Are you making the most out of your Instagram profile? You only have some limited space, so figuring out how to be intentional with everything you put into your Instagram profile is critically important and a huge opportunity.
Your Handle
When you get an Instagram account, you get assigned a handle by Instagram. Typically that handle is very random. It’s an assortment of numbers and words that doesn’t say anything about you.
- So, the first thing you want to do is to make sure that your Instagram handle says something about you.
Resist the urge to be overly clever, okay? People who don’t know you are looking at your account and you want them to have a very, very clear understanding of who you are, what you’re about and how you serve. If they have to try to figure it out or if it feels overly cute, clever and purposely vague, they’re going to move on.
Change your handle to something that makes sense. Mine is @coachtracey_p, I’ve had that for quite some time. I am a coach – I am a certified wellness coach, I’m a personal trainer, I’m a mindset coach, I’m a marketing coach. That’s me – I’m a coach! It makes sense, it’s connected to who I am.
Make your handle makes sense. And for all that’s magnetic in the world, change it from what Instagram assigned to you because that’s just the algorithm that has no reflection of who you really are and how you serve.
Your Profile Picture
Next is your profile picture. The Instagram profile picture is tiny so you need to make sure that this picture is of your face up close.
I’m talking to you, social seller. You are not your company. You’re not where you last went on vacation. You’re not a pretty flower that you found. This is your account, put your face on there.
Side note: invest in getting some good pictures of yourself. It does not have to be a professional photographer; you can just do your hair and makeup, put your phone on a self-timer and get a picture of you.
Your Name
Under your picture is the space for your name or anything you want to put on there.
Pro Tip: everything in here is searchable.
So, for example, my name says Tracey Pontarelli Social Sales. I coach social sellers and if someone searches social sales or social sellers, I’m going to pop up somehow. So, go ahead and change that.
Again, nothing purposely vague that doesn’t say anything about why someone should follow you. Be intentional here, use this as a little calling card to tell people why they should follow you.
Your Bio
This is where it gets tricky.
This part really has to do with going back to some of the work we did on personal branding (if you check my bio, I’m always offering a personal brand challenge; either I’m running one or you can sign up for another one).
You need to figure out your personal brand and in order to do that, you need to think about:
- Who you are
- What you do
- Why people should listen to you
- How you help them
- What resources do you provide that they can access
Line number one is what you do and why people should listen, a little bit of your credibility.
Line number two is about who you help and how you help.
My first line says: helping social sellers go from spammy to magnetic.
My second line says six-figure wellness boss teaching attraction, magnetic personal branding, and social sales.
I would encourage you to continue to go back and just play with this. Change it, sit with that, go back, and play with it. It’s okay if you change it. Keep playing with it and keep working on improving your bio.
Your Link
The final piece is the link.
If you’ve noticed, I haven’t said anything about the company you work for. I believe that profile should not include the name of the company you work for – this is your personal brand. You can include a link down below and in the link have some information about the products, services, and companies that you are partnered with, that’s great.
My suggestion is to use Milkshake. It’s super easy to use, it has a lot of easy aesthetics to it and it’s free.
My milkshake has my latest courses, some freebies that I give away, and it has a link to my wellness company that I’m partnered with and where to get my discounts. It’s all in there and it gives people a place to go.
Make Your Account Public
My final advice is to make your account a creator account or a business account. Don’t forget to make your account public. If there’s something on your account that you don’t want people to see, you have to make the decision of what your account is about. Making your account public is the only way new people are going to find you.
Link your Instagram to your Facebook because that’s super helpful and you can always opt-out of that if you’re posting something you don’t want to be posted to both channels.
Hopefully, this has sparked some curiosity in you and if you have any questions, please feel free to get in touch with me.
In the meantime, remember, you are magnetic and people are waiting to hear what you have to say.
Love,
Tracey.
