Instagram for business | Instagram Academy

Instagram for business: want to create a business Instagram profile because you want to make money on Instagram, or do you want to understand how Instagram for business works?

You are in the right place.

In earlier lessons we covered various subjects: how to create an Instagram profile, how to improve it, hashtags for Instagram, when to post and how often to post.

Beyond that we also covered Instagram bots and the Instagram Stories feature.

Today, as promised, we talk about Instagram for business, though we recommend looking at the Academy’s other lessons for the fullest possible picture.

Now we can begin. We will show you how a business Instagram profile works, how to make money on Instagram as a company, we will talk about Instagram for Business and about how to take a brand to success on Instagram.

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Creating a business Instagram profile

Creating a business Instagram profile is not difficult.

Having an Instagram business profile means access to more features: statistics and tools for promoting your brand or product.

So if you want to sell on Instagram, you cannot do without an Instagram business account.

To open an Instagram profile for business, just download the app from the App Store on iOS or from Google Play on Android.

Once downloaded, sign up to Instagram with your credentials (you can also log in with your Facebook account) and go to Settings.

Scroll down and you will find “switch to a business profile“.

Once your personal account has become an Instagram business account, you can start by writing the most important information about your work in the bio.

Say what your business does, add contact details — an email, a phone number, your website URL so people can find you — and add opening hours.

It will be very useful to your audience.

As you have seen, creating a business Instagram profile free of charge is very simple.

Free image from Pixabay

How to use Instagram for business

Before thinking about strategy you have to build a profile that carries your message.

You could get a sense of it by looking at your competitors’ Instagram profiles and drawing ideas from analysing their pages: look at the kind of posts they publish, look for business hashtags including theirs, dig into how much they publish, what interaction they have with their audience and what they use to make their profile work.

The first steps and the first things to consider are:

your Instagram business account should carry the same username as your other social profiles;
the profile photo you choose has to fit your business — it has to represent it 100%. You could use your brand logo, for instance, so you are recognised immediately;
you could create your own company hashtag and put it in the bio, spreading the word so more people use it;
the bio is the only space where you can add a clickable link — make the most of it;
find and follow people connected to your brand or product (look for possible Instagram influencers too);
people can comment on what you publish — you have to be ready to reply, always;
find the hashtags that work for your business;
turn on sharing to other networks too (you will find it in the settings);
build a quality Instagram profile that follows a clear line, so you can work with Instagram;
place your product in an everyday context;
if you want to use Instagram as a business tool you will certainly have to run an integrated promotion of your brand on Instagram and on the other networks.

Free image from Pixabay

Instagram for business: why setting objectives matters

Now that you know how to open a business account, and everything you have to do to start well, you have to set objectives that let you work properly and find the right strategies to reach them.

So you need to be clear about the why. Why open a business Instagram profile?

Think about what you want from this photo-led social network:

Do you want to improve your relationship with customers?
Or is the goal selling your products?
Perhaps you want to send people to your website to raise traffic?
Think about Instagram collaborations: you can work with influencers to draw people in — did you know?
Do you need to build awareness of your brand?

Define the objectives properly, then start.

Want your Instagram profile to take off?

Want to grow your Instagram followers?

Want to make money on Instagram?

Want to turn your Instagram around?

We can help.

Taking a brand onto Instagram and succeeding

Is it possible to succeed on Instagram?

The answer is yes. It is certainly not guaranteed for everyone and it takes time, along with a well-considered strategy.

Here are some pointers to set you on the right road with Instagram for business:

create a theme: keep the same filter across the photos you post;
stay consistent with your other networks: the tone of voice has to be single and recognisable in how you approach your audience;
publish images relevant to your brand or your work;
decide which content your Instagram business profile is built around and be recognisable to your audience;
the caption describing your photo matters a great deal. Try to engage people so they interact, so they are curious, so they are drawn in;
company hashtag: if you can find a hashtag that carries the essence of your company and is original too, you have a good chance of success. The hashtag should encourage people to follow your brand and share photos in line with it;
work with influencers in your field, who will certainly help you sell on Instagram or get known by many more people;
use Instagram Stories, because they create plenty of engagement.

Promote your Instagram business account

At this point what is missing is promoting your business Instagram profile.

You can make use of Instagram advertising and therefore promote your Instagram profile, and you can also promote your Instagram account through Facebook Ads.

As you will know, Facebook bought Instagram, so paid advertising on Instagram runs through Facebook Ads.

You can create Instagram ads by choosing the post you want to promote and the action you want people to take. You can also add a link sending people to a landing page and target the audience you care about. Finally you decide how much budget to put behind the advertising and start the Instagram promotion.

I recommend giving promotion serious thought, because the returns can be good, and using Instagram as a business tool you will see how useful this side of it is.

And finally, a point not to underrate: the results, which we come to below.

Free image from Pixabay

Analyse your Instagram performance

When you turn on an Instagram profile for business you get the advantage of being able to monitor your performance.

What does that mean?

You have this extra feature compared with non-business profiles: you can analyse your Instagram performance through Insights. When you open your gallery, at the top right you will see a small chart: open it and you reach the analysis.

Insights tell you:

which photos got the most engagement;
the best times to post;
who your followers are, in percentages;
how many accounts saw your post and how many times it had the chance to be seen.

Access to this feature gives you the advantage of optimising what you do and improving the posts that didn’t work.

Conclusion

To close, in this lesson you learned how Instagram for business works.

We weighed up plenty of angles: how to make money on Instagram, the first things to do, how to use Instagram as a company, which strategies to apply, promotion on Instagram and finally performance analysis.

We will see you in the next lessons, where we will go deeper into other Instagram subjects you are sure to find interesting. Stay tuned and keep following your favourite Instagram Academy.

Want Instagram consultancy? Get in touch — we will work out the best Instagram strategy to do what it takes and reach your goal.

Want to sharpen your Instagram knowledge? Get in touch — we will find the course that fits you.

Want to ask us something or just talk? Get in touch — that is what we are here for.