How to create a classy Instagram bio

You keep it classy. You spend Saturdays strolling the halls of museums and exploring hip, upscale restaurants that serve only the freshest locally-sourced meals. You work hard, prioritize self-care and always make room in your agenda for quality time with family and friends.

Or at least that’s the vibe you project on social media. You know better than to post bland photos with no wow factor. This social media platform is where you post snaps of your perfectly-curated looks, flat-lay photos of your decadent brunch, enviable travel pics and, of course, selfies.

Your Instagram profile is practically a gallery. And as in any curated space, content comes with a description to match. This means your page needs a classy Instagram bio to head it up.

There’s only one small problem: You have a lot of personality to fit into 150 characters. Plus, we know you don’t want to do what everyone else is doing, so you’ll have to use that limited number of characters wisely to stand out.

We’ll help you get started with 20 Instagram bio ideas. Read on to jog your creativity or find a perfect match for your content.

Creating a classy IG experience

Whether or not you’re actively peddling a product or service, the work you put into curating your Instagram account is part of building a brand. And personal brands can be profitable. With a strong enough following, you can represent brands as an influencer.

Before a company interested in partnering with you checks out your account, ensure your profile represents your personal brand from top to bottom. This space is a window into your personality, and you want companies to get the best view possible.

It’s not enough to curate content. You need to classify your bio too. Your bio is the first thing potential partners and followers will see, and you only have one shot at getting that first impression right.

Who should have a classy bio?

There are all sorts of Instagram bios: funny, professional, poetic, inspirational, food-focused – you name it. Stand-up comedians, models, athletes, CEOs and top chefs all use this space in different ways to communicate their distinct personal brands.

Not all of those personalities need a classy IG bio. Here are a few that do:

• Fashion models and luxury influencers
• Fashion, jewelry and accessory designers
• Photographers working in industries like jewelry, art, fashion and music
• Graphic designers or other creative minds working with luxury brands
• Travel influencers
• Bookstagrammers
• Interior designers

20 classy Instagram bio ideas

When looking for inspiration for your Insta bio, a great place to start is the profiles of celebrities, influencers, athletes and performing artists you admire. Do a little research to see what kind of information they put in their bios and how they utilize links, hashtags and shoutouts.

You can also start by looking up bio quotes for Instagram. Check out your role models’ web pages, speeches and interviews and mine them for short quotes for your bio. When the author is known, be sure to add an attribution to give credit where credit is due.

For even more inspiration, check out our list of 20 classy-but-cute Instagram bio ideas. You may find precisely the right words in the list below. Then, all you have to do is copy and paste them into your Instagram bio. Otherwise, take these sassy, motivational and downright classy ideas as inspo and put your spin on them.

1. Living my best life. – Author unknown
2. Be anything but predictable. – Author unknown
3. Do more things that make you forget your phone.– Author unknown
4. The best is yet to come. – Frank Sinatra
5. I never lose. I either win or learn. – Nelson Mandela
6. Life has no GPS. I'm making my own path. – Author unknown
7. Becoming more of who I want to be every day. – Author unknown
8. Being happy never goes out of style. – Lilly Pulitzer
9. Your life does not get better by chance. It gets better by change. – Jim Rohn
10. What would you do if you knew you couldn’t fail? – Author unknown
11. Your best teacher is your last mistake. – Ralph Nader
12. Courage is being scared to death, but saddling up anyway. – John Wayne
13. Strive to impress yourself. – Author unknown
14. Be yourself – everyone else is taken. – Oscar Wilde
15. Choose your adventure. – Author unknown
16. Push your boundaries beyond the ordinary; be the “extra” in “extraordinary.” – Roy T. Bennett
17. My goal is to build a life that I don’t need a vacation from. – Rob Hill Sr.
18. Don’t quit your daydream. – Author unknown
19. Life is anything but predictable. – Dwayne Johnson
20. Today’s the kind of day I live for. – Author unknown

Level up your bio

What do a social media rising star, the creative mind behind a sustainable fashion line and a luxury travel blogger all have in common? Their Instagram profiles are usually fire.

You already know how to curate the visuals of your account, and you now know how to write a banging bio (that’s classy, too). But before you go, check out the following tips for leveling up your almost-perfect Instagram bio:

• Include a CTA: Engage viewers with a call-to-action (CTA). Instead of letting account visitors scroll idly through your photos, invite them to follow you, click on the link in your bio or check out the account of a business you represent. If you want to include multiple links in your bio, get a Linktree URL, which can branch out to several places on the web and social media.
• Use keywords: Good Instagram bios tap into the power of keywords. Your reach extends past a local audience or family and friends, and you have a better chance of increasing that reach if your account is easy to find. Make sure your profile is public, and use relevant hashtags and keywords in your bio (think: #sustainablefashion) so that users searching for accounts related to this topic can stumble upon yours. If you have a branded hashtag, your bio is the perfect place to use it.
• Use a different font: You’re unique, so make a great Instagram bio even better by using a unique font. Plenty of third-party apps allow you to transform your bio text and copy-paste it into the description field.
• Use emojis: Some of the world’s most successful people and companies use carefully selected emojis in their bios. Creative Instagram bios use these little graphics to punctuate text. If you work in sustainable fashion, drop in an image of the planet. If you own a high-end patisserie, use a cupcake instead of a period.
• Maintain your aesthetic: Even if your primary game is Instagram, stick to a consistent aesthetic wherever you go on social media. Use a similar tone in your captions, posts and bios and maintain the quality and style of your photos or videos across all platforms. Remember that you're building a personal brand, so it should be recognizable everywhere.