400+ Instagram bio ideas to copy and paste

What is an Instagram bio & why does it matter?

Ahhh, the Instagram bio. Where we go to find out whether the account that you’re looking at is worth following. Famous people and household name brands might not need to announce who they are and what they do on their bio. But for the majority of us, and lesser-known businesses, your Instagram bio is the place to show yourself off.

Your Instagram bio is only 150 characters – which isn’t much room at all! It is around a line and a half of size 12 text on an A4 sheet. As we all know, first impressions count, so you need to make the most of those 150 characters. You need to be engaging, so people will want to know more. They might scroll through your feed, but why make them work to decide whether to follow you or not? Be direct, and tell them why they should follow you.

With more consumers turning to Instagram to find out about brands, Instagram profiles are as valuable website homepages. Over 200 million people now view Instagram profiles for businesses every single day, and it has been found that over 81% of people use Instagram to decide whether to buy a product – so you don’t want to miss out. If you ignore the bio, or simply put basic information in there, you’re wasting valuable marketing space. With so many other businesses vying for the same audience – especially in the competitive world of eCommerce – your success depends on making the most of all opportunities.

Our post will tackle what to include, and what to avoid putting in your Instagram bio. We’ve added in some ways to make your bio stand out, and we’ve included over 400 ideas you can copy.

What should a great Instagram bio include?

Great photo or company image

As we all know, a picture speaks a thousand words! If your Instagram account is used to promote your business, add your logo. It keeps your branding consistent, and recognizable. If you follow us on Instagram – we’re @avasamsocial – then in between our award nominations (and wins!) you’ll be able to see the consistency in our branding.

If your Instagram account is for personal use only, it’s still important to take care when choosing your picture. Remember social media profiles are easily found by employers (and potential employers!). Although the picture of you at THAT party might be considered funny by your friends, be cautious – you might want to save it for private viewing.

Don’t forget though, your profile photo can be updated when you like, as many times as you like. That means if you’re working with a charity, you’re launching something new, or any other reason, switch it up!

Self-description

The best bios tend to have a self-description. Unless you’re super-famous or a household brand, state who you (or your company) are, and what you do. Keep it short and sweet – remember, you only have 150 characters – but put your most important features in there.

Business users will want to use at least one keyword, especially businesses in niche markets. If your range is gluten free, or your natural beauty products are dermatologically tested, pop it in your Instagram bio. Not only that, consumers as a whole want to know more about the ethics of the brands they work with. So if you’re an ethical brand working with Fairtrade suppliers, mention it on your Instagram bio. If those potential customers have to dig to find that information, they’ll go elsewhere. Make it absolutely clear, straight away.

Interests

Whether you’re writing your personal bio or one for your business, adding your interests is a good idea. It helps potential followers to know that you’ll be adding content that is relevant – or at least interesting – to them. Are you an avid collector of 1980’s toys? Maybe you’re a huge Engelbert Humperdinck fan? Perhaps you’re learning to speak Wookie, or Esperanto? Even if your hobbies or interests are more mainstream, mention them on your bio. You never know who might make contact and turn that hobby or interest into something bigger!

Contact information

Maybe less so if your Instagram is for personal use, but business accounts should definitely add their contact information. You have the option of inviting people to DM you, but other business users tend to like emails. You’re using social media to interact with your followers, (and there are a lot of good reasons to!) so make it easy for them to be social with you! By putting your email address or phone number there, you’re maximising your opportunities.

You can also add clickable links on your bio. This is currently the only place you can add a clickable link on Instagram, and you only get one. That means it’s important to make the most of this prime piece of real estate! Use it wisely. Use it to drive traffic to your website, to your favourite charity, or your Facebook page.

And it’s important to remember, you can update it whenever you like. That means you can keep things interesting, and change it often! Change it when your sale starts, when you start a new collaboration, launch a new product and so on.

Call to action

Followers won’t necessarily search for you outside of Instagram! Whatever you want your followers to do, you need to prompt them to do it. It’s particularly important for businesses to use calls to action. You’re probably already familiar with CTAs, but here’s a few ideas you can use on Instagram (or elsewhere!):

There are loads more ideas for calls to action to consider if your account is a personal one. Add a link to your JustGiving page for your sponsored 10K run, a link to your favourite sports team, and so on. Remember, you can update your bio whenever you like!

What not to include in your instagram bio

We talked about what to avoid in an Instagram caption on our blog before. You’ll need to adhere to the Instagram Community Guidelines, so make sure you’ve read them. As a rule: simply act within the law, and be respectful toward other people and their beliefs. We’ll state these again though, just to be clear – avoid including anything that even hints at any of these!

Don’t forget, if you’re planning to promote gambling on Instagram, you need to get written permission from them first.

If you don’t work within the guidelines, you risk your account being disabled. If your account is for your business, you don’t want the hassle of appealing to Instagram to get your account unlocked – especially when you’ve spent all that time your followers. Keep your posts in good taste and avoid breaking community guidelines to avoid a huge amount of hassle.

Great examples of Instagram bios

Bio ideas for your business account

You can use your bio to drive traffic to your what you’re currently promoting, like Victoria Beckham has done here. She’s highlighting the hashtag that people can use to search, or to tag her in their posts. Beneath that, she’s added a short link to her website, where you can pre-order from the pre-Autumn/Winter collection.

Another great example is the Mercedes AMG F1 bio. They state who they are, what they do, include their hashtag #DrivenByEachOther and include a shortened link to their website.

The team at Boohoo assume you know who they are and what they do – and most of us do! However, they’re inviting engagement from followers, using their own hashtags and their handle. They’ve also added a link to a specific landing page on their website. This allows followers to find items featured on their feed without needing to search, leading to greater conversions.

As with Boohoo, Marks and Spencer take the approach that assumes you already know who they are. As a quintessential British brand, we’d be hard-pressed to find anyone in the UK who hasn’t heard of them! On their bio, they state what they’re sharing, and how to engage with them. Their shortened link takes you to their homepage.

Wondering why their logo is different on this screenshot? That’s them showing their support for Pride month in June. Love is love, and like many other brands, M&S are showing their support for the LGBTQ+ community here. Don’t discount updating your logo as a way to show your support for social issues.

If your brand has several aspects to it, you might choose to have one main account, with others that are linked. Check out the Harrods example below:

The main Harrods account highlights high fashion and accessories for women. That’s not the only thing that Harrods do though! They have different accounts for their menswear, beauty, food and their London-based luxury property estate agent. By keeping these aspects separate, they can showcase different aspects of their business, and followers get what they really want on their feeds.