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How to set up a new instagram business account


How to create an Instagram Business account

2 min

Instagram serves a global community of more than 1 billion people who are active every month. People use Instagram to share moments, find passions, be inspired and take action. Instagram can help businesses of every size find customers and grow. With an Instagram business profile, businesses can promote their products and services to a global audience of people who are most interested in what they do.

Use this training to:

  • Get started with Instagram business tools to reach more people
  • Prepare to create your Instagram business account

Instagram business account features

Instagram business accounts have features and settings that can help your business reach more people, stay connected with them and boost sales.

Note: If you switch to a business account, you will no longer be able to set your account to private. You'll also only be able to share your Instagram posts to the Facebook Page already associated with your Instagram account. However, you can switch back to a personal account at any time.

Let people learn more about your business and contact you easily

When you create a business account, you'll be able to add an address field and contact buttons to your profile. You can include directions, a phone number and an email address, which people on Instagram can use to get in touch with you.

Build and maintain relationships with potential and existing customers

With a business account, you'll have access to a simplified inbox ( Instagram Direct) to manage the messages people send you on Instagram. You can star conversations that you want to come back to, and filter messages from people you want to follow up with. Additionally, you'll be able to create and use templated responses ( quick replies) so you can respond to common questions quickly.

Learn about your followers and the performance of your posts and stories

Get information on who your followers are, when they're online and how they interact with your photos and videos. By understanding when and how people interact with your content, you can increase opportunities for them to see it and take actions. You can also create more of what resonates with them.

Promote your posts

Use the Promote tool to turn your Instagram posts into ads that can help grow your business. When you promote a post, it will appear as a sponsored post in Instagram stories or feed.

Convert your personal Instagram account into a business account

To get started, you'll need to have the Instagram app downloaded on your phone. Visit the App Store (iOS) or Google Play Store (Android) to download the app.

To create a business account, you'll need to have an existing personal Instagram account. If you do not already have an Instagram account, you can create one here.

To switch your account to a business account:

  1. Go to your profile and tap the menu icon in the top-right corner.
  2. Tap Settings.
  3. Tap Account.
  4. Tap Switch to business account.
  5. We recommend that you connect your business account to a Facebook Page that is associated with your business. This will make it easier to use all of the features available for businesses. Only one Facebook Page can be connected to your Instagram account.
  6. Add details, such as your business category and contact information.
  7. Tap Done.

Getting started on your Instagram business account

As you set up your free Instagram business account, here are a few things that you can do to make it easier for people to discover your business.

Profile photo

Simplicity works. We recommend using your business's logo or a graphic symbol. Your image will be cropped into a circle and appear as a small 150 x 150 pixel icon.

Account name

Choose an account name, ideally your business name, that's easily tied to your brand. Keep it short. The limit for usernames is 30 characters.

Learn more about account names in our Community Guidelines and Terms of Use.

Bio

Create a short description of your business. You can include relevant hashtags to make your business more discoverable or add emojis to describe it visually.

Website and contact options

Help people get in touch with your business by adding your website, email, phone number and location.

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How To Create an Instagram Business Account (2023)

An Instagram business account gives brands, influencers, and creators performance data to understand how followers interact with their content—insights to guide business decisions and advertising functions to action on them.

Ninety percent of Instagram users follow a business account, and 81% use Instagram as a platform to research products and services. Instagram, in short, is no longer just a visual platform for pretty pictures. Its library of content types—Instagram Stories, Reels, and IGTV—make it an ideal platform to reach new audiences, learn about users’ content preferences, and share powerful visuals. 

And it’s easy to get started.

Three types of Instagram profiles

Instagram business accounts are just one type of account you can have on Instagram. In total, there are three types of account, each created for different types of users:

  1. Personal account: the vast majority of users have personal accounts, which don’t have analytics or advertising features
  2. Creator account: for influencers and content producers who want audience insights and Instagram Shop features
  3. Business account: for brands and companies selling products or services who want access to advertising, links, scheduling posts, and deep insights 

The benefits of an Instagram business account

Detailed analytics, the ability to track post performance, additional information in your profile, and features like Quick Replies provide plenty of reasons to create a Business account.

Tools like these make it easy to: 

Learn about your fans

Instagram Insights not only highlights the demographics of your followers, like their age and location, it tells you what content they prefer and when they’re usually online, so you can plan content campaigns and share photos when your audience is most active. 

Sell directly to followers

Avoid disrupting users’ scrolling with Instagram’s in-app purchase feature. Your audience can browse and buy products without ever leaving the app, reducing friction in the customer journey and increasing conversion rates. 

Run ad campaigns 

Instagram ads can expose your brand to new followers and potential customers through powerful targeting capabilities. Analytics show which content is performing best and how many users follow through on your call to action. 

Control the customer journey

In the past, it was almost impossible to direct Instagram users away from the app—the only links allowed were in profiles (hence the ever-present “Link in bio” CTA). Creators with a business account can add links to their Instagram Stories if they have over 10,000 followers, giving them the chance to use Instagram as a lead-generation tool. 

How to create an Instagram business account 

There are two ways to create an Instagram business account in the Instagram app: 

  1. Switch from an existing personal profile 
  2. Create a brand new business account 

Most existing brands who want to start using Instagram will create a new account from scratch. But if you already have a solid following, it makes sense to convert your personal profile to a business account to retain those followers. If you don’t have any followers, start fresh. 

There are other considerations to this. If you’re an influencer who's grown a following for sharing humorous fitness videos and have created a line of workout gear off the back of it, you might consider creating a separate business account for your product, or you might convert your existing profile to a business account and continue sharing content as both an influencer and a brand owner.  

If you’re on the fence, think about:

  • Time constraints (Do you have the resources to post regularly on both a business account and your personal one?) 
  • Brand personality (Are you synonymous with your product? Is the main purpose of your account to entertain and connect rather than sell your product?)
  • Brand awareness (Do you want to create a separate online presence for your product so that it’s easy for people to find through search?) 


Fashion influencer Arielle Charnas started out sharing posts on a personal account about her family, lifestyle, and clothing. After growing a huge following, she launched a fashion label, Something Navy, under a separate account.


Switching to a business profile from a personal profile

If you already have a personal profile you want to change into a business account, tap Settings in the top right corner, click Account, and scroll to the bottom, where you’ll see a blue link that says Switch to Professional account.  

Tap that and you’ll be asked what type of business you have and whether you want to add your phone number and contact information to your profile. 

How to create an Instagram business account from scratch 

Businesses that are ready to get started on Instagram can create a business account from scratch in just a few steps: 

  1. Create a new Instagram account.
  2. Choose your username and password and enter your contact details.
  3. Set up the account (it will automatically be created as a personal profile).
  4. Once you have set up your account, go to Settings > Account and tap Switch to Professional account. 

Note: Choosing your username is a bit like choosing your domain name. Ideally, you want it to be the same as your brand name, but there are ways to tweak it when an exact match isn’t available: 

  • Using your actual domain name (e.g., with .co or .com on the end)
  • Adding punctuation to break up separate words (like Hannah. Rochell and Nanda_Schwartz) 
  • Adding a prefix at the beginning of your name (like mrdrewscott) 
  • Adding extra letters to the beginning or end of your brand name (like xosarahmorgan)
  • Adding your location suffix to the end of your name (like thedoersuk) 

The process from there is the same as if you were switching from a personal profile. 

When creating your Instagram Business profile, bear in mind that: 

  • You can’t have a private business account 
  • The algorithm treats business posts the same as posts from personal profiles
  • You can run Instagram and Facebook page ads in tandem 

Quick tips for making the most of your Instagram business account 

Make the most of the available features

Business accounts have access to more features than personal profiles. You still have up to 150 characters to use in your Instagram bio, but you can add your location, address, and the type of business without taking up any space. You can also include links in your Stories, schedule posts, set up an Instagram shop, and create Quick Replies. 

Loftie includes its website, a link to its shop, and a contact button, while Irma makes the most of Instagram’s Quick Replies feature. 

Use a branded profile picture

It’s easy for brands to get lost in the crowd on a jam-packed Instagram feed. Use a branded profile photo that includes your colors, logo, and any recognizable brand features to stand out and spark brand awareness. 

Athletic Brewing uses a two-tone logo with its bright brand colors. 

Create a cohesive feed

Don’t let the suite of powerful business features distract you from ensuring your feed looks good. Use a limited color palette and consider how each individual post will look as part of the bigger picture. 

Dollar Shave Club posts content in varying forms on its feed, but it sticks to a designated color palette so it looks uniform.  

How creators can start an Instagram business account 

It’s not just LLCs and corporations that are benefitting from Instagram’s business features. Influencers and content creators are leveraging the detailed insights and engaging features to build huge followings and serve their followers their favorite content. 

The creator economy is booming right now. Never before have we seen celebrities made in bedrooms, their curtains tightly drawn as they stream their favorite game to millions of viewers or film a strangely mesmerizing unboxing video for their YouTube admirers. 

Instagram has become one of the go-to social media platforms for creating and sharing content. The selection of content types means creators can engage with their audience in a variety of ways, building a repository of guides, videos, behind-the-scenes footage, unboxing videos, and everything in between. 

Instagram Business accounts are best suited to influencers and creators who have started their own product lines or sell services, as the access to targeted ads and demographic data makes it easier to reach people who might be interested in becoming a client or customer.  

As a small business owner, don't be afraid to own the low production value. If you're making your products in the messy basement, that can actually be endearing to an audience.

Gretta van Riel, in an edited excerpt from the course Grow Your Business with Instagram

Play as you go: things to consider when you post on your business account 

Creating a huge, hypothetical strategy probably isn’t as valuable as learning through experimentation. Trial and error will give you insights into what content is a hit and what’s a miss, as well as who it is you’re reaching and their main pain points. 

Understanding who your audience is, planning content out to fit their needs, and creating a monetization plan (whether it’s through affiliates, selling products, or via brand partnerships) can help focus your efforts and drive your experimentation–-here are some questions to ask yourself. 

1. WHO you’re posting for
  • Who do you want to reach? 
  • What are their biggest problems? 
  • How can you solve those problems?
  • What kind of content do they want to see? 

Dig deeper by conducting audience research, scouring relevant hashtags, running audience surveys, and digging into any available insights you have.  

Look at the questions your target audience is asking on social media, check competitor feeds to see what kind of posts get the most interaction, then use this information to craft an image of your ideal follower. 

2. WHAT you’re posting 
  • What kind of content will you post?
  • What type of posts get the most engagement? 
  • What are your goals with Instagram? 

Figure out what your goal is with each post—Driving consumers to your site? Selling your latest product? Encouraging comments?—and determine what type of Instagram posts fit that need. Experiment with a mixture of Stories, Reels, feed posts, and videos to see what works best with your audience. 

For example, if you’ve created a recipe for your latest nut butter product, you might show it in action via a Reel, or if you’ve collected UGC of consumers unboxing and using your products, you might post a series of Stories to highlight them, like Glossier. 

Glossier reshares UGC in its Stories under its Top 5 series.

Consider your posting schedule and how often you’ll share content each week. Adam Mosseri, Head of Instagram, suggests “a couple of feeds a week, a couple of Stories per day.”

3. HOW you’ll make money
  • Will you sell a product or service or generate money in another way? 
  • What monetization methods work with your business model?
  • What Instagram features can you use to monetize your business? 

There are two clear streams of monetization for business accounts: 

  1. Support marketing efforts: traditional businesses can use Instagram to support their marketing efforts. Even if you sell products directly on the platform, your content is marketing for those on-platform sales.
  2. Sales sans products: creators don’t necessarily have to sell a product (although that’s always an option). You can make money through affiliate links, brand partnerships, links, running courses, and taking part in ambassador programs. 

Brand deals are the most common way for creators to generate an income on Instagram, followed by ad revenue and affiliate links. For brands that sell products, Instagram Shopping and shoppable posts can generate revenue through in-app purchases. 

Thinking ahead: how to start growing your business account 

With your business account set up and a plan for moving forward, you can start to consider the bigger picture and how you’re going to get more followers. 

The Insights feature and ad capabilities mean you can track which methods are working best, but to get you started, here are some ways you can promote your business account: 

  • Instagram ads. Set up and run campaigns through your Instagram business account. Choose the demographics of the users you want to target and create eye-catching graphics to grab their attention, whether it’s in their feed or Stories. 
  • Hashtags. Research hashtags that are trending in your industry, discover what’s popular on the Explore page, and spy on your competitors to see what hashtags they’re using in their posts.  
  • Partnerships. Partner with similar brands that have a similar audience, create content together, and promote each other’s accounts. Perhaps you run a giveaway together or create a collaboration with your products (Instagram’s Collab feature makes this easier than ever). 

  • Influencers. Team up with influential accounts in your niche and have them promote your products or services.

Building an Instagram business from the ground up 

Instagram for Business has made it possible for creators, influencers, and brands of all different shapes and sizes to make money from social media. All they need is a loyal, engaged audience, which is where Instagram comes into play.

Engagement rates on the platform are higher than any other social channel, and the range of content types allows businesses and creators to reach their audience in a variety of ways.

Get to know your audience. Build an Instagram strategy. Then put it to work with Instagram for Business’ array of features. 

How to create a business account on Instagram: step-by-step instructions - ppc.world

An Instagram business profile opens up additional opportunities for the account owner. Bloggers, as well as those who promote goods or services on social networks, should start a business page. In this article, we will figure out how to properly create a business page on Instagram and why you need it.

Creating a business account on Instagram: who and why

A business account on Instagram is an account that has more features than a regular one. It is more convenient to establish communication with subscribers, track their activity and the effectiveness of posts. Available in this account:

Statistics. The owner gets access to statistics on user actions, the composition of the target audience, the effectiveness of posts in the feed and Stories. In a personal account, you can only see the number of likes and comments on your posts, on the business page you can also track reach, the number of impressions, profile visits, etc.

Communication with subscribers. Subscribers can write an email, message or call to the owner of a business account by clicking on the corresponding button. nine0003

Company address. Users can see directly from Instagram how to get to an offline point, open the address on maps and build a route.

Advertising launch. This is one of the most important features for bloggers and business owners. To be able to run ads, you must connect a business profile. There are two ways to advertise:

  1. Via Facebook Ads Manager.

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  2. Through the Instagram app itself. To do this, go to the "Promotions" section, click "Create a promotion" and select a publication to promote. You can also select any post from the feed or Stories and click the "Promote" button.

See also:

  • How to set up Instagram ads in three steps - guide

  • Everything you wanted to know about advertising in Instagram Stories

Switching from a personal account to a business page: instructions

Go to the general menu and find the "Settings" section.

You can switch to a business account in the "Account" section. There you will see a "Switch to Professional Account" button.

Next, select the profile type - author or business.

Now, from the proposed categories, choose the one that describes your type of activity as accurately as possible. nine0003

Click "Next" and go to the page where you need to specify your email and phone number. Using them, users will be able to contact the account owner.

The information display can be customized. For example, if you don't want to be called on the phone, leave only your email.

The next step is to link to the Facebook page. It is advisable to set up a business page for the company on Facebook in advance and link it to the account, but this is not necessary. You can skip this step by clicking Don't Link to Facebook. If there is no page, but you want to integrate with Facebook, click "Create a new Facebook Page". nine0003

Business profile ready. If you want to switch to a personal account, you can do it right here in your account settings. You can also change the account type there. If you set the "Business" parameter, switch to the author's account and vice versa.

Switching to a personal account is also required if you want only subscribers to see your business profile posts. In this case, you return to your personal account, close it and go back to your business profile. nine0003

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how to do it (4 steps + instructions)

To make selling on Instagram more convenient and efficient, the social network has introduced a special profile format for companies — a business account. The transition to it is available to absolutely all users. I'll walk you through how to connect and set it up step by step - as well as what features it provides and how they help sales. nine0003

A business account is a type of Instagram profile created for business promotion and analytics on the social network.

How to connect

If you logged in through a PC, then you need to make just a few clicks to connect a business account. In the settings, find the "Switch to a professional account" item, then select the "Company" sub-item. Follow the prompts: specify the category of your business and set up its display in the profile.

Connecting a business account in a PC browser

How to switch to another category? Easy peasy! To do this, go to your Instagram profile page and click "Edit Profile". In the “Profile Information” section, select “Category” and change it to any other that is relevant to you.

Change the category at any time

Switching to a business account from a smartphone is also easy: select "Account" from the settings menu, scroll to the end of the list that opens and click "Change account type". The further algorithm is the same as on a PC: read the tips, find the appropriate category and confirm your choice. nine0003 Setting up from a smartphone

You will also be offered to integrate your Facebook. This can be done immediately, or at any other time. The condition is now optional, but the integration will greatly expand your opportunities for positioning your business on social networks. By the way, on Facebook it should also be not just a personal, but a corporate page.

Completing settings

Interesting. You can quickly and safely promote your social network by boosting likes, reposts and views on publications. So you can increase coverage and get a hot target audience. Click and use -> TapLike

Related:
Instagram Design (25 Cool Profiles + Examples) Instagram Photo Editing: Top Applications + Examples

Features

So, you have switched to a commercial profile. And you will definitely want to immediately try out all the new features and chips. Then I will give a brief overview of the settings and advantages that distinguish an Instagram business account.

1. Profile category

Business profile in instagram allows you to display the subject of your page. In addition to the inscriptions “brand” and “personal blog”, which are now quite common, you can put any other profession or topic, for example: musician, politician, clothing store, cafe, bar, etc. This is important because it attracts the attention of your target audience. nine0003 Categories

As advertising

2. Communication buttons

For this setting, first fill in the contact details. Add them to the fields: email, phone, address. Then the action buttons will become available, and they are implemented through integration with third-party applications for business. You will be able to place, for example, an online registration form or online payment. It will look like "Call", "Register", "Order delivery", etc.

A business account makes it easier for users to contact you. For example, when you click on the "Call" button, the phone number automatically appears on the mobile dialing screen, that is, you do not need to copy it to the phone's memory, open the desired section, paste it - everything is done in one click. nine0003 Communication buttons

By the way. In order for Instagram algorithms to work for you, I recommend cleaning your account from garbage through the Instahero service. Use the promo code "INSCALE" to get a 30% discount on a full analysis. Click and test -> Instahero.

3. Statistics

Various statistics can be viewed for a business profile. So you get the opportunity to track the reaction of subscribers to a particular content, analyze the effectiveness of advertising campaigns, contests, etc.

Statistics exist both for the profile in general and for individual publications and stories. This feature is useful not only for selling accounts, but also for personal brands. nine0003 Statistics

Profile statistics

On a business account on Instagram, you need to click on the “Menu” section on the profile page. Then select "Statistics". Switching between tabs here you can see:

  1. The number of visits to the profile, clicks to the site, coverage indicators;
  2. Information about publications for the week;
  3. Subscriber information: number of subscribers/unsubscribers, subscriber locations, gender, age.
Profile stats

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Publication statistics

In addition to general statistics, track reactions to individual publications. To do this, on the profile page, select any photo or video and click "View statistics" under the publication.

The number of likes, comments, uploads and saves of the selected publication will appear in the window. In addition, the total number of actions performed with this post and the number of transitions to the profile are calculated here.

Publication statistics

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Stories statistics

You can access the statistics of stories from the already familiar section “Menu” -> “Statistics” -> “Content”. Next, you need to find the “History” section. From here, the coverage of each story is available. Clicking on any post will open more detailed statistics, where you can even find out exactly who viewed your story. nine0003 History statistics

Related:
Business on Instagram: from scratch in 13 stepsInstagram engagement: what it is + how to increase

4. Promotion and targeting

Instagram has its own functionality to promote your publications. It works in such a way that it allows you to show your posts to the target audience, advertise your profile or drive traffic from Instagram to some external resource. This is more effective than simple cheats, although you will need cash investments for this tool. nine0003 Promotion

Lifehack. When replenishing your account, use a special service that returns up to 20% back to the balance of the promotion amount. For example, you threw in 10,000, and you can run an ad for 12,000. Click and learn more -> GetUniq.

Related:
Advertising in Instagram stories: step by step instructions How to make a mask on Instagram: simple instructions

5.

Shopping Tags

Shopping Tags allow the audience to view your product cards, read the description, find out the price, go directly to the desired section of the online store. This feature has a positive effect on the growth of sales. nine0003 Shopping Tags

Interesting. I also recommend using multilink. It will help to create a full-fledged online store, as well as contact you via instant messengers.

6. Physical address

If you sell goods not only online, but also offline, you are probably often asked how to find you in order to buy a service or product. Business accounts allow you to post exact addresses and hours of operation with access to view the address on a map.

Physical address

7. Additional lead magnet

Posting an address may not be relevant to you if, for example, you do not offer your services offline. Then this place can be used to place an additional lead magnet. The address bar allows you to place a fairly large amount of information, which is very useful in cases where a profile description and biography is not enough.

Lead magnet

Briefly about the main thing

A business profile is relevant not only for selling pages or instagram landings: its wide range of features will find its use even if you do not sell anything. nine0003

One of the most compelling reasons to switch to a business profile is free access to statistics that will show, for example, which posts turned out to be the most interesting. And finally, I will briefly list the main advantages:

  • Ability to categorize accounts;
  • Access to profile statistics;
  • Convenient communication with users;
  • Ability to run a full-fledged online store;
  • Ability to promote a profile without third-party services. nine0030

And one more thing to help you. Do you want to make a bomb out of your account, get hundreds of subscribers a day and a flurry of enthusiastic direct messages? Then watch the courses below:

  1. Involving stories on the phone ;
  2. Promotion on Instagram.

    Learn more