Have you ever wondered why exactly your business or brand needs to use the Instagram Business Account setting? This article from Constant Contact goes over the main difference between a personal and a business Instagram account.
Why You Should Switch to an Instagram for Business Account
Let’s walk through how to change your Instagram account to a business account and explain the advantages for your small business.
How to switch
You can switch to a business profile by opening the app and clicking on the drop down menu on the top right of the screen, then clicking ‘settings’ to access your information. In that menu, click ‘account’ and at the bottom you’ll see ‘Switch to a Business Account.’
Once you’ve clicked on the ‘Switch to Business Account’ button, you’ll be guided through the details and prompted to add additional contact information to your profile. There are some steps you can skip, but others that you have to fill out in order to have a business account.
If you have a Facebook page for your business, you’ll want to connect your account with your Facebook business page. Then, update your business’ contact information, including your email address, phone number, and address. Once you complete these steps, your account is now officially switched to an Instagram business profile!
1. Getting found
Before Instagram business profiles were rolled out, the only way followers could engage with a business outside of Instagram was to click their website link in their profile.
Once you provide contact information for your business account, a contact button will appear in your profile. Instagram users simply have to click that button and then chose whether they want to email you, call you, send a message, or find your location. Use relevant hashtags and images that represent your brand.
2. Access to analytics
Instagram was one of the last major social networks to introduce analytics tools, and they are still relatively minimal (e.g. don’t expect the ability to export data or to track over periods of time longer than a week). While the Instagram business analytics tools — which are called Insights — aren’t robust, they are a convenient way for you to get a quick look at how your Instagram content is working for you.
You can get an overall view of your Instagram posts by going to your profile and clicking the Insights data listed on the top of your account.
When you go to the Insights section, you’ll see analytics for impressions, reach, and follower information within the past week.
3. Instagram ads
Having an Instagram business account also allows you to create social ads from within the app.
If you want to promote a post, click on it and then select Promote. In our experience, the time from ad creation to full promotion can range from a few hours to a day or more, as Instagram takes important steps to verify advertising on its platform. As you walk through the process, Instagram may require you to connect or authenticate with your Facebook account before purchasing.
From there, you can select text for a call to action button, choose a specific audience, set your budget, and choose a time period for your ad to run.
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