Instagram Account Types: What’s the Difference?

Whether you’re an influencer, a small business, or a bootstrapped SaaS, social media can help you build brand awareness and generate leads. Instagram is one of the most influential social media platforms, catering to diverse user interests and goals.

Whether you're a business, content creator, or just an individual looking to connect with friends and family, Instagram offers different account types to suit your needs. Understanding the different Instagram account types is crucial for maximizing its potential, especially when it comes to choosing between a personal, creator, or business profile.

In particular, Instagram is an excellent platform for visually appealing brands and products. An Instagram business account was launched for this reason. Instagram business accounts include advanced features designed to help you understand your customers and bring people to your website.

So, what’s the difference between an Instagram professional (business or creator) account vs personal account?

We'll review the difference between an Instagram professional and personal account, the main account features, and how to set up a business account.

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What Are the Types of Instagram Accounts?

Instagram has three account types: Personal, Creator, and Business.

What is a Personal Account on Instagram?

A personal account is ideal for individuals looking to share their daily life, interests, and experiences with friends and family. From posting stories to engaging with followers through DMs, personal accounts are perfect for those seeking a more private and intimate social media experience.

It offers privacy settings that allow users to control who can view their content, making it perfect for those who want more privacy and closeness with their own circle. One of the biggest differences is that this type of account allows users to set their account to private and limit which users can view their content.

What is a Professional Account on Instagram?

A Instagram Professional account is an account designed for businesses and creators who want to track their engagement and interactions. This type of account includes business accounts and creator accounts (explained further below), each offering advanced tools for audience insights and content performance.

Instagram professional profiles provide more analytical tools than personal accounts, helping you better understand your customers and improve your business's reach.

Let’s break down the types, differences, and advantages of each:

What is a Business Account on Instagram?

A Business Account on Instagram is a special type of account made for companies, stores, or anyone who wants to promote their work or sell products. It has extra tools to help businesses:

• Show important information like their email, phone number, or address so people can contact them easily.
• See how well their posts are doing, like how many people viewed them or clicked on them.
• Run ads to reach more people.
• Sell products directly on Instagram by tagging items in pictures or setting up an online shop.

It’s like a personal account, but with more features to help businesses grow and connect with customers!

What is a Creator Account on Instagram?

As the name suggests, a Creator Account is designed for content creators, influencers, and public figures. It caters to individuals who want to grow their online presence and connect with a larger audience.

The creator profile falls between the personal account and the Instagram business profile.

The primary benefits of a creator profile are:

• Audience insights
• Streamlined inbox (separate personal from general)
• Optional contact information button

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What Type of Account is Right for Me?

If you're wondering, "Who needs a Business Instagram Account?" or "Should I create a personal or creator Instagram account?" we’ve created this table to help break it down for you:

Key Differences Between Personal and Professional Accounts

• Professional accounts (Business or Creator) offer two major advantages:
  1. Lead generation tools – Features like contact buttons, quick replies, and ads to help grow your audience.
  2. Audience insights – Access to data about who engages with your content.
• Personal accounts are ideal if you use Instagram to connect with friends and family. With a personal account, you can:
  • Share content privately by setting your profile to private.
  • Follow and engage with other profiles without needing advanced tools.

Professional accounts are always public, making them perfect for reaching new audiences. Basically, anyone using an Instagram marketing strategy should consider a business account, even if you’re only trying to improve your organic reach.

In particular, retailers and service providers will benefit from creating an Instagram business account.

Influencers, freelancers, and artists might consider using a Creator account, depending on their needs. Wait, what? There are more types of Instagram accounts?

If you’re still unsure, check out this helpful video from Social Media Examiner:

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Advantages of a Professional Instagram Account

First and foremost, Instagram is a powerful tool for building your brand. With over 2 billion active users, Instagram is one of the biggest social networks in the world and the best place to get discovered. People who see your Instagram account in their feed will be more likely to engage with you in other ways, like following you on Facebook or visiting your website.

Let's review why you should transition to an Instagram business profile:

1. Instagram Insights

Analytics tools are an essential part of any digital marketing strategy. If you want to improve your performance on Instagram, you need to be able to measure it.

In addition to contact information, Instagram Insights is one of the main perks of having a business account.

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Instagram business accounts provide analytics about your posts’ performance and audience. You can view your insights on the Instagram app on desktop or mobile. 

Instagram analytics include metrics such as:

• Reach and impressions
• Content interactions
• Total followers
• Audience demographic information

2. Ability To Boost Posts

If you want more engagement with your content, you can boost business posts to increase your reach.

When you boost your post with Instagram ads, you can select a target audience and set a budget.

Instagram then promotes your post and includes the results of your ad spend in your Insights tab. To track your campaign's performance effectively, focus on key metrics for Instagram Ads.

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3. Contact Button and Quick Reply

You can add your contact information to your Instagram profile with an Instagram professional account. Current and potential customers can visit your profile and use this button to reach you.

When you create your IG business account, there’s a “Public Business Information” section that allows you to include a phone number or email address. You can even include your business’s physical address if you have a brick-and-mortar store.

If you don’t have the time to answer every single DM, creating a business Instagram gives you the convenient option of setting up quick replies. These are pre-written replies to common questions that you can send to customers. In your account settings, you should see an option for ‘Quick Replies.’

Your business account also allows you to categorize your inbox, which is great for keeping track of your most important leads. You can filter messages between different tabs.

4. Instagram Shopping

Instagram offers online shops and shoppable posts, perfect for e-commerce websites and retailers.

Instagram users with business accounts can activate the Shop tab on their profile and leverage Instagram as a mobile storefront.

They can also create shoppable Instagram posts for users to buy products or even save them for later.

5. Auto-Publish Content

One of the other benefits of Instagram business vs personal is that you can schedule content to auto-publish. With a business profile, you can schedule your posts using MeetEdgar, and they will automatically post at the time you want them to. You just need to connect your Facebook account to get this up and running.

You need to post your content manually if you are posting for a personal profile. You can schedule it in advance, and the Meet Edgar app will send you a push notification to remind you when it’s time to post.

6. Swipe Up Links On Instagram Stories

Another perk of the business Instagram account is to include links in your Instagram stories. Great news if you want to include visiting your website as your call to action. You need more than 10k followers for this feature to be activated.

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How to Switch to an Instagram Business Profile

Want to know how to switch to a business account on Instagram? If you already have an Instagram account and want to change it to a business profile, it’s free and easy.

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Follow these steps to set up your business account:

1. Log in to the Instagram app
2. Select the Main Menu in the top right corner of your profile
3. Tap Settings and Privacy
4. Select For Professionals
5. Scroll to the bottom
6. Tap Switch Account Type
7. Select Switch to Professional
8. (Optional) Connect to your Facebook Business Page
9. Enter the contact information for your business
10. Tap Done

But how to change Instagram to a business account on a desktop?

Don’t worry; it’s the same process as above. Remember that Instagram is a mobile app, so the desktop experience may not be as smooth.

You may wonder how to get rid of a business account on Instagram. If you decide the business account isn’t working for you and prefer a personal account, you can always switch back. How to switch to a personal account on Instagram? Follow the same process as above, except when you click ‘switch account type’ choose ‘personal account.’

There is also an option to delete your account permanently, should you prefer.

Tips for Creating an Amazing Instagram Business Profile

Changing your account type to a business profile is simple. But creating a compelling business profile requires thought and effort.

Don’t Ignore Your Bio

Your Instagram bio tells users who you are and what your business offers. Think about your target audience when crafting your bio. It should be:

• Informative
• Concise
• Written in the style and tone of your brand

When writing your bio, think of the 5-second rule. When people unfamiliar with your brand come across your page, can they gauge what you do in less than 5 seconds?

Marie ForLeo clearly communicates who she is, what she does, and what she's known for. In less than 5 seconds, we know she is a CEO, and writer, and was named "thought leader for the next generation."  

When writing your bio include a description of yourself like your job title(s), what your company is and does, claims to fame for social proofing, things you love, and something unique to make you stand out.

Share your contact info

As a business owner you want people to know how to contact you, so make it easy for them to do so by writing your phone number, website, and/or email address in your bio.

Instagram lets you add your website directly to your bio, but some brands add a link tree instead so that when profile visitors click the link, they are greeted with many links about the brand, like the store, Twitter account, YouTube channel, and more. This way, more people can discover everything your brand offers.

An example of Allbirds' linktr.ee in their bio.

Use a High-Quality Profile Image

Like your bio, your profile should represent your brand. Most businesses use their logo or some variation of it.

Remember, profile images are small on Instagram. Choose a high-resolution image that allows you to zoom in on your logo without getting blurry.

For profile photos, you should aim to resize images to 320 x 320.

Create a Style Guide for Your Brand

The best business accounts have a coherent look and feel to the entire profile. Create a style guide for your account so your brand shines through at first glance.

Your brand’s style guide should include:

• A color palette
• Rules for fonts
• Post templates

For example, Nike's running club profile features high-quality images, bold yellow font matching all the photos, and close-up images of runners.

When strangers visit your profile, you want to impress them in any way possible. Using consistent images in your profile with the same fonts breeds trust; when people trust you, they're more likely to buy from you.

Post Consistently

You’ll get the most out of your Instagram Insights if you post consistently. Choose a cadence that works for your team and stick to it. If you’re genuinely trying to grow your Instagram presence, we recommend finding a social media scheduling tool like MeetEdgar to help manage your content calendar.

MeetEdgar lets you schedule your social posts in advance so you never forget to post. Whether you're an entrepreneur, a small business, or a corporation, MeetEdgar can help you manage the mundane task of curating your feed.

It works like this:

• Enter your content into MeetEdgar
• Add a time slot to schedule your content
• Edgar will post your content on time based on your schedule

Once scheduled, you can also choose to repost your content at a future date so that you can ensure you reach your entire audience. Not only that, but you don't have to constantly come up with new posts--a common challenge among marketing professionals (believe me, we get it!).

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Final Thoughts: How to Choose the Best Instagram Profile Type for You

Choosing the right Instagram account type depends on your goals. With three profile types, Instagram has flexible options for every kind of user. Choosing the right account depends primarily on your Instagram goals.

Instagram business profiles help businesses grow by offering premium features like analytics, audience targeting, and e-commerce tools.

To learn more about social media management software that empowers your digital marketing strategy, explore MeetEdgar’s features today. Get Started for Free!