What is an Instagram Business Account? How is it Different from a Personal Account?

An Instagram business account is a type of profile that allows businesses to post on Instagram like a personal account, but with features that apply directly to businesses like analytics, promotional posts, follower insights, on-click shopping, and more. 

Want to learn more about Creator profiles and if it’s right for you? Check out our article on it here.

According to Instagram, Business accounts get metrics on story and promoted post performance, get insights into the audience and how they interact with your posts and stories, and [allow you to] add information about your company like business hours, location and phone number.

This essentially gives businesses the tools they need to take advantage of Instagram as a platform to reach new audiences, drive more conversions, and grow their businesses.

Features of an Instagram Business Profile

If you’re a business looking to do more than just post pictures, here are the features of an Instagram Business profile that personal profiles do not have and that make it worth making the switch. One key to creating a Business Profile on Instagram is connecting the account to a Business Facebook Page. 

This allows Instagram to pull information from your more comprehensive Facebook page and gives you the capacity to create ads on the platform. Read more about the features and benefits of a Business profile on Instagram:

Business Information

Signing up for a Business account with Instagram means you can add details about your company to your profile. This is especially useful for businesses that use their Instagram profiles to drive footfall to in-person locations. 

If a user tags you in their post, those images and your business location will show up in Instagram search results for your profile.

Metrics and Analytics

Measurement is key in creating even better future content. Instagram Business profiles include metrics to help companies continue to improve their online performance. Business profiles give companies insight into the following main data points:

• Reach: The total unique accounts who have viewed posts on your account
• Impressions: How many times your posts have been seen by users during a time period
• Website Clicks: How many times users click the link in your profile
• Profile Visits: How many times your profile has been viewed during the time period
• Mentions: How many times your handle was tagged by other users on Instagram…

…and more!

Businesses can use this data to determine if specific campaigns and promotions are resonating with their audiences and drawing in new followers.

Audience Insights

Along with useful insights on how your posts are performing, what content works best, and what drives the most activations, Instagram Business profiles also give companies the ability to better understand their audiences. 

You’ll get a look at the breakdown of men vs. women who follow your account, the age ranges of followers, where they’re located geographically, and more. This data can help you personalize your content to perform even better with those audiences. 

Promotions and Advertising

Along with your business information, data, and audience insights, an Instagram business profiles allows you to promote posts and advertise on the platform. You can either promote and existing Instagram post, or head over to the Facebook Ad Manager and create a unique advertisement just for Instagram.

Advertisements allow you to reach new audience members, promote new products and services, and more. There are a few different types of ads that Business profiles can run on Instagram:

• Story ads: These appear in user stories with the “Sponsored” tag near the profile picture.
• Picture post ads: These appear on the feed as a user scrolls through.
• Video ads: Videos of up to 60 seconds can be sponsored through the newsfeed.
• Carousel ads:  Users can flip through multiple images on a promoted post to add an element of interactivity to the feed.
• Collections ads: Collections have multiple images in a single frame to inspire users to take action

Instagram advertising with Business profiles also allows for in-depth targeting, meaning businesses can test content with new audiences and expand their reach and engagement. Look for new users based on their location, demographics, interests, behaviors, and more.

On-Click Shopping

This past March, Instagram released in-app shopping, allowing businesses to remove barriers to entry for users wanting to buy their products. “If people decide to buy a product from a brand or retailer on Instagram, they’ll be able to pay for that product inside the app instead of leaving Instagram to finish the transaction on a retailer’s website,” says Kurt Wagner for Vox. The idea is that the fewer steps to a purchase, the more likely a user will buy the product. 

When a user taps on a Business post in their feed, a little tag will pop up with the product name and price. From there, they can tap a small arrow that will take them to a shopping interface to select what they want and then make their purchase in a checkout module. For Businesses that sell products like apparel, beauty items, and more, this could be another beneficial feature from Instagram. 

Add Links to Instagram Stories

If your Business profile has over 10,000 followers, Instagram gives your account the ability to add the “Swipe Up” feature to your stories. You’ve probably seen this somewhere already, and it’s kind of a big deal. Previously, the only place you could add a link was in your user profile. Links within post captions don’t work, meaning users would have to type it out themselves if they’re really interested. The Swipe Up Stories feature means you can add links to as many stories as you can upload.

How to Sign Up for a Business Profile

Signing up for a Business profile is easy. You just have to download the Instagram app, set up a Business profile, and get to posting. 

To switch to a Business account, just click the hamburger menu in the top left corner, then tap the Settings gear. From there, tap Account, and then Switch to Business Account. Facebook/Instagram even has a course on how to best utilize Instagram for Business called Blueprint.

As mentioned above, Instagram recommends connecting your account to a Facebook page to gain access to all the features of a Business profile.

Is a Business Profile Right for Me?

With Instagram’s recent release of Creator profiles, there are now 3 types of accounts users can choose:

• Personal: This is for most of us to connect with friends and family and post our breakfast, travel, and pet pictures. In general, these have a higher organic reach just by the nature of the account type.
• Business: These are for businesses that need specific business metrics, calls to action, advertising, etc.
• Creator: This is a combination type of account for influencers that are just “regular people” who need access to analytics data for the companies they work for and to grow their audiences. Read more about Creator profiles here.

If you’re a business selling a product or service, Instagram Business accounts reach potential and existing customers and clients in a place where users already are. According to Instagram, over 200 million

Instagrammers visit at least one Business Profile daily and 60% of users say they discover new products on Instagram. 

The potential is out there! Go get started.

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Nancy Rothman

Nancy is a passionate, results-driven marketing executive with more than a decade of experience in building robust integrated marketing programs for brands of all sizes, with specific expertise in the martech space. Prior to Sideqik, Nancy held roles at four successful martech startups, each of which received multiple series of fundraising and included two acquisitions. At CallRail, specifically, Nancy served as the director of marketing where she built the company’s brand and established it as a leader in its space. She also held roles at MeetEdgar, where she oversaw the entire sales and marketing practice, increasing the company's user base and annual recurring revenue, as well as PureCars, which was acquired by Raycom Media in 2015. As vice president of marketing for Sideqik, Nancy is responsible for developing and executing on the company's marketing strategy to drive overall business growth.

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