How to Optimize Your Instagram Profile for Business

Instagram is one of the most popular social media platforms that makes it easy to connect with your audience and give them behind the scenes scoop into your business. However, if you want your ideal audience to notice you, you have to optimize your Instagram profile.

Before optimizing your profile, you need to think about your brand. You need to be crystal clear on your brand personality as well as know your brand mission, and Unique Value Proposition. Once you’re clear on that, you need to make sure your profile reflects your brand.

In this post, we’ll share tips and advice that you can implement right away to make sure your Instagram profile attracts your potential clients and customers.

1. Make Your Profile Reflect Your Brand

Instagram is a visual platform, therefore your entire Instagram profile and feed needs to reflect your brand. An easy way to achieve this is through photos that use your brand’s colors and reflect your brand style.

For example, if your brand is bold and edgy, your profile should post photos that use vibrant and bold color schemes.

Similarly, if your brand is minimal, you’ll achieve a more cohesive look if you use photos with plenty of white space and limited color palettes.

Ana Marques Instagram profile example

@anamarques210376 is a beautiful example of a consistent minimalistic feed

Another thing to keep in mind is the profile photo dimensions which measure 180x180px. As such, use a profile photo that makes it easy to recognize your logo or your face.

2. Switch to Instagram for Business

Make sure to switch your account to an Instagram Business account. For starters, you will be able to add a category to your Instagram account which will be the same you used for your Facebook page.

Secondly, once you switch to a business account, you will get access to Instagram analytics which allow you to see how your posts are performing. You can also get insights into your audience which can help you create and post content that resonates with them.

3. Add Keywords to Your Name And Bio

Another way to optimize your Instagram profile is to add keywords to your name and bio. This allows you to show up in search when other Instagram users are searching for those keywords.

Design Within Reach Instagram profile example

@designwithinreach uses keywords in their name and their bio

For example, if you’re a marketing company you might add marketing company after your business name. You can also use keywords in your bio to make it easy for anyone who lands on your profile to understand what you do and what they can expect from your feed.

4. Have Fun With Formatting Your Instagram Bio

Speaking of your Instagram bio, have fun with formatting it. Keep in mind that you’re limited to a 150 characters so there is not a lot of room for long descriptions.

A great workaround is to use emojis and line breaks within your bio to communicate who you are and what you do. It’s also a great way to show your brand’s personality.

Luxy Hair Instagram profile example

@luxyhair uses line breaks to make their bio easier to read.

Make sure to include a link within your bio so your followers can click through to your website. You can link to your services page, your shop or individual products or blog posts. Use a link shortener like Google URL shortener to keep your links short and don’t forget to include a call to action in the last line of your bio that encourages visitors to take action.

5. Publish Quality Photos to Optimize Your Instagram Profile

As mentioned earlier, Instagram is a visual platform. This means your photos need to be high quality. Avoid posting photos that are blurry or shot in poor lighting conditions.

Another tip to optimize your Instagram profile is to always use the same edits on your photos to maintain a consistent style. For example, be sure to use the same filter or adding the same amount of brightness or contrast to all your photos.

6. Focus on Quality of Followers Rather Than Quantity

An important thing to keep in mind is that you should focus more on the quality of your followers, rather than the quantity. After all, what good is thousands of followers if they aren’t engaging with your content?

Engage in conversation with people who comment on your content, respond to their comments, and pay a visit to their profile. Leave genuine comments on their posts and nurture the relationship.

Don’t forget to engage with others content rather than just posting your photo and moving along. Like photos that show up in your feed, explore photos posted under the same hashtags as yours, and leave comments on other people’s posts and photos.

7. Use Instagram Stories & Highlights

Use Instagram Stories and Highlights to show off your brand personality and make a connection with your audience. You can Instagram Stories to share photos that aren’t necessarily as polished as the rest of your feed as well as post more of the “in the moment” content.

A Beautiful Mess Instagram profile example

@abeautifulmess is a great example of using Stories and highlights to connect with their audience

Stories are also an excellent opportunity to invite your followers to download your freebie, visit your store or sign up for a discount.

8. Be Consistent

Lastly, be consistent with your Instagram strategy and you’re bound to see results. This means deciding how often you’ll post in your feed and how often you’ll post Instagram stories. Once you’ve decided on the frequency, create a schedule and stick to it.

What’s Next?

Optimizing your Instagram profile is not as daunting as it seems. With the tips in this article, you’ll be well on your way towards crafting an engaging Instagram profile that attracts your ideal audience.

Leave a comment with your Instagram profile and the changes you made to improve it or to ask for feedback.

Need a little help with your social media? Contact us if you want help optimizing all of your social profiles and posting regular to your social media channels.

Are you looking for more traffic, leads and customers? We provide on-going digital marketing to help you reach more customers and grow revenue.

We build brands stronger, fueled by creativity, and inspired by people.
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Johnny Flash Productions

Johnny Flash Productions is a creative agency based outside of Washington D.C. that focuses on digital strategy, web design and development, graphic design and event production that helps businesses get better results from their marketing.