How to use Instagram for business: a complete guide

How to set up an Instagram business account

With an Instagram business profile (instead of a personal account), you’ll gain access to analytical tools that let you track engagement with your account. This helps you see which type of content performs well.

Here’s how to make an Instagram business account:

1. Create a personal Instagram account (you’ll convert it later). Pick an Instagram handle and designate a username and password.
2. Tap the three lines at the top right-hand corner of the account. Tap “Settings.”
3. If you see the words “Switch to professional account,” click that. Otherwise, click “Account” and “Switch to professional account.”
4. Tap “Continue.” You may need to click through a few screens where Instagram shows you the features you’ll get with a professional account.
5. Select a “Category” that applies to your account and indicate if you want the category displayed on your profile with the slider. Then, tap “Done.”
6. Select the “Business” option. You can also set up a “Creator” account, which may make sense if your small business is in the creative space — for example, you’re an artist or author. Tap “Next.”
7. Decide if you want to get promotional emails from Instagram. Use the slider to accept these emails or opt out of them. Tap “Next.”
8. Complete your profile, including your business name, Instagram bio, website link, profile picture, phone number, logo, and other branding essentials.
9. If you have a Facebook business page, you can link it to your Instagram account. Because both Instagram and Facebook exist under the broader Meta suite, you can easily connect your Facebook page to other social media accounts.
10. Tap the “X” at the top left corner to return to your new business profile.

How to use Instagram for business: eight tips

Once you have created an Instagram business account, you will want to start targeting Instagram users and promoting your products or services. These pro tips will help you get the most out of Instagram for promoting your products or services:

1. Research your audience.

Audience research is an ongoing process that will help you tailor your content effectively. These are the best methods:

• Identify your target audience: Clearly define who your ideal audience is based on demographics, interests, and behaviors.
• Analyze your existing audience: Utilize Instagram's analytics tools or third-party analytics platforms to gain insights into your current followers and their characteristics.
• Conduct market research: Explore market trends, competitor analysis, and industry reports to understand the broader landscape and preferences of your target audience.
• Utilize audience insights tools: Leverage Instagram's built-in tools, such as Instagram Insights and Audience Insights, to gain further understanding of your audience's demographics, engagement patterns, and preferences.
• Engage with your audience: Interact with your followers through comments, direct messages, and polls to gather feedback, understand their interests, and identify their pain points.
• Conduct surveys and polls: Use Instagram's interactive features, such as Stories polls or question stickers, to directly ask your audience for their opinions, preferences, and feedback.
• Monitor relevant hashtags and discussions: Follow hashtags related to your industry or niche and participate in conversations to gain insights into the interests and needs of your target audience.
• Collect data through website analytics: Use website analytics tools to track user behavior and understand how your Instagram audience interacts with your website or online platform.
• Use social listening tools: Monitor social media platforms for mentions, discussions, and sentiment analysis related to your brand, products, or industry to gain valuable insights into your audience's perception and needs.
• Stay updated and adapt: Continuously monitor and adapt your audience research strategies as consumer behavior and preferences evolve over time.

2. Optimize your content.

Make sure your content is optimized for Instagram. Here’s how:

• Keep it simple. Short and sweet works best for captions and hashtags.
• Use emojis. For captions, interspersing emojis with text improves readability.
• Share high-quality content. Visually appealing and well-crafted Instagram posts capture users’ attention, reflect a professional image, and contribute to a positive user experience.
• Add white space. Adding line breaks in lengthy captions is another way to improve readability. Large chunks of text can be overwhelming to the eye.
• Track trends. For hashtags, keep an eye out for trending tags. Look to your community for existing hashtags or viral trends and hop on board.
• Make it relevant. Your captions and tags should be relevant to your business and the context. For example, seasonal captions and tags boost relevance.
• Photos. Traditional Instagram posts show one picture. Another option is a “carousel post,” which includes multiple images users can flip through. Both are great ways to maintain contact with your existing audience.
• Videos. Like photos, these are Instagram feed posts appearing on the profile’s main grid. Instead of still images, videos have moving images. Video types include product displays, tutorials, and interviews.
• IGTV. IGTV lets you showcase long-form video content. These videos can be up to an hour long — longer than the usual Instagram video. They should be polished and well-produced.
• Tags. Use hashtags to drive visibility, as people who follow those tags can see your content. You can also use geotags that indicate a specific location and help fine-tune your geographic targeting.

3. Use Instagram stories.

Instagram Stories are temporary posts you can share on your profile for 24 hours, featuring photos, videos, text, stickers, and interactive elements. Instagram stories only have a 24-hour life span, but you can preserve them by marking them as “Highlights.” These stay on your profile, appearing above the grid as small circles.

Amplify your Instagram stories with story stickers that engage your audience, like quizzes, countdowns, and poll stickers. For example, when creating an Instagram story, add a poll sticker and post a question like “Who’s watching the Super Bowl tonight?”

4. Use Instagram Reels.

Instagram Reels are short, vertical videos you can create and share with your followers. The platform offers creative editing tools, effects, music, and a discoverability feature that lets users discover engaging content in a format similar to TikTok video content.

5. Interact with your followers.

Building a strong and engaged community around your brand means communicating with your followers. They feel acknowledged and valued when you respond to their comments, messages, and mentions, and it also helps you gain valuable feedback and insights about your audience's preferences, needs, and pain points, which can inform your content strategy.

Plus, active engagement boosts visibility and reach, as Instagram's algorithms prioritize content with high engagement, potentially attracting new followers and expanding your brand's reach. The more meaningful the interactions, the more likely they are to lead to the coveted word-of-mouth marketing, further growing your online presence and potential customer base.

6. Sell products on Instagram.

These days, it’s easier than ever to convert Instagram interactions and engagements to sales. Instagram Shops lets you create shoppable posts and Instagram Checkout allows for on-the-spot purchases.

7. Utilize Instagram ads.

Instagram ads let you enhance your business presence and engage with your target audience. Here’s how to use them:

• Define your advertising objectives. Do you want to increase brand awareness, drive website traffic, or boost sales?
• Use targeting options. Reach the right audience by defining demographics, interests, and behaviors.
• Craft compelling ads. They should resonate with your target audience with eye-catching visuals, engaging captions, and clear calls-to-action (one per ad).
• Experiment with different ad formats. Try image ads, video ads, carousel ads, or story ads, to showcase your products or services effectively.
• Monitor ad performance of your ads. Instagram offers analytics tools so you can make necessary adjustments to optimize your campaigns for maximum results.
• Schedule strategically. Ensure your ads are displayed at the right times to maximize engagement and conversions.

8. Track your results.

One benefit of an Instagram business account is that it includes analytics tools that let you track engagement. This helps you determine which content resonates with your customers and which falls flat. You can then tailor your content, boosting impact.

Here’s how to use Instagram Insights, the analytical tool that makes it all possible.

Instagram Insights is a free tool integrated into Instagram that provides some basic data about your account and its performance. We recommend using Insights through the app — the desktop version has limited functionality.

To access Insights, go to your profile and click the three horizontal lines at the top right corner. Then, click “Get insights.” You should now have information about metrics like:

• The number of accounts you’ve reached
• The number of accounts that have engaged with your account
• Your total number of new followers
• Content shared (an overview of what you’ve posted)

For comparative analytics, you can set a time frame at the top left (for example, “Last 90 Days”). So, you might see your engagement is up +20% in the last 90 days, or your follower count dropped 5%.

How to grow your Instagram following

Growing your Instagram following means more eyes on your business and, hopefully, new customers. To grow your following, you can’t just post content — you’ve got to engage with people.

When people engage with your content, you create a two-way conversation that captivates users. It means people are stopping to look at your content and digest it instead of just mindlessly scrolling past (hey, we all do it).

Instagram’s algorithm recognizes signs of engagement, such as views and likes, which can boost visibility. Prioritize content that requires engagement, like “ask me a question” stories, hosting giveaways, adding action buttons to posts, and running polls.

Consider reposting user-generated content (UGC) and creating partnerships with influencers. The more you can interact with your customer base and the more you can share content that really resonates with them, the better.

The importance of engaging with your Instagram audience

The right content is just one way to drive engagement with Instagram marketing. Here are some other tips to improve engagement:

• Time it right. It’s not just what you post — but when. For instance, posting while your target audience is asleep won’t get you far. Learn the best times to post.
• Stay active. Don’t post and go. Monitor reactions to your content so you respond in a timely fashion. Social network attention spans are short.
• Respond to customers. If people post comments on your content, reply. That includes responding to negative comments — don’t ignore or delete them. Instead, apologize (if warranted), express appreciation for the feedback, and offer to discuss the problem privately, like through direct message.