How to make instagram account private from business

5 Reasons Why Brands are Using Private Instagram Accounts

Some brands and influencers are starting to change their public Instagram accounts to private, or create new accounts that are private from the get-go.

Adding a barrier to fans wanting to follow you might seem like a strange idea, but it’s gaining traction. So, we decided to find out why—and whether it’s something you should consider doing for you brand.

Why brands are making their Instagram accounts private

Setting your account to private on Instagram means that only people who follow you can see and engage with your content. Even if you’re using popular hashtags, your posts will still be hidden from those searches.

It also means that any non-followers who want to see your content have to submit a follow request.

Recently we’ve seen big meme pages, such as Couplesnote (8.2 million followers), switch to private accounts. And brands like Everlane have launched new private accounts.

In an interview with The Atlantic, Reid Hailey, the founder of Doing Things—an agency that manages Instagram pages with a total of over 14 million followers—said that when one of his large accounts was public it was growing at a rate of 10,000 new followers per week. Once he switched the account to private, that number jumped to 100,000—an impressive increase.

Hailey sees it as a way around Instagram’s algorithm change and stagnating follower counts.

“If you’re public, people just always see your stuff and they don’t feel the need to follow you,” he told The Atlantic. “It didn’t really become a mainstream thing until the algorithm started hitting hard I would say about six months ago or so. People are hurting for growth. A lot of meme pages aren’t really growing.”

If your brand is considering making the move to a private account, consider these benefits:

1. There’s already a trend toward privacy and personalized content

The private Instagram account trend could be a result of the broader trend of users and brands moving towards smaller, closed groups. We’ve seen this happen with the rising popularity of Facebook Groups.

By limiting the amount of people who can see your posts, you’re suggesting to the audience that you care more about quality content than reach. Followers will also feel the content you share is tailored just for them, as they’re a member of the private space you’ve set up for them.

2. It creates a sense of exclusivity

Why have you put a bouncer on the door to your content? Why is it so exclusive? Why? Tell me!

The FOMO is real.

Making your Instagram private can help make your current followers feel valued, but also make new followers curious. FOMO might come in handy if you’re launching new products, for example. You’re rewarding your most loyal followers with an exclusive first look, and giving newbies a reason to follow you.

Everyone loves to feel that they’re getting a deal or an exclusive look.

3. It might help you get more followers

As mentioned earlier in this article, by going private people have to follow you to find out what kind of content you’re posting. Brands have struggled to see their follower numbers rise since Instagram’s algorithm change, so going private serves as a way to navigate those updates.

There’s a reason this private Instagram account trend has been picked up by meme accounts. They know their content is highly shareable between friends. By going private, any time one of their followers shares a post with a non-follower, that non-follower will be enticed to follow the account in order to see the content their friend shared with them.

4. Keep those followers you’ve gained since going private (potentially)

Just like having to request to follow you, there’s also an extra notification that pops up if a fan tries to unfollow you.

Unlike a public page, where it’s a one-click button to unfollow someone, private pages ask fans if they’re really sure that they want to unfollow you.

This little extra step could potentially have an influence on your retention rates when it comes to follower numbers, making people think twice before unfollowing you.

5. It gives you more control

This might seem like a strange argument, but bear with me.

By going private you can cultivate the kind of followers and fans you want to have as a brand. Social for brands should be about genuine connections and offering value to your audience.

Social media by its very definition is public—but fans might not be willing to give honest feedback or share a connection with you as a brand in those open spaces. By having a small, private space, you can give your brand the room and control it needs to facilitate those genuine connections and offer value to fans on that 1:1 level.

Plus you can weed out and ban any trolls immediately.

Why switching to a private Instagram account may not be right for you

So we’ve told you the reasons you should consider taking your Instagram account private as a brand, but what are the catches?

You can’t switch a business account to private

You have to switch your business account back to a personal one in order to make it private. This means you lose analytics and the ability to run Instagram ads and promoted content.

It’s especially telling that Instagram don’t allow business accounts to be private—suggesting it’s not a trend that they want to promote. It could also mean that Instagram might penalize accounts they deem are ‘gaming’ the system by switching their accounts private.

This is probably the biggest downside to switching your profile to private.

Potential followers might be turned off

People have no reason to follow you beyond a FOMO factor—and you run the risk of annoying people by hiding your content behind a follow request.

This is especially true if you give someone access to your account, only for them to find out your content isn’t what they were looking for. Some people might feel duped into following you, which could result in a longer-term dislike of your brand.

Your content won’t show up in searches

As mentioned before, even if you use hashtags on a private account, your content will not show up in public feeds, including the Explore page. You also won’t be able to embed your content on a website, or link to it either.

All this can have a dramatic effect on your brand’s ability to increase exposure to potential new fans and customers.

So, should your brand switch its Instagram account to private?

Turning private could be used as a short-term strategy (for example, when you’re launching a new product) to help build excitement and exclusivity.

It could also work long-term if you’re a smaller, niche brand with a following that you want to cultivate into a community, or a meme account that thrives on FOMO.

But for the vast majority of brands, social media should be a place to be discovered by a new audience. You can miss out on new and enthusiastic fans, and potentially annoy those who are looking for you. Which is a lose, lose for everyone.

If you want to grow your Instagram following, or create the best Instagram posts possible, and not turn your Instagram page private, we’ve got you covered.

If you decide to keep your Instagram account public, save time managing your Instagram presence using Hootsuite. From a single dashboard you can schedule and publish posts, engage the audience, measure performance, and run all your other social media profiles. Try it free today.

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How to Switch Back to a Personal Account on Instagram

When the Instagram business account launched in 2014, many brands, influencers, and content creators quickly switched from their personal accounts.

The appeal of detailed insights and analytics was too strong to ignore! Not to mention, access to a plethora of useful business tools to promote your content.

1 Types of Instagram Accounts

2 How to Change Instagram from Business to Personal (Step by Step!)

3 Should You Switch to a Personal Account on Instagram?

4 Conclusion: How to Go Back to a Personal Account on Instagram

But you may be contemplating whether to switch back to your personal Instagram account these days.

It’s understandable. Maybe you want to restrict your content to a tight-knit community of followers. Or you might be looking for ways to leverage Instagram’s algorithm and increase the organic reach of your posts.

In either case, chances are you’ve thought about making the switch to a personal account on Instagram at one point or another.

While switching from a professional account to a personal one on Instagram takes few simple steps, it’s a critical decision.

That’s why you should analyze the pros and cons before you decide to switch back to your personal account. We’ll delve deeper into these aspects below. We’ll also discuss how to switch back to a personal account on Instagram.

But let’s first take a quick look at the different types of accounts available on Instagram!

Types of Instagram Accounts

Instagram offers two main types of accounts to its users – personal, and professional!

A personal Instagram account lets you use all of the platform’s basic features. You can still upload posts, reels, IGTV videos, and stories. But you can’t monitor how your posts are performing or have access to in-depth analytics.

Professional Instagram accounts are further categorized into two types of professional accounts -business and Instagram creator accounts. These accounts give you access to a treasure trove of creator-friendly tools, including insights and promotions.

So, now that you know what kinds of Instagram accounts you have access to, let’s talk over how to switch between them!

How to Change Instagram from Business to Personal (Step by Step!)

First things first – switching your Instagram account from business to personal isn’t rocket science.

Switching to an Instagram business profile, or back to a personal account involves a few simple steps and takes less than five minutes! The difficult part comes when you’re thinking about whether you should make the switch in the first place. (More on that later!)

But if you’ve already made up your mind, here are the steps to switch back to your personal Instagram profile:

Open the Instagram App
Go to your Instagram Business Profile
Tap the menu button in the upper right corner of your Instagram profile
Tap Settings
Select Account from the menu
Scroll down to “Switch Account Type”
Choose “Switch to Personal Account”
Read the pop-up and confirm the switch

Should You Switch to a Personal Account on Instagram?

If you’ve ever tried changing your Instagram account from business to personal, you’ve likely come across a warning message. If you haven’t, you’ll see it here!

It explains how you can’t use some of the app’s features on your personal account.

To some people, the loss of insights might not be a big deal. But to professional brands and businesses that use Instagram as a main social media marketing platform, it can be disastrous.

The final choice between a personal and business account depends on your needs and preferences.

Let’s explore the pros and cons of turning off your Instagram business account:

Pro: You Can Have a Private Account

This is likely the biggest advantage of having a personal Instagram profile. You can navigate to your “Privacy” settings and enable the “Private Account” option. It’ll ensure that your Instagram posts are only available to your followers.

Also, you can approve or dismiss follower requests to control whether new users can view your posts.

Pro: You May See a Positive Impact on Your Organic Reach

Some content creators and influencers have reported that the organic reach of their posts improved after changing their Instagram accounts to personal. This isn’t surprising considering that the Instagram algorithm could suppress the organic reach of business accounts to compel them to run ads.

But there’s no concrete data to support this argument. So, it isn’t wise to switch to a personal Instagram account with the sole intent of boosting your organic reach.

Con: You Lose Out on Detailed Insights and Analytics

The best part about having an Instagram business profile is that you get access to useful analytics on audience engagement. You can monitor the organic and paid reach of your posts, as well as gain a deeper understanding of your followers’ demographic.

Switching to a personal account means you can no longer use the “Insights” dashboard. Also, the analytics from your existing posts is erased. Even if you change back to a business account, you can never recover this data.

Con: Contact Options Become Limited

Unlike a business account, your personal Instagram profile doesn’t have a “Contact” button.

This means your followers can’t access your phone number, email address, Facebook page, or website.

Also, you lose other valuable buttons, such as “Insights” and “Promotions”.

Con: You Won’t Be Able to Auto Post from Tailwind

If you manage an Instagram business profile, you’re likely using a social media tool to plan and publish your posts. Tailwind’s Instagram scheduling tool lets you draft and schedule Instagram posts for weeks in advance with SmartSchedule – and automatically publishes content at the right time on your behalf!

But the auto-posting feature is only available for business accounts. While you can still schedule posts from your personal account, Tailwind won’t automatically upload them. Instead, you’ll have to rely on push notifications from the app to remind you to upload the post.

Conclusion: How to Go Back to a Personal Account on Instagram

Changing your Instagram account from business to personal is quite simple. You need to navigate to your account settings and select “Switch to Personal Account” from the available options. But if you’re a marketer or content creator, you shouldn’t be asking how to switch back to a personal account on Instagram.

Instead, you should evaluate the consequences of making the switch and whether it’s going to be the right decision. A personal account gives you more control over who gets to view your content. But you lose access to powerful audience insights and other tools.

Not sure about what type of Instagram account is the right choice for you? Pin this article and come back to it once you’ve made up your mind!

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How to make a private profile on Instagram: personal and company

A private profile on Instagram has a number of advantages over an open one. For example, it helps to get rid of excessive attention from "bots" and commercial profiles. It is enough to change the privacy settings and make the profile private. If you want to share your photos and videos only with close people, then this is the best solution.

Bloggers can use the same trick to create an entourage of mystery and intrigue. In this article, you will learn how to close your Instagram profile from unknown users.

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Which is better: a closed or open account

On Instagram, you can only close your personal page from other users who are not subscribed to you. You can't do this with a business account. The explanation is simple - the Instagram administration believes that business should be visible. To grow your audience, you need to be open to it. Just like that, for the sake of curiosity, no one will subscribe to the page. The exception is well-known brands and media personalities. But in this case, it makes no sense to use Instagram from a personal account - statistics on reach and actions with publications will not be available.

Even a cool description in the profile header does not motivate users to follow you. You need to be known so that other people want to follow you.

It will not be possible to set up targeted advertising for a private profile, and people will not find you by hashtags. Moreover, your posts and link to the page will not be included in the list of recommendations. You can only grow your subscriber base by working with existing audiences. For example, asking subscribers to tell their friends and acquaintances about you. But in order for your subscribers to share a link to your account, you will have to build the most trusting relationship with them. This is long and labor intensive.

Article in the topic: How to connect a business account on Instagram

How to close your Instagram profile

If you still want to close your Instagram profile from the curious, study the mini-instruction and change the settings in a few clicks.

Personal profile

To close your personal Instagram profile, click on the three horizontal bars in the upper right corner of the screen and click on "Settings" from the pop-up menu.

Scroll through the settings window to the "Account" section. Find the “Closed profile” item in it and move the switch to the “on” state.

The application will ask you to confirm the action. Click on the "OK" button.

After confirming the action, the slider will freeze in the on position, and your profile will become closed.

Only people you give access to can become your subscribers. Other users will see a notification that the page is hidden by privacy settings.

Read also: What to write about yourself in your Instagram profile

Business account

You cannot close a business account on Instagram. The only way to do this is to convert the business page to a personal one and set the privacy settings in the way described above. But you should not do this, as the post statistics will become unavailable to you. You will have to collect it using third-party services.

How to open an account

To open an account again, follow the same algorithm. Go to settings and turn off the "Closed account" option.

Interesting: Promotion on Instagram on your own

Should you close your Instagram account

You should close your Instagram profile only if you want to limit the list of people with whom you will share publications. Privacy settings will save you from unnecessary attention to your person and protect you from spam requests for correspondence, which are often sent to Direct.

If you have a business profile and want to profit from promotion on Instagram, you do not need to close the page. Otherwise, you will not be able to track publication statistics and run targeted advertising on Instagram .

Before changing the privacy settings of a page, decide for yourself what is more important to you - privacy or statistics. This is the very case when you can’t eat a bagel and leave a hole as a keepsake.

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Someone actively promotes their profile, and someone wants to close their Instagram account from prying eyes. You can do this in a couple of clicks, you just need to find the desired item in the settings.

Now Instagram has updated the "Settings" section. We are posting screenshots of how to close your Instagram account after the 2022 update.

How to close your Instagram account in 2022 after the

update Below you will find instructions on how to close your Instagram profile so that posts and Stories are only visible to followers. Even on anonymous browsing sites, your Stories will not be viewable.
If you want to temporarily hide your account from everyone, you can block it. And if only from a specific person, then block his profile.

Log in to your account, go to Settings (this is how they look after the 2022 update).
On some phones in 2022, the settings menu looks like this:
Scroll down and find the "Privacy" item, after - "Closed account" drag the slider to the right.
Make account private? Click Make Private

How to add or remove followers on a private Instagram profile

When someone wants to follow you, you will need to go to notifications and confirm or decline the subscription.

In order for one of the already approved subscribers to no longer see your posts, he must be removed from the subscribers. Open the list of your subscribers, find the right one. Click the three dots on the right, select "Delete". Your subscriber will not know about this until he goes to your profile (he will no longer be able to see the posts and will understand that he was removed from the subscribers).

How to open a closed account on Instagram

To open the account back, repeat all the same steps (screenshots above). Open the settings, find "Privacy and security", after - "Account privacy". "Closed Account" Drag the slider to the left. "Make the account public?" Click OK.

How to make a private business account on Instagram?

None. If you have an account with connected statistics (business account), then you can make it closed only by transferring it back to your personal account. Business accounts were invented to make promotion on Instagram more efficient. Accordingly, such an account should be open in order to attract a maximum of subscribers. Still want to close your profile? Switch to a personal account without statistics and then close it according to the instructions above.

How to switch back to a personal account is in the article: How to make a business account on Instagram.

What is the difference between a closed Instagram account and an open one?

In 2020, after the update, only the interface has changed, while all the advantages and disadvantages of a closed account remain the same.