How to create an Instagram Business Account in 2022

9 out of 10 people on Instagram follow at least one business and 2/3 say that Instagram helps them interact with businesses in a meaningful way. This makes Instagram a perfect platform to find new customers, engage with audience and learn about what people that follow you prefer. Below you’ll learn about:

• the benefits of an Instagram Business account;
• creating an Instagram business account;
• completing your business info;
• switching from a personal account to a business account.

What is an Instagram Business Account?

Instagram business account or Instagram business page is a type of account with features that can help grow your business. The main difference from a regular account is access to business features: lead generation tools, analytics, Instagram Shops and more. Companies and brands mostly use business accounts to better understand their audience and get more out of their marketing efforts.

There are three types of Instagram accounts:

Personal account: most users have use personal accounts that don’t have additional features. ‍Creator account: influencers, content makers use creator accounts to get audience insights and sell via Instagram Shop. ‍Business account: businesses and companies use business accounts to access advertising, post scheduling and deeper analytics.

The benefits of an Instagram Business Account

Learn about your audience

Instagram Insights is an analytics tool available for business accounts. It lets you find out your audience demographics, like their age or location, what content they prefer and when your followers are most active.  Find out about your followers’ preferences and tailor your content to fit their needs.

Sell directly on Instagram

You can let your followers make in-app purchases without leaving Instagram. This greatly reduces the number of steps in the customer journey which in-turn increases the number of sales. Instagram Shopping is especially useful for any ecommerce store.

Create and run ad campaigns

Instagram users are quite responsive to promotions and 2/3 of them don’t mind ads when watching videos. Creating a business account gives you access to Instagram ads and lets you tweak all the necessary parameters: target audience, budget, campaign duration, CTAs and more. Don’t forget to use Instagram Insights to fine-tune your campaigns for maximum performance.

Get access to even more features

• Verification options — get a blue checkmark to appear on your Instagram profile page, great for content creators.
• Branded partner accounts that can post on your behalf — give business partners permission to turn your content into an ad.
• Boosted posts — access a type of Instagram advertising, pay money to show an existing post to people who don’t follow you.

How to create an Instagram business account

To start using an Instagram business account, you can either convert your existing personal profile to a business account or create a new separate business account.

Converting your existing personal profile

1. Open your profile and tap Settings in the top right corner.
2. Account → Switch to Professional account.
3. Select a category for your business and provide the information required.

Creating a new separate business account

1. Create a new Instagram account.
2. Choose a username, password and provide your contact details.
3. Open your profile and go to Settings in the upper right corner.
4. Account → Switch to Professional account.
5. Select a category for your business and provide the information required.

If you are stuck at any of the steps or need help, try following this detailed guide on how to set up a business account.

How to complete info for a business account

When you’ve made a switch, make sure to fill out all the necessary info and complete your business profile. This will make your profile easy to navigate for potential customers, plus meet customers expectations from a business profile on Instagram. This includes:

• a business email address — if you have several emails, don’t add all of them, only include one;
• physical location (if you have it) — add your city, a geotag or a map, if possible;
• phone number — make sure to include the extension;
• other contact information (if necessary) — messengers linked to your phone number or any other means of communication;
• profile photo — add a logo or choose an image that best reflects your business;
• your website address (if you have one).  — give people a quick access to your product catalog or a list of your services.

How to switch to and from your Business Account on Instagram

You can always switch to and from a personal account to a business account. Keep in mind that each time you switch back to a personal account, your insights data on Instagram will be erased.

Go to Settings in the upper right corner → Switch to Professional account → Switch to business account.

To switch back to a Personal account simply go back to Settings → Account → Switch Account Type → Switch to Personal Account. There is no limit on how many times you can switch to and back from a Business account.

Now that you have a business account you can start experimenting with marketing activities. First, decide on your marketing strategy. If you’re going to run ads, then you’ll need to connect your Facebook Page first as it’s required by Meta. Check out our Instagram advertising guide, if you need help.

You’ll also need to decide if you’re going to hire a social media manager to do the marketing for you. If you run a small business or you don’t have the resources for hiring a manager, you can start doing it yourself.

Explore business account features

After you’ve successfully set up a business account, start exploring what opportunities it unlocks. You can use Instagram shops to sell in-app, polls and stories to raise engagement. When you are ready to scale and automate most of your business Instagram activities, we at Chatfuel we’ll be thrilled to help.

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