How to Set Up an Instagram Business Account

It’s been six years since Facebook bought Instagram and slowly started tweaking the platform, setting it up for advertisers.

Since then, businesses that have been using personal Instagram profiles to reach fans have repeatedly been prompted to switch to an Instagram business account. The fear by some, if they do, is that organic reach will be reduced once they change. It’s a reasonable fear given that Facebook has cut organic reach for business pages to almost zero.

However, while reduced organic reach for Instagram business accounts might be a fact, there are benefits to having a business Instagram account rather than a personal one.

One is the analytics you get. Two is the ability to have Call, Email, and Directions buttons just below your Instagram profile for customers to connect with you instantly.

Three: You can launch promotions directly from your Instagram account, and also do cross promotions from your Facebook business page. In fact, you must have a Facebook business page to set up an Instagram business account. You also need to set up billing with one or both.

If you decide the benefits are worth the switch, I’ve outlined the steps below on how to set up an Instagram business account.

How to Switch to a Business Instagram Account

1. Log in to your account, click on your profile icon bottom right.
2. Click on the Gear icon top right

   

    

3. Scroll down until you see the options to Switch to Business Profile.

   

4. You’ll now be prompted to choose a Facebook Business Page to associate with your account or to set one up.

The next steps are to fill in your business contact information: email, phone number, and address.

After you do this, you’ll be taken back to your profile. Click on the gear icon again to access options to add a payment method so you can pay for ads directly launched from your Instagram business account.

You can also choose to switch back to your personal account if you like. But you’ll lose all analytics data if you do so. How long this option to switch back will be available is unknown.

But if you are on social media to market your business, I believe it’s best to take advantage of all the tools that Instagram and Facebook business accounts offer.

In Summary

You’ll have to decide for yourself whether it is worth it to set up an Instagram business account. If you mainly post content for friends and family, a personal account will make more sense.

But if your goal is to generate traffic to your company Website for conversions or to sell products directly from Instagram, a business account might make sense.

Once you have your business account set up, start experimenting with promoting posts directly from your Instagram feed. Check out the analytics to see what posts and days get more engagement, and to see the demographics of your users so you can fine tune your creatives, posting times and ad targeting.