How to Add a Business to Instagram

Ready to turn your Instagram profile into a powerful tool for your business? Making the switch from a personal profile to a Business Account is one of the smartest first steps you can take, unlocking analytics, ad tools, and new ways for customers to connect with you. This complete guide will walk you through exactly how to add a business to Instagram and, more importantly, how to use the new features you’re about to unlock.

Why Switch to an Instagram Business Account in the First Place?

Setting up an Instagram Business Account is more than just a label on your profile, it's a gateway to a collection of free, powerful tools designed to help you grow your brand, understand your audience, and drive actual business results. If you’re using Instagram to promote a product, service, or brand of any kind, switching is a no-brainer. You'll move from guessing what resonates with your audience to knowing what works.

Get Powerful Insights on Your Performance

This is probably the biggest reason to switch. Personal accounts don't get access to Instagram Insights, the platform's built-in analytics tool. Once you have a Business Account, you can start tracking key metrics that tell you a complete story about your account and your audience.

You’ll be able to see:

• Audience Demographics: Learn about your followers, including their age range, gender, and top locations (cities and countries). This helps you create content that speaks directly to the people who follow you.
• Follower Activity: Discover the days of the week and times of the day when your audience is most active on Instagram. This is golden information for scheduling posts to get maximum visibility and engagement.
• Content Performance: See which specific posts, Stories, and Reels are performing best. You can track metrics like Reach (how many unique accounts saw your content), Impressions (total views), engagement (likes, comments, saves, shares), and profile visits. If a Reel you posted on a certain topic gets three times the engagement of your other videos, that's a clear signal to create more content like it.

Add Contact Information and Action Buttons

A Business Account transforms your profile into a professional landing page. You get the ability to add contact buttons directly below your bio, which can include your email address, phone number, and physical business address. This reduces friction for potential customers who want to get in touch - they don't have to leave the app to search for your contact details. They can just tap a button.

Furthermore, depending on your business type and third-party integrations, you can add powerful action buttons like:

• Order Food: For restaurants and cafes.
• Book Now: For service-based businesses like salons or consultants.
• Reserve: For businesses that take reservations.

Run Ads and Promote Posts

If you want to put a budget behind your Instagram marketing, you absolutely need a Business Account. This is the only type of account that allows you to create and run ads on Instagram through Meta's Ads Manager or to "boost" existing posts directly from the app. Promoting a post that’s already getting good organic engagement can be a great way to amplify its reach to a highly targeted audience, driving more website clicks, profile visits, or sales.

Set Up Instagram Shopping

For e-commerce brands, a Business Account is the key to creating a native shopping experience on the platform. You can tag products from your catalog directly in your feed posts and Stories. When a user taps a tagged product, they can see the item’s name and price, and a single tap later, they're on your website’s product page, ready to buy. It’s a seamless way to direct followers from inspiration to purchase.

Step-by-Step: Converting to an Instagram Business Account

The good news is that switching from a personal account to a Business Account is fast, free, and completely reversible if you change your mind. It only takes a couple of minutes. Here’s exactly how to do it.

Step 1: Go to Your Settings

Open the Instagram app and navigate to your profile by tapping your profile picture in the bottom-right corner. From there, tap the hamburger menu (the three horizontal lines) in the top-right corner to open the main menu. Then, tap on “Settings and privacy.”

Step 2: Find Account Type and Tools

Scroll down through the "Settings and privacy" menu until you see the section labeled "For professionals." Under this heading, tap on “Account type and tools.”

Step 3: Switch to a Professional Account

On the next screen, you’ll see the option to “Switch to professional account.” Tap on it. Instagram will then show you a few screens that highlight the benefits you’ll get with a professional account (like learning about your followers and reaching more people). Simply tap “Continue” on each of these screens.

Step 4: Select a Category

Next, you’ll be asked to choose a category that best describes what you do. This helps Instagram understand your business type. You can scroll through the list or use the search bar to find the most relevant one, like "Restaurant," "Health/Beauty," "Clothing Brand," or "Digital Creator." After selecting a category, you can choose whether you want this label to be visible on your public profile. It's usually a good idea to display it, as it quickly tells new visitors what your page is about.

Step 5: Choose 'Business' or 'Creator'

Instagram gives you two types of professional accounts: ‘Business’ and ‘Creator.’ For most brands, retailers, and service providers, ‘Business’ is the right choice.

• Business accounts are designed for companies selling products or services. They have access to features like contact info, physical location display, and industry-standard integrations.
• Creator accounts are tailored for influencers, public figures, and artists. They offer more detailed growth tracking and slightly different contact options but might have more limited access to the full suite of licensed music for Reels.

Pick ‘Business’ and tap ‘Next.’

Step 6: Review Your Contact Information

Now, you’ll have the chance to review and edit your public business information. You can add or change your email address, phone number, and business address. Whatever you enter here will be publicly visible to anyone who visits your profile and taps your "Contact" button, so make sure it's accurate and professional. You can always come back and change this later if needed.

Step 7: Connect Your Facebook Page (Recommended)

Instagram will then prompt you to connect your Instagram Business Account to a Facebook Business Page. While this step is technically optional, it’s highly recommended. Connecting the two platforms allows you to:

• Run ads across both Instagram and Facebook.
• Share posts and Stories from Instagram directly to your Facebook Page.
• Manage DMs and comments from both platforms in a unified inbox.

If you have an existing Facebook Page for your business, you can select it from the list. If you don't, you can create one right from this screen.

Step 8: Complete Your Profile Setup

That's it! Your account has been converted. Instagram may guide you through a brief setup checklist to make sure you’re taking full advantage of your new tools. This might include inviting friends, exploring your new ‘Insights,’ and filling out your profile bio. You are now officially an Instagram Business Account.

You Have a Business Account. Now What?

Switching is just the beginning. The real value comes from using your new tools to work smarter. Here are a few ways to start putting your business features to work immediately.

Really Dig Into Your Instagram Insights

Don't just glance at your analytics - use them to shape your strategy. Start checking your Insights at least once a week. Go to your profile and tap the "Insights" button. Look for patterns in your data.

• Check your Audience tab: Look at your “Most active times” chart. If it shows that most of your followers are online at 6 PM on weekdays, schedule your important announcements for that time slot.
• Review “Accounts Reached”: See which content formats (Posts, Stories, Reels) are reaching the most people. If Reels are dramatically outperforming your other content, it's time to prioritize making more video.
• Analyze top posts and Reels: Sort your content by engagement, reach, or saves. What do your best-performing pieces have in common? Was it the topic, the visual style, or the call-to-action? Do more of what’s already working.

Optimize Your Bio and Action Buttons

Your Bio is often the first interaction a potential customer has with your brand. Make it count.

• Write a clear bio: State exactly what you do and who you serve in a concise way. Use line breaks to make it easy to read.
• Add a location: If you're a brick-and-mortar business, make sure your full address is listed so it appears as a clickable map link on your profile.
• Confirm your contact methods: Test your email and phone buttons to make sure they work and go to the right place.
• Set up an action button: If a service like "Book Now" is relevant for you, connect it with a supported partner platform like Squarespace or Calendly to let customers schedule appointments without hassling you with DMs.

Experiment with Promoting Posts

You don't need a huge budget to start with Instagram ads. Find a post that got great organic engagement and promote it for $5 a day for a few days.

Tap "Boost post" on the content you want to promote. Instagram will guide you through selecting a goal (like more profile visits or website traffic), defining your target audience (you can create an audience based on demographics, interests, or build a lookalike audience from your followers), and setting your budget and duration. This is a great, low-risk way to learn how ads work and reach new, relevant customers who may not have discovered you otherwise.

Final Thoughts

Converting your personal Instagram to a business account is a fast, straightforward process that gives you powerful tools for growth. With access to analytics, contact buttons, and advertising features, you can better understand your audience and make it easier for them to connect with your brand and purchase your products.

Setting up your profile is just the first step. To really save time and keep your content consistent, using a scheduling platform is a game-changer. At Postbase, we built our tool specifically for the social media of today - especially for short-form video formats like Reels that are so important for growth on Instagram. It helps you visually plan your content calendar, schedule posts without connection issues, and manage all your DMs and comments in one clean inbox, so you can focus on building your business instead of fighting with your software.