Best Instagram bios for musicians – one of the things that come up in my consultant work very often. You might wonder, why does such a tiny aspect takes centre stage?
Here’s the thing, it is actually not so tiny at all. First of all, it is the first line of content you put out on Instagram. Secondly, it summarised your profile before someone even had time to check out your posts.
Ultimately, it is a Unique Selling Proposition embedded within the Instagram world.
A Unique Selling Proposition is a one-sentence description of what makes your company unique and valuable to its target audience.
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Having a generic Instagram bio shows anyone visiting that you don’t really care. You are not using your passions for music in order to draw anyone into your own little universe.
Here’s the thing: you don’t only need a short bio for Instagram. Whenever someone asks you about your music you should be able to quickly answer them in one to two sentences.
There are many spaces where you can implement your short bio. For example, use it for all your other social media channels to keep the message coherent. No matter if you are on Twitter, TikTok or YouTube. Having a short form Bio can really help amp up your message.
How to come up with Instagram bios for musicians
There are a couple of questions and points that can help you figure out what your USP is.
- Your target audience: who are you targeting with your Instagram channel at large?
Being super precise about the target audience is a longstanding pet peeve of mine. However, this goes to show that there is really no way around a good old target audience research! What language is your target audience speaking? Keep your bio in the native language of the majority of your audience. Also what music genre would you place your music in? Are there any specific references or slang words that could indicate the feeling your content will deliver? If you are just starting out as a musician, most of those questions will have hypothetical answers at first that you will need to vet after some time. Make sure to always plan moments of interoception into your digital strategy to see if your hypothesises are still valid.
- What makes you and your music unique? Why do you stand out in a sea of other musicians? Capitalise on your strengths and give your followers a sneak peek of your sound. This is crazy, once someone has landed on your Instagram profile there is no direct way in order to hear your music. Make sure to incorporate it as much as possible in Stories that you save as Highlights as well as in Feed Posts. However, your Instagram bio needs to portray your music in such an enticing way that people will actually click on anything rather than abandon your profile at once.
Describe what makes your music unique!
- What do you offer that people won’t get on other profiles? Do you have a strong community that one can become part of? Do you tour a lot and people can experience you live? Whatever value you can bring to the table, highlight it in your USP. People listen to music in order to get out of their daily lives. Whatever you sell on the internet always needs to solve a person’s problem otherwise they won’t invest in you. That is the same for the music that you are ‘selling’ on social media. Make sure you have a problem-solving approach to your USP and Instagram bio.
- Think about how you’ll communicate the USP. The Instagram bio space is really narrow and not in the biggest font ever seen on the internet. Include emojis whenever adequate and use the verbal expressions your target audience is familiar with. Don’t become super stiff if you normally use more colloquial expressions and vice versa. Also, use active voice and keep the bio believable. Don’t claim something that is totally out of reach for you. For example, don’t write Grammy winner if in fact you have never won a Grammy before.
Do a little test drive with your USP before you publish it.
- Test your USP beforehand: this is always a good idea with any new material. However, it is especially true for your USP or Instagram bio. Make sure to send it to various trustworthy people beforehand who know you and your music well.
- Put your USP into the Instagram bio and celebrate. You’ve done a great job! You could even start a poll on Instagram Stories asking your followers what they think or have a competition about what emojis you should include. Including your fans and followers in every step you take on your journey will make them feel part of the game rather than an anonymous group that is only ever spoken to if there’s something to market to them.
Don’t shy away from competition analysis for great Instagram bios for musicians
Look around on other Instagram profiles and see what your colleagues are doing with their bio. Are they grabbing you instantly? Do you feel excited reading their Instagram bios?
Make screenshots of all good Instagram bios you come across and save them in a folder on your phone or computer. This way you can get a feeling for what would suit you as well as attract your target audience.
Go to Spotify for Artist and look at the ‘people also like’ section. There are your competitors served for you. Now go and check the Insta bios, what do you like and what do you think could be improved? Here’s the thing, nobody is perfect. However, that shouldn’t stop you from trying either!
In short, make sure to come up with a compelling USP. Then use it for your Instagram bio in order to create the epic stop sign that people need in order to follow you!