With more than 1 billion active users every single day, Instagram is no doubt one of the biggest and most popular social media platforms right now.

This means that if your business is not on Instagram just yet, this is the time to be.

And if you have an existing personal Instagram profile, make sure that you convert into a business account as soon as possible.

But, before you switch your personal profile to a business account, you need to remember that doing so will make your account public. It is not possible for your account to be a business account and a private account at the same time. After all, it doesn’t make sense to have a private business account, right?

The moment you change to an Instagram business account, the account will exactly be the same and the only difference is that you will get access to certain tools and analytics that are not available on personal accounts.

Here are the steps you need to follow to change your private account to an Instagram business account:

1. Go to your personal account. Tap on the three lines found at the upper right hand corner.
2. Choose Settings located at the top portion.
3. Select Account -> Switch to Professional Account.
4. You can simply swipe through the next four screens explaining the advantages of a Professional Instagram Account.
5. You can decide on the category that your business belongs to. You can type to search for the specific category that will best suit your business.
6. Tap on Done then confirm that you like to switch to Professional Instagram Account.
7. You will be directed to a screen that will give you the option between Business and Creator. You should choose Business because Creator accounts are meant for public figures and Instagram influencers, which means that it doesn’t provide the tools that business accounts do.
8. You can now proceed to putting the contact details for your account. The email address that you will use will be linked to the email button on the profile so make sure that you check this one regularly. You can add your business address and phone number. You don’t need to add this information if you don’t have a physical business location that clients or customers would visit or if you don’t like to receive calls. But, it is still required to add at least a valid email address.
9. The final step is to link or set up your Facebook business page. You can do this by naming your Instagram page but you will finish setting the page up on Facebook. It is an important requirement since Instagram is under the ownership of Facebook. It can actually benefit you a lot if your business is on the two platforms since Facebook will also have your Instagram feed displayed on your Facebook page. Your Instagram posts will also be published automatically to Facebook helping you save time.

Once you have connected and named your Facebook page, you are done! Your personal account on Instagram is now your official business account where you can use sponsored posts, ads, and analytics so you can take your Instagram game to a higher level!