Gone are the days where the sheer number of followers you have is all that really matters. Instagram has become a digital business card and portfolio. When someone pops over to your profile, they don’t waste a second determining whether or not they want to follow you. So that begs the question, is your Instagram profile worthy enough for someone to follow? Today, we’re showing you how to create a killer Instagram profile that stands out and gets you noticed.

First, let’s start with what exactly matters most to your followers on your Instagram profile.

The best Instagram profiles have a few things in common:

Make Your @Username Simple

Choosing an Instagram username can be tough. It is the single most important aspect of a brand. A good name helps personal brands and businesses stand out and become memorable.

Although you can change your username at anytime, it’s best to decide on one that you will stick with.

If you ever DO decide to change it – any tags or mentions that you’ve gain with that username will be lost.

Create consistency across your social media platforms by using the same username for each one. Click To Tweet

Your username should be easy to spell in search. It’s best to use your personal name, or your brand name.

Don’t use emojis, characters and crazy letter combinations. They may look cute, but these make it harder for people to find you!

Save the emojis for your Instagram bio.

Use A Professional Profile Photo

On an average day, you may just throw on a pair of jeans and a t-shirt and call it good. But now imagine that you’re getting ready for a blind date. You want to look extra good right? So you pull together your sexiest outfit, spend a bit more time on your hair and cross your fingers that it goes well.

Your Instagram followers are your blind date. The minute they lay eyes on your profile photo, you want to wow them.

Unless you’re already a recognizable brand like Target or Nike, or have a team of people in your company, don’t use a logo. Instead, use a professional headshot.

People connect with people. A face builds trust and communicates that there is a human being behind the brand.

In order to be memorable, people have to recognize you.

Use the same profile photo across all of your social media accounts to build trust. Click To Tweet

Think, does your profile photo meet this criteria?

• You’ve used a solid colored background for your headshot.
• The photo is well lit.
• You’re making eye contact and showing your smile.
• You’ve cropped in close to your face.

Whatever you do, please don’t use a grainy selfie! Not only will it look completely unprofessional, but it won’t stand out.

Finally, show your personality! People want to know who you are, so don’t be afraid to be yourself. There is only one YOU in this world. Be proud of that.

Blow Their Mind With Your Bio

Your profile photo is your first visual impression, now comes the talking part. What you choose to say in your bio is key to winning new followers over.

Think of your bio as your welcome mat. Make sure to greet each visitor as if it is their first time meeting you.

Your Instagram bio should be clear, concise and descriptive. Click To Tweet

Unfortunately, your Instagram bio cannot exceed 150 characters. So make each one count.

A quick glance at your bio should tell people :

• Who you are
• What you do
• Where you are located
• What they can expect
• How to contact you
• …and what they should do next.

These are all super important elements that people will be looking for.

Include Your Email

If you’re a business, Instagram just rolled out business profiles which enables you to have a contact and follow button. This way if someone likes something they see in your feed and want to get a hold of you, they don’t have to jump through hoops to do so.

Make it simple for people to contact you on Instagram. Click To Tweet

This is the age of short attention spans. Don’t lose a potential client because they have no way of contacting you.

Use Line Breaks And Emojis

Emojis

Love em’ or hate them, they are part of the millennial generation. Use emojis to break up your bio text. In a world of business, it is unexpected. Just don’t over do it!

Line Breaks

These can be tricky. First, write your bio in your notes app on iOS or Android. Between each line, hit the return key to create a line break. Then, copy and paste onto your Instagram profile.

Don’t forget, your bio can only be 150 characters long. Here is an example of our Instagram profile @moosestudio and how we use line breaks.

Give A Call To Action

A call to action (CTA) is a phrase that encourages someone to take action.

So what exactly what you want your followers to do?

• Read your latest blog post?
• Purchase your newest product?
• Sign up for your monthly newsletter?

Once you decide, give them directions on how to do that in your bio and link to it.

Update Your URL Link

Lastly is your url link below your bio description. This is the one place Instagram lets you place a link and it is super important to utilize this space.

Therefore, tracking the url link will help you measure the effectiveness of one call to action (CTA) over another.

Our secret weapon of choice: Bit.ly

Bit.ly is a url shortener and link management software. And even better, it’s free!

For instance, say you want to link to your latest ebook for sale. Open the bit.ly website, paste your url and it will automatically shorten the link for you to track in your account. The best part about bit.ly are the analytics they provide for you to analyze.

After using our tips to change your Instagram profile, share a link to it in the comments below so we can see!

Building and growing an Instagram account has a lot of moving parts. If you don’t have a solid strategy to follow, it can get messy and overwhelming.

That’s why we’ve created the #InstauthorityChallenge, a FREE step-by-step email course that teaches you how to build a solid foundation and grow your Instagram in just 7 days.

If you want to grow your Instagram in 2017, it’s time to start planning NOW.

We can’t wait to show you everything we’ve been working on. It really has been years in the making and we can barely contain our excitement! You can REGISTER here now.