How to Get to Business Settings on Instagram

Finding your Instagram Business settings can feel like a maze, but all the tools you need to grow your brand are just a few taps away. This guide will show you exactly where to find those settings and, more importantly, how to use the most powerful ones to market your business, connect with customers, and understand your performance. We'll walk through everything from your professional dashboard to the hidden gems inside the main settings menu.

First Things First: Are You Using a Business Account?

Before we go hunting for settings, let’s make sure your account is set up for success. On Instagram, there are three types of accounts: Personal, Creator, and Business. While they look similar on the surface, the Business account unlocks analytical tools, advertising capabilities, and contact features that are essential for any brand.

You can't access business settings without a Business account. If you just converted your personal profile or aren't sure what you have, check your profile page. If you see buttons like "Ad Tools" or a "Professional dashboard" link, you're all set. If not, switching is easy and free.

How to Switch to an Instagram Business Account

If you're still on a Personal account, making the switch takes about 60 seconds. This simple change gives you immediate access to insights, a contact button on your profile, and the ability to run ads.

• Go to your profile page and tap the three horizontal lines (the hamburger menu) in the top-right corner.
• Tap Settings and privacy.
• Scroll down to the "For professionals" section and tap Account type and tools.
• Tap Switch to professional account.
• Select a Category that best describes your business (e.g., Clothing Brand, Restaurant, Health/Beauty). This will appear on your profile.
• Choose Business on the next screen when prompted.
• Follow the on-screen prompts to review your contact info and connect a Facebook Business Page. Connecting a Facebook Page is highly recommended as it unlocks the full suite of Instagram and Meta business tools.

Finding Your Core Business Settings Hub

Once you have a Business account, your settings and tools are located in a few different places. Instagram has consolidated most options, but you still need to know where to look. Your main gateway to nearly everything is the "Settings and privacy" menu.

Here’s the main path to remember:

Go to your Profile Page -> Tap the three-line menu in the top-right corner -> Tap "Settings and privacy".

This is your starting point. From here, all the professional tools and controls are integrated into specific sections. Think of it less as a single "business settings" page and more as a hub where your business features live alongside standard account settings. Let's break down where to find the most important ones.

Accessing Your Professional Dashboard: Your Growth Command Center

While most settings are in the menu we just mentioned, Instagram puts your day-to-day business tools front and center. The Professional Dashboard is a dedicated space for monitoring your performance and managing brand tools. You can find it right at the top of your profile page, directly under your bio.

Think of the Professional Dashboard as your mission control for analytics and monetization. Here’s what you’ll find inside:

Account Insights

This is where you find the data that tells you what’s working. Instead of just guessing, you can see real numbers on how your content performs. Key metrics to watch include:

• Accounts Reached: The number of unique accounts that have seen any of your content. This tells you how wide your content's distribution is.
• Accounts Engaged: The number of accounts that have interacted with your content (liked, commented, saved, shared). This tells you if your content is interesting enough to make people take action.
• Total Followers: See your follower growth over time, including where they're located, their age range, and their most active times. This is incredibly valuable for knowing when to post.

Your Tools

The dashboard also houses shortcuts to tools that help you actively grow your business:

• Ad Tools: Manage your promotions, view results from boosted posts, and create new ads directly from the app.
• Branded Content: If you collaborate with influencers or other brands, this is where you manage partnership approvals and branded content tags to stay transparent.
• Saved Replies: An amazing time-saver for anyone who gets the same questions repeatedly via DM. We’ll cover this in more detail below.

Check your Professional Dashboard regularly - ideally at least once a week - to understand performance trends and spot opportunities for growth.

Navigating the "Settings and Privacy" Menu for Business Features

Now, let's head back to the main Settings and privacy menu. This is where you configure the technical and operational side of your business account. We'll navigate section by section to uncover the most impactful settings.

Creator tools and controls

Don't be thrown off by the name! Even though you have a "Business" account, this section holds many of your most important features. Instagram groups many professional tools here for both Creators and Businesses.

• Ad Payments: This is where you add and manage payment methods for any ads you run or posts you boost. You can set a primary payment card and view your transaction history here.
• Branded Content: Go here to set up rules for brand partnerships, approve creators who can tag you in sponsored posts, and access the partnership-ad tools.
• Linked Accounts: While you can manage your Facebook link in Meta's Account Center, this section provides an easy shortcut. A linked Facebook Page is non-negotiable for running effective ad campaigns.
• Add new professional account: This is an option used if your business is running more than one page to grow with.
• Frequently Asked Questions (FAQs): An automation powerhouse. You can set up four preset questions that users can tap when they message you for the first time. For example, a restaurant could set up FAQs like:
  • "What are your hours?"
  • "Can I see the menu?"
  • "Do you take reservations?"
  When a user taps a question, an automated, pre-written answer is sent instantly. This frees you up from answering the same basic questions all day.
• Saved Replies: Another huge time-saver. You can create saved responses for common inquiries. If someone asks about shipping policies, you can type your shortcut (e.g., "shipping") and the full pre-written paragraph will pop up. This ensures a consistent and quick response every time.
• Welcome Message: Toggle this on to automatically greet people when they send a message to your business for the very first time. It's a small touch that makes your brand feel responsive and welcoming.

Messages and story replies

Your DMs are a direct line to your customers. These settings help you manage that line of communication effectively.

• Message controls: Here you can decide who can message you directly, who gets added to a message request folder, and whether to allow messages from everyone or only people you follow. For most businesses, it's best to keep this open to hear from potential customers.
• Story replies: Control who can reply to your Instagram Stories. Keeping replies on from "Everyone" allows for more community interaction.

Sharing and remixes

These settings are all about amplifying your reach through your audience. Allowing sharing is free marketing!

• Allowing sharing to Story: Always keep this on. When people share your feed post to their Story, it exposes your content to their entire audience. It’s one of the easiest ways to get more eyes on your brand.
• Allowing sharing to messages: Also essential. You want your content to be as shareable as possible.
• Allow Reels Remixing: This allows other users to create a Reel alongside yours. If you post a video of a product, a customer could remix it to show them using it. This type of user-generated content is fantastic social proof, so it’s wise to leave this enabled.

Beyond the Settings Menu: Other Essential Business Touchpoints

Not every "setting" is in the main menu. Some of the most visible business tools are adjusted directly from your profile page.

Editing Your Profile for Business

Tap the Edit profile button on your main profile page. This is where you configure the information that new visitors see first.

• Category: This is the label under your name (e.g., "Digital Creator," "Restaurant") that instantly tells people what you do. You set this up when you switched to a Business Account, but you can change it here anytime.
• Contact options: Here you can add your business email, phone number, and physical address. This information populates the "Contact" button on your profile, giving customers a direct and professional way to get in touch. An address will even link to a map, making it easy for customers to find your brick-and-mortar location.
• Action Buttons: This fantastic feature allows customers to take a specific action directly from your profile. Depending on your business category and the third-party services you use, you can add buttons like:
  • Order food
  • Book now
  • Reserve
  • View shop
  Adding an action button removes friction and makes it incredibly easy for a customer to convert right from your Instagram page.

Final Thoughts

Mastering your Instagram Business settings transforms your profile from a simple content feed into a powerful tool for customer service, marketing, and sales. By understanding your insights, automating responses, and making it easy for customers to contact you, you’re setting up a foundation for sustainable growth directly within the app.

While managing these native tools is a great start, staying on top of your entire content strategy can still feel chaotic. We built Postbase because we believe your tools should make your life simpler. Our visual calendar lets you plan and schedule Reels and Stories weeks ahead of time, while our unified inbox gathers all your comments and DMs in one place so you never miss another customer message. Take the data you get from your Instagram Business settings and use Postbase to turn it into an organized, stress-free content plan.