Instagram: Personal Profile vs Professional Account
Instagram has approximately one billion users each month, with five hundred million of those watching Instagram Stories every day. Two hundred million users visit at least one business profile a day, and one-third of the most viewed stories are from businesses. To summarise, Instagram has a vast audience, just waiting to be utilised. Whether you’re setting up an account from scratch or working on improving your existing Insta-strategy, it’s essential to take a moment to think about what you’re trying to achieve when using the platform. If you’re looking for a Social Media platform to connect with friends, family and businesses, then you should start by creating a Personal profile. However, if you’re an influencer or marketing a business, then a Professional account is what you need. Instagram Personal Profiles When first creating an Instagram, whether it’s for yourself or a business, you will automatically start by signing up to a personal profile. Here you can include a Name, Username, Website URL and Bio. Build your account by following relevant people, such as friends and family, and posting to your grid. Instagram Stories and Hashtags are both excellent ways to build engagement. Instagram Professional Accounts If you want to change a personal profile to a professional account, follow these steps: Open your Instagram app and log in. Click on your profile picture on the bottom right of the screen, and this will take you to your ‘grid’. Click on the three horizontal lines on the top right of your screen. Click ‘Settings’. Scroll down and click on ‘Account’ Scroll down slightly and select ‘Switch to Professional account’. You will then have to select whether you are a ‘Creator’ which is best for public figures such as influencers, or a ‘Business’ which, of course, is best for businesses. A Creator Instagram account is almost like the middle ground between personal and business. You will have flexible profile controls where you can choose to hide or display information such as contact buttons, as well as a simplified inbox allowing you to manage requests and engage with fans easily. You will also receive more advanced insights. Professional Instagram accounts will give you more call to action buttons and space to provide contact details and your business address, which will ultimately increase your customers’ ability to get in touch. You will now be able to connect your Facebook Page to your Instagram account. Linking your accounts is essential if you utilise a scheduling tool that can schedule directly to Instagram, as they will require a professional ‘Business’ profile over a personal or creator account. What’s Different? There are, however, some features that you will notice you no longer have access to when changing to a Professional account that you need to consider before making the switch. Privacy It may not seem like an important feature, but it’s worth noting that if you’re looking to have a private Instagram account (and therefore not grow your brand and exposure), then you can only do this through a Personal Instagram profile. Organic Reach Personal Instagram accounts tend to have a higher Organic Reach than Professional ones as it’s Instagram’s way of putting their consumers first. Businesses are expected to ‘pay to play’ and invest in the platform if they want to increase their reach. Music Sticker You may notice that Instagram business and creator accounts do not have access to the music sticker on Instagram Stories. Although Instagram hasn’t directly commented on this, it makes sense that with copyright and licensing laws, businesses would be unable to utilise other artists music for their marketing purposes. Top Tip: although the majority of videos on Social Media are listened to with the sound off (use subtitles where you can), Instagram Stories are often played with the volume up! Be careful to avoid any distracting background noise when recording a video or going live. Instagram Insights Professional Instagram accounts will allow you to view ‘Insights’ into your content, activity and audiences. On the Insights tab you will be able to view your Reach, Impressions, Interactions, and follower demographic to improve your Instagram engagement and exposure continuously. You can also track your Overall Growth and whether anyone has followed or unfollowed you. Use the information provided by Instagram Insights to post more of what your audience enjoy seeing. Setting Up Your Instagram Business Profile A business account on Instagram offers more options for public business information and call-to-action buttons than a creator profile. An Instagram business profile should be set up and optimised with your marketing goals in mind; you need to decide which call-to-action button will benefit your business most. Once you have chosen to switch to a Business profile, you can begin by clicking the ‘Edit Profile’ button on your account. This section of an Instagram business profile will allow you to input vital information that your customers will want to see, such as your website address, email, phone number and what your business is all about! Optimise Your Instagram Business Bio Instagram only provides businesses with 150 characters in their bio so you must include only the most important information there. Your bio should include a sentence that summarises what your business is about and a call-to-action statement such as ‘click the link below’. Even though Instagram Business allows you to place buttons on your profile for call-to-action, writing something that asks potential customers to take action in your bio is another great way to work towards your goal. Emojis in a bio are also a good idea depending on your business, as they not only look more appealing but have been proven to increase interaction online! Set out your bio in a clean, organised way so that your Instagram business account looks professional, but also fun. Add Public Business Information Once you have added basic information such as your business name, website and bio to your business account you can get started on adding public business information. In this section, you can connect your Instagram business account with your Facebook page (which is highly recommended), select a category that your business belongs to, choose which contact details you will allow users to view, and select a call-to-action button, if necessary. Plan and Post Content After your Instagram business account has been set up, you can begin planning and uploading quality content such as images, videos, reels and stories. The best thing to do is have a grid of around 6 to 9 posts uploaded on your Instagram business account before you begin following others and communicating via hashtags. This is because Instagram users are much more likely to follow your business account if you have content there already waiting to be viewed. An empty business profile is likely to turn customers away. Setting Up An Instagram Creator Profile If you are an influencer or blogger then it is best to set up an Instagram creator profile, rather than a business account. A creator account provides a more varied insights tab that allows Instagram creators to see which specific content lead to changes in following or engagement. Additionally, Instagram creator profiles do not require as much information as business accounts, such as contact details and an address. Even if you do not own a business, you still might have a marketing plan for your Instagram creator account in order to boost your followers. Enter Basic Information Information such as your name, bio and contact details can also be displayed on an Instagram creator profile so make sure you enter the information you would like followers to see, and hide the information that you don’t want them to see (e. g. your phone number). Your bio can be less professional than a business account and gives you the chance to add a little personality! Start Posting Content The key to an Instagram creator account is content; you are a creator and should have an effective content plan in place. Similarly to setting up a business profile, your Instagram creator account should have a few images uploaded and ready before you begin following and engaging with people. Even 3 images can make a difference on a started creator account, compared to an empty grid where people are unlikely to follow you back. Follow and Interact with Other Creators Following and interacting with other Instagram creators will not only open you up to a wider audience but can also give you inspiration on what to post. Engagement is one of the most important factors to Instagram so make sure you like, comment and share others posts to gain recognition and create relationships online. If you already have a personal Instagram profile and want to switch to a business or creator profile, you can simply change the information in your bio, if necessary, and add the contact details once you have switched over. Here at thesocialnetwork, we offer social media training and consultancy to help you grow your business online. If you are looking to switch over to a business account but find yourself struggling, we can help. To get access to free Facebook training visit our events page.
How to Set Up a Business Profile on Instagram – Later
Wondering how to switch to a business profile on Instagram? Maybe it’s the lure of running Instagram ads or the ability to add links to Instagram Stories? Whatever your reason, making the switch to an Instagram business profile is super easy! Ready to get started? In the following post, we explain exactly how you can can create your own business profile on Instagram in just 3 easy steps:If you’re still on the fence about switching to a business profile on Instagram, check out our blog post where we compare the pros and cons of having an Instagram business profile! #1: Create a Facebook Page for Your BusinessIn order to switch to a business profile on Instagram, your business must have an active Facebook Page. Luckily, you can set up a Facebook business Page in a matter of minutes! If you already have a Facebook Page, you can skip to the next step. But if you’re starting from scratch and want to learn more about the benefits of an Instagram business profile, stay tuned! We have a quick video guide to getting set up and it explains everything you stand to gain by making the switch:Start by opening Facebook and clicking on “Create Page” from the dropdown, select your business category and give a name to your Page. Your Page name can be your business name or another name that people may search for to find your a profile photo and a cover photo that best represents your business. You can use your logo as your profile photo, or even an image of your store or that’s it! Your business’ Facebook Page is now live! Keep in mind that it’s a good idea to spruce up your Facebook Page before you connect it your Instagram business profile. At the very least, you should add a description and call-to-action that directs your Page visitors to do something, like visit your website or call your store. #2: Connect Your Facebook Page to InstagramIn order to switch to a business profile, start by logging into your Instagram account and navigating to your, tap the “gear” icon in the top right corner of the screen to access your account here, tap “Switch to Business Profile, ” and then “Continue” to connect to sure your profile is set to Public! If your profile is currently set to Private on Instagram, you won’t be able to switch to a business “Continue As” to connect the Facebook Page. If you don’t see your business’ Facebook Page as an option, make sure that you’re listed as an admin in the settings the correct Facebook Page appears, select it and tap “Next. ”#3: Set Up Your Business Profile on InstagramNext, you’ll be prompted to add your contact information, including a phone number, physical address, or email so that customers can get in everything looks good, tap “Done. ” That’s it! Now that you have a business profile on Instagram, you’ll get access to a ton of new features, including the ability to view your Instagram Insights and promote your Instagram posts, all from within the app! Subscribe to Later’s weekly newsletter to get breaking news and Instagram marketing tips & tricks straight to your inbox!
Should you switch to an Instagram Business account? – Susanne Rieker
Should you have an Instagram business account or a personal one? This post is tackling one of the most popular questions I get about Instagram ever and that’s: “Should I switch to a business account or keep my personal account? ” and today I want to walk you through my personal experience, what I believe is the best option and what I see for the future in terms of using Instagram to promote our businesses.
Click here to learn how to set up your Instagram profile and here how to plan 1 month of social media updates (links open in a new tab).
Will switching to an Instagram business account impact your reach?
I still remember when Facebook pages where the new shiny thing and everybody spent crazy money, time and effort building up their fanbases. And back in the day, when you posted something on your page, your follower actually saw it!
Not the case anymore, as you might have realized. Now organic reach is nearly nonexistent, and Facebook wants you to pay for boosted posts or ads if you want your followers to see your updates. Which is fair enough, they are providing a free tool after all and they have to make money.
But guess what? Facebook owns Instagram! I expect the same thing to happen here and that Instagram will restrict posts from businesses to be seen by their followers more and more (I think we already see this happening). At the moment I’m 100% sure that if you keep a personal account, you have a bigger chance of your posts getting seen. Which is what it’s all about, right?
But what about the features that come with an Instagram business account?
There are definitely pros to switching to an Instagram business account, like:
You get insights and statistics about your followers. You also get data on impressions, reach, website clicks and can see viewer trends without leaving the app. And you get additional information about your posts and your stories and how they perform for free.
You have a contact button on your profile so people can get in touch easily. And when you’re a local business, you might also have the option to add your address or phone number.
You can schedule your posts with a tool like for example and it posts automatically on Instagram for you (when you have a personal account, you can still schedule your posts, but you will have to manually post them on your phone).
Ad creation is seamless with the promote feature and you can set up promotions directly in the app, similar to a boost on Facebook. If you have a personal account you can still set up ads, but you need a Facebook business page.
When you have more than 10k followers you can user the “swipe up” feature in stories and directly link your viewers to your website, for example to sign up.
These are all awesome features, right? So why aren’t all businesses making the switch to an Instagram business account?
Again, the biggest factor is reach. Instagram limits the amount of what is seen of business posts in the feeds with the help of their algorithm more and more. I already see this in my feed and find it really annoying. I see all the (sometimes pretty boring) posts of my friends on both Instagram and Facebook (seriously, can’t they tell I’ve already seen the 10 new baby photos from cousin Laura on one platform? ), but posts from accounts I actually want to see are hidden or not shown at all. I’m really not a big fan of the algorithm, at all, but I guess there’s no turning back. It is what it is.
Another consideration might be that you’re feeling like you lose that personal touch when you switch to an Instagram business account. There aren’t any glaring differences between personal and business accounts for your followers, but it might feel different to YOU and that will impact how you communicate.
While the contact button that comes with an Instagram business account is nice to have, I don’t think it’s necessary. Not many people are actually going to visit your website, book your retreat or buy from you from Instagram directly.
I would focus on having a call to action in your bio and adding a direct link to your website, like I do here for example:
Lastly, the analytics are really nice, but not important enough to make me switch to a business account. If analytics are important for you, at the moment you still can get some data through (mostly paid for) app like PLANN. This might change as Instagram is restricting third-party apps to use their new API, which is designed exclusively for business accounts. By next year this should be the case for all official Instagram partners and services, and personal accounts will not be able to access any analytics or scheduling platforms anymore.
So, should you switch from a personal to a business account?
It’s entirely up to you! There’s no one-size-fits-all for this question. If you’re a business that doesn’t have a face behind your brand, or you want to sell directly from your feed, switching to an Instagram business account might be the right way to go for you. But if you’re a personal brand or business, I would seriously consider keeping a personal profile.
Here’s what I’m doing:
I have a business account (@happyyogatravels) where I have over 3. 700 followers and I’m going to keep it that way because it’s not my personal brand.
My other account @susannerieker I just started at the end of 2018 and I plan to stay on a personal account as long as it’s possible. I only have a few hundred followers at the moment, but my engagement is really high and I plan to keep that up. I also want to keep the human aspect and personality of my brand.
I believe personal it’s where it’s at and I want people to connect with me as a person before they get in touch with my products or services.
Lastly, a warning: if you signed up for a business account and switch back to a personal account, Instagram might still keep you tagged as a business. You’ll have to experiment here and track your results.
Do you have a personal or a business account on Instagram? Have you switched and seen changes in your reach and engagement? Hop over to our Facebook group and share your account and experiences!
Frequently Asked Questions about switch to professional account on instagram
What happens when you switch to professional account on Instagram?
Professional Instagram accounts will give you more call to action buttons and space to provide contact details and your business address, which will ultimately increase your customers’ ability to get in touch. You will now be able to connect your Facebook Page to your Instagram account.Jun 7, 2020
Why can’t I switch my Instagram account to professional?
Make sure your profile is set to Public! If your profile is currently set to Private on Instagram, you won’t be able to switch to a business profile. … If you don’t see your business’ Facebook Page as an option, make sure that you’re listed as an admin in the settings menu.Jan 30, 2018
Should I switch to professional account on Instagram?
There are definitely pros to switching to an Instagram business account, like: You get insights and statistics about your followers. You also get data on impressions, reach, website clicks and can see viewer trends without leaving the app.May 10, 2020
