Instagram has grown exponentially since launching in 2010, from a simple photo-sharing app to a powerful business marketing platform.
As Instagram continues evolving to meet demands of brands and creators alike, business profiles enable more control over content, analytics, advertising, commerce capabilities, and communication tools.
But with great power comes great responsibility. Successfully configuring your business profile involves understanding numerous settings.
This comprehensive 2023 guide will explain why business settings matter, walk through conversion step-by-step, break down each setting, and share optimization best practices.
Let‘s dive in!
Why You Should Switch to an Instagram Business Profile
Since rolling out business profiles in 2016, Instagram has continued expanding their capabilities:
| Launch Year | New Business Profile Capabilities |
|---|---|
| 2016 | Ad promotions, analytics insights |
| 2017 | Contact options |
| 2018 | Shopping tags |
| 2021 |
|
Consumer demand fuels Instagram‘s focus on business features.
Recent statistics state:
- 500+ million Instagram users interact with shopping content monthly
- 130+ million Instagram users tap on shopping posts to learn more
- The number of Instagram business profile users grew over 15% year-over-year as of 2022
Brands switching to business profiles gain advantages including:
💰 Monetization via advertising, shoppable posts
📈 Actionable metrics like reach, engagement rates
📣 Connecting with followers via messaging, sales channels
🤝 Partnering with influencers for branded content
The algorithm also started favoring business profiles more, understanding people want to engage with brands.
Conversion sets you up for current and future success as Instagram develops more business-friendly features.
Converting to an Instagram Business Profile
Hopefully you‘re convinced of the benefits – now let‘s get into the step-by-step process!
Here are the core requirements Instagram enforces to upgrade:
✅ Have a personal account in good standing
✅ Abide by Instagram‘s professional content policies
✅ Be eligible to monetize with ads based on content strategies
Assuming you meet guidelines, here we go:
- Open Instagram and tap your profile picture
- Select the 3 line menu icon and choose Settings
- Tap Account -> Switch to Professional Account
- Pick Business as the category
- Follow the on-screen instructions
And voila! Access unlocks to analytics, shoppable tags, messaging channels, and more.
Instagram will also prompt connecting a Facebook business page. I recommend doing so for integrated insights across apps.
You can always change back to personal accounts from account settings. But let‘s now examine why you won‘t want to!
Breaking Down Instagram‘s Business Settings
Business settings empower managing capabilities unique to professional accounts. But with 17 total options, where do you even start?
I‘ll summarize what each controls in the sections below. Tap links to skip directly to what interests you!
Ad Payments
Manage payout info, billing history for promoted posts
Branded Content
Enable partnerships, analytics on collaborative posts
Branded Content Ads
Amplify influencer posts as ads to wider audiences
Response Suggestions
Configure auto replies to common questions
Saved Replies
Craft pre-written responses to engage customers
Frequently Asked Questions
Add an FAQ section prominently on your profile
Welcome Message
Send a custom greeting to new followers
Connect Business Profile
Merge or disconnect Facebook business pages
Minimum Age
Set age limits for content visibility
Monetization Status
Check earnings eligibility and next steps
Help Setting Up Shops
Access resources on setting up commerce capabilities
Now let‘s explore specifics within each menu.
Ad Payments
Promoting Instagram posts as ads unlocks immense potential to:
- Reach new audiences
- Drive traffic to your website
- Boost engagement
- Sell products directly
However, Instagram requires configuring billing details before enabling advertising.
The Ads Payments menu allows you to:
🔐Add/change payout account info
📄 Access billing history and download invoices
👥 Specify other users permitted to manage payments
Tidying up financials here streamlines launching and scaling ad campaigns later.
Top tip: Create an Instagram ads manager Facebook role for easier collaboration!
Branded Content
User-generated content delivers 4x higher conversion rates compared to brand created assets.
Instagram‘s branded content features formalize influencer partnerships directly within the app.
Capabilities include:
✏️ Tagging collaborators in posts
📊 Viewing content performance analytics
🙋♀️ Whitelisting accounts permitted for tagging
Standardizing rules for sponsored partnerships protects both brands and creators. Instagram can also enforce branded content policies and tracking on the backend.
According to Forrester Research, the majority of marketers plan to increase influencer marketing budgets in 2023.
Get ahead of trends by configuring branded content settings today!
Branded Content Ads
Expanding upon standard branded content, Instagram now allows promoting user-generated posts as ads to expand reach.
Brands simply amplify creator content, then split generated revenue.
Settings around managing branded content ads include:
📈 Performance analytics
🎨 Content tagging rules
🚀 Distribution targeting parameters
Early experiments already produced stellar results:
- 2x more cost efficient than average Instagram ads
- 13% higher relevance scores
- 79% above average click-through rates
As Instagram rolls out more branded content formats like Reels, capabilities will scale further.
Response Suggestions
Juggling tons of comments and direct messages across Instagram can be chaotic for brands.
Instagram‘s automated response suggestions analyze conversations and recommend relevant canned replies to save time.
You can customize suggestions based on:
💬 Message category like shipping, events info
🙋♀️ Tailoring replies to specific handled accounts
Curating responses to common questions allows delivering 1-to-1 conversations at scale.
Instagram is even testing promoting response suggestion messages as IGTV ads to assist more customers.
Saved Replies
Similarly, Saved Replies enable creating libraries of pre-written responses to reuse in future exchanges.
Benefits include:
⏱️ Faster response times
🔄 Consistent messaging across team members
From the Saved Replies configuration dashboard, you can:
✏️ Draft new custom responses
🏷️ Categorize replies by topic
🗑️ Delete outdated responses
Saved replies boost productivity for both small businesses and large enterprises managing huge volumes of Instagram conversations.
Frequently Asked Questions
Instagram’s FAQ stickers help identify and transparently answer common audience questions before they ask.
Display FAQs prominently on your business profile by:
❓ Adding/editing question + answer pairs
🎨 Customizing background colors
💡 Creating an interactive experienc
FAQ stickers demonstrate responsiveness and build trust with customers. Driving engagement to FAQs further helps Instagram understand popular topics to train AI response suggestions.
Welcome Message
What better way to greet new followers than with a customized welcome message?
Instagram‘s automated direct messaging enables:
💌 Creating / editing the message copy
⚙️ Configuring triggers like first-time follows, profile visits, use of certain hashtags or mentions
🎯 Defining audience criteria such as age, gender, language
Welcome messaging personalizes introductions while identifying high-converting leads. Promoted message ads additional enable nurturing recent sign-ups into loyal customers.
Connect Business Profile
The connect business profile menu serves as command station for:
🚦 Converting personal accounts to business
🔗 Associating Facebook pages
🛍️ Activating shopping capabilities
Use this dashboard for managing all things related to:
- Switching Instagram account types
- Merging cross-app presences
- Becoming shopkeeper approved
Minimum Age
Instagram enables restricting appropriate content visibility by age in 2 contexts:
Profile Minimum Age
- Requires providing birthdate before viewing profile content
Ad Targeting
- Specifies age range for ad viewing
This prevents exposing young audiences to sensitive material in your content or promotions.
Minimums configured here override any age suggestions Instagram derives from hashtags or captions used in posts.
Monetization Status
Wondering if you qualify to earn money from Instagram content? The monetization dashboard answers:
-
Eligibility for Instagram Partner Program
-
Application status
-
Missing requirements and next steps
Criteria involves having:
-
Substantial following and engagement
-
Original content adhering to rights management policies
-
A presence outside of Instagram
Review frequently to ensure compliance with commercialization policies as they evolve.
Help Setting Up Shops
In-app shops empower showcasing products for users to browse and purchase directly on Instagram.
The setup guide offers resources around:
🛍️ Connecting ecommerce product catalogs
👕 Tagging shoppable items from posts
📈 Managing inventory
💰 Reviewing shop performance analytics
With 87% of Instagrammers expressing interest in buying products from brand profiles, setting up shop is a no-brainer!
Optimizing Business Settings for Success
With so many capabilities unlocked through business profiles and settings, it becomes vital to strategize configurations.
Here are my recommended best practices:
Leverage Response Suggestions
Automate replies to the most common questions for faster service. Create saved responses to help scale.
Curate an FAQ Section
Display answers to frequent inquiries directly atop your profile.
Construct Welcome Messaging
Deliver friendly greetings to new followers with triggers and custom copy.
Setup Branded Content Partnerships
Formalize influencer relationships and analytics through tagging. Later promote top-performing posts as ads.
Prepare Billing Details
Input payment information so you can launch ad campaigns immediately as needed to supplement organic reach.
Activate Shopping
Get discovered by people looking to buy and enable frictionless in-app transactions through on-profile shops.
Comprehensively tackling settings today alleviates work tomorrow as your account grows. Spend time perfecting configurations upfront to optimize as Instagram rolls out more tools.
Time to Transform Your Business Instagram Presence
I hope this guide served as your definitive resource for upgrading personal profiles plus navigating and optimizing every business setting.
The takeaway is Instagram business capabilities create competitive advantages for brands. Yet many overlook taking full advantage. Don‘t leave potential reach, revenue streams, or customer connection opportunities on the table!
Were any settings still unclear? Or do you have additional questions before getting started? Let me know in the comments!
