Should You Open An Instagram for Your Business? Pros and Cons
For some years now, brands, influencers, and marketers have raised interesting questions as to whether switching from a personal Instagram account to a business account is a smart move. Like the personal account, the business account has its pros and cons.
The best way to decide if making the switch is a more beneficial option for you is to consider several factors — like your number of followers and the reason you use Instagram. What’s next is to weigh these factors against the pros and cons of the business account.
It’s imperative to use the right social media tools to amplify your effort. As for the pros, here are four advantages that come with switching to a business account.
Free insights and analytics
Instagram provides free insights and analytics for its users, but there’s a catch — only business profiles can access this feature. These in-depth metrics that Instagram provides are especially beneficial to brands or individuals who want to improve their business strategy.
The analytics contain useful information that allows the users to know what type of content engages their audience the most; what days of the week and time of day their audience is most active, how many impressions their posts are making, and so much more.
It also provides users with the demographics of their audience. By knowing which demographics constitute the most of your audience, it’s much easier to create content that’s tailored to them.
Clickable links in Instagram stories
Before business accounts came into play, people added links to their Instagram bios whenever they wanted to drive traffic or direct other people to another location on the Net. The downside to this method is that, without the aid of a third-party app, you can only add one link to your bio.
Thankfully, this is no longer the case. It’s now possible to include multiple links in your Instagram Story, however, only business accounts with 10K or more followers are eligible for this feature.
This feature is relevant to brands and marketers that aim to driv+e their followers to their website via Instagram. It’s not surprising that some casinos share video poker tips to both prospective and existing customers on their Stories regularly.
Without mincing words, there are lots of marketing lessons brands can learn from online casinos.
Direct contact information
Another interesting feature that converting to a business account unlocks is the contact button feature. Instagram business accounts have the liberty of adding a call-to-action button to their profile page.
This gives their followers the option to reach out to them either via phone call or email. The contact button can also be used to direct their followers or customers to an offline location.
Easy-to-create ads and promotions
Like with Facebook pages but so much easier, Instagram business accounts come with several options that make it easy to promote your posts and increase your organic engagement.
The Cons
Less visibility and organic reach
Instagram, like every other social media, was created to build and strengthen relationships, and to help you connect with friends and family. As such, Instagram prioritizes original content over content posted by business accounts.
This is why business accounts tend to have lower organic reach and visibility. It turns out that Instagram deliberately reduces the organic engagement of business accounts to increase the possibility of paid advertising.
It makes your account less social
Business accounts usually adopt a formal layout for their feed, making it appear more professional than informal. Also, their content is nearly always professional, and their captions are designed in a way that’s aimed at converting followers into leads.
While all this formality can make the account seem anything but social, some people think that this isn’t a con.
Final thoughts
As stated earlier, both personal and business accounts have their pros and cons. However, if you are someone who uses statistical analysis to develop business strategies, then you should go for the business account. If not, then the personal account maybe your best option.
I encourage you to experiment with both accounts and explore all their features and disadvantages. Fortunately, you can always switch back to a personal account if you don’t find your new business account satisfying.
