How to write an Instagram bio for a business

An Instagram bio for a business has one job: tell a stranger what you do, where you do it and what to do next, before they scroll away. Instagram gives you up to 150 characters for it. That is enough for three short lines, and three lines are all you need. Here is a simple formula, made-up but realistic examples, and the parts of the profile around the bio that do half the work for you.

The bio is only one part of the profile

When someone opens your profile, they see several fields at once. Each one has its own job, so the bio does not have to carry everything.

The category and contact details live under Public business information when you edit a business account. If people can call you, show the phone number there, and use the bio for something else.

One more thing worth setting while you are in there: if your Instagram account is connected to a Facebook Page, Instagram's help center says the address on that Page is what puts your business on the Instagram Map. After you edit the address and connect the accounts, the location shows up on the map within 48 hours.

A bio in three lines

Write it in this order and you will rarely go wrong:

1. What you do and where. The service or product, plus your town or neighborhood. "Custom cakes in Burlington" beats "Baked with love".
2. One reason to choose you, or one practical fact. Same-day service, walk-ins welcome, open late, a specialty nobody else nearby does.
3. The next step. Book, order, call, visit. Point it at your link or your contact details.

Skip the slogan unless it also tells people what you sell. A stranger who does not know you yet cannot decode "Where the magic happens".

Before and after

All four businesses below are made up. In the "after" column, a slash marks a line break.

Every "after" version stays between 100 and 115 characters, well under the limit. That leaves room for a seasonal line when you need one.

Notice what changed. The "before" versions talk about feelings. The "after" versions answer the three questions a new visitor has: is this for me, is it near me, and how do I start.

Links and buttons: let them do the heavy lifting

Instagram lets you add up to 5 websites to your profile. Five does not mean you should use five. A local business usually needs one: the page where people book, order or see your menu. If you have two very different actions, such as booking a table and buying gift cards, two links are fine.

Whatever the link is, the bio should say what is behind it. "Book online below" tells people what will happen when they tap. A bare link with no words around it gets ignored.

If you want people to message you rather than call, say so: "DM us for a quote" is a perfectly good last line.

What to leave out

• Your full address and phone number in the bio text, if they already show as contact info. You are spending characters twice.
• A list of every service. Name the one or two that bring most of your business. The rest belongs in your posts and highlights. Our Instagram story ideas cover what to put in highlights.
• Hashtag strings. They eat characters and make the bio harder to read.
• Anything that goes out of date without you noticing: last month's promotion, "new location coming soon" a year later, winter hours in July.
• Inside jokes and abbreviations only regulars understand.

Write it, then test it

Before you save, run three quick checks:

1. The five-second test. Show your profile to a friend for five seconds, then take the phone away. Ask what you sell and where. If they cannot say, line one needs work.
2. The phone test. Look at the profile on your own phone, not on a computer. Long lines wrap differently, and a line break in the wrong place can split your town name in two.
3. The match test. Your profile picture, name and bio should look like the same business people see on your sign and your Google profile. Our guide to brand colors and fonts helps with the look.

Then put a reminder in your calendar for every change of season. Updating the bio takes two minutes, and it is often the first thing a customer reads before they visit.

Want us to tidy it up?

If you only have Instagram and the steps above make sense, you can do this yourself in twenty minutes. Where it gets tedious is doing the same on Facebook, Google and every other network, and keeping them in line with each other.

That is what our one-time Profile Makeover is for, at $79. We write a clear bio on every network in your plan, size your profile picture and cover for each, set one link that sends people to the right place, make highlight covers that match, and pin your best posts. We need access to your accounts first, and you see every change before it goes live. It is listed with our other one-time jobs on the pricing page.