Instagram is a powerful tool for businesses and individuals alike to showcase their products, services, and personal brand. With over one billion active monthly users, it’s no wonder users are eager to make their Instagram profiles stand out. One way to do this is by using fancy fonts, or in other words Unicode fonts, in captions, bios, and comments. However, before you start experimenting with different font styles, it’s important to consider some of their less-known aspects.
In this blog post, we’ll take a closer look at why you shouldn’t use fancy Instagram fonts and what you can do instead to make your profile, and especially your bio, stand out. So, whether you’re a business owner, influencer, or simply someone who wants to make their Instagram profile shine, keep on reading.
What exactly are “fancy” Instagram fonts?
When we say fancy Instagram fonts, we refer to text styles that can be used in Instagram bios, captions, and comments, to make the text more visually pleasing and add a unique touch.
By default, Instagram doesn’t allow any kind of formatting. So to include fancy fonts on Instagram, you need to use a third-party app or website that allows you to type in your text and then generate the desired font. These websites typically have a variety of font styles to choose from, such as cursive, bold, or italic.
However, what you generate aren’t actually letters. These special fonts consist of Unicode characters and symbols. You can find out more about Unicode here.
Fancy fonts hurt Instagram SEO
Instagram is a kind of search engine. As such, SEO and discoverability matter a great deal for reaching audiences. But the search on Instagram is text-based. This means you can enter a combination of letters and the app will look in its index and return results where it finds the same combination of letters. It won’t, however, consider characters and symbols in the results. So if someone is looking for “sushi restaurant Barcelona” and you have that same piece of text in your bio, but it’s written in a special font, you won’t appear in the results.
This means using fancy fonts in your bio or captions only reduces your chances of being discovered on Instagram and undermines any efforts related to using keywords and hashtags.
Special formatting makes the content less accessible
Using special fonts on Instagram will prevent people with visual impairments from accessing your content. Screen readers interpret and read out online content literally and based on its underlying code. They are not able to interpret visual elements such as fancy Instagram fonts, which only mimic letters. You can read more about special fonts and reduced accessibility in this Medium article.
Unicode characters don’t appear the same on different devices
Another issue with Unicode characters is they don’t appear the same on different devices and operative systems. So while you may see a piece of text as visually appealing, other users may see it in a completely different way, if at all.
For these reasons, it is generally recommended to avoid fancy formatting and stick to basic ASCII characters when posting on Instagram. This will ensure that your text is accessible, legible and easy to understand for all users.
Now let’s see some better ways to optimize your profile and bio.
What to do instead to make your profile shine 🤩
Here are some suggestions to enhance your profile in the long run and make it stand out without the need for fancy fonts:
Develop a consistent visual aesthetic in line with your brand.
Use high-quality, visually appealing photos and videos.
Create Highlights and keep them visually pleasing and updated.
Create captions that contain your target keywords and add value, such as providing context or additional information.
Engage with your audience by responding to comments and direct messages.
Use hashtags and location tags to reach a wider audience.
Benefit from Instagram’s various features, such as carousels, reels, Live, and Stories, to showcase different aspects of your brand.
Collaborate with other Instagram users or influencers to expand your reach.
Be active, post consistently, and keep your profile updated.
Track your performance on Instagram Insights and adjust your strategy accordingly.
Be authentic and true to yourself and your brand.
How to optimize your Instagram bio?
As for the bio, which is where we have noticed fancy fonts being used the most, we have the following tips for optimizing it:
Use keywords that describe your brand and will help people discover your profile.
Use emojis or special characters to add visual appeal, but only in addition to the actual text.
Use line breaks to separate different parts of your bio and make it easier to read.
Include a call to action, such as a link to your website or a social media landing page such as Linktree and Linkin bio.
Keep your bio updated with current information, such as services, or projects you’re working on.
Lastly, be creative, be yourself and show your personality (we know it can be challenging, given the limited character count).