Instagram Business Account: What You Need to Know

From marriages to moving announcements, posting milestones on social media has become routine. So if you’re hanging your own shingle, why not mark the occasion with an Instagram business account? For a designer, the highly visual app is a great place to show off new projects, of course, but the numbers are also in your favor: 90% of users follow business accounts, according to Instagram data.

“Instagram is your second digital portfolio beyond your website,” explains Meredith Hite Herzog, a managing director at the Dove Agency, a communications firm that handles social media strategy for interior designers. “Today, many consumers will engage with a brand on their Instagram before their website and use the platform as a search engine. [Instagram] provides credibility and helps interior designers break through the noise in a highly saturated industry.”

Before you focus on your feed and stories, you’ll first want to make sure the rest of your marketing strategy is in lockstep. For Nora Wolf, founder of public relations firm Wolf PR and its à la carte extension, Wolf Craft, great photography is a nonnegotiable for any firm. “It’s one of the most important things you can invest in,” she explains. “If you don’t have your work properly photographed, it is going to be near impossible to convert [a follower] into a client.”

While Instagram is a great tool for attracting new business, it’s also a fickle one, with a mysterious, ever-changing algorithm. (While your content might perform particularly well one week, Instagram’s elusive mechanisms may make it nosedive the next.) To control exactly who is seeing your content, Wolf says a digital newsletter can “build relationships with your subscribers and keep them updated on your latest projects, even if they’re not always on Instagram.”

But if you’re ready to take on the almighty Instagram, figuring out how to grow your following and develop a strong social media presence are musts for brand awareness and connecting with your future clients. To help, read on to learn everything you need to know to create an Instagram business account that excels.

What is the difference between a regular Instagram account and a business account?

While an Instagram professional account might seem like any other profile, there are a few features and nuances that make this tier a particularly good match for budding design firms. Not sure how to use Instagram for business? Here are a few great places to start.

Track your metrics

Unlike a personal profile—which will show you how many likes, comments, or view your posts and stories receive—business owners will be able to use their professional account to get a thorough understanding of their impressions, overall reach, and demographic of their engaged followers. According to Alessia Lamonaca—a former growth marketing director who left her decade-long career in marketing and social media to launch her interior decorating business, New Mode Home—knowledge is power. She says: “This data enables anyone looking to grow their audience to make informed decisions and optimize their content strategy.”

Advertise your offerings

If you’re itching to increase your profile’s traffic, use Instagram’s “boost post” to help your post or reel reach a specific demographic. Though boosting a post will require a small fee—which is based on a few factors like duration of boost and target metrics—Lamonaca says it’s “crucial for reaching a wider audience, driving more traffic to your business, and increasing brand visibility.” Finally, she adds, “this tool provides advanced targeting options, budget control, and performance insights to optimize your advertising efforts.”

Schedule posts ahead of time

Make no mistake, it’s very important for business owners to maintain an engaging online presence. However, when a to-do list is jam-packed with install days and admin work, posting on social media can fall to the wayside. Fortunately, an Instagram business account makes it possible for users to schedule content ahead of time.

Add contact information

Ultimately, a business profile has a lot more to offer than a feed of pretty pictures: It can also be a great tool to solicit business. The good news is that Instagram professional accounts have the option to add contact information like a phone number or an email address. Whether you’re looking to pick up a few clients or get some press coverage, your new-and-improved profile will provide a simple way to get in touch.

Connect with other platforms

Why spend precious time uploading the same post to multiple platforms when you can sync your Instagram business account with your company’s Facebook page or Threads account?

Add e-commerce

If you want to shine a light on your online shop or a new product collaboration, Instagram also gives business accounts the opportunity to sell their items directly through the platform. Ruu Silverman, Foley & Cox Home’s store manager, says the retailer typically uploads five shoppable posts to the platform per week. While the store tends to sell smaller items like books and accessories through Instagram, the app often acts as a sneak peek into its Hudson Valley brick-and-mortar storefront. “[We] have clients who reach out [directly about] larger or more expensive items they’ve seen on our feed or stories,” they say. “Reels are a great way to ‘walk’ people through our brick-and-mortar shop in real time or focus on a fabulous design detail on a product.” That said, it’s important to keep in mind that Instagram has some restrictions on what business owners can and cannot sell. While Instagram allows you to post and sell physical goods—as opposed to digital subscriptions or services—it prohibits the sale of some categories like animals, medical supplies, and alcohol.