treat your hashtags like keywords and place them strategically in your bio, reels, posts, and other types of content shared on the platform. Think of it as another way to reach and engage your audience, gain brand exposure, and improve the user experience.
For best results, use up to three hashtags per caption and a few more in the comments section (a maximum of 30 per post). To make things easier, create hashtag lists and organize them by topic.
Moving forward, think outside the box and experiment with different types of content.
For example, Instagram Stories can be a powerful branding tool, but they disappear after 24 hours. An even better option is to create Instagram highlights, which allow you to save and showcase your Stories for as long as you want.
These highlights appear as circular icons just below your Instagram bio and above your regular posts. They’re quite similar to a movie trailer, allowing users to tell ongoing stories and keep their content organized.
Generally, it’s best to use the same cover template for all highlights. This practice ensures brand consistency, making your page look more professional. Use Adobe Illustrator, Canva, Fotor, or similar tools to create branded highlight covers.
For instance, you can create one highlight for events, one for bestselling products, one for promotional offers, and one featuring behind-the-scenes videos.
Depending on your goals, you may also add action buttons (e.g., Book Now or Buy Tickets) to your Instagram account to further entice viewers to take action. These buttons will appear below your highlights, reinforcing the message you want to convey.
Diversify Your Social Media Content
Instagram supports five types of content: feed posts, stories, reels, videos, and live broadcasts. These can be broken down into several other categories, with reels and carousel posts having the highest engagement rate. But what matters most is the information you convey to your followers.
According to a recent survey, 50% of Instagram users engage with brands that share funny content. About 46% prefer to see creative posts, and 41% want informative content. Given these aspects, you’ll want to experiment with different types of content to expand your reach. Let’s see a few examples:
- Lifestyle posts
- Behind-the-scenes shots
- Customer reviews and testimonials
- Seasonal posts
- Feature posts (e.g., Follow Friday)
- Inspirational quotes
- Video tutorials
- FAQ-style posts
- New product announcements
- Product teasers
- Recurring challenges
- Contests and giveaways
For instance, sharing lifestyle posts can be a great way to humanize your brand. On a similar note, you can share pictures of your employees working behind the scenes. But you can also run flash sales in Stories, start a live broadcast, or engage in cross-promotion with other brands to keep your content fresh.
Drive Engagement with Instagram Collab Posts
Speaking of cross-promotion, you can team up with other Instagram brands to create and share content. We’re talking about Instagram Collab posts, a new feature that allows two users to co-create reels or feed posts and share them on their pages at the same time.
Let’s say you sell gym equipment and decide to join forces with a personal trainer. First, you’ll create a post related to fitness, strength training, or similar topics. After that, invite your preferred PT to collaborate. If he or she accepts, your post and its likes, shares, and comments will appear on both pages.
This strategy allows you and the co-author to tap into each other’s audiences. If you do it right, you’ll get higher engagement and boost your reach. It’s also a great way to expand your network and build relationships with other brands and influencers.
Need one more reason to give it a try? You can leverage this feature to support a nonprofit or charity that your customers care about. Chances are, they will appreciate your initiative and share your posts with their followers, which can further increase brand awareness.
Unlock the Power of Instagram
Whether you’re a freelancer or an entrepreneur, you can leverage Instagram for business growth. This social media platform has huge potential, but you must know how to tap into it.
Start by optimizing your Instagram bio. Tweak your description, add relevant keywords, and use hashtags to reach new audiences. Meanwhile, plan your content for the weeks ahead.
Aim for a mix of informative posts, videos, stories, industry news, and lifestyle content. Add location tags to your photos and create highlights to make your profile easier to find. As your following grows, team up with other content creators and brands in your niche to drive engagement.
