Tutorial: How to start an Instagram business account

In my opinion having an Instagram business account is a fantastic way of reaching new audiences.

Are you not sure yet, wheter or not you want your business to have an Instagram account? You can check out my top six reasons why I would highly recommend that you create a business account for your business here.

How can you start an Instagram business account from scratch?

It is easy! Just go to your Instagram profile and tap on your username in the top left corner of the page. When clicking here, you are immediately offered the option “Add Account”. The next options shows “Log Into Existing Account” and “Create New Account”. Choose the latter one to get started.

You are now asked to choose a username.

I highly recommend choosing a username that is closely related to your business, your own name, or both. This makes your Instagram account easy to find for your customer who will look out for you on Instagram.

Tip: Don’t use random numbers or signs that are difficult to remember, and avoid misspelling your business name.

What to do if someone else has used the exact name of your business? You can start or end the name with your business’ name and add a word about what you are doing before or after the account name.

Example: I’m starting an Instagram community for team leads.

I already used my own name for my private Instagram account, and many versions of “team lead” names are already booked. I do NOT want to add numbers or extra random letters. I went for the version “teamleadsmagazine” here, which was free.

When you have made a suggestion that is available, you will get a green “check” mark next to your suggestion. Now go ahead and create your account.

This is what your new account looks like right now, when you click on your profile, just with your username instead of mine:

If you scroll down a bit, you will see the following:

You will be guided through the next steps by Instagram, a great feature to make it as easy as possible for new business owners to start out.

The next thing you will probably be doing is editing your profile.

When you click on “edit”, your screen looks like this:

Name:

You have a great opportunity here to choose something else than the account name. If you add some keywords about what your business is about here, or your real name, you give the search function even more key words to find you by, in case someone tries to find you or your business on Instagram via the search.

Check out what other businesses and leaders within your industry are doing to get inspired (but no copy-paste, please! Inspiration only). You can edit this later if you come up with another idea later on.

Profile photo:

Instagram is a visual platoform, and your profile photo should be pleasing to the eye. How can you make sure you have a great photo? I recommend doing one of the following:

a) Uploading a picture of you, face only, smiling, with good lightning.

Yes, I know, some people have nice photos and are not smiling. However, I recommend a smiling face as this sends a welcoming and warm signal to your potential new followers. They will take one glance at your profile and decide within a few seconds if they want to follow you or not. A smile has a very positive effect on their impression of you.

Or you can go for…

b) Upload your business logo as your profile photo

Either way: Try it out and see if the photo looks good in thumbnail size, and is still recognizable.

Don’t have a logo yet?

Recommendation: You can create a logo within a few minutes in Canva / canva.com. Canva offers tons of suggestions that you can get inspired by.

Website:

Add the address to your web page, web shop or linktree here, if it is ready to be seen by the public. If it is not ready to be seen yet, I recommend adding it later. Just leave the field open and add it when you are ready.

Bio:

One of my favourite parts! You should show your value to the customer in the bio. Take a look at your competitors and industry leaders to get inspired and gather ideas of how you could write yours. If you have a web page or link ready, you should end the bio with a call to action, like: an invite to tap on your link to learn more, get a freebie, get an amzing opportunity, learn something really valuable for them (by buying your product).

It is trending right now to start each line in the bio with an emoticon or a symbol. This is obviously not a must, but it helps the reader/visitor get the overview fast. Remember, the main message of your bio should be: What value is offered to the customer by following you?

A great bio can be a huge help or a deal breaker when a potential new follower visits your page. It is your chance to let the customer know instantly what you are all about. Use it wisely.

Here is an example of what your profile might look like now:

I made the logo in Canva, by the way. And it took less than 10 minutes, because I already knew what styles I like most.

If you have not done so already, now is also the time to click on “edit profile” and choose Switch to Professional Account

When you choose “Switch to Professional Account”, you will get two choices: Business or Creator

Instagram also offers a short explanation to both. Creator is best for public figures, content creators, photographers, artists, and influencers. Business is best for retailers, local businesses, brands, organizations, and service providers. Both have unique functions to the user, based on their needs. Nevertheless, both offer great insight to the content’s performance and audience demographics (when you have more than 100 followers). Both account types also offer the ability to create Shoppable posts. Businesses can sell products and services directly via Instagram, and a new great feature: You can add a CTA (call-to-action) button, including to “book now” or “reserve” a product.

I recommend going with the account you feel is more suited to you, and not spend too much time overthinking it. It is easy to change at any time, should you want to try out the other option later.

In my example, I have chosen Business.

You get very nice messages from Instagram on your page now, suggesting what you could do next:

“Keep going!” My advice would be to check out these options and follow up on what seems valuable to you.

For sure you want to start following a few accounts to learn from, if you haven’t already. This suggestion is what’s behind the “Learn from others” tab. Of course you would also want to add your posts as soon as possible.

Here is what my test account looked like after finishing most of these steps and adding the first two posts:

Yay! Three followers already! 😀

And now: Because I have abusiness account, the bottom line tabs changed!

As you can see on the picture above, instead of the “Activity” and “Create new content” tabs, I got two new tabs: The middle one is the “Reels” tab, and the one to the right of that one is the “Shop” tab.

But I wanted to create new content now?

Oh, no! Where did my “Activity” and “Create new content” tabs go?

Worry not, they did not go far:

As you can see, the two tabs are now on your “home” page, in the top right corner. You can also find a create button on your profile, in the top right corner.

(And yes! I’m a huge fan of Lisa and Tom Bilyeu, and added them immediatly 😀 )

Now the basics are all set up.

Time for you to get inspired and make some new content!

GOOD LUCK with your business account! I wish you lots of success and fortune.

If there is anything else I can help you with, please don’t hesitate to let me know, either here, via e-mail or via Instagram (link below).