Many people have ignored any other social media platform and focused all of their energies on Facebook. To be fair, it is the largest social media platform and shows no signs of slipping. However, as a business on Facebook, things have been getting harder and harder. This is why we need to look at spending some time building our audience at other places online. It makes sense to consider targeting the second largest social media platform – Instagram.
Selecting your username
It is critically important that you select your username carefully. It will allow people to easily identify your business. Your username must be:
- all one word
- all lowercase
- no longer than 30 characters
- it can include letters, numbers, symbols and characters
Your username is the first thing people will see when they look at your account so choose something that makes you easy to identify.
Selecting your account name
Underneath the username on your profile is your account name – you can make this your personal name if people will readily identify your name with your business (as is the case with me and my business). I recommend that you add some “flair” to your account name using emojis. You can add emojis on to your phone by installing a plug-in app or keyboard or if you are on a desktop, you can install emoji extensions such as Emoji for Chrome. (We will be referring back to emojis later)
Creating your bio
Your bio is a very short description that tells people a little more about you or your business. It is limited to 150 characters so you need to make it work hard for you. You can include your website in this section so the website section can be used for changing lead magnet links. Some tips for writing a good bio:
- Go with the who, what and why: who you are, what you do and why you are different
- Show something a little unique to make you stand out from “stock profiles”
- Have a little brag if you have won an award or been in the media
Adding your website
Instagram only allows you to put in one website link – this must be done under the website section when setting up your account. BUT, you do not need to enter your website here. You can include a link to something that you may want people to sign up to such as a lead magnet or an event or online purchase. You can change this frequently so do not be afraid to play around with lots of options here. Your bio is a very short description that tells people a little more about you or your business.
Adding a profile pic
I suggest that you use your business logo. If you have had a square version of your logo made for your Facebook page, this fits nicely as your profile photo on Instagram.
You can only load and changed your profile pic from the Instagram app not on the desktop version.
Options
It is really important that you have your account open so that others can easily find you and follow you. You need to ensure your account is set to public. To do this you need to go in to the options menu. This is found by clicking on the 3 dots on the top right of your profile.
Once you are in the options section, you need to ensure the private account option at the bottom right is turned off.
It will only take you a few minutes to get your account set up and then you are off and running.