Instagram business account: how to make one and what it unlocks

What an Instagram business account is

An Instagram business account is one kind of Instagram professional account. Professional accounts come as business or creator accounts, and you get one by changing the type of an Instagram account rather than opening a separate kind of account.

Instagram says business accounts are best for retailers, local businesses, brands, organizations and service providers. Setting up a professional account gives you access to features that help you grow your account, monetize, create ads, understand your growth, and manage your messages. Meta's own business lessons state that business accounts on Instagram are free to use. Boosting a post is paid separately: you set a budget for how much you want to spend daily and how long the ad runs.

For a shop, the business account is the type to pick, because a shop that shows on Instagram needs an Instagram business account in your business portfolio.

How to make an Instagram business account

Before you begin, you need to create an Instagram account or use an existing Instagram account. If the shop should stay apart from your personal profile, create a new account for it first; you can have up to 10 Instagram accounts logged in at once. These steps follow Instagram's help center for the app. On instagram.com, click More, then select Settings, then Account type and tools below For professionals; the web asks you to choose Business before you pick a category.

1. Open your settings

   Tap Profile or your profile picture to go to your profile, then tap More to go to Settings and activity.

2. Open the account type menu

   Below For professionals, tap Account type and tools, then select Switch to professional account.

3. Pick a category

   Choose the category that best describes what you sell. Instagram notes that the category you choose does not determine whether you’ll set up a business or creator account, so pick the closest match and move on.

4. Choose Business

   Tap Switch to professional account, choose Business, then tap Next. Choosing Creator at this step sets up the other professional type.

5. Add or skip contact details

   Add the contact details customers should use and tap Next. To leave them off, tap Don’t use my contact info.

6. Connect a Facebook Page or skip

   To connect an existing Facebook Page, tap Login to Facebook. This step is optional; to leave it out, tap Skip.

7. Choose what the profile shows

   Go to Edit profile, then Profile display below Public business information, to hide or display your category label and contact info.

8. Open the professional dashboard

   The account now has the professional dashboard, where you can see your insights, start creating ads, and view your eligibility to use monetization tools.

Before you set up an Instagram business account: what changes

Switching changes how the profile works for everyone who visits it. Check these points before you switch an account that already has followers, especially a private one.

If the account holds private posts you want to keep private, leave it as a personal account and create a separate account for the shop instead.

Instagram creator vs business account

Both are professional accounts, and both get insights, boosting and the professional dashboard. Instagram separates them by who each one is for and by the tools in each dashboard. Boosting content is available only to professional (business or creator) accounts.

For a shop, choose Business: the creator tools are built for earning from content, and a shop on Instagram needs a business account.

Linking a Facebook Page to your Instagram business page

Connecting a Facebook Page is optional when you set up an Instagram business account. You can skip it during setup, and if you only want to sell on Instagram, you don't need to create or provide a Facebook business Page when you create your shop.

Instagram's help center still says connecting your business Facebook Page is recommended to get the most out of its business tools. A connected Page adds the following.

• Messages in one place: you can manage comments and Instagram Direct messages from Inbox in Messenger or Meta Business Suite.
• Sharing and connected tools: a Page makes it easier to share Instagram posts on Facebook and use connected experiences such as ads and shopping tools.
• Cross-app tools: you gain tools such as appointment booking buttons, donation stickers and camera effects.
• Payments: you can use the payment method you use on Facebook on Instagram when you pay for promotions.
• Team access: if you own the connected Page, you can give other people permission to post or boost your business.

Linking has limits too. Once a Page is linked, you'll only be able to share your Instagram posts to Facebook through that Page. If you pay for Meta Verified, Instagram says that in some cases your active Meta Verified subscription may be canceled if you disconnect a subscribed Page and Instagram account.

What an Instagram professional account unlocks for a shop

These are the tools a shop gets after switching, with the conditions Instagram attaches to each one. Availability can differ by account, because the tools vary depending on your account type, region and eligibility. Insights are not on the list: any public account gets free insights for any period within the past 90 days, and trends across your followers show once you have at least 100 followers.

• A Contact button that can include directions, a phone number and an email address.
• An action button such as Book now, Reserve and Order food. Instagram says only one action button can be displayed on your profile at a time, and you need an existing account with a partner to select one.
• Frequently asked questions in chats: you can add up to four, and the feature is only available for business and creator accounts.
• A secondary inbox with Primary, General and Requests folders for organizing messages.
• Follower controls: you can protect the account by reviewing potential spam follower requests and removing suspected spam and bot accounts from your followers.
• Ads: you can boost posts from the app and use Meta tools to create ads that appear on both Instagram and Facebook.

Adding a shop to an Instagram business account

A shop on Instagram shows your products on your profile so people can browse them. Since Meta moved Shops to website checkout, the purchase itself happens on your own site.

In practice, a shop on Instagram works as a catalog that points to your store, so you need a website with its own checkout before the shop can be visible.

Ad accounts and team access

To link a Meta ad account in the app, go below For professionals and tap Ads payments. Once it is connected, your Facebook payment method and ad settings will automatically be saved to your Instagram professional account. Linking is a convenience: even if you don't connect one, you can still create and use an ad account.

Check where you pay before you boost in the iOS app. Instagram says that in most regions an Apple service fee of 30% of your total ad payment may apply when you add available funds to your ad account in the Instagram iOS app. To avoid it, Meta says to use instagram.com instead of the Instagram iOS app.

If someone else helps run the shop's ads, Instagram lists three ways to give another person permission to boost on a business account. Adding someone to your advertising account doesn't give them permissions to log in as you, so you can share ad work without sharing the account password.

Switching back to a personal account

You can switch back to a personal account, or change your professional account type anytime. In the app, go to Settings and activity, tap Account type and tools, then Account type, tap Switch account type, and tap Switch to personal account.

For a shop, switching back takes tools away. If you switch from a professional account to a personal account, you’ll no longer have access to ads and may lose access to select tools, including Meta business tools like Meta Business Suite and Meta Ads Manager. Also, any Facebook Page connected to your professional account will be disconnected. If the account stays public, you’ll still have access to Your dashboard and insights. Once the account is personal again, you can set it to private.

Where Nation fits

Questions about Instagram business accounts