Should You Get a Business Account?

If you don't already have a business account, chances are you've considered getting one, or questioned whether or not you ought to get one.  Here at Obviously, we're big, fans of the IG business account for several reasons.

First, business accounts allow you to see your own analytics, such as when your audience is most active.  This alone is an incredibly useful insight, because simply posting at the right time can increase your engagement. It also allows you to see the demographics of your audience, which is useful to knowing who is interested in the content you are sharing.  The more you know about your audience the better, because it allows you to gear your content toward them.  

You'll also see key data like reach, impressions, and engagement for every post.  This is they type of data that separates serious influencers from those of us who are simply having fun on social media.  Brands love working with influencers who are professionals, and part of being a professional means you have a deep understanding of your content.  But what do each of these metrics mean?  

Really, it's simple.

Impressions are the total number of times your content is seen

Reach is the number of individual people who see your content.

The big difference here is that someone might look at your post multiple times, but only be counted once under "reach." 

Engagements are the number of times a post was liked or commented on.  Engagement rate is hugely important to brands.  You can calculate the engagement rate of a post by dividing this by the number of followers you have.  Generally speaking, people with fewer followers will have higher engagement rates.  (If I have two followers and one of them likes my post, I have a whopping 50% engagement rate!) . No matter how many followers you have though, you want to keep your engagement above 2%.  If its well above this, even better.  Having a high engagement rate is a great way to market yourself to brands. 

Finally, business accounts allow for further verification that you are who you say you are.  I know that seems like a silly thing, but from our end its a big deal.  This may be shocking, but people aren't always the most honest online.  There is a great deal of fraud in this industry, and as brands become more vigilant we all have to follow suit.  What this means for collaborations is that more and more brands are considering only working with influencers who have gone through that extra step of verification by connecting their Instagram to a Facebook business profile.  Sure, this can be faked as well, but that little bit of extra effort does make a difference.  The reality is, it makes you look more professional and transparent.  Which, somewhat ironically, makes you appear more authentic.  We know who you are.  

The biggest objection that we hear about having a business account is the belief that it lowers engagement rate.  There is concern that marking yourself as a business causes the algorithm to hide it from more feeds.  Of course, all the evidence of this is anecdotal.  From our end, an influencer with a business account looks like they are taking themselves and their work seriously.  If you're creating great content, switching to a business account isn't going to be the deciding factor in regards to your engagement.  My overall tip? Don't focus on the algorithm.  Focus on creating the best work possible.  Understanding your data and getting professional is a major step in that direction. 

So what are you waiting for?  Go ahead and make the switch!