Why and how to create an Instagram pro account for businesses?

Enter the world of Instagram

A few years ago, Instagram was mostly private accounts or personal profiles. There were very few companies on Instagram. But that has changed!

What is an Instagram business account?

An Instagram professional account is an Instagram account with features and statistics that help professionals and businesses increase their visibility and sales on the platform. It gives you access to powerful tools such as profile links, post statistics, detailed audience information and many other features to grow your business with Instagram.

How much does an Instagram Pro account cost?

Both personal and business Instagram accounts are free! On Instagram, you only pay if you want to promote or increase the visibility of your posts.

More and more companies have a presence on social media, and with over a billion users worldwide, including 20 million in France alone, Instagram is a must.

In just a few years, Instagram has established itself as one of the most important platforms for brands.

A professional Instagram account is a very powerful tool to increase your visibility on the platform. Whatever your business, the centerpiece of your strategy will be to improve your social media reference.

But before you start, you should know that there are 2 categories of pro accounts on Instagram:

“Professional” Instagram account

Instagram account “Creator”

For all businesses, we advise you to choose an Instagram business account.

But why?

What are the benefits of a professional Instagram account?

Instagram business accounts contain many features that give you more tools to increase your business visibility and engagement on the platform.

Here are the top 5 benefits of this type of account.

1. Schedule posts

We all know that time is money.

Scheduling your Instagram posts ahead of time is the easiest way to save time so you can focus on other aspects of your business.

With an Instagram pro account, you can schedule your posts very easily with sites like HootSuite or Later, apps like Planoly, or with Facebook Creator (which is completely free).

No matter what you do or what strategy you use on Instagram, it’s easier to share consistent, quality content if it’s designed and planned ahead of time.

2. Take Advantage of Insights

Statistics are a key feature of professional Instagram accounts. They allow you to accurately track the performance of your posts and learn more about your followers.

With a professional account, your account statistics are presented in a clear and easy to understand way. And with this data, you have all the information you need to determine the effectiveness of your posts and improve your future content.

Having a professional Instagram account allows you, in particular, to have access to 3 types of important statistics for your company’s Instagram strategy:

First, the “big picture”. It shows the performance of your Instagram account over the last 7 or 30 days. You will find the number of impressions, the number of visits to the profile, the number of clicks on your buttons (website, address, email, phone number), the change in the number of subscribers, etc.

Secondly, you can learn more about your audience. You can see the cities and countries where your followers are located, their gender, age and what time of the day they are most active. It also shows the days of the week when subscribers interacted the most with your posts. This allows you to tailor your strategy to your audience and know when is the best time to post on Instagram.

Thirdly, you also have access to the statistics of your old posts. You can see the number of impressions, interactions, clicks on posts that could be a week, a month, three months or even two years ago.

Keep in mind that statistics is an option built into professional Instagram accounts that gives you a lot of data about your posts and your audience.

Data needed to track the evolution of your account and improve your content creation strategy.

3. Use the power of calls to action

With an Instagram Pro account, you can increase your chances of converting through your profile.

In your personal account, your biography is limited to 150 characters. None more.

Unfortunately, this also applies to the pro account. On the other hand, you have the option to add buttons and links right below your bio.

So you can add a button for us to call you, for us to send you a message, an email, or even a link to find out how to get to your address (very practical if you have a store).

This is a very effective way to increase the likelihood that users visiting your profile will be able to learn more about your business and buy your products.

You can also place a link in your bio to your website, offer, or other social media.

4. Take advantage of “Swipe-Up”

Swipe up Instagram Maxime LB

One of the best ways to convert on Instagram is to send visitors to your site or ask them to follow a link.

As we said earlier, you can use the link in your bio for this.

But with a professional account, once you reach 10,000 followers on Instagram, you will unlock one of the best Instagram features that allows you to add links to your stories.

This feature, called “swipe up”, is very powerful and very easy to use. All you have to do is make your stories compelling enough that your followers will want to swipe up to follow your link.

This is a great way to improve your Instagram conversion rate. Another way to direct your Instagram audience to your website, offer, YouTube channel… and thereby grow your business.

This link in your stories is especially interesting when you want to present an exclusive, exceptional offer, new product or service.

And this is a feature that is reserved exclusively for professional or creative Instagram accounts.

5 steps to create a professional Instagram account

Creating an Instagram business account for your business is easy and won’t take more than a few minutes.

Before you begin, if you don’t have a Facebook page for your business, start by creating one.

After that, log into your Instagram account.

Create an Instagram account for your business

Step 1: Go to your profile settings

First, go to your Instagram profile.

Touch the ≡ icon, then the ⚙ icon to access settings.

Select “Account”.

Scroll down and click Add New Business Account.

Add a new business account

Step 2. Choose a category

Select the category that matches your activity.

Select a category.

Step 3: Add your email/phone number

On the Create Your Business Profile page, add contact information for your business. Starting with your phone number, physical address and email address.

When everything looks good, click “Done” to save.

Now that your professional account is ready, all you need to do is connect it to your Facebook page.

Step 4: Change your profile

Go to your Instagram profile

Click “Edit Profile”

Select “Page”

Step 5: Log in to your Facebook account

Select the Facebook page you want to connect to your Instagram pro account. If you can’t see your Facebook business page, make sure you’re logged in as an administrator in your settings. Once the correct Facebook page appears, select it and click Next.

After that, your Instagram pro account has been created successfully.

Now that your business account is ready, your customers can contact you directly from your profile.

You can also view your followers’ reviews and promote your posts right from the app!

How to switch from instagram pro account to personal instagram account?

Go to your Instagram profile.

Touch the ≡ icon, then the ⚙ icon to access settings.

Click “Account”.

Scroll down and click “Switch to business account”.

Follow the instructions that appear on the screen.

And so!

Whatever your business, it has become essential for businesses to have an Instagram presence.

And with a professional account, you can not only increase your visibility on the platform, but also increase your income.

To learn more about Instagram for professionals and how to improve your account and strategy, we advise you to read the full Alice in Digital article to learn how to succeed on Instagram.

The number of features on Instagram continues to grow and evolve. But what is certain is that in addition to a wide range of means to promote your brand (videos, photos, live streams…), Instagram offers more and more features to monetize your account and your audience.

By creating a professional Instagram profile, you can be sure that you have access to the best tools to succeed. And don’t forget to keep an eye on all the latest Instagram news, tools, and features to keep your marketing strategy up to date.

This is what keeps you ahead of the competition.