Instagram Profile Ideas

The ultimate guide to setting up your Instagram profile and bio: How to make your Instagram profile attractive, searchable, and optimized for client or patient conversions.

If you want to know how to make your Instagram profile look good, it goes beyond the aesthetics of colors, filters, and fonts.

Did you know that the only two things that are “searchable” on your profile are the bold “Name” line and your handle/username? If they can’t FIND you, they can’t FOLLOW you!

While I was Marie Kondo-ing who I was following last night, I realized that MOST EVERY ACCOUNT I SAW wasn’t taking advantage of this valuable 45-character real estate.

If “what you do” isn’t part of your handle/username, the “Name” line certainly should be.

  • Example: My handle/username is @mollyacahill (doesn’t say what I do) so my “Name” line says “Instagram Expert.”

When someone uses the “search” function of Instagram, make sure your name line uses keywords they would search for. 

Instagram bio examples of keywords include:

  • Your name
  • Your business name (if different)
  • Your city/town (if you just pull a local audience- this one is HUGE to help drive local traffic)
  • Your “job” – if you choose this option, make sure you don’t abbreviate or use acronyms that a layperson wouldn’t know to search for. “Chiro” is ok, because it’s still the root of the word. But “IIN” (a certification for health coaches) probably isn’t being searched as much as “health coach.”

Check out this before and after shot for one of our Instagram Management clients. Before, her username and Name line were redundant. Now, she is searchable by business name (Lee Wellness Chiropractic in her @ handle/username), her name (Dr. Abby Lee in Name line), and location (Keller Chiro in Name line).

? HACK: The best way to test this is to have someone who ISN’T following you try to search for you. Here are some more examples:

When you type something into search on Instagram, this is the view you see. ⬆️

Do you see why it’s helpful to diversify and make your @ handle (username) and NAME line different?

❗️Warning: You can only change your Instagram Name once every two weeks. Do not play around with ideas inside Instagram- use this free character counter instead (30 characters max).

What should I write in my Instagram bio?

Contrary to what it’s called, your Instagram bio isn’t really about you. ?Your Instagram bio, if written effectively, can convert a scroller into a patient or client.

You only get 150 characters in your Instagram bio (this is separate from the “NAME” line where you get 30). I like to use this free character counter website to play around with ideas.

This is the place where you state who you serve and the transformation you provide as specifically as possible.

Make sure you speak to a CONCRETE, TANGIBLE version of their pain point or problem.

If you’re a subluxation-based chiropractor, that’s awesome! But… no one sits around thinking “man I really need to call my chiropractor for this subluxation.” Instead, your potential patient probably thinks:

“I wish I wasn’t losing days of my life in bed with migraines.”

Or “I don’t sleep well and my sinuses are constantly stuffy.”

Or “I can barely play with my kids because my back hurts.”

If you’re a health coach? Women don’t sit around Googling “How to get back to my best self” or “How to live my best life.”

They ask “how to avoid an afternoon energy slump”

or “easy meal ideas.”

Always keep this in mind when writing copy/speaking on video and ESPECIALLY use this prompt to craft your bio.

Strangers on the internet aren’t going to follow you because you’re a “coffee and wine-loving mom who helps women live their best life.”

Check out this before and after from my Holistic Marketing Hub student, Deanna, who is a health coach:

Much more compelling and clear, right?

If you’re pressed for ideas, then open a blank document and brain-dump these two things:

  1. Write down all the reasons your most recent IDEAL client or patient hired you/came to your office. Do you see common threads? 
  2. Go to your Google or Facebook reviews and copy/paste their wording. This literally shows you what words your ideal patients or clients are using! Don’t have reviews yet? Use a competitor’s reviews who serves the same market as you.

Should I use hashtags in my bio?

Probably not. A hashtag in your bio only makes people want to click that hashtag, which leads them AWAY from your page. It doesn’t help with searchability. The exception to this is if you have a branded hashtag that showcases your work, like if you were a photographer or graphic designer. The only time I could see this applying to someone in the health and wellness space is if you were running some type of event or challenge, like #5daysmoothiereset.

End with a strong call to action

The last line of your bio will appear directly above your website once you publish your new bio to your Instagram profile, so use that to add a call-to-action (CTA).

Examples:
Free Meal Prep Guide ⬇️
Book a Call ⬇️
Book an Appointment ⬇️
Supplement Mini Course ⬇️

Avoid things like:
Website ⬇️
Blogs ⬇️

As those aren’t compelling enough for someone to click.

Best Instagram Profile Photo and Instagram Profile Picture Ideas

If you are a service-based business, which most health and wellness professionals are, your profile photo should be a close-up shot of YOU, the service provider, and not your logo. An exception to this is if you are in a large practice with 3+ providers, in which case a group shot would be too small for Instagram.⠀

To make sure the photo is cropped closely enough, see what it looks like as someone sees on their feed, not as it appears on your profile. Remember that you can’t click on someone’s profile photo to make it larger like you can on Facebook.

Larger brands and businesses with multiple people can use their logo in place of a photo, but be sure it’s a version of your logo that is visually clean and easy to read as it appears on someone’s feed.

See here how text on a logo doesn’t work well as an Instagram profile photo:

If your logo has a main graphic with smaller text underneath, for example, consider cropping out the smaller text underneath and go with the larger more recognizable graphic.⠀

Instagram has provided a way to make businesses and brands personal like never before, and people want to do business with a human. ?

Instagram is different from Facebook in that you can’t add a clickable link to your posts, so instead, you have to direct people to your “link in bio.” 

How to put a clickable link in your Instagram bio?

This is added from the “Edit Profile” section just like everything else above, and there are a few options for the best link in bio.

If you only have ONE place you drive traffic, then that link alone is fine. Example: If you’re a brick-and-mortar chiropractic office that solely uses your website to book appointments.

But, if you have MULTIPLE places or links you want to promote, then we recommend free and easy services like Linktr.ee or Canva.

SEO experts would say that your Instagram link in bio should be an actual page on your website, and although that is best practice, I have found it too time-consuming to switch out links every time I am promoting something different.

Even if you DO have multiple links you like to promote, consider using just ONE link during promotional periods. Example: If your goal for the month is to grow your email list and you have an awesome free download, just have that link during that time.

For more tips on how to set up a link in bio that people actually want to click on, check out THIS Instagram post.

Were these tips helpful? I’d love to see if you made the change!

?Take a screenshot of the before and after, and post on your stories and tag @mollyacahill!

Cheers! ?Molly

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