Instagram Business Accounts: Everything You Need to Know
Instagram is one of the main visual touchpoints for social marketers. All target markets can be found on Instagram, and it is commonly used for product discovery along the customer journey. Instagram is used for everything from saving posts, to making shopping wish lists, choosing restaurants, activities, vacation destinations, hotels, and even reading celebrity news. The opportunities Instagram presents to marketers are endless.
User behavior has shifted from visiting a web browser to opening social channels, such as Instagram, to learn more about a company. The benefits of your brand switching to a business account are clear. The following guide will outline the benefits of switching to a business account, as well as provide some useful tips to help you get started.
What is an Instagram Business Account?
Upon switching to a business account, marketers are able to gain real time analytics on the performance of their posts, a breakdown of their demographics, and an expanded inbox to chat with customers. Business accounts are also given special linking opportunities through Instagram Shop and their stories, which is a lucrative feature for retailers that are looking to establish themselves on the platform.
If you’re wondering what the difference between a business account and an instagram creator account is, it’s fairly simple. A business account is for brands and business entities, while a creator account is for an individual creator to manage their personal brand.
How to Set Up Your Business Account
Ready to take the plunge? The setup process is simple. To begin, it depends on if you’re starting from scratch, or if you have a pre-existing account that has already gained some momentum.
Set Up a Business Account from Scratch
If you’re starting from the beginning, navigate to Instagram and choose the sign up option. Once you follow the steps, you’ll eventually be given the option to choose a “Business Account.” Continue creating your brand profile from there, and it will be set up as a business account.
Change a Personal Account to a Business Account
If you have a pre-existing personal or creator account, it’s even easier. Just head to your profile settings, select Account, and scroll down to “Switch to Business Account.”
For both of the above options, you’ll be prompted to choose a label that best describes your business, and a toggle to display this label on your profile.
Remember, once you switch to a business account, your profile will immediately become public. If you’re launching a new brand, save this step for last.
Once confirming these details, you will have access to a new set of analytics and additional information about your audience. We’ll discuss some of these new features below.
5 Benefits of Switching to an Instagram Business Account
If you're an incorporated entity, or just someone who uses Instagram for personal branding, making the change to a business profile is incredibly beneficial for a number of reasons.
1. Tell Your Business’ Story on Instagram
Now that Instagram for business is widespread, users expect companies to provide all the relevant information they're looking for on their brand profiles. If your bio doesn't have the proper details, or if your facts aren't displayed in an official capacity, you're simply not taking advantage of all of the tools at your disposal, and in turn, your brand's narrative or reputation could be affected.
Showcasing your brand profile by way of a business account is the optimal way to tell your brand’s story, and come across as authentic and legitimate as possible, especially if you don't have the coveted blue verification checkmark.
2. Add Links in Your Instagram Stories
The link-out button feature in Stories is only available to Instagram for business and creator accounts. If you're a brand, that means a crucial opportunity to insert a link to send your followers to anywhere you want to take them. Whether it's to give a webpage additional reach, or to an e-commerce platform for sales conversions, it’s a massive engagement booster.
If you have a business profile and over 10k followers, this tool is primed for you to take advantage of. Send your followers to a product page, an article, your company blog, or literally anywhere else that serves your brand journey. Don’t forget the hashtags!
3. Gain Additional Instagram Insights
If you’re new to the world of account analytics and data, Instagram business account insights are helpful and easy to understand. They reveal things like post reach, stats for your stories, audience demographic info, how many profile visits you've received, and link-in-bio clicks.
This information is not disclosed to regular users, and can be useful to get in front of when you want a quick overview, and incredibly powerful when paired up with all the additional social media insights that Dash Hudson provides.
4. Use Instagram's Native Shopping Function
Are you a retail brand trying to increase sales and product discovery? Instagram’s native shopping function is now a widespread tool used by business accounts. The app is a prime way to grow your brand, tag products in-feed and on Reels, acquire new consumers, and drive sales, albeit often in very indirect ways.
People use Instagram as a means for discovery, but not necessarily to purchase items straight away. It serves as a path to purchase, where people can inform themselves on a product they're interested in.
Instagram shopping functionality is the ideal vehicle for discovery. While conversions through these posts might not be high, they act as an informative medium for those who are interested in learning more, ultimately helping to assist in their decision to buy.
5. Secure API Access
As we all know, there was a full API shutdown in the past in the spirit of user privacy. A lot of things changed overnight regarding what third parties are allowed to access, and many of those services went bust.
To be able to bring you our full scope of services, Instagram for business is now required for Dash Hudson users. There's no way to get the stats we need without one. We're talking the most granular data used to inform strategy and gain priceless, actionable insights. You don't want to miss out.
The Key to Business Account Success
Now that you’ve got your business account up and running, it all comes back to Instagram being a public face for your brand: lay out all the information that your consumer might need on your profile page, put together a content strategy that your customers will love, and ensure you’re using the right insights to put together the best Instagram strategy possible.
To learn more about how Free People finds success on Instagram using their business profile and Dash Hudson’s insights, read our case study.
Instagram Business Account FAQs
Is an Instagram business account free?
Yes, a business or professional account on Instagram is completely free.
Is there a difference between personal and business Instagram accounts?
Yes. A personal account on Instagram is what the majority of users are currently using. The difference between the personal account and the business account is capabilities. With the business account you’re able to access in-depth analytics to your account and post performance. You’re also able to brand your profile and provide links and shopping opportunities within posts and stories.
Do business accounts get less views?
Some folks are still struggling with the decision of committing to a Instagram for business account with rumors of crippling engagement plaguing these accounts since their inception. We're here to confirm that these are just rumors indeed. No correlations have been found between identifying as a business and few user interactions.
Do Instagram business accounts get more followers?
We've seen both ends of the spectrum. Some accounts have low numbers to begin with (we have a solution for that), while others are straight up thriving. To answer this once and for all: if you put in the work, yes. If you’re consistently posting popular content, and using business account analytics to cater to your audience, your follower amount will grow over time.
How do I grow my business on Instagram?
While there is no sure fire way to guarantee success and growth on Instagram, there are a couple things that every successful business is doing on Instagram right now. The most important is creating and sharing interesting content consistently. This will not only bring new followers to your page, it will also keep existing followers interested. Don’t be afraid to really dive into your analytics to see what your followers do and don’t like. And if you’re not sure where to begin, try using Instagram business tools on services you’re more accustomed to.
