How to Make a Creator Account on Instagram

Switching your Instagram to a Creator Account unlocks the professional tools you need to grow your audience, understand your performance, and connect with brands. It’s a simple change that gives you access to a suite of features designed specifically for content producers, artists, and influencers. This guide will walk you through exactly how to make the switch, what benefits you’ll get, and how to use the new features to your advantage from day one.

What Exactly Is an Instagram Creator Account?

Think of your Instagram account type as a toolkit. Different toolkits are designed for different jobs. Instagram offers three main types of accounts, each with its own set of tools.

• Personal Account: This is the default account type. It’s perfect for casual users who primarily want to share photos and videos with friends and family. You can have a private profile, but you get zero analytics, no contact buttons, and no way to promote your posts.
• Business Account: This is built for brands, local businesses, retailers, and service providers. It offers analytics, an ad manager, a “contact” button for a physical address or phone number, and product tagging for e-commerce. A major drawback for content creation is that Business accounts often have a very limited music library for Reels and Stories due to commercial licensing restrictions.
• Creator Account: This is the sweet spot for public figures, influencers, artists, and content producers. It gives you all the powerful analytics of a Business Account but with more flexible profile controls, tools to manage messages more efficiently, and - most importantly - complete access to Instagram’s full music library for making Reels with trending audio.

In short, the Creator Account was made for you. It’s designed to help individuals build their personal brand and community on the platform without the commercial limitations that sometimes hold Business Accounts back.

The Key Benefits: Why You Should Switch Right Now

If you're serious about growing on Instagram, moving from a Personal account to a Creator account isn't just a good idea, it's practically required. You’ll gain access to tools that shift you from guessing what works to knowing what works.

Advanced Analytics and Deeper Insights

This is the biggest game-changer. Once you switch, you unlock a dashboard called "Professional Dashboard" right on your profile. Inside, you'll find a wealth of data about your account and content performance. You can stop flying blind and start making strategic decisions.

Here’s a taste of what you’ll be able to track:

• Audience Demographics: See the age ranges, genders, top cities, and countries of your followers. Are you reaching the audience you thought you were? This data tells you the real story.
• Follower Trends: Track your daily follows and unfollows. This helps you understand which pieces of content are attracting new followers and which might be causing people to leave.
• Audience Activity: The "Most Active Times" chart shows you the days and hours your followers are most active on Instagram. Use this data to schedule your posts for maximum reach and engagement.
• Post-Specific Performance: For every post, Reel, or Story, you can see detailed stats. Go beyond likes and comments and see your total reach (how many unique accounts saw your content), impressions, profile visits, website taps, saves, and shares. You can even see how people discovered your post - whether from their Home feed, hashtags, your profile, or the Explore page.

Enhanced Message Filtering and Management

As your account grows, so does your inbox. A Creator Account helps you tame the chaos by automatically sorting your Direct Messages into two tabs:

• Primary: This is for the conversations you want to see first. It’s a great place for messages from close friends, brands you’re working with, and high-priority contacts.
• General: This is for everything else. Messages in the General tab don't send you a notification, so it’s the perfect spot for less urgent messages to wait until you have time to check them.

You can easily move conversations between these two tabs, helping you stay organized and ensure you never miss an important opportunity in a sea of notifications.

More Control Over Your Profile’s Look and Feel

A Creator Account gives you options to make your profile look more professional and credible. You gain two key features:

1. Category Labels: You can choose a label that best describes what you do, like "Digital Creator," "Artist," "Photographer," "Writer," or "Vlogger." You then have the choice to display this label publicly right under your name, adding immediate context for anyone who lands on your profile.
2. Contact Information: You can add contact buttons to your profile, making it easy for brands or collaborators to reach out. You can choose to add an email address, a phone number, or both. This looks far more professional than just putting your email in your bio text.

Full Access to the Instagram Music Library

For anyone creating Reels, this is a non-negotiable benefit. Business Accounts often run into a frustrating roadblock: a severely restricted music library filled with generic, royalty-free tracks. This is because Meta needs to protect itself and businesses from copyright issues when music is used for commercial purposes.

Creator Accounts, however, are treated like Personal Accounts in this regard. You get unfiltered access to the entire library of popular and trending songs. Being able to use the audio that’s currently blowing up on the platform is essential for maximizing your Reels' reach and relevance.

Access to Branded Content and Monetization Tools

When you switch, you gain access to Instagram’s monetization features (as you become eligible for them). This includes things like branded content tools, which allow you to properly disclose paid partnerships with a "Paid Partnership" label on your posts and Stories. It also positions you to take advantage of new features like subscriptions, gifts, and bonuses as they become available to more creators.

How to Switch to a Creator Account: A Step-by-Step Guide

The good news is that making the switch is fast, free, and completely reversible if you ever change your mind. It only takes a couple of minutes. Here’s exactly how to do it:

1. Open your Instagram profile and tap the hamburger menu (the three horizontal lines) in the top-right corner.
2. From the menu that pops up, tap on "Settings and privacy." This is usually at the very top of the list.
3. Scroll down through the settings options until you find the "For professionals" section. Tap on "Account type and tools."
4. Tap "Switch to professional account" in blue text. Instagram will greet you with a few screens that highlight the benefits you’re about to unlock. Tap "Continue" on each of these informational pages.
5. Choose your category. Scroll through the list and pick the one that best represents your niche or profession. There are many options, from "Blogger" and "Gaming Video Creator" to "Entrepreneur" and "Musician/Band." After selecting, you'll see a toggle to "Display on profile." You can decide if you want this category label visible to everyone or just for your own reference.
6. This is the most important step! Instagram will ask, "Are you a creator?" You'll be presented with two choices: Creator and Business. Make sure you select Creator. Then tap "Next."
7. The app may ask you to complete your professional profile by reviewing contact info. This is optional but recommended. Add the email address you use for business inquiries.
8. You’re all set! Instagram will generally give you a simple checklist to get you started, such as "Explore your professional tools" or "Introduce yourself." You can complete these if you'd like, or you can exit out and start exploring on your own.

What to Do After You’ve Switched: Maximizing Your New Tools

Making the switch is the first step. The real growth comes from consistently using the tools you’ve just unlocked.

Establish a Weekly Analytics Check-In

Set aside 15-20 minutes each week to dig into your Professional Dashboard. Don't just glance at the numbers - look for patterns. Ask yourself questions like:

• Which posts from this week got the most saves or shares? These metrics are powerful indicators of what your audience finds truly valuable. Make more content like that.
• What was the best time for me to post last week? Compare your top-performing posts with the "Most Active Times" chart. Use that data to refine your posting schedule.
• Are my new Reels reaching non-followers? Check the Reel insights to see how many people you're reaching who don't already follow you. This is a key metric for growth.

Organize Your Profile and Inbox Immediately

First impressions matter. Before celebrating, take five minutes to clean things up:

• Set your category label: Decide if you want "Digital Creator" (or your chosen label) displayed on your profile and turn the toggle on or off accordingly.
• Add a contact button: If you have a dedicated email address for brand collaborations, add it to your profile's contact options.
• Filter your DMs: Go through your current direct messages. Move important contacts and ongoing conversations to your "Primary" inbox and let everything else fall into "General."

Use Data to Fuel Your Content Strategy

Analytics should inform your creativity. Let the data guide your path forward. If your insights show that a specific Reel format absolutely crushed it, try to replicate that format with a new topic. If you see that your audience is primarily from a certain country or city, consider creating content that resonates with them culturally or geographically. The data gives you objective feedback on what your audience wants to see, allowing you to double down on what works and create more impactful content over time.

Final Thoughts

Switching to an Instagram Creator Account is a simple, free move that instantly transforms your profile from a casual hobby into a serious brand-building platform. You’ll be equipped with the powerful data, professional profile settings, and inbox management tools that top creators use every day to grow their communities and partner with brands.

Once you have your Creator Account set up and can finally see which content resonates, consistency becomes your new superpower. Since creating great content is taxing enough, we built Postbase to make the scheduling and planning part feel effortless. Having a clean, visual calendar to plan your Reels, videos, and photo posts across all platforms helps you turn all those new insights into a solid content machine that reliably shows up for your audience.