How to upgrade your Instagram account to the new Instagram Business Profile

By now I am sure you have seen the buzz about the new Instagram Business Profile that now allow you to see insights for your Instagram account without the need of 3rd party software.

It is unclear if the use of the new Instagram Business Profiles will have the same affect as Facebook Pages with the decrease of reach, however the new features and the ability to actually see how well your posts are going is a huge improvement.

New Features:-

• Contact Button
• Insights
• Ability to promote good performing posts (eg: turn them into ads or boosting similar to Facebook Pages features)

How To

If you were one of the lucky ones you would have already received a notification on logging into Instagram to invite you to change over to the new Instagram Business Profile.

Your business MUST have a Facebook Page for this to work.

This how to is designed for iPhone users, if you are on Android you will need to check around for instructions that suit your phone if the below is not the same on your version of Instagram.

Manual Set Up

If not you can still do the change over manually following the below steps.

Sign into Instagram App on your iPhone

Go to your Profile Page

Select the settings icon in the bottom right-hand corner.

Tap on Account then scroll down until you can see Switch to Professional Profile option in your settings screen.

Once you have selected the Switch to Professional Account click on business account option. You will have the following screen appear and you can also scroll through to vie the features associated with Instagram for Business.

If you don’t have your Facebook Profile connected to your Instagram your screen will look like this

If you click view the features available for a business account , the below images that'll appear.

Press the button to Choose categories for your profile > Review your contact info then finally connect to Facebook. The last two steps have an option to skip at the bottom. 

Once you click through you will be asked to authorize the connection from Facebook click OK. 

If you do not see this option make sure you have your associated Facebook profile as a linked account with your Instagram.

Select from the list the Facebook Page that you would like to connect to your Business Profile on Instagram then click Next.

Now check that all the information that has been imported from your Facebook Page is correct the press Done. If anything needs to be edited just click on the section to make the changes.

Remember the new features of Business Profile for Instagram is a contact button, so have a way for people to contact you through Instagram.

Congratulations you have now changed your Instagram profile to a Business Profile for Instagram account / Instagram for Business.

You will now have additional features on your Instagram account that were not there before.

You now have insights (the little bar graph icon next to your business name in the top right hand corner).

Insights will take affect for future posts.

 You now have a Contact button on your profile – depending on what contact details provided will depend on what options open up when someone clicks on contact button.

Congratulations on your new Business Profile for Instagram account.

Insights

You can also now view insights for all future posts.

Below is an example of a post insights

If you click on the View Insights, this will show you the insights for this post. Scroll the pop-up up for more insights.

If you are confused about what they mean click the What do these mean (circled below)

Troubleshooting

You do not have the Switch to Business Profile option in your settings

• Check that your Instagram app is up to date
• Try linking your Facebook Profile and rebooting your iPhone

Questions

As questions are raised I will try to update this section so you can follow back and see if these will help with any questions you might have.

I don’t want my Instagram posts to automatically go to my Facebook Page

You don’t need to activate automatic posting you your Facebook Page this is still totally up to you and you have total control over the integration and what gets shared across both platforms.

If you DON’T want your images to go to your Facebook page make sure that the slide bar is in the off position.

If you DO want your post shared to your Facebook Page make sure the slide bar is in the on position as below.

More information

• Instagram for Business
• Instagram for Business Blog Post – Coming Soon: New Instagram Business Tools
• BufferApp Blog Post – A First Look at New Instagram Business Tools (And What They Mean for Your Business)

We would love to hear how you go and see your new Business Profile for Instagram in the comments below.