Why should you create a business profile?

If you’re a brand looking to create a following on Instagram and use the platform strategically.  You’re going to want an Instagram business profile to take advantage of all the added perks and tool improvements provided for your brand. Note that you must make the following changes while on your smartphone only.

Let’s start taking advantage of Instagram business profile tools!

By switching your personal profile to an Instagram business profile, you’ll really be enabled to wow your audience on the platform.  Here’s the biggest benefits of using a business profile versus a basic personal profile.

• You get to enable a greater sense of trust
• You get to access your Instagram analytics
• You get to add links to your Instagram stories
• You get to take advantage of Instagram advertising
• You get to schedule your posts ahead of time
• You get to tag products in your posts

You get to enable a greater sense of trust.  Business profiles allow you to share the brand’s industry, an address, and a contact button right on your profile.  You also have the ability to offer even more information upfront, like additional contact information which gives your business profile a more professional look.  Offering more ways for your audience to get in touch with you is never been a bad thing, especially in this moment of COVID-19.  With the differences between a personal and business profiles so obvious, Instagram users can automatically tell when they’re looking at business profile, which significantly increases a sense of trust.

You get to access your Instagram analytics.  By switching your personal to a business account, you get the ability to access built-in insights about your account and its performance.  You’re able to examine at your post performance, follower activity and audience insights. While these insights aren’t extremely in-depth, they provide you a basic understanding of how well your content is doing at-a-glance.

You get to add links to your Instagram Stories.  While Instagram is infamous not allowing you to link directly to blog posts and landing pages from your personal posts, hence all your recent or important links collect on your Instagram ‘link in bio’ page.  However, accounts that have more than 10,000 followers gain access to swipe up links within Instagram Stories, but only if that account is an Instagram Business Profile.

While it might take time to get your Instagram account to 10,000 followers, if you create a successful Instagram strategy, you’ll be linking content in your Stories in no time. Using Story Links is a great way to highlight your latest content, highlight short-term deals or resurface timely content and products based on what’s trending.

You get to take advantage of Instagram advertising.  Instagram ads and promoted posts are created through Facebook’s ads manager. That means you must have an Instagram business profile that is linked to your Facebook Page to enable creation of Instagram ad campaigns.  To help generate leads, increase conversions, and get you to that magic 10,000-follower threshold more quickly, your brand should be taking advantage of Instagram advertising.  If you’re struggling to increase your reach, paid ads can help you target key audiences.

You get to schedule your posts ahead of time.  If you want to make your social media management easier, switch to an Instagram Business Account.  A major Instagram update that adds significant value for you to make the switch to a Business Profile is the ability to automatically schedule your post content ahead of time.  You’ll be able to get a more complete picture of your upcoming content calendar and it will be easier for everyone who contributes to this content to collaborate. However, it’s only available with Instagram Business Profiles.

You get to tag products in your posts.  Finally, another great perk that’s only available to business accounts is the ability to turn your feed into an online shop.  Tagging products and turning photos into shoppable posts is a great way to open an entirely new revenue stream for your brand, but you need to switch to or set up your profile as a business account first. Considering that 46% of users make a purchase after seeing a product on Instagram, and even more do further research on that product after viewing, it makes sense to facilitate this type of browsing as much as possible.

Switching to an Instagram business account is so easy!

You’ve read about the benefits of an Instagram business account above. Now let’s switch your account over to an Instagram business profile using a simple process Step-by-Step process using a smartphone only, enables you to start taking advantage of all the great perks – today! 

Step 1: Go to your Instagram account settings – on your smartphone

Go to your profile, then tap on the triple horizontal bar icon in the top right-hand corner of the menu of the app window. Click on “Settings” to get started.

Step 2: Switch to Instagram professional account

Next go tap on “Account” in the menu, at the next screen you’ll see blue text call-to-action at the bottom of the page for you to “Switch to Professional Account”.  Tap that to move forward with your big switch.

Step 3: Choose between a Creator or Business account

Instagram recently rolled out a new type of “Business” account – an Instagram “Creator” account. These are more specifically for influencers, public figures, or other types of content producers, whereas a business account is better for brands and businesses that sell a product or service.

This is a part of Instagram’s effort to further separate influencers and businesses, making it more obvious for platform users when a partnership is an influencer promotion rather than an advertisement.

The core “Business” profile features are available, including shoppable posts.  This means influencers will be able to tag the products they’re recommending directly within their Instagram posts, offering even more streamlined shopping for all parties involved.  If you plan to partner with influencers to promote your products or services, you’ll want to create an Instagram business account.

Step 4: Connect your Facebook Page

If you’re moving forward in creating or switching to a “Business” profile, your next step is to connect your Facebook Page. You must have Admin Access to your business Facebook Page to take this action.  Once you confirm which Facebook Page you want to connect, your business profile is ready to go!

Start taking advantage of Instagram business profile tools to ramp up your Instagram marketing strategy.  By switching over to an Instagram business profile, you gain access to so many more great brand tools and perks, allowing you to really wow your audience on the platform.

Change your mind? Here’s how to switch back to a Personal Instagram Account

If you decide an Instagram business or creator account isn’t for you, it’s possible (and extremely easy) to revert right back to a personal account.

All you need to do is tap on the triple horizontal bar icon in the top right-hand corner of the menu of the app window. Next, tap on “Settings”, then tap on “Account” and this time simply tap the blue text of blue text  “Switch to Personal Account”, and you’re back to where you started.

To learn even more about the power of Instagram for your business, check out “Instagram for Business Help Center” for strategies that work.