3 Big Reasons to Switch to an Instagram Business Account Now

If you sell online, you most likely use Instagram as part of your marketing efforts. However, if you haven’t switched to a free Instagram business account, you’re missing some important benefits.

Here are three excellent reasons why you should consider switching.

1. Prospects Can Get in Touch Immediately

A major benefit of an Instagram business account is the ability to add more contact options. Personal accounts get only one link to their website. With a business account, you can add a phone number, an email address, and even your business’s physical location. And prospects can contact you in any of those ways.

Clicking the phone number allows people to call you right then. When prospects click on the email address, up pops a formatted email. Even clicking on the address takes you right to the map with directions – perfect for a brick and mortar business.

2. Scheduling and Publishing Directly to Instagram Is Now Possible

Automatic posting to Instagram is something business owners and marketers have been waiting for. And it became an option this year. The company announced on January 30, 2018 that it would enable approved third-party software to schedule and post on a business’ Instagram account. Prior to that, third-party apps created workarounds that would let you create a post. But you would get a reminder to your phone to manually complete the post inside Instagram.

There is limited functionality with third-party apps, however. With automatic posting you are restricted to posting single images only. Multiple images and video are not part of the current direct scheduling and publishing options.

There are two conditions for using automatic posting:

1. You MUST have an Instagram business account.
2. You must use approved Facebook Marketing Partners or Instagram Partners.

Some of the approved third-party apps include Hootsuite, Buffer, and Tailwind. Bonus: They all have free trials.

3. Analytics are Available Through Instagram Insights

The third major reason to switch to a business account is that you get access to Instagram Insights.

Instagram Insights provides information about your followers, your posts, and your stories. You’ll get important demographic data, including the gender, age range, and geographic location of your followers. You’ll also have access to this data for users who don’t follow you but still engage with your posts. In addition, you can learn the number of times each of your followers is active on Instagram daily. You can also see how many of them have clicked on the link in your profile.

Another important piece of data you’ll be able to access is how many new followers you’ve gained and when. This will help you analyze the effectiveness of your Instagram strategy and make changes as needed.

Ready to Switch?

To convert to a Business Profile:

1. Go to your profile in the app and tap the gear icon.
2. Tap Switch to Business Profile.
3. Select the Facebook Business Page you’d like to associate with your Instagram Business Profile. FYI: You must have a Facebook business account to set up your Instagram business profile. If you don’t have one, you can set one up here.
4. Make sure you set your profile to Public. Private accounts can’t switch to business accounts.
5. On the Set Up Your Business Profile page, add your business’s contact information, and tap Done.

If you don’t yet have an Instagram account and want to create one, you can learn how here. 

Next Steps

An Instagram business account provides you with new and immediate ways for prospects to contact you immediately. It also enables automatic posting and scheduling tools. Finally, it gives you valuable data on how others are interacting with your business on Instagram. Switch to an Instagram Business account today.