How to Optimize your Instagram Profile
Let’s be real. Spring cleaning is just the more popular sister to fall cleaning.
Spring cleaning consists of getting rid of things to make space for new things. Fall cleaning consists of getting rid of things to make space for holiday decorations. 🎄
Lucky for you, cleaning up your social media is a lot simpler than cleaning up your house. And it’ll be even simpler after we walk through my profile optimization checklist!
What is Profile Optimization and Why Do I Need It?
Profile optimization is the act of keeping your social media profiles up to date on all the newest SEO standards so that it ranks better when people are searching for profiles like yours. It’s important because it improves your online professionalism and increases your visibility and reach on the platform.
While keywords are a big player in profile optimization, it also includes tasks like making sure you have your website linked in your bio or that your business label category is displayed on your profile.
With so many different features on Instagram, it can be challenging to remember everything you need to update and check in on. That’s why I’m giving you FREE access to my step-by-step Instagram profile optimization cheat sheet!
Step-by-Step Checklist to Optimizing your Instagram Profile
The first step in profile optimization is breaking down the different parts of your profile.
Let’s break down best optimization practices step-by-step:
Profile Image: This is the face of your brand. Use a headshot or brand logo. If you are the only person in your company, use a headshot. If you want less face recognition and more brand recognition, use a logo. Make sure it is a clear, high-quality image where people can see your face/logo. If you’re using a logo, make sure the entire logo fits within the profile image space.
Name: If you want first name recognition, include your name (especially if it is something people will be searching). If you want more brand recognition add the name of your company. After you have the first part of your name added, if you have space, also add your title or details about the company utilizing keywords. Think of the most common things people will search when looking for your company. Add those keywords.
Business Label: Your business category label tells your audience what you do. Make sure that your business category is displayed on your profile in settings. Make sure that it accurately matches your business. Think of this like a bonus keyword.
Bio Link: In the past year, Instagram released a new feature allowing you to have multiple links in your bio. Use this to add a link to your website as well as your storefront, or link to book appointments. If you have multiple links, make sure to name your links so that your audience doesn’t get confused on where they are going.
Instagram Feed: Instagram is an app of aesthetic and cohesive-ness. This means making sure photos that are on your feed (the first photo in a carousel and covers for your reels) are high quality images with good lighting. Use the same fonts and color palate for all posts, reels, and carousels.
Instagram Bio: Your bio should show your personality while also having searchable keywords so that people can find you. Make sure that your keywords look natural. Use your competitors or Instagram inspirations bios as inspiration for your own.
Instagram Story Highlights: These are used to save stories to your profile so that they can be watched again later. Highlights should be cohesive graphics or one color. They should not be busy images. The title of your highlights can also be keywords. Having highlights makes your profile look more professional. Read more about them here.
Reels Feed: This is where all of your reels show up. You can also hide reels that don't look cohesive or aesthetic on your feed by putting them in the Reel feed instead of the Instagram Feed.
NOTE: Something else to keep in mind is your username. Make sure that it is either the name of your business or something very close. If there is an option to have your username be your business name without “_” or “.”, always choose the one without. Simpler the better.
Your Challenge: Optimize your Profile! 📸
Take that list of keywords we gathered yesterday and put them to use!
Go through this checklist and optimize your profile! I can’t wait to see what you come up with!
Happy optimizing! 😆
