Pros and Cons of Switching to an Instagram Business Profile

Once a month I hold open Office Hours on Facebook Live to answer people's quick social media questions (for FREE). This month, I talked about the pros and cons of switching to an Instagram business profile. Think of this as a companion guide to the video.

Rejoice! You can schedule posts in Instagram if you're a business (and you use Hootsuite, Sprout Social, or SocialFlow). Can any business on Instagram schedule posts? No, only businesses with a business profile. What's a business profile? Should you switch to one? Glad you asked!

Fun fact about me: People pay me to help with their social media!

Because of that, I switched to a business profile. I get a lot of engagement on Instagram and I wanted to open the door to some of that engagement turning into business.

With a business profile you get:

• a contact button
• business industry category
• clickable business address
• analytics
• ability to run ads

One very important note, you must have a Facebook business page to use an Instagram business profile.

Should you make the switch? Let's look at the pros and cons.

Pros:

• If you're a restaurant or retailer, that clickable address is a huge pro.
• Email? You love it! Can't get enough. See also: don't have a website.
• The life-changing ability to schedule posts if you manage multiple accounts, or just don't want work on nights and weekends.
• In-app analytics that show you things like demographics on your audience, times they're active in Instagram, and reach/engagement on your posts.
• Ability to "boost" ($$$) your posts and reach people outside of your audience.

Cons:

There are no "real" (I'm using air quotes) cons to making the switch, but here's some food for thought.

• A contact button? Please, you haven't answered an email since 2012.
• You have a great website that people should visit and on that website is an FAQ that answers any question someone would email you about.
• You don't have or want to share your physical address (raises hand).
• You have other ways to pull your analytics.
• Switching solely to see an increase in engagement or sales.

If you're looking to get more followers and increase engagement, switching to a business profile isn't necessarily the answer. Learn how to organically grow an audience and increase engagement by scheduling a one-on-one consultation.

What do you think? Did you make the switch? What's it been like so far?

Let me know in the comments!

P.S. 5 Ways To Increase Engagement With Hashtags

P.P.S. Overwhelmed? Good news, you can hire me to help.