How a Good Business Instagram Profile Should Look Like

Diogo Costa
Jul 24, 2017 · 4 min read

With Instagram's significant increase in number of users, and also with respect to the bigger and bigger amount of companies that use it, it has become crucial for marketers on duty to include this social network as part of their social media marketing strategy.

The best Instagram profiles have some things in common, including easily identifiable usernames, a recognizable profile photo, a truly informative bio, a link to a landing page or a relevant campaign, and some beautiful photos, among other facts laid out below. If used correctly, then can truly help to grow your Instagram account.

Easily searchable company name

Make sure you add your full business name in the "name" section of your profile in Instagram. This will appear on your profile photo and on your username in the search results, thus contributing for interested people to find your company way more easily. To edit your business name just head to the profile page and click "Edit Profile."

Private profile is a mistake

By default, your Instagram profile will be public – meaning anyone in the world can see your posts and your profile on this social network. If you are creating an Instagram profile with a business focus, then you want to make sure that visitors are able to see your posts and follow your brand, if they wish. Otherwise, if you keep your profile private, anyone visiting it will not be able to see your photos, which may prevent them from following you.

Brand's profile picture

The profile photo is one of the first things people see when they visit a profile on Instagram. This happens because it is displayed prominently throughout the platform, so it is important and should be taken into high regard. Also, it must be easily recognizable – something that is in line with your other social networks. For most companies, a nice and sharp version of their logo will do just fine.

Pleasant and informative bio

Just like in the profile photo, your "bio" (that is, the description at the top of your profile) is one of the first things your profile visitors will see. You have a maximum of 150 characters, so use them to let people know what you are about to offer and give them a strong reason to follow that profile. Include who you are and what you do, and be sure to add a dash of personality. This space can also be used to encourage some action, such as using a particular hashtag or clicking on a link in your bio.

One of the biggest frustrations people have with Instagram – especially businesses – is that it is not exactly a great platform for driving traffic to a website, Twitter page, or anywhere else. This is because clickable URLs are not allowed anywhere except in the bio website box of your profile in Instagram.

That is why you will want to add a link to your "site" in the bio box. This makes it easy to direct Instagram people to your site, blog, or a specific campaign. A trick to make people click on the link in your bio is to mention the link in individual photo captions. Get users involved by updating this URL frequently, to target the company's latest blog, video, product, or offer.

Always go for high quality photos

High quality photos are a huge part of an optimized profile on Instagram. When people visit a profile, the first thing they will do is walk through the top ten or more photos in your feed. The quality of these photos will be a big factor in deciding whether or not they will follow a given profile. Followers on other networks, such as Twitter, may forgive some bad tweets, but definitely you will not want bad pictures in your Instagram account.

So, this is the thinking to be made: if you do not have anything awesome to publish, then do not post anything. There are three ingredients for a beautiful photo on Instagram: an interesting and relevant subject, a well made and well structured photo, and a solid editing work.

Regular and consistent publications

An optimized Instagram profile is an active one. With photo quality in mind, you do not have to worry about posting several times a day as you do for most other social media networks. Instead, focus on creating high-quality content and publish at the right times for your specific audience.

Diogo Costa

Written by

Programmer, tech guy, musician and photographer. Only the first is for real, though.

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