6 Instagram Bio Mistakes Your Church Might Be Making

Do you have no idea what to put in your church’s Instagram bio?

Or maybe you haven’t thought about it too much so you threw in your mission statement and called it a day.

In this post, we’ll be diving into 5 rookie mistakes when it comes to church Instagram Bios and easy steps avoid them so you can utilize your Instagram Bio to turn online followers into church members.

6 Church Instagram Bio Rookie Mistakes

Your Church Instagram Bio is a Tool to Turn Online Followers in to Church Members

Mistake #1: Only Using Your Name in the Name Section 

Mistake #2: Unclear Tagline 

Mistake #3: Missing a Clear Call to Action  

Mistake #4: Using Only One Link in the Website Section

Mistake #5: Your Bio is Difficult to Read 

Mistake #6: Non Compelling Profile Picture 

Your Church Instagram Bio is a Tool to Turn Online Followers in to Church Members 

Your Church’s Instagram Bio is the first impression for a lot of people checking out your church. This is like your business card, website home page and church pitch all rolled into 150 words.

People will decide to follow you based on a quick scan of your bio. When your bio is clear it makes it easy for someone to take the next step at your church to watch a message online or visit in person.

Having a complete bio makes it look like you are a legitimate organization subconsciously builds credibility to the people checking out your profile. If you have nothing in your bio or it looks sloppy, people may wonder if your church still meets or if anything is really going on at your church. 

I know your church is awesome, so I want your Instagram Bio to reflect that.

The goal of your Instagram should be to bring people off Instagram and into the community and your Instagram Bio is a place where you can tell people exactly how they can take the next step with your church.

How many times have you jumped off a website when you want to purchase something because it’s confusing on where to go, it takes too many clicks, or you can’t find what you are looking for? I relate to that. If it burns too many calories, I’m like I am over this!

I don’t want people doing that to your church Instagram! I want your church Instagram to turn online followers into church members.

Mistake #1: Only Using your Name in the Name Section 

The words in the name section of your Instagram Bio and your Instagram Handle (Ex. @mercychurch) are searchable when a person types into the Instagram search bar looking for a certain type of account.

If you only have your church name or if it doesn’t include the word “church” your church will not come up when someone is searching for a church in their area. 

Include keywords in your name section that you think someone searching for a church would type in the search bar. 

They would probably search for their location and use the word “church”. Making this one change can triple your searchability scores.

Below is an example to copy. Replace the city with the city(s) your church is located in. Make sure your handle name includes the name of your church and isn’t too long or hard to understand.

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Mistake #2: Unclear Tagline and Information

When a person glances at your Instagram Bio they are looking for who you are and what people you serve so they can see if they identify with your church. 

You can use your main tagline, but make sure it is clear to any person who hops on your page, even if they don’t have a Christian background. Avoid insider language that only your church members can understand. 

You may need to adjust the wording of your main mission statement or tagline on Instagram to achieve this.

Other information that is crucial to include is your location(s) and service times so people can find your church easily. 

You can also include tags to your Pastors Instagram account(s) or other church campus accounts if you are a multi-site church to build context around who you are as a church and who you serve.

Here's an example of a clear tagline and information:

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Mistake #3: Missing a Clear Call to Action 

A clear call to actions gives people incentive to click your link in the first place. People won’t click it, unless you tell them to and it’s clear what’s inside.

A huge mistake church’s make is not including what the link in your bio is about with a downward arrow pointing to the link.

You can highlight services, a special event or a free resource. 

Pro Tips:

• Use capital letters for part of the Call to Action
• Use an emoji as your arrow pointing down to the link to draw attention to it
• Don’t write too much in your bio so that people have to hit the “more” button to see your Call to Action and Link in Bio.
• Change your Call to Action as needed with relation to special events, resources or classes.
  

Here’s an example:

Mistake #4: Using Only One Link in the Website Section

You may have your website homepage link in your bio. What I want you to do is optimize this link by using a free tool to put as many links as you want in your bio. By doing this, your Instagram followers and potential followers can easily find ways to connect with you.

You can include things like:

• Your most recent message (Link to Youtube/Facebook Live)
• Event sign ups
• Your connect form 
• Your join a group form 
• Your give page
  

You can use Linktr.ee or create a web page with links in Canva. The free version of Linktree is a great place to start. 

The paid version includes features where you can update the design more, highlight buttons with animations, Insights and Analytics to see how many times each link has been clicked, and add all your social media links to the bottom of the page. 

Pro Tips:

• Don’t use too many links otherwise you will make it more confusing. This is not your full website. These are quick links to help your followers take their next step with you. Think about if it is someone’s first time seeing your church Instagram, what links would be the most important? 
• If a link hasn’t been clicked, consider why and think about replacing it.
• Use the social link feature on the paid version instead of making each button go to social links 
• Use clear language to explain what the buttons are. Avoid Insider language that people won’t understand. If they don’t understand, they won’t click.

Here's an example of the paid version of Linktree.

Mistake #5: Your Bio is Difficult to Read

Most people will only scan your Instagram Bio briefly, so make it easy to scan. A clean and organized Instagram bio will help your church build credibility.

Here’s your checklist to run through:

• Use short punchy statements instead of long sentences. Each statement should only have about 4-6 words.
• Make each statement on it’s own line
• Use an emoji for each line to highlight each part of your bio
• Make sure you don’t have too many lines where you get the “more” button covering up your Call to Action
• Use the address section if you have one location

Mistake #6: Non Compelling Profile Picture

Lastly, your profile picture is what people will see immediately so it needs to be compelling. Typically for a service based business you want to have a picture of an actual person’s face who owns the business.  

For churches your logo is good to use so people can get used to seeing your brand but make sure you follow these guidelines:

• High resolution / not blurry
• No small text that people can’t read anyway
• Make sure it’s the correct size (110px x 110px)
• If you have a brighter color as part of your brand colors, consider using the bright color as it’s more eye catching.
  

Here’s a good example:

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Take Action 

Remember, your bio is your first impression. People will decide to follow your church account or not based on if at a glance it looks like your instagram will serve them in some way.

You’ve got 150 characters to say what is most important. Use it wisely and avoid these 6 common mistakes. 

Mistake #1: Only Using Your Name in the Name Section 

Mistake #2: Unclear Tagline 

Mistake #3: Missing a Clear Call to Action  

Mistake #4: Using Only One Link in the Website Section

Mistake #5: Your Bio is Difficult to Read 

Mistake #6: Non Compelling Profile Picture 

To take action go through this list while looking at your Instagram Bio and start working through it one step at a time and your bio will start turning followers into church members.