How to optimise your Instagram profile for growth and conversions

Instagram has come a long way since the platform’s first ever photo, a dog sitting by a taco stand in Mexico.

Since launching as a photo-editing app in 2010, it’s grown into a space where one-billion users share, scroll, swipe and shop each month. In 2020, Instagram’s augmented-reality filters have become increasingly popular modes of escapism as the world locked down and stayed at home.

As we navigate Instagram’s second decade, here are a few hacks for improving your Instagram profile’s presence on the platform.

Make your Instagram profile discoverable

It’s important to remember that Instagram is a search engine, so using relevant keywords in your bio will help make your profile more discoverable.

Make sure you pick keywords that are related to your brand or the services that you offer. Whether you’re a photographer or a blogger, or you’ve finally decided to sell your homemade face masks on the ‘gram after realising 80 masks are too many for one person, make this obvious. Don’t assume people will scroll through your posts to figure this out. Take a look at the bio descriptions that similar brands or businesses are using to inspire you.

If you’re setting up a profile to offer services locally, make sure your location is visible too.

Treat your Instagram profile like a homepage

Your Instagram profile is a potential follower’s first stop and it needs to offer them the information they’re seeking, like a homepage.

A great way to do this is though Stories Highlights. First, think about what you’d like your followers to know about you or your brand. Do you want users to scan a menu, browse products or read a blog you’ve written? Next, create Instagram Stories about these topics and add them as Stories Highlights.

Think of each Highlight as a page on your website. Make sure each highlight has a clear call-to-action, depending on whether you want users to head to the link in your bio or to swipe up to click a link.

Note: adding links to Instagram Stories is only possible if you have over 10,000 followers. If you’re not quite there yet, you can still direct people to the link in your bio.

To make your Stories Highlights even more enticing, keep titles concise and create on-brand cover images for each one. Three brands I follow that create great Stories Highlights, while using their brand’s colour palettes, are Alex Munroe Jewellery, Girls in Marketing and Yonder.

Tip: use canva.com to create cover images for Stories Highlights.

Not only can you tell your story and showcase your USP through Highlights, you can also direct traffic to the pages where people are most likely to convert.

Add multiple links to your Instagram bio

If you can’t decide on one link for your Instagram bio, don’t worry. You don’t have to pick just one. There are lots of free tools out there that you can use to expand the breadth of your bio. My favourites tools for your link in bio are linktr.ee and linkin.bio.

With linktr.ee, you can add multiple links alongside a description that users see when they click the link in your bio. You could drive people to a blog post, an email signup form and a donate page, for example.

With linkin.bio, you can choose to display an image from your Instagram post alongside each link. This is handy if your Instagram posts frequently refer users to the link in your bio and you don’t want them to get lost along the way.

Stylist Magazine uses linkin.bio to direct people from their posts to different pages on their website.

Create a consistent Instagram aesthetic

It may have changed a lot in the last ten years, but Instagram is still an app that’s all about the aesthetic. Having a professional-looking feed is great for follower growth and will help drive conversions too. It doesn’t need to be glossy, as long as it’s a consistent look and feel that fits your brand.

If you’re not sure how to visually organise your posts, explore examples of different grid layouts. My favourite layout is ‘tiles’, which you can easily replicate by alternating photos and quote graphics, for example. Once you’ve created a look that stands out, stick to it.

These three accounts I follow all organise their feeds in different ways, from writer rachel.cargle’s tonal tiles to artist ledania’s consistently colourful photos.

Tip: use planoly.com to preview how posts will look on your feed before you share them on Instagram. This will help you stick to your grid layout.

Use these hashtag hacks

Using hashtags on Instagram posts is like using keywords on a webpage. It makes them more discoverable. But you wouldn’t expect Google to drive quality traffic to your webpage by simply stuffing keywords onto it, would you? Well, the same principle applies to hashtags on Instagram posts.

Use hashtags wisely and you’ll reap the awards. Luckily, you can use four or five of the same hashtags regularly on each of your posts. But if you use over five of the same hashtags regularly, the Instagram algorithm will think you’re spam.

The trick is to keep refreshing the hashtags that you’re using. Regularly search for hashtags that are related to your industry and check hashtags that appear in the top posts for that search. You can also check which hashtags influencers are using.

The top posts displayed by Instagram are posts that have received the most engagement in shortest amount of time.

Don’t just save hashtags for your Instagram posts, add them to Stories and Reels, too. If you want to use lots of hashtags in your Stories, but keep your Stories looking clean, you can hide the hashtags by either changing the colour of the text to the background colour or by putting them behind a sticker.

Hiding hashtags: simply type out your hashtags, pinch the text to make it smaller, and place a sticker over the top. Et voilà! Your hashtags are hidden away, but working secretly in the background to make your Stories more discoverable.

Stalk your audience

I’m not normally an advocate for stalking, but when it’s for audience research, then I can get behind it. It’s not as creepy as it sounds, so hear me out.

What I mean by stalking your audience is simply this: go where your potential followers go on Instagram. Step into their social media realms. If you’re a food blogger and want to attract local foodies, follow local restaurants and other food bloggers and engage with their posts. Drop comments where your potential followers will see them.

This will increase your presence on the platform and help you organically grow your following.

Keep doing all of the above and building up your presence on Instagram. I’d love to hear how it goes or if you have any extra Instagram tips.