How to set up an Instagram Account for Your Business

If you’re particularly handy with a camera (yes, these days a phone counts as a camera!), here’s how you can put your photographic nouse to good use, and promote your business on another great - free - tool.

Here's what you'll need:

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You can do this via email, AirDrop, or by saving it from an online service like DropBox or Google Drive.

Instagram have made the registration process very simple - but the thing that can get tricky if you’re new to this is making sure that you’ve got all the files you need on your phone, when you need them.

If you haven’t already, check out this quick tip on how to format logos for social media.

For the purposes of this article, let’s assume that you already have your own account (because let’s face it, most of us do). 

This is important because there are actually two ways that you can set up an account - 

Open the app on your phone and navigate to your account select the down arrow next to your name then click on ‘Add Account’ at the bottom of the page.

This will start a bunch of prompts to create your account. 

It might take a few goes to find the right name for your account - don’t worry you can edit this later.

This process will step you through a couple of other things, like asking for your Date of Birth and email address.

Et Voila

You have just created an Instagram account for your business… Just one more step to go.

New Instagram accounts are personal accounts by default.

There are a couple of differences between a person and a professional account.

The major difference between an Instagram Business Profile and a personal account is access to features like Instagram Insights, contact information, Instagram Ads and more.

Think of an Instagram Business Profile as a “beefed up” version of a personal profile.

Sure, you technically could manage your brand’s Instagram account with a personal profile, but why limit yourself when you can switch to a business profile in a matter of seconds, and get so much more?

Brands used to rely on tactics like packing bio with contact information or make assumptions about who’s their target audience.

When you switch to a business profile, that’s all taken care of.

With that being said, let’s take a look at how to actually make the change!

In the sandwich menu (the three lines in the top right corner of your screen) and select ‘Settings’ and choose which page type you’d like.

Unless you’re an influencer, politician or an artist, you’ll probably want to choose ‘Business’.

One of the best things you can do with your new Instagram Business account is to link it into your Facebook Business Page.

This will let you cross-post meaning that you can share posts across both platforms at the same time… a massive time saver for a busy business owner!

NOTE: You may be prompted to log in to your Facebook account if you don’t already have the Facebook app loaded and logged in on your phone.

Choose your business page, review your contact information and select ‘Done’.