So, you created an Instagram account for your business. Great! Do you know which type of account you’re using? Instagram currently offers three types of Instagram accounts. We’ll go over the basics, including which is best for your brand!
Personal account
If you want to use Instagram to represent yourself as an individual, the Instagram personal account is the best one for you. It’s just your straightforward account for general Instagram use. That may be for entertainment, for connection to friends and family, for shopping, for information or all of the above.
If you’re a business, we don’t suggest using a personal account because you won’t have access to analytics, post scheduling, ad creation, Facebook’s Creator Studio and other related features. Though personal accounts lack these features, they do have some options that business accounts do not have, such as access to more music for Instagram Stories and the ability to make a page private (but as a business, who would want that?).
Business account
What you’re missing out on with a personal account does not outweigh all of the benefits of a business account. Instagram’s general business account among the types of Instagram accounts is also upfront in its nomenclature: it was designed to appeal to businesses wanting to use Instagram for exposure, marketing and consumer interaction on the social platform.
If you want to appear professional on Instagram, the business account is the way to go. It establishes yet another digital presence for your business as a means for customers to contact and interact with you.
The business account offers the same access to Instagram’s basic features as a personal profile. However, it also includes features like:
- The ability to run ads
- Access to insights and post scheduling
- Contact buttons
- Assigns a category to your business
- Instagram Shopping capabilities
- Instagram Stories’ “swipe up” feature on select business accounts
- Access to Facebook’s Creator Studio for Instagram page management
- Connection to third party analytics
Creator account
We’ve just explained the two extremes among the types of Instagram accounts, so now let’s meet in the middle. The newest among the types of Instagram accounts, the creator account was established to appeal to “public figures, content producers, artists and influencers,” according to facebook.com. In other words, it’s the business account for individuals aligning themselves with specific brands but who are not actually selling their own products.
The creator account falls in between the personal account and business account in terms of the breadth of its access to features on the platform. It’s the middle ground between the requirements of a business account and the flexibility of a personal account. For example, a creator account allows users to hide their business categories and contact information on their profiles (whereas a business account requires that this information is public).
The creator account shares many of the same features as the business account including Instagram insights, contact buttons and the ability to assign a category to your page. The most significant difference is that the creator account is not connected to Instagram’s API. This means users with this type of account will not be able to schedule using Instagram’s interface, implement third-party analytics or access any of the other Instagram for desktop features via Facebook’s Creator Studio.
Which Instagram account is best for your brand
If we’re talking using Instagram for business—go ahead and count out the personal account. That leaves you two options.
Our opinion? In almost every instance as a business, we suggest using the business account. It will give you full access to all of the tools you need to succeed as a brand on Instagram. A creator account may be useful for business models wanting to appear more like a personal account/individual, but most business-to-business or business-to-consumer brands will not benefit from this hybrid quality.
Summary
When it comes to Instagram accounts, you’ve got options. Opt for the business account to present yourself with the highest level of professionalism and get the most out of brand tools on the social media platform.
And when it comes to managing your brand’s Instagram account—you’ve got us!
McNutt & Partners is a full-service advertising and digital marketing agency. Contact us today for your marketing needs! Call 334-521-1010, or visit our contact page.