Should I Create a Separate Instagram Account for My Business?
Wouldn’t it be nice if launching a new social media account for your business actually led to meaningful interactions with your prospective clients?
How fabulous would it be if upgrading your Instagram presence to “business class” was clearly and unquestionably beneficial to your business?
Sadly, that is not the world we live in. Since the dawn of business-specific social media accounts, platform designers have understood that they can tax, manipulate, and even punish their business users. They believe that allowing entrepreneurs and companies to promote their offerings for free means passing on easy money.
Promoted pins, Facebook post boosting, and Instagram ads are some of the most effective—and sometimes only—way for businesses to become visible to new eyes. And constant changes to feed algorithms mean personal and family posts float to the top while business posts get buried. It’s been a rigged game from day one.
But it’s not all bad news for entrepreneurs. There are definite advantages to opening business accounts on social platforms, and depending on your goals and business model, doing so can be transformative. So let’s explore the pros and cons of a business vs personal instagram account to promote your online business.
Which is better, a personal or business instagram account?
Arguments for maintaining a single Instagram account
No doubt about it; This is the simpler, easier, and more manageable option. Creators like you often wear many hats and juggle dozens of tasks, so sticking to a single Instagram presence keeps your workload manageable. And, depending on your brand and platform, keeping all your Instagam activity in one place can be advantageous.
Your business life and personal life are likely to overlap! Potential customers are curious about what you’re up to on weekends and what you’re cooking up for dinner, in addition to information on classes and products. Giving them a peek behind the curtain helps them feel more connected to and invested in you as a business owner.
Many creators consider their personalities to be part of their brands. If this is the case for you, there’s no reason to create two accounts with duplicate content. Let your creativity, philosophy, and energy shine through in a mix of business and non-business images and captions.
A single account shows you walk the talk without getting overly sales-focused. If you mix business and personal, that balance makes your online presence feel more authentic and grounded.
Obviously, managing a single account is easier! You’ll spend less time prepping posts, and less energy deciding which content should go to which feed. Your time is precious, so don’t discount this as a valid reason to streamline your presence by maintaining a single Instagram account.
Reasons to consider separate business and personal Instagram accounts
If you go this route, it’s important to make sure that your personality and values still show up in your feed. Even a business-specific Instagram account needs to have a healthy dose of YOU! But cultivating a presence that’s officially and solely dedicated to your work can also help build your brand, protect your privacy, and grow your business footprint.
A business Instagram account gives you access to some simple user analytics. If you’d like to know more about your followers’ behaviors and demographics, this can be incredibly helpful. (If you had simply upgraded your personal account to a business one, you’d be muddling up those analytics with the inclusion of your friends and family).
Business accounts also have the ability to create ads and promote posts. If you’ve got marketing money to spend and new offerings to plug, Instagram ads will get your messages in front of the right people.
Instagram business accounts must be connected to Facebook business pages. Linking these two media gives your online presence some beneficial cohesion.
On a more emotional note, if you have kids and aren’t comfortable sharing photos of your family with current and potential clients, establishing a business-only account helps create instant boundaries. This holds true if you’re just a naturally private person, too!
If you have an existing and active personal account with lots of non-business followers, or are launching a new arm of your business that isn’t totally relevant to your current following, make a new home for that content in a business-only account.
How to Decide if You Should Have a Personal and Business Instagram Account
As you might’ve guessed by now, YOU are the only one who can make the final call. When our team gets this question directly, the answer we gives to our teachers is that there’s no cut-and-dried, easy answer. Often, we encourage them to upgrade their existing account to an Instagram business account, keeping it simple with a single account on the platform by peppering personal posts in with all the juicy business content. But some of our teachers know that the separation will be healthy and valuable, and opt to maintain two Instagram accounts.
If you’ve read through the benefits and pitfalls of each option and are still struggling to decide if an Instagram business or creator account is worth it for YOUR business, here are some questions to consider:
Do you love taking photos and posting them? Is doing so a natural part of your daily life? If so, creating and posting content won’t be a strain, and two accounts might work great. If not, centralizing your Insta presence will be far less stressful.
Do you have political, religious, or personal views that might turn off a segment of your customer base? Do you express these views on Insta? If so, maintaining two accounts will serve you well. If not, feel free to consolidate!
Do you instinctively monitor the content you share, keeping family and sensitive posts to a bare minimum? If so, a single account could be just fine.
On the flip side, do you post CONSTANTLY about everything? If so, give yourself an outlet through your personal account, and curate your business feed separately. (You don’t want to overwhelm your followers with dozens of cat or kid pics!)
Is it important to you to keep your work and personal lives separate? If your gut tells you that your brand messages may clash with your personal posts, honor that instinct.
The choice is up to you. Be honest about your priorities, goals, and available energy before you decide if you want to create separate personal and business Instagram accounts. There’s no wrong answer, of course, and we hope this post has helped you sort out which option will work best for your unique business.
