The best Instagram bio for your brand is one that grabs immediate attention for drawing in new followers. It’s one that leads people to new products and services without question. It’s a sentence or paragraph that not only shows what you’re about but engages followers in a way that’s far more impactful than a quick descriptive line or two.

So, what goes into making one of these excellent Instagram bios?

Does it matter if your text is professional or playful? Should you go into lots of detail or keep it short and sweet?

We’ll answer these questions and more in this guide to making Instagram bios.

Starting out: don’t get bogged down with rules

Instagram bios are simple. Don’t forget that.

Yes, we want to walk you through some of the more effective ways to make your Instagram bio more effective.

Having said that, don’t follow all of the rules you read or hear about Instagram biographies.

There is no one way to write an Instagram bio. Part of the fun is getting creative. Not to mention, a unique bio that only you could write shows your, or your brand’s, personality.

Overall, Instagram bios are far more important than bios on Facebook, Twitter, and other social networks. The reason for this is because Instagram bios are right at the top of the page, and users tend to actually read the profile information on Instagram, whereas that is not the case on Facebook.

So, we’ll outline the best practices and tips, because they are important. But there’s no need to follow every step by the word. Otherwise, you’ll have difficulty standing out!

The basics

Before making the best Instagram bio, we need to understand the elements that need to be addressed. The top of your page actually features a few lines outside of your bio as well. Here’s what you and your users will see on the frontend of your Instagram page:

  • The Instagram username
  • Your company name or personal name
  • The Instagram bio; basically a few sentences explaining your business
  • An area to include a single link, either outbound or to another Instagram page

themeisle bio - best Instagram bio

Other than that, users also see a profile picture to the left, your username, Follow button, and Settings tabs towards the top, right above stats like posts and followers. You’ll also find Instagram stories below the biography area.

It seems simple enough, right?

Now, keep reading to see some of our favorite Instagram bios and why we think they’re so effective. Pair this with best practices and you should be able to make the best Instagram bio possible.

Best Instagram bio tip #1: hashtags and mentions are free rein, so use them!

Although you only get one link in the bio, multiple hashtags and mentions to other accounts are possible, with unlimited tags.

Some companies start simply by mentioning their own accounts. Although this won’t send users anywhere, it does remind folks about your username, as HipCamp has done:

hipcamp

Another option is to include accounts that you either partner with or are mentioned on. Authenticity50, a bedding and bath store, has links to media accounts where you can find information about them, giving the brand social proof.

authenticity 50

Hashtags are essential for many reasons. Some brands, like Faribault Woolen Mill Co, have hashtags for customers to share pictures. This is a great type of hashtag to have in your Instagram bio.

mill

Duluth Pack is a good example of using both hashtags and mentions.

duluth pack bio

Finally, one of the most famous sharing of hashtags is from REI. The #optoutside hashtag is extremely popular for people to share their outdoor adventures and potentially get featured on the REI Instagram page. Therefore, it makes sense that REI has the hashtag in its Instagram bio.

REI - best Instagram bio

Instagram bio tip #2: take advantage of emojis that reflect your brand

You can also include a wide range of emojis in your Instagram bio. It’s best not to go crazy with emojis. Rather, think about utilizing emojis that are relevant to your brand. Then, add maybe one to five of them to incorporate a bit of visual pop to your bio.

For instance, Nature Backs has a simple tree emoji. This makes sense because it’s an outdoor apparel company.

nature backs

Cruise America takes it a step further by having four emojis in the Instagram bio. What’s great about this approach is that the bio now looks fun, and all the emojis are relevant to the brand. There’s an RV, exhaust, fall leaf, and a finger pointing to the call to action.

cruise america

Best Instagram bio tip #3: line breaks make for much easier reading

Just like blog posts, magazine articles, and books, you want to format your text so that it’s easy to read. It’s human nature to be more drawn to nicely broken-up text.

Lazarus Naturals is a CBD company, and they keep it simple by stating what the business does. Then, the next line mentions where the products are grown.

CBD company

Wheat’s End Cafe is a gluten-free restaurant in Chicago. This is a great example for local businesses, seeing as how the line breaks come between the restaurant offerings, business hours, and the value proposition.

wheat's end

Best Instagram bio tip #4: turn that boring bio link into something special

You have the option to include one link in your bio. This is quite a bit of pressure!

You want to make it count, so we have a few recommendations for improving the effectiveness of your link.

First of all, links on Instagram should always be shortened.

It’s also not a bad idea to use a third-party service like Later’s LinkIn. This generates a gallery of your posts, where all of the posts have unique links if clicked on.

This is the landing page with all of the photos from Pelican. Except now people can click on any photo and be sent to different pages.

Another third-party product is for linking to a landing page menu, with multiple buttons to lead users to other webpages. An example of this product would be from Shorby.

Gear Patrol does this with Link Tree.

gear patrol bio

It leads to a simple, mobile-friendly landing page, where you can customize all of the buttons and include your own branding.

In this case, Gear Patrol has a newsletter sign up, a link to the store, and much more.

gear patrol

The Steppenwolf Theater in Chicago takes advantage of this as well.

steppenwolf bio - best Instagram bio

It’s a little shorter than Gear Patrol, but that can often be a good thing for conversions.

steppenwolf links

Instagram bio tip #5: make the most of your text space in the bio

This is entirely up to you and your own creativity, but you should try to keep the bio short. Utilize the line break tip we covered below and try to make all of the lines as hard-hitting as possible.

Oak Street Bootmakers explains why the brand is valuable in the first line. It then jumps right to the call to action.

Short and sweet.

oak street boots

You could even get simpler, like Tension Climbing, stating its tagline, and that’s it.

tension climbing

Instagram bio tip #6: get users to take action when they see your bio

Your best Instagram bio has a useful link that goes to your online store, landing page, or maybe your blog.

But we can’t stress how essential it is to tell people to click on the link.

A call to action triggers users to move towards a sale or subscription.

The Nomadik subscription box does this with a quick call to action line and some emojis pointing towards the landing page link.

nomadik bio

And that’s what’s great about the simplicity of the Instagram link. People aren’t distracted by anything else, as they would be on Facebook. They only see one call to action, one link, and one landing page.

nomadik

This is essential for when you hold sales. A sticker sale at Among the Wild is highlighted in the Instagram bio, with an arrow pointing downwards and a link leading directly to the Stickers page on the website.

ATW

Instagram bio tip #7: boost branding with the help of stories

Although Instagram stories are not technically part of your Instagram bio, the story buttons and icons are shown right below your Instagram bio for users to click on and view the stories.

Therefore, they appear to be part of the bio and link module.

If you use Instagram Stories, we highly recommend designing your icons to reinforce the overall brand colors and imagery. For instance, Printify, a print-on-demand company, showcases its blog and news with little green icons that match the colors of the brand perfectly.

printify - best Instagram bio

It gets even better when you start to add more stories. Take a look at the clean, branded design from the folks who run the Indiana basketball Instagram account. They also cover many other elements, like five emoji stars (five championships,) a short bio, hashtag, and a link to the ticketing website.

IU bball

Best Instagram bio tip #8: let users know what makes you stand out

A unique selling proposition, or USP, is an essential thing for businesses to develop. What makes you unique when compared to the millions of other companies out there? Why is it that users should shop from your store as opposed to the other businesses in your industry?

These are all valid questions that subconsciously float through the minds of consumers. It’s your job to address those questions.

Luckily, your Instagram bio is a wonderful place to share your USP.

The Brown Elephant is a fancier thrift store that uses their proceeds to support the LGBTQ community and people who are under-insured when seeking health services. The only thing they might also say is that the products are much nicer than any thrift store you’ll ever go into.

Regardless, people who also support these movements are bound to follow along on the Instagram page.

brown elephant - best Instagram bio

Another example is from the Parks Project. This is a for-profit company that works closely with the American National Parks. The bio shows users how involved the brand is with the parks. They even go so far as to mention the exact numbers of how much has been donated and how many volunteering hours have been logged.

This looks like an outdoorsman’s dream Instagram account!

parks project

Finally, AppSumo (a deals site for software) sticks to the numbers as well, showing that startups are getting results when following the Instagram page and becoming an AppSumo member.

appsumo

Final thoughts

Whether you’re selling shirts through an online store or making a blog about gardening, Instagram has something for all online and local businesses. Just don’t forget that the Instagram bio is one of the best ways to make a great first impression.

Overall, we recommend you start by making your bio short, descriptive, and broken into separate lines.

Then, look for a few emojis that fit your brand and incorporate any mentions and hashtags that go along with the business.

Finally, seriously think about cleaning up your link and paying for a linking service. Some of these are for sending users to landing pages, while others reveal all of your Instagram posts with links to different pages. Whatever you choose, make sure you have a call to action so that users know what to click on!

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By Joe Warnimont

Joe is a Chicago-based writer focused on social media, WordPress, and eCommerce tools. When not riding his bike in Chicago he's camping in Wisconsin. View Joe's portfolio at joewarnimont.com to contact him and see past work.

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