Overview of Instagram profiles

You can manage your Instagram account in Hootsuite as you do your other social accounts. However, it's important to know that the features and functions available to you depend on whether you have a personal profile or a business profile in Instagram.

Instagram business profiles with linked Facebook Pages have access to all of the Instagram features and functions available in Hootsuite. This includes post engagement in streams, analytics, and direct publishing.

Due to the limits imposed by Instagram, Instagram personal profiles have limited access to features and functions in Hootsuite. Consider converting your Instagram personal profile into a business one. For more information, see Convert a personal Instagram profile into a business profile.

What is a business profile?

If you want to create an impressive following, you'll need an Instagram business profile. The additional Instagram features available to business profiles can help you learn more about your followers and the people interacting with your business. As a result, you can better target your audience when creating posts. An Instagram business profile allows you to access the following additional features:

• Promote your posts directly from Instagram
• Use Instagram Insights to track post performance and audience demographics
• Add business contact information so customers can reach you through Instagram

And just look how much more professional and fancy a business account looks!

Anyone can convert their personal profile to a business profile for free; having a business is not required. Note that business profiles can’t be private. To learn more about business profiles, see the Instagram help article About Professional Accounts.

The following table compares the Instagram functionality available in Hootsuite to each profile type.

Profile type	Business profile	Personal/Creator profile
Publishing method	Choose between direct publishing and the mobile notification workflow for each post Use the mobile notification workflow for stories	Mobile notification workflow only
Content	Publish single images, videos, or stories	Publish single images, videos, or stories
Required setup	Enable direct publishing, stream engagement, and analytics by connecting your Instagram profile, and then connecting its associated Facebook Page Turn on Instagram notifications in the Hootsuite app to enable the mobile notification workflow	Turn on Instagram notifications in the Hootsuite app to enable the mobile notification workflow
Available streams	My Posts Engage with and moderate comments on your own posts Hashtag search Monitor hashtags relevant to your business Scheduled View the scheduled posts for the profile	My Posts View the published posts for the profile. Open the post in Instagram to view engagement. Scheduled View the scheduled posts for the profile
Analytics	Access to Instagram analytics	No analytics
Profile display	Profile pictures display for easy identification in the dashboard	Profile pictures are not available and display the default black Instagram logo. Profiles are identifiable only by handle.