Your Instagram profile ‘above-the-fold’ presence is where followers are earned – or not. This is the place users land when they click through from a username search or tap your username when viewing a photo. You’ve got seven seconds to show people that you’re someone they want to friend up and follow, so the pressure’s on!
Let’s take a look at the five above-the-fold elements that can elevate your Instagram account from ho-hum to #trending influencer.
1. Pick a relevant username
Usernames are searchable, so save your creativity for your feed and avoid getting too abstract. Yours should be your brand name – or a minor variation if someone else has claimed your brand name before you did. Avoid using symbols or numbers if possible: an underscore or period is enough to create a unique name that still shows up in search.
2. Upload an on-brand photo
If yours is a personal brand, choose a photo that’s cropped above the shoulders – the world wants to see your face! Go for friendly but professional, and make sure your photo aligns with both your brand and your content. If you’re a corporation or product-based brand, use a logo, wordmark or favicon. Simple is better, so if your branding is ultra-detailed, try a pared back, IG-only version. Pro Tip: Want to sneak in your brand color into your profile photo? Use the Canva effect that removes the background of your image and swap it with your brand colors to help your profile photo pop! on the platform.
3. Optimize your name field
Your name field should give a bit more detail about what you specialize in. This part of your profile is searchable, so think keywords! What are the terms people are using when they’re looking for products or services like yours? Use those in this section. Some examples… yourname + social strategist or yourname | author. Like the username field, you’ve got 30 characters to work with, so make them work for you! Get this right and you’ll show up in way more searches.
4. Write a short but killer bio
Be specific in who you help
Your bio is the meat of your above-the-fold profile presence. Outline who you help, and how you help them. No need to worry right now about keywords in this section right now, as it’s not searchable.
Give social proof
Add in elements that help cement your expertise and through leadership in your industry. A great way to do this is add a line about results your clients have had by working with you or share some media placements that have featured you for your work. You could write things like “seen in Forbes,” “Clients secured over $100k in revenue” or “Helped 200 women lose a collective 1100 lbs.” Be sure these aren’t inflated numbers, be truthful here! And have a direct CTA that inspires users to click your link (“Get 5 tips to grow your conversions” or “Register for my content workshop” “DM me for the your free consultation”). Keep everything clear, on brand and actionable.
Have a call-to-action
Give your audience something to take action on! Remember you can change this up to reflect your latest offer, service, product or launch. You want to inspire others to click and become a lead and then eventually a paying client. Some ideas to get you thinking… “get 5 tips to grow your conversions,” “register for my content workshop” “DM for a free consultation,” or “DM to get 10% your next purchase.”
5. Include a strategic link
The link in your bio is the only place on Instagram with a clickable link, so make sure it pulls its weight. Don’t just link to your homepage: create an IG-specific landing page and link to that. Got more than one thing you want people to see? Multi-link 3rd-party tools like Linktr.ee may be popular, but you’ll lose a ton of valuable analytics info that way. Instead, create a landing page on your own site with links to key areas, downloads or forms. The URL can be something like yourbusinesswebsite.com/instagram-links
Here’s what mine looks like.
You can easily make changes when you need to – and you can track your traffic and where it’s going.
Today’s the day to make sure your Instagram above-the-fold presence shine! Implement these suggestions and let me know how you do – or drop me a line if you need some help building an IG presence your followers can’t get enough of.
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