We all know that social media is a crucial tool for communicating. And for nonprofits and ministries, it can also be a tool for sharing your stories of impact and making donation asks. Each platform has its own unique functions and strengths, and today we’re taking a deep dive into the Instagram profile. Can your profile set up really make that big of a difference for your success?

Absolutely.

Let’s talk about how to make sure your Instagram profile is in tip-top shape with these six tips. Your Instagram profile should be:

1. Public (not private)

Make sure your profile is set to “Public” to ensure someone searching for your page can easily find it and see your posts. This also goes for your nonprofit or ministry leader. As most nonprofits and ministries have a primary visionary or talking head, their brand is equally as valuable as the organization’s.

2. Handle is recognizable and searchable

Your “handle” is the username your account uses as a profile address. Each handle on Instagram is unique to ensure findability. This, of course, makes it harder and harder to get a clean, exact match for your name or organization name. Do your best to find a combination of words or symbols that mirror your organization’s name in the best way that you can. Try to avoid acronyms or awkward abbreviations so it’s easy to communicate the handle name and for people to search.

3. Searchable business name

Your nonprofit/church/business name should be entered into the “Name” field. This is not a place to be abstract or throw up a nick name. If your handle isn’t exactly clear (due to clear names being taken), your business name needs to provide that clarity for someone looking at your page.

4. On-brand profile picture

Ok, this one drives me a little crazy. You have a tiny 110 pixel x 110 pixel circle to visually communicate your brand. Please don’t put a logo intended for large-scale viewing into a tiny circle and think you’re good to go. Make sure it’s not cut off or cropped awkwardly, it’s centered, and has your logo or mark adequately and legibly displayed.

Pro Tip: If you can’t find any version or mark of your logo that scales to this small circle, you may need a redesign! Logos should always have versions that can scale from billboard size down to a tiny digital circle.

5. Actionable & informative bio

You have 150 characters to tell someone who you are and what you do. This is not a place to write “Hey welcome to our profile! Follow us to see what we’re up to.” Be clear about your mission here. Utilize your positioning statement and brand messaging to do this.

6. Link it up

Instagram wants its users to stay on the platform as much as possible, so they make it pretty tough to link out to other sites. You have one spot on your profile to do this and it’s through your profile link (yes, you can also link in stories for certain types of profiles and for those with certain sized profile followings). You can see the analytics and insights for how many link clicks you get as well.

Pro Tip: If you have multiple links you want people to access, utilize platforms like Link Tree to showcase multiple calls to action.

Once you have your Instagram profile tidied up, you’ll be ready to start populating your page and get your branded grid looking good. If you notice you have trouble with your logo scalability or communicating your brand clearly and concisely in your bio, we’re your people. Hit us up to talk about branding or to discuss your social media strategy today!