Facebook and Instagram know what’s up when it comes to marketing on social media. The days where businesses had to operate through personal Facebook accounts posing as business pages are long over. Nowadays, both Facebook and Instagram have features in place to help businesses establish and monetize their social media presence. 

If you limit your business operations to one platform or the other, you’re missing out on users who prefer to shop and interact with brands on one platform vs the other. 

Luckily, Facebook and Instagram accounts can be connected, streamlining your social media marketing activities. You can post updates, respond to comments, and check analytics for your Facebook and Instagram pages at the same time, all from the Facebook Business Suite.

Why Business Owners Should Be on Instagram

Instagram is one of the most popular social media platforms out there. A big chunk of your customer base lives on Instagram, guaranteed. Posting and engaging with customers on this platform is a way for business owners to build authentic relationships, build brand awareness, grow and make sales. What is more, Instagram is constantly pushing out new features to help business owners accomplish these goals. So, if you want the chance to reach the 32.4M buyers who use Instagram to shop on a regular basis, building a presence on IG should be a priority. 

An Instagram business account is Instagram’s version of a Facebook business page. Switching a regular Instagram account over to a business account unlocks features like analytics, advertising, and selling capabilities that regular users cannot access. 

How to Start an Instagram Business Account for Beginners

Setting up an Instagram Business account is super easy. 

Step 1: Go through the normal process for setting up a personal Instagram account. 

Step 2: Once you’ve created your account, click your settings, select “Account”, then tap “Switch to Professional Account”. You’ll be prompted to choose a category that best fits your business. Once you’ve chosen that, select “Business.” 

Step 3: Finish filling out your profile with a good Instagram bio and profile picture. Facebook and Instagram business accounts both provide space for business info, but that space is really tight on Instagram. Your Instagram bio needs to be like your business landing page. Use each and every one of the 150 characters you’re provided to explain what you have to offer your customers, including any relevant keywords. 

How to Connect your Instagram Business Account to Facebook

Once your IG account is all set up, it’s time to connect your Facebook and Instagram business accounts. This simplifies the whole social media marketing process. When you connect your accounts, you can post to, analyze, and manage both accounts at the same time. This is a huge time saver, especially for small businesses that might not have a ton of resources allocated to social media management. Additionally, connecting Facebook and Instagram accounts streamlines the process of advertising on both platforms. 

To connect your accounts, follow the steps below:

Step 1: Head to your Facebook business page and click “Settings.” 

Step 2: Click “Instagram,” then click “Connect account.” 

Step 3: Allow access to Instagram messages in your Facebook inbox by toggling and clicking “Continue” when prompted. 

Step 4: Enter your Instagram login details then click “Log In.”

Step 5: Choose to save your login details for convenient future access.

PLANOLY Pro Tip: Connecting your business's Instagram account to PLANOLY can unlock new features that make content planning easier.  While PLANOLY does support linking to all types of Instagram accounts, we recommend upgrading your Instagram account from a personal one to a professional one to access all our premium features like auto-post. In order to activate auto-posting, you'll need to link with an Instagram Business or Creator account that is connected to a Facebook business page and authenticate through Facebook. Check out the video tutorial below or learn more here

Best Practices For Creating a Successful Instagram Business Account

Choose the right profile image. Decide whether using a headshot or your business’s logo in a profile picture is better for your business. If you go with a logo, make sure it fits the circle well and is clearly visible. Remember, the profile image will look tiny as users scroll through their feeds. You want your logo or face to be recognizable at a small size. 

Related: What Makes a Good Instagram Profile Picture?

Use a consistent username. Choose the same username on both platforms. Brand consistency is important. You want to ensure that sending customers to your social media platforms is as simple as possible for them. Choosing the same username will help your customers recognize and find your brand on social media and know they are in the correct place on either platform. 

Create content in batches. Use content batching to create a consistent experience across both platforms. To content batch, sit down and plan out all your social content for a specific time period (a week, a month, a quarter, etc). You can plan out assets and captions or go ahead and schedule the posts to go live in Planoly. Your brand’s personality should shine through the content you put out, no matter what platform you’re using. Content batching is a great way to save time on content creation while creating a cohesive content experience across all your platforms.

 Set up Instagram Shopping. Instagram Shopping is a way for business owners to set up shop directly on Instagram. It’s a place for customers to browse and learn more about products without ever leaving the IG app. Allowing customers to shop directly from your Instagram page shortens the purchasing funnel by one step, giving customers a convenient, frictionless shopping experience.

Now you know how to connect Facebook and Instagram and you are ready to start expanding your business with the power of social media!