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MARKETING
HOW TO CRAFT THE
PERFECT INSTAGRAM BIO! By Rachel Medlock
It all begins with the bio. Think about all the times when you’ve been suggested a new page to follow on Instagram. Where’s the first place you go to learn about them and what value they’ll bring to your feed? Their bio. This exchange of information happens in seconds. If the bio connects with you, you press follow; if it doesn’t, you don’t! Your Instagram Bio is your business card, portfolio, homepage and first impression all wrapped into 150 characters so it’s safe to say you’ve got to make each one of them count. Let’s cut through the noise and maximise every single character to welcome not only brand-new followers to your account but more appointments scheduled by your dream clients.
#1 – A picture is worth a thousand words
I’m not dropping any major truth bombs when I say that your Instagram profile picture should be your business logo. That’s pretty obvious, right? Where many businesses go wrong is that they upload a version of their logo that either doesn’t fit in the Instagram profile picture dimensions or is low resolution. As your bio is that first impression, you want everything to be as high quality as that facial you want them to book. Currently, your profile picture should be fit the size of 110x110 pixels. You don’t want to deviate too far from this as Instagram will then crop it. You can test it out by selecting “Edit Profile” and seeing how it fits before publishing it. If your logo is larger than the required dimensions, consider a submark variation of your logo instead. For example, brands like dermalogica and dermaviduals use their signature “D” submark as their profile pictures instead of trying to fit their main logos in the size dimensions. Whatever final profile picture you choose should be updated on all other social media platforms for consistency.
#2 – The name of the game
Did you know that the “Name” field of your Instagram bio is separate to your username? They don’t have to be the same thing and in fact, you can utilise this section to boost your page’s search power! Incredibly valuable but wildly underutilised, you can use targeted keywords in this field to make your business more discoverable. Consumers are savvy. They often already know what they’re 96
Beauty Biz Year 14 Issue 4
looking for so it’s up to us to it’s our business they hit follow (and book now) on. Brainstorm the keywords your dream customer might be using to find a business like yours. This could be where you’re located, a treatment you specialise in or a particular niche you service. Once you’ve found the right keywords, you can put these into your name. For example, if someone searched “Melbourne Body Contouring”, “Sydney Brow Artist”, or “Brisbane Skin Clinic”, the pages that have those relevant keywords in their name will feature higher on the search results list.
#3 – Telling your story (in 150 characters or less)
It’s time to actually write the bio itself. This is the section where you’re able to express your brand personality, showcase your offerings and of course, your ‘why’. The tricky part is you only get 150 characters to do it! That’s where my 4-sentences to bio goals comes in. Sentence one: who is your business? The icebreaker. Introduce yourself to your audience! Sentence two: what do you do? A space to share your key specialisations and even the brands you stock (eg: DMK Experts). If you or your key brands have a signature hashtag, this is a brilliant space to include it. Sentence three: why do they need you? Are you an award winner? Are you the go-to for clearing acne? Are you all about those zen vibes? Share why they should choose you over your competitor.
Sentence four: what do you want them to do once you’ve created the connection? Spell it out. What action are they taking? Include a call to action to your website, appointment booking, online store or even to explore your latest promotion. With this structure, you can seamlessly update your CTA with current promos or must-know info. I love utilising pages like Linktree or Milkshake to get more out of your link in bio. Rather than constantly updating a single link in your bio, these pages allow you to harness multiple call to actions where the user can pick their own adventure and find the solution they’re looking for. As we only have seconds to connect with the user, it’s important to make this section easy to read. I recommend using an emoji for each sentence to not only make the bio scannable and eye-catching but show off your brand’s personality. Remember, not all emojis are bold and bright. There are plenty of more subtle ones that can support your bio whilst saying on brand.
#4 – Check your connection
Wrap up your bio glow-up by ensuring all links and call-to-action buttons are connected. There’s nothing worse than admiring your sparkly new bio only to find out that your address is wrong, or your phone number was entered incorrectly! Provide your dream client a few different ways to get in touch. Instagram offers a contact button for phone and email so don’t waste your 150 characters on these and instead, maximise the buttons. I’d love to see your fresh new bios! DM @doyouevensocial so we can check them out!
