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    Instagram Business Profiles: How to Set Up and Analyze Your Activities

    by Kristi Hines / July 21, 2016

    social media how toDo you use Instagram for your business?

    Wondering if an Instagram business profile is right for you?

    Making the switch to an Instagram business profile will give you access to a number of features that business owners may find useful.

    In this article, you'll discover what marketers need to know about the new Instagram business profiles.

    setup analyze instagram business profiles
    Discover the new Instagram business profiles and how to setup and analyze your activities.

    #1: Access Your Instagram Business Profile

    To find out if you have access to the new Instagram business profiles, you'll first want to make sure that your Instagram app is updated to the latest version. Then go to your Instagram app and tap on your profile photo at the bottom right.

    Next, tap on the settings wheel icon at the top right.

    instagram business profile settings
    Open your settings by tapping the wheel icon.

    If you see Switch to Business Profile, you have access to the new Instagram business profiles.

    instagram business profiles options
    If you have access, you'll see the feature in your account settings.

    #2: Set Up Your Instagram Business Profile

    Tap on the Switch to Business Profile option, and then the View Features link to learn about the features that come with switching to a business profile.

    instagram business profile connect to facebook page
    Explore business profile features from here.

    From here, you can flip through screens that tell you how you'll be able to use your business profile to:

    • Connect to your Facebook page.
    • Add a phone number, email, or location so customers can reach you directly from a button on your profile.
    • Learn about your followers and see how your posts are performing.
    • Create promotions on Instagram that help you grow your business.
    Because Facebook tends to limit business pages from being seen in the news feed with their algorithm, it is possible that they will do the same in the future to Instagram business accounts. Instagram may require that anyone with an obvious business profile (i.e., Joe's Crab Shack) to switch to a business account, so there may be no getting around it. You may want to consider the benefits of a business account versus potential limitations, or having both a personal profile and business account.

    When you're ready to make the switch, click the blue button to continue and connect to your Facebook business page.

    instagram business profile connect to facebook page
    Connect to the proper business page on Facebook.

    Now enter your business contact information, and Instagram will automatically pull information from your Facebook page. You can choose to use this information or remove it, based on your preferences.

    instagram business profile connect to facebook page
    Choose to keep or delete your imported Facebook page information.

    Once you're finished, you'll be taken back to your Instagram profile, which will now be a business profile.

    instagram business profiles connect to facebook page
    A first look at a new Instagram business profile.

    Explore Your Business Profile From a Visitor's Viewpoint

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    If you have another Instagram account, you can switch over to it to see how your new Instagram business profile looks.

    instagram business profile example
    Here's how a business profile looks to an Instagram user.

    Or you can tap on the Contact button to see which engagement options your visitors will see when they view your profile.

    instagram business profile contact options
    Instagram users can easily get directions, call, or email your business from your business profile.

    You can decide at this point whether you want to remove some information such as your location, for example, if it isn't complete or people don't need to visit your business. You can also edit your business profile to change the option from Call to Text.

    instagram business profile phone number
    Decide whether you want users to call or text you.

    Note: Either option will show the visitor your phone number, so if you're a freelancer or consultant and don't want to share your phone number, you may want to remove it from your Instagram profile.

    #3: Explore Instagram Insights

    To access your Instagram Insights, look at the top right of your new business profile next to your settings wheel icon. You'll see a bar graph icon that will take you to your Instagram Insights.

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    instagram business profile insights
    You won't have any detailed post insights until you post something after you've activated your business profile.

    After you post something to your new business profile, you'll get details on the impressions and reach from your posts, plus the number of website clicks from your business profile.

    instagram business profile insights
    A sample view of Instagram Insights for a business profile.

    When you tap on the See More link for your top posts, you'll see a screen dedicated to your posts. Each post will show the image and the number of engagements currently on the post. You can also tap on any of the links for Impressions, Reach, or Engagement to bring up a filter to see posts based on that specific criterion.

    instagram business profile insights filter
    Filter your insights by one of three metrics.

    Go back to the original Insights screen, tap on the See More link for your Followers.

    instagram business profile insights followers
    Get useful data on your followers.

    Here, you'll get a breakdown of your followers by gender, age range, location, and the times/days they're most likely to be online. The latter may prove useful when planning your Instagram posting schedule.

    #4: Promote Posts With the Instagram App

    Want to get more reach for your Instagram posts? You can now promote them in the Instagram app, similarly to how you boost a post from your Facebook page wall. Simply tap on a post and tap on the Promote link.

    instagram promote post
    Promoting Instagram posts just got easier.

    First, you choose your call to action button.

    instagram promote post
    Choose a call to action.

    Then enter the link for the landing page that the button will take the visitor to.

    instagram promote post
    Type in the link to your landing page.

    Now you'll set your audience, budget, and duration of the promotion. Note that the audience can be automated or defined by you with the following demographics.

    instagram promote post
    Creating a new audience.

    You can customize your own audience as opposed to letting Instagram take the wheel, or do a little testing to see which option gets the best results.

    Once you're finished, you'll get a chance to review your promotion settings, add your payment method, and then submit your promotion for review.

    instagram promote post
    Review your promotion details.

    Once accepted, your promotion will begin running, based on your setup and configurations.

    While your promotion is running, or anytime after, you can go to your post on Instagram and click on the View Insights link to see if the promotion is still running and what the results are.

    instagram promote post
    Easily check to see how your promotion is working.

    If you have multiple promotions going on, you can also click on the heart icon at the bottom of your Instagram app to see a quick link to all of your promotions.

    instagram promote post
    Choose any promotion to follow its progress.

    After You Switch to a Business Account

    When you switch to a business account, you can still go to your settings and connect with friends on your personal Facebook profile. You also have the option to switch back to a personal Instagram account, which may or may not be available.

    instagram business profile options
    Current options for business profile users.

    You also still have the ability to link to other social accounts (Twitter, Tumblr, Flickr, etc.) for sharing your Instagram posts across multiple platforms, and to add multiple Instagram accounts to your app.

    Note that your Facebook page is linked to business accounts instead of your Facebook profile, and that can't be changed. Hence, if you want to share your Instagram posts on your profile, you'll have to go to your Facebook page and share the posts from Instagram to your profile.
    Want more like this? Explore Instagram for Business!
    .
    What do you think? Do you have the new Instagram business profiles? What features are you most excited about using? Share your thoughts in the comments below.

    Tips on how to set up and analyze the new Instagram business profiles.
    Tips on how to set up and analyze the new Instagram business profiles.

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    Tags: Instagram, Instagram Analytics

    About the authorKristi Hines

    Kristi Hines is a freelance writer, ghostwriter, and copywriter who develops blog content, ebooks, emails, lead magnets, and website copy for marketing agencies, B2B, and SaaS.
    Other posts by Kristi Hines Âť

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