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Hey! My name is Marcus and I am junior software engineer looking for backend and full-stack opportunities. I graduated from Columbia University with a bachelors in Computer Science in May 2023 and was working at Twitch as a full-time SWE before being affected by the 35% reduction in force in January.
I have always had a keen interest in AI and would love to work on the backend/infra projects that support that type of software. For example, during my internship at Twitch, I built an API that used a variety of ML services to flag inappropriate media on Twitch/AWS livestreams in near real time. I also have experience working with ads and monetization; my work as a full-time engineer at Twitch was dedicated to managing GDPR compliance and obfuscating sensitive user PII data across Twitch Payments’ data stores.
I’m a software engineer with 8 years of experience working both in large enterprises and Silicon Valley startups. Last years I’ve been more focused on frontend, leading and owning frontend for small and large applications.
John Mulaney, A$AP Rocky, Nick Jonas and Sam Hunt are among the few men celebrating their first Father’s Day in 2022. Here’s a look at the new dads in Hollywood.
The Perfect Business Credit Portfolio Includes Vehicle Financing
Does your business need vehicles to get the work done? This can be any number of kinds of vehicles, such as trucks for deliveries and hauling, sprinter vans, company cars, and even vans to facilitate commuting for your employees. Vehicle financing can be a smart way to afford all of them.
Vehicle Financing in a Nutshell
Much like you probably didn’t buy your personal vehicle outright, financing is a great way to go in order to get a vehicle now, without having to wait until you can just pay cash and drive it off the lot. With a car for personal use, your choices are usually buying or leasing. Providers include banks like Bank of America or the financing arm of the manufacturer, such as Chrysler Capital.
Commercial vehicle funding has certain parameters. Whether a vehicle is purchased new or used will affect the number of years you can finance the vehicle and the rates you will pay. If a vehicle is used, then the number of miles on it will also affect terms. Plus, business owners may be required to personally guarantee vehicle loans. If you are a co-borrower the loan will most likely report to your personal credit report. Some loans have a prepayment penalty and charge you for paying ahead.
In general, the following will eliminate the need to provide a personal guarantee for this type of financing: good business credit, a decent amount of time in business or good personal credit. And much like with any other kind of business borrowing, the more assurances you can give the lender, the better.
Basic Terms and Qualifying
You need to establish the amount of money you have for a down payment, and the vehicle you need. Plus, you must establish the costs associated with buying the vehicle.
You’ll need to provide documentation that proves you are the owner of a business. This includes business licenses, partnership agreements, LLC documents, and articles of incorporation (if applicable), listing you as having at least a 20% stake in the business.
You may also have to provide personal documentation like personal credit score and credit history. If you are a sole proprietor and the business is under your Social Security number, you are the borrower and guarantor. Hence you are personally liable for repaying the loan. It is also a good idea to have a loan proposal. A loan proposal should detail your business, loan needs, and financial statements.
Good Business Credit Can Help
If your company needs vehicles for operation build your business credit. This, way you will be able to qualify with no PG. Having this ability can give you the freedom to grow your fleet, and without your signature. More on this later. First, let’s look at those four keys to financing.
Vehicle Financing Key #1: Using Business Credit for Vehicle Financing
You can even finance a vehicle purchase or lease through our Business Credit Builder. These offers are in Tier 4, so these lenders will have certain requirements that business credit neophytes just won’t be able to meet. Lenders will want to see that you have the income to support the purchase.
As an example, consider Ford Commercial Vehicle Financing.
Ford Commercial Vehicle Financing Through Credit Suite
Ford offers several commercial funding options. These include loans, lines, and leases to actual business entities. This is not for sole proprietorships. You can get a loan or a lease.
Ford may ask for a Personal Guarantee (PG) if you don’t get an approval on the merit of your application. Apply at the dealership. Ford will report to D&B, Experian, and Equifax.
Ford Commercial Vehicle Financing: Terms and Qualifying
To qualify, you need:
Entity in good standing with Secretary of State
EIN number with IRS
Business address- matching everywhere
D-U-N-S number
Business license (if applicable) and a business bank account
You will need to have a strong business credit history. And you must have a good Experian business credit score.
Ally provides personal financing. But Ally will also report to business credit bureaus. If your business qualifies for financing without the owner’s guarantee, you can get financing in the business name only. Ally will report to D&B, Experian, and Equifax
Ally Car Financing: Terms and Qualifying
For Ally Commercial Line of Credit, to qualify, you need:
Entity in good standing with Secretary of State
EIN number with IRS
Business address- matching everywhere
D-U-N-S number
Business license (if applicable)
And a business bank account
Bank reference
Fleet financing references
If you use a personal guarantee, Ally will not report to the personal credit bureaus unless the account defaults.
With Ally Commercial Vehicle Financing, you can get a lease or a loan. To qualify, you need:
Entity in good standing with Secretary of State
EIN number with IRS
Business address- matching everywhere
D-U-N-S number
Business license (if applicable)
And a business bank account
There is no minimum time in business requirement. Apply in person only, dealer will advise if approval or Personal Guarantee (PG) needed.
Yet another potential form of vehicle financing is through the Credit Suite Credit Line Hybrid. A credit line hybrid is a form of unsecured funding. Our credit line hybrid has an even better interest rate than a secured loan. Get some of the highest loan amounts and credit lines for businesses. Get 0% business credit cards with stated income. These report to business CRAs. So you can build business credit at the same time. This will get you access to even more cash with no personal guarantee.
Credit Line Hybrid: Terms and Qualifying
You need a good credit score or a guarantor with good credit to get an approval (a FICO score of at least 680). No financials are necessary. You can often get a loan of five times the amount of current highest revolving credit limit account. This is up to $150,000.
Vehicle Financing Key #3: 401(k) Financing
Another option for vehicle financing is using your 401(k) as collateral. This is not a loan. You will not have to pay an early withdrawal fee or a tax penalty. You put the money back by contributing, just like with any 401(k) program. This means you won’t lose your retirement funds. This is a 401(k) Rollover for Working Capital program. The IRS calls it a Rollover for Business Startups (ROBS).
Per the IRS, a ROBS qualified plan is a separate entity with its own set of requirements. The plan, through its company stock investments, rather than the individual owns the trade or business. Therefore, some filing exceptions for individuals may not apply to such a plan. This type of financing isn’t a loan against, your 401(k), so there’s no interest to pay. It does not use the 401(k) or stocks as collateral. Instead, this is simply a movement or change of custodian.
401(k) Financing: Terms and Qualifying
Pay low rates, often less than 5%. Your 401(k) will need to have more than $35,000 in it. You can usually get up to 100% of what’s “rollable” within your 401(k) . The lender will want to see a copy of your two most recent 401(k) statements.
You can get 401(k) financing even with severely challenged personal credit. The 401(k) you use cannot be from a business where you are currently employed. So it will need to be from older employment. You cannot be currently contributing to it.
Vehicle Financing Key #4: SBA 504 Loans
The SBA 504 loan can be used to purchase “Long-term machinery and equipment”. As a result, it’s not a standard car loan. But you can purchase a truck with it. You can use an SBA 504 loan when the vehicles being purchased qualify as heavy equipment.
Some examples of trucks as ‘heavy equipment’ can include:
Cement trucks
Dump trucks
Custom-build heavy trucks fit for specific purposes (loading/unloading septic tanks, for instance)
Semis and tanker trailer trucks
If your vehicle needs run in this direction, then an SBA loan could be perfect for your needs.
SBA 504 Loans and Credit Suite
Did you know that you can get SBA loans through Credit Suite? Established businesses with tax returns that show good revenues and profitability can get very large sums of funding with Secured Small Business Loans. If you have positive business tax returns, you should apply for secured government-backed SBA program loans from $250,000 up to $12,000,000. Approval amounts will vary based on the collateral your business has, and the amount of net profit reflected on your tax returns.
The total time to close these loans is about 2-4 months. SBA loans offer some of the longest payback terms available for business financing. Get loan terms for 10, 15, or even 25 years with the SBA. Interest will total approximately 3% of the debt. The rate may be financed with the loan.
Get approved for up to $12 million. Your credit will have to be of good quality. Your collateral will need to equal 50% of the loan amount. Financials will be necessary.
SBA 504 Loans Through Credit Suite: Documentation
The SBA will require certain documentation to qualify including:
Business and personal financials
Resume and background information
Personal and business credit reports
Your business plan
Bank statements
Collateral and any other documentation relevant to the transaction
Vehicle Financing: Takeaways
Getting vehicle funding involves variables like whether the vehicle is new or used. Heavy vehicles like dump trucks can be paid for with SBA 504 loans. There is a possibility that you would have to provide a personal guarantee to get a loan or lease. Credit Suite offers financing that you can use to purchase vehicles, and we offer even more options through our Business Finance Suite. There are four keys to open the door to affording vehicles for your business. And there are a lot of options. Let’s explore them together.
VoxMedia | Senior SRE, Engineering Manager, Full Stack Engineer, Software Engineer | Remote US | Full Time
As the leading independent modern media company, Vox Media ignites conversations and influences culture. Across digital, podcasts, TV, streaming, live events, and print, we tell stories that affect our audience’s daily lives and entertain as much as they inform.
Google processes 3.5 billion searches per day, which means 28,0000,000 searches are questions. That’s a lot of searches.
Twenty-nine percent of keywords featuring a question word like “why” or “can” triggers the featured snippet.
What’s the featured snippet? It’s an SEO gold mine that can help you skip from position #10 to position #0 if you give the best answer for a user query.
Combine it with lucrative keywords, and it can be a winning recipe to grow site traffic and drive conversions.
Here’s how to shift your keyword strategy to answer users’ queries, position your brand as the go-to expert, and find phrases with high purchase intent.
Why Is Answering Users’ Queries With High Potential Keywords an Effective Strategy?
It’s what Google uses to understand the context of searches.
The data searching technique aims to understand the meaning of words in context and determine user intent before presenting search results.
This helps Google deliver more relevant results and show the correct answer in a featured snippet.
Now that we understand how Google understands people’s questions, we need to look at how people use search engines.
With the rise of voice search, users are shifting away from short words or phrases. Search queries are taking conversation form, which we call “long-tail keywords.”
For example, if you want to know how to change the light bulb in your fridge, you wouldn’t search “lightbulb,” you’d more likely search “how to change a light bulb in a samsung french door fridge.”
This change in search is causing Google to change how it displays answers, and it’s creating new, valuable SEO real estate opportunities.
The Power of the Featured Snippet
What’s better than position #1 on Google?
Position #0.
The featured snippet (also called the Answer Box) is a brief answer to a search query. It is extracted from the top results and sits at the top of SERP.
It looks like this:
What makes the featured snippet such a lucrative piece of SEO real estate?
Say your web page ranks at #8 on the first page. Trudging your way to position #2 or #1 is a slow game when the average #1 result is three years old.
However, if there’s a featured snippet, you can bypass the competition and jump to position #0 by effectively answering users’ queries.
This means you can:
beat your competitors
boost conversions
drive more traffic
Just how much traffic? Hubspot research found content with a featured snippet have dramatically higher click-through rates.
By providing the best answer to users’ queries, you position yourself as the go-to expert. Users trust in your brand, and are more likely to convert.
When Google sees visitors are happy with your site, it sends good engagement signals, which helps your content move up the search result ranks.
What Are Lucrative Keywords?
Before we take a deep dive into how to use lucrative keywords to answer users’ queries, let’s take a few steps back and cover the basics.
Keywords are words and phrases people type into Google and other search engines to find information.
The best type of keywords are words and phrases your audience is using. You want to create content around their search queries to get the right people to your website and into your sales funnel.
What are lucrative keywords?
Lucrative keywords are long-tail keywords with a high ROI. There is high search volume, low difficulty, and high intent to make a purchasing decision.
By focusing your SEO strategy around question-based lucrative keywords, you attract hot leads that are ready to convert.
6 Tips to Answer Users’ Queries Using High Potential Keywords
Now that you understand how Google finds answers to questions and the SEO benefits, the next step is optimizing your content for the answer box.
Here’s how to find lucrative keywords, uncover search queries your audience is typing into Google, and format your pages to snag position #0.
1. Find Lucrative Long-Tail Keyword Queries With Ubersuggest
The secret sauce to my digital marketing agency’s success? Becoming an expert at finding long-tail keywords with high intent.
It’s a topic I’m so passionate about I created my own keyword research tool called Ubersuggest.
Below, I’ll break down how to use Ubersuggest to uncover keywords that are:
question-based
lucrative
Step 1: Go to Ubersuggest and type in a general term related to your niche, e.g., “digital marketing.”
Step 2: Scroll down and click on “View All Keyword Ideas” and click on the “Filter” button.
Step 3: Enter a minimum cost-per-click (CPC) of $1. Set the SEO difficulty to a max of 40.
Ubersuggest provides a list of keywords you can sort and export so you can find the best ones for your business.
There is also a “Question” tab where you can see question-based keyword ideas.
Lucrative keywords should have the following characteristics:
Four words or more: This indicates it’s a long-tail keyword. Search keywords with ten words trigger the featured snippet 55 percent of the time.
High CPC: The more expensive, the more valuable the keyword. People are paying big bucks to rank for it.
Low SEO competition: The lower the competition, the easier it will be for you to rank on the first page.
High click-through from search results: You want to focus on queries that get clicks. For example, people searching “what’s the weather in Los Angeles today?” won’t click on a website, because they’ll get the answer from the search result and close the browser.
2. Find More User Queries to Answer Using These Tools
Don’t rely just on a keyword research tool like Ubersuggest to help you find question-based questions.
There are several other tools and websites to gain more information on the type of queries your audience is asking.
Answer The Public is a free tool for uncovering question-based queries for keywords.
Here’s how to use it:
Enter a general keyword like “chocolate.”
Click on the “questions” tab.
Click on “data.”
Answer The Public will then give you a list of questions broken down into different categories like:
who
what
when
where
which
why
how
can
are
Download the data to a CSV file and note the user queries you’d like to answer.
Other websites for finding questions your audience is asking include:
Question DB
Reddit
Quora
“Recently Asked” questions in Google
Once you have your questions related to your lucrative keywords, start creating a content plan.
3. Use Question-Based Keywords as Headers
When you have a list of question-based keywords, start using the phrases as headers.
For example:
If the question is, “What are Deepfakes” use it as an H2 tag near the beginning of the post.
Underneath the H2 header, answer the user query within the first paragraph. Get straight to the point. This helps Google understand your content and tag it as a snippet for the Answer Box.
Remember, Google will only use one short paragraph or a bulleted list to answer the query.
Use the FAQ Schema (a piece of code to show Google what questions are being asked and pointing to the answer), to capitalize on sought-after organic search real estate.
By using FAQPage structured data, you can make your content eligible to display these questions and answers to display directly on Google Search.
When it comes to creating your FAQ, you have two options:
Create a dedicated FAQ page.
Integrate a FAQ section on landing pages, product pages, or blog posts.
Adding links to other pages within your answers adds to the FAQ power. Once someone clicks, you can lead them further down your sales funnel with more detailed content and increase your chances of converting a searcher into a paid customer.
Tips for Creating a FAQ Page to Answer Users’ Queries
Create a list of questions and answers.
Write the question and use the keyword in the phrase.
Answer the question immediately.
Batch questions by category to increase efficiency.
Use tailored URLs for individual questions.
Use simple language.
Place your FAQ section near the top of the page.
Creating a FAQ page or section will help Google scan your content better and improve your chances of ranking for position #0.
5. Optimize Your Content Formatting
There are four types of feature snippets you want to optimize your content for: paragraphs, lists, tables, and videos.
When creating your content, write with both user queries and Google in mind, and then optimize the formatting.
According to SEMrush, top answers to queries use the following formatting:
paragraphs: Average of 42 words and 249 characters
lists: Average of 6 items and 44 words
tables: Average of 5 rows and two columns
videos: Average duration of 6 min
As you incorporate lucrative question-based keywords into your content, keep your answers close to these numbers to increase your chances of landing a featured snippet.
6. Date Your Content
Worried about dating your content because you’ll appear irrelevant in search results?
Not adding a date could stop you from landing spot #0 with Google.
Not only will it build trust with readers, but Google will reward you.
Even if you don’t have anything new to add to a page, you’ll want to make sure there is a publication date.
According to a featured snippet study from SEMrush, older content with a date won the snippet feature if it had the best answer. Seventy percent of the featured snippets analyzed were from 2018, 2019, and 2020.
Spring cleaning your content and optimizing it for question-based queries may earn you a featured snippet and boost your page views without having to create a new blog post or page.
Which Question Keywords Should You Avoid Answering?
As you create content to answer users’ queries, there are some questions you want to avoid.
There are searches where Google returns a direct answer from the Knowledge Graph. These answers do not have a website link, and there is no SEO or monetary value to targeting these question keywords.
For example, the search query “How tall is Mount Everest” returns a direct answer of 5895m.
Ranking for this answer won’t drive traffic or clicks, so there’s no point in spending resources to snag this spot.
Conclusion
Optimizing your content to answer users’ queries is the core of an effective SEO strategy. It helps you zero in on the problems your audience faces and position your business as an expert.
In addition to helping your audience, lucrative question keywords can help grow your business. Not only can you skip a few positions in search and go straight to #0, but you’re more likely to earn clicks from users with high purchasing intent.
How are you going to implement question-based keywords into your content?
Instagram is extremely popular. The image-heavy platform is the fifth most-used social media network in the world, with over 1.2 billion users.
If you don’t have a presence on Instagram, you’re missing out on building an audience and increasing your sales.
To get the most out of Instagram, you should create a solid Instagram bio so users can get a clear, concise idea of who you are, what you’re about, and, most importantly, what you can offer them.
Here are ten of the best Instagram bios for small businesses and explain why they’re excellent. We’ll also include tips for crafting a strong bio and what must-haves to include on your company account.
10 of the Best Instagram Bios for Small Businesses
Here are several small-business Instagram bios that hit the mark and why. We’ve also included takeaways you can use for your own company.
1. Ellevest
Ellevest is a digital investing platform. CEO Sallie Lee Krawcheck co-founded the company to empower women to take greater control over their financial future.
Why This Instagram Bio Is Great
The Ellevest Instagram bio works because it clearly states who the business is for (by women, for women), the industry it’s in (financial services), and the type of business model it uses (membership-based). This gives the reader a good idea of the target audience and what they’ll achieve through the service.
The company also includes a Linktree link in its bio, a platform allowing you to showcase additional links to content you want to share with your followers. This link points users to multiple brand blog posts and membership webpages.
You can borrow this for your own small business. After all, a Linktree link isn’t just a content-sharing opportunity: You can walk people directly to your landing pages via Instagram, cutting through the noise so they can more easily buy from you.
2. Pura Vida Bracelets
Pura Vida, which translates to “Pure Life,” is more than just a bracelet retailer. The company has a community of over 800 artisans in countries such as Costa Rica, El Salvador, and India who earn money crafting homemade jewelry.
Why This Instagram Bio Is Great
First off, the Pura Vida Bracelets Instagram bio is structured with various emojis, which saves space and gives off a fun vibe. “Fun” works here because the company features tons of colorful images of smiling people modeling the products—it’s on-brand.
Second, the emojis-as-bullet-points help clearly state the bio’s main areas of focus, particularly “FREE SHIPPING.” This is good for small businesses to highlight, especially if your main competitors don’t offer it.
Lastly, the branded hashtag, #PuraVidaBracelets, is a nice touch. Small-business retailers should consider implementing a personalized hashtag as a way to social-listen and reshare UGC across social while getting their brands’ names out there.
3. The Freckled Hen Farmhouse
Created by lifestyle blogger Natalie Freeman and her husband Luke, The Freckled Hen Farmhouse is both a brick-and-mortar and online shopping destination. This general store has everything from home goods to local products to garden supplies.
The bio includes its store hours, local delivery options, and phone number. Additionally, the company plugs its rental cottage in the bio, adding more opportunities for loyal customers to spend money on the brand. Finally, it includes a Linktree link leading to its store website, newsletter sign-up page, and seasonal and year-round category pages.
If you’re a small business with an online and offline space, it’s a smart idea to speak to all your customers in your Instagram bio.
4. Lush Cosmetics
Lush is a values-driven brand. Founded in London, the cosmetics company prides itself on fresh products, no unnecessary ingredients, and cruelty-free testing.
Why This Instagram Bio Is Great
Unlike our other examples, the Lush Cosmetics Instagram bio keeps it short and sweet, saying, “We’re creating a cosmetics revolution to save the planet,” followed by two emojis, its branded hashtag, and a Linktree link.
The message is direct, and words and phrases like “revolution” and “save the planet” feel bold and exciting coming from a makeup brand. Similarly, small brands can, and should, experiment with how they describe their company, as long as it feels relevant—otherwise, it will come off as confusing, or worse, inauthentic.
This bio is a good reminder, too, that just because you have more space doesn’t mean you need to use it. That in itself is a departure from jam-packed bios and even a bit surprising. Our brains like novelty, so don’t be afraid to do things a little differently for your business.
5. Later
Later is a leading Instagram marketing platform. The company boasts millions of users, and social media professionals, brands, and influencers can use the tool to manage content across Instagram, Pinterest, and even TikTok.
Why This Instagram Bio Is Great
There are a lot of things working for the Later Instagram bio. First, the company does a great job expanding the copy beyond its name to better reach users on the platform who may be looking for this type of service (social marketing platform).
Next, the company states it’s the “#1 Marketing Platform for Instagram.” Piggy-backing off SEO, this is good to market to potential users.
Small businesses can optimize their bios with applicable keywords and feature brag-worthy accomplishments to get readers’ attention.
6. ALOHA
ALOHA produces USDA organic, vegan, and gluten-free protein powders, drinks, and foods. The brand shares plenty of recipes and UGC on its site and social media platforms.
Why This Instagram Bio Is Great
Taking a page out of Later’s book, the ALOHA Instagram bio asserts the company as its industry’s leader. While the brand keeps the copy to a minimum, it focuses on the keywords its customers care about, like “organic” and “plant-based.”
ALOHA also changed its profile picture to showcase it was named a Certified B Corporation. These companies must meet strict social and environmental standards, among others. If your small business has a prestigious distinction or won a big award, it’s worth highlighting it in this space.
7. Lokal
A husband-and-wife duo created the Lokal Hotel after dreaming up ways they could improve the Airbnbs where they’d stayed and the hospitality experience in general. This home-away-from-homebrand offers hyper-local lodging in the Philadelphia and Southern New Jersey regions.
Why This Instagram Bio Is Great
The Lokal Hotel Instagram bio covers a lot of ground. It includes a specific category, “boutique hotels | cabins” instead of just “hotel,” so those seeking this particular experience can find it, and expands on this with “apartment suites & homes.”
On top of the location and branded hashtag, the bio points out the Linktree where guests can book their stay, sign up for its newsletter, and more.
Other small businesses, especially those in this space, can take a few cues from this bio. By keeping all this information centralized, you could keep potential guests engaged and on your page longer.
8. GOODEE
GOODEE is a top online marketplace. Designers and entrepreneurs Byron and Dexter Peart founded the company to curate brands that not only looked good but sparked good too. As such, they only work with artisans who prioritize positive environmental or social impact.
Why This Instagram Bio Is Great
The GOODEE Instagram bio lays out what the business is (a curated marketplace) and its focus (good design meets good purpose). Like ALOHA, pointing to the company’s B Corp designation and 1% for the Planet certification aligns with its mission and signals to consumers what’s important to the business.
This is both sincere and savvy: 72 percent of U.S. consumers believe it’s important “to buy from companies that reflect their values,” according to Retail TouchPoints.
So, if your small business is values-driven, don’t shy away from including that in your marketing and messaging. After all, the customers you seek are also seeking you.
9. Rumpl
Rumpl operates in the outdoor-industry space and helps keep campers and adventurers warm. After a successful Kickstarter launch, the company continues to grow and expand its inventory.
Why This Instagram Bio Is Great
There’s beauty in the simplicity of the Rumpl Instagram bio. It mentions its best-known item—blankets— and gives a brief, relatable description of the materials in them. The company also mentions its “Shark Tank” appearance and includes a branded hashtag and link to a current giveaway.
Instagram contests are popular and can help accelerate your brand growth. This is especially true if you partner with another company and can leverage each other’s audiences. It’s something your small business should consider (and then promote in your Instagram bio, of course!).
10. Letterfolk
This home-decor biz produces letter boards, tile sets, paper goods, and more. A married couple founded Letterfolk, and the company has developed a big following thanks to its thoughtfully designed products and national press hits.
Why This Instagram Bio Is Great
Instead ofusing the company’s Instagram bio to direct followers to use certain hashtags, Letterfolk invites its followers to check them out, saying, “See LF products in the wild,” followed by relevant hashtags. Using this hashtag, consumers can view how other people use and display their products. By making this tweak, it feels more community-oriented right away.
Another notable distinction: It’s stated in the bio that Joanna and Johnny are not only a husband-and-wife team but also a small business.
Since some shoppers specifically look to buy from smaller companies, this is an excellent way to get in front of potential shoppers. If you don’t call-out your small-biz standing in your bio, consider adding it and see if there’s an increase in engagement.
5 Tips for Creating the Best Instagram Bio for Your Small Business
Now that you’ve seen examples of some of the best Instagram bios for businesses, let’s recap the top ways to make yours stand out.
1. Use Creative Elements
Some brands add emojis to the mix in their Instagram bios. Aside from highlighting your brand’s personality, these icons can help influence readability. This could help your messaging stand out. So, you might want to try cutting back on copy and increasing white space by including emojis.
Brands can also change up font styles in their Instagram bios. This adds variety. However, be careful to make sure the script is readable, and don’t overuse it.
2. Show Your Brand’s Personality
You want to capture your brand’s personality in your Instagram bio. Experiment with copy, emojis, and other creative ways to show it off.
Don’t be afraid to play around a bit and have fun with your followers, either. Drizly’s Instagram bio comes to mind:
Be careful not to mistake “social media” as an excuse to depart from your familiar brand voice, though. For example, a hospital using laughing emojis in its bio wouldn’t be a fit—and might even make patients nervous! Alternatively, seeing emojis on the BarkBox Instagram bio feels completely in-line with the company’s fun reputation.
Bottom line: Know your brand and know your audience.
3. Share User-Generated Content
You don’t need to develop a campaign to create a hashtag—though it doesn’t hurt. Creating a hashtag unique to your small business is a good way to create brand awareness and help build your community.
Craft a hashtag that includes your company name or captures your ethos. For instance, if you think #JustDoIt, chances are, your brain goes to Nike.
From there, you can encourage your customers to include your hashtag in their social posts and reshare that user-generated content (UGC) on your channels.
You can also repurpose UGC for stories and other content. Incentivize users to share posts with your hashtag for discounts, contests, or just the opportunity of possibly featuring them on your platforms.
4. Clearly State Your Brand’s Purpose
You only have so many characters to work with in your Instagram bio. Use this space to clearly state what your small company does and be direct in your ask. For example:
Do you want to build a community? Include your branded hashtag and ask followers to use it.
Are you looking for newsletter subscribers? Include a link in your bio.
Are you looking to increase sales? Add a Linktree pointing to multiple product pages so users can find what they’re looking for.
Whatever your goal, be clear about it.
5. Include Links, Hashtags, and More
You have a hard stop when it comes to characters within the bio itself. However, there are options to expand on more details about your business and even cross-promote your other companies or personal pages. Consider including the following:
your location and hours of operation if you own a physical store
your contact information
your branded hashtag
links to current promotions or contests
a Linktree (or similar) link leading readers to other content
Conclusion
The best Instagram bios authentically match your brand and serves your users.
Checking out the bios of the pages we’ve listed can help you get a feel for what’s working across the board. Also, see what your competitors are doing, and don’t be afraid to experiment with different formats.
Social media is an important aspect of digital marketing. Our agency can help if you are having trouble developing a social media strategy. We also offer assistance with content marketing and SEO.
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