Does your Instagram bio matter?

Oh, yes. And here’s why you should care:

Many of your potential customers get their first impression of your business from social media. You know how it used to be all about the business card? Well, now it’s all about the Instagram bio.

When someone finds your profile, it only takes them a couple of seconds before they decide if they’ll follow you (before you say anything, a new follower doesn’t equal a new customer, but it’s a good first step). And with just 150 characters available, you have to make sure each one of them counts.

It’s crucial that every potential customer finds all the information they need in these few sentences. Otherwise, they might just click away.

Your bio should include all the relevant information a customer might need, and it should be free of fluff that doesn’t add value. Adding an emoji or two is fine, but writing your entire bio in emojis and hoping potential customers will waste their time deciphering it? Let’s be real, this is not 2003 and you’re not on AIM.

What is this relevant information, you say? Here goes:

• who you are and what you do (aka your elevator pitch)

• call-to-action (aka what you want people to do once they read your bio)

• working links (aka your website, your latest offer or affiliate link - Instagram finally allows adding more than one link in your bio, so take advantage of this new feature! )

Take a moment to open the Instagram app on your phone and edit your bio to have all the items on the checklist. Then go ahead and scroll for a while, you’ve earned it.

P.S. Of course, this applies to other social networks as well. Even if Instagram isn’t part of your social media marketing strategy, pretty sure potential clients will still want to know who you are and where your website is.