5 Easy Steps to Organize your Instagram Profile for Business

7 min read

How do you turn your Instagram followers into paying customers? Help them find what they want as quickly and easily as possible.

As your Instagram skills evolve and your posting schedule grows, content overload can take its toll. It’s that pivotal moment when your faithful followers would rather exit your page then scroll through endless posts to find the information they want.

A happy follower is a shopping follower. So help your followers find what they want faster with our easy steps to optimize your business profile on Instagram.

Also: Keep Your Customer: How to Fix Your Store’s Navigation

Step 1. Add Text to Your Instagram Pictures

When followers come to your Instagram account, they see a feed full of photos. Pretty standard Instagram stuff. Unfortunately, sometimes it can be hard to guess which of the beautiful photos will offer more than just eye candy, with information about prices, shipping, sales, or new products.

If your post offers important news alongside its visual flair, drop a short title on the photo. You’ll help your audience avoid missing useful information, and new followers will be able to find answers to their questions more quickly.

text on pictures for selling on instagram

@cakesafe adds text to a picture to announce a special offer

Use text on a photo to mark posts with FAQ, blog categories, sales announcements, special offers, and new collections.

Texts make posts stand out in the @asos feed

If you are selling products on Instagram in a video, create a thumbnail preview with text to maximize your post.

how to sell on instagram in a video thumbnail

@sephora puts text on a video preview

Titles quickly tell your audience what the video is about and if that content would be useful to them.

Followers of @dean.schneider won’t miss a video with a giveaway

Learn more: How to Sell on Instagram: Complete Guide for Beginners

Step 2. Use Hashtags

Hashtags help amplify your content, but they can also be used to adjust your profile navigation for selling on Instagram as well. Start with the name of your account, then create a short hashtag for each type of post you regularly publish: new arrivals, lifehacks, backstage… whatever best communicates your posts. For example, #yourstorename_reviews, #yourstorename_products, and so on.

When you decide on your branded hashtags, make a post with a list of the names and a short annotation for each of your categories. Don’t forget to add text to the picture.

Step 3. Save Everything in Highlights

You can save your Instagram Stories to special folders — Highlights — under your profile’s bio.

how to make instagram shoppable story highlights

@packagefreeshop uses highlights to tell customers about the store’s policies

By storing all your important information in Highlights, followers will be less likely to need to search through your posts to find what they’re looking for.

A highlight with a list of branded hashtags by categories

Then create several highlights with your most important information, like brand story, shipping, prices, customer reviews, contacts, and special offers.

@cm_cardiff use their branded hashtags as titles for highlights

Instagram is all about the visual, so spend some time making covers for your Highlights. Add a highlight with a list of your branded hashtags and a cover titled “Tags” or “Start here” to clue followers in on where to look first.

Try to use the same color or print on your covers to give your account a polished look.

@freshbeauty uses similar looking icons for highlights’ covers

To create your cover, add a picture with a title to Stories → save that story in Highlights → choose it as a cover.

A cover is an Instagram story that you save as a highlight

Also: How to Write a Great Instagram Bio for Your Business Profile

Step 4. Enable Shoppable Posts

Instagram Shoppable posts allow you to tag your products in photos and sell directly to your followers. A product tag provides customers with pricing, details, and a direct link to buy the item in your online store. Which means your followers can complete a purchase without ever leaving their favorite photo app.

Check out our guide to enabling Shoppable posts to find out just how easy it is.

Write “Tap to shop” in the caption, like @poorlydrawnlines, to let followers know the post is shoppable

Also: How Ecwid Merchants Can Now Reach 1 Billion Shoppers

Step 5. Add a Linktree to Your Instagram Bio

You can only add one link to your Instagram bio, but services like Linktree, Lnk.bio, and Campsite.bio let you make the most of it. Use these tools to create a simple web page with quick access to all the most important information on your site, like email signup, pricing details, and your contact page. You’ll never have to choose!

@livelarq shares links to a blog post, “About us,” and their “Sign up” page

Convenient content organization shows your audience that you care about them and their shopping experience, building credibility and helping you look like a social media baller in the process.

How do you organize posts on your Instagram? Share your tips and ideas in the comments.

Do you want to learn more about selling on Instagram?

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May 8, 2019

About the author

Jesse is the Marketing Manager at Ecwid and has been in e-commerce and internet marketing since 2006. He has experience with PPC, SEO, conversion optimization and loves to work with entrepreneurs to make their dreams a reality.