Should I Use My Personal Instagram for Business? Why Influencers Say No to Personal and Switch to Pro

When launching a brand (or a career) on social media, there are a lot of different factors to consider. Not only do you need to decide on your overall aesthetics, your target audience, and the style of your content, but you also have several smaller, practical decisions that might seem mundane but are actually very important.

One of the most significant decisions you’ll face when creating an account on social media (whether that be Instagram, TikTok, Facebook, or whatever) is what type of account is right for you. More specifically, you’ll have to ask yourself, “Should I use my personal Instagram for business?” and explore why using an Instagram business account might be an ideal option.

As many recent incidents indicate, one reason for this is that many social influencers have found themselves in hot legal waters for using music they hadn’t properly licensed—something we highly advise you to avoid.

Let’s go over everything you need to know about the difference between a creator account vs business account in Instagram and how these business vs creator accounts on Instagram work compared to influencer accounts on other platforms.

What are the differences between a personal account and a business account?

As you might expect as an answer to this question, the differences between personal and business accounts on social media have to do with whether you consider yourself (or your brand) as a business or an individual.

The area in which most creators and influencers get a bit confused is when they acknowledge that while they are an individual, they often fail to recognize that their brand is a business. This can be confusing because the lines between personal and business accounts can be a bit gray, especially when influencers and creators start their careers.

Should I Use My Personal Instagram Account for Business? When should I switch?

The best way to understand and decide when to switch from a personal to a business account is to ask yourself a simple question: Am I making money from this account?

If the answer is yes, then bam—you have your answer. You’re a business account. If you look into the guidelines and terms of service for most social media platforms (we’ll explore some below), you’ll find that these apps are very clear about their rules for businesses and creators.

Personal accounts are meant for, well, personal reasons. These are accounts that your grandparents, aunts and uncles, or friends have where their sole purpose is to share personal updates, photos, and videos—not create content to promote business or brands, even if those businesses or brands are themselves.

Who needs to use a business account?

If you’re looking to launch a career as an influencer or creator of any type, it will be beneficial to you to look into creating a business account. Many reasons to do this have to do with keeping you out of trouble with copyrights and lawsuits, and many social media platforms have more robust resources for managing business accounts.

Business accounts on most social platforms offer more insights, advertising and shopping options, promotional opportunities, and advanced messaging controls.. When it comes to choosing between Instagram personal vs business vs creator accounts, business accounts offer the most robust tools for influencers and brands.

How to start a business account on Instagram

Now that we’ve gone over some basic info and reasons why you might want to set up a business account, here’s a step-by-step guide on starting a business account on Instagram.

• Tap on your picture in the bottom right to go to your profile.
• Tap Edit profile.
• Tap Switch to a professional account.
• Tap Next.
• Select a category for your business and tap Switch to professional account.
• Select Business and tap Next.
• Add contact details and tap Next. To skip this step, tap Don’t use my contact info.
• To share logins using Accounts Center, tap Login to Facebook. You can follow the steps to connect your business account to a Facebook Page associated with your business. 
• Set up your professional account by completing the optional steps, or tap X in the top right corner to return to your profile.
• To display or hide business information on your profile, go to your profile and tap Edit profile. Go to the Profile display below. Use public business information to choose whether to hide or display your category label and contact info. Then, tap Done.

If you're still weighing the pros and cons of a creator account vs business account, Instagram’s help page offers a full breakdown of how to make the switch and what to expect, follow the steps outlined on Instagram’s website here.

The differences between Instagram creator and business accounts

We should also quickly address the notable differences between the creator and business accounts Instagram offers outside of the regular personal accounts. If you’re asking yourself, “Should I use my personal Instagram account for business?” the answer is always going to be no.

However, if you’re asking about the differences between business vs creator accounts on Instagram, then those are going to be a bit more nuanced. 

A good way to think about it is that Instagram business vs creator accounts are different because Instagram creator accounts are for public figures, notable content creators, and influencers looking to build a personal brand, whereas Instagram business accounts are for brands and companies looking to utilize the full array of professional dashboard tools and services offered by Instagram.

What brands need to look out for when partnering with influencers

When it comes to brands partnering and working with influencers, most will always prefer working with business accounts over personal ones. The main reasons for this are due to liability and how copyrights work. 

Looking specifically at music, all social media platforms like Instagram have strict rules regarding what music can be used for commercial purposes, and copyright infringement on social media is more common and riskier than you might think.

A good rule of thumb to keep in mind is that if you’re using music (or any other creative assets) that you didn’t create yourself without properly licensing said assets, you’re liable to have your content be muted, taken down, or potentially have your account banned—as well as leaving yourself open to lawsuits.

To combat this, it’s highly recommended that you use music properly licensed through trusted music licensing websites like Soundstripe. And, for brands looking to work with influencers, you’ll want to ensure that all your influencers and creators use the same copyright-protected music, sound effects, and assets.

Learn more about how creators can license music for social content with Soundstripe’s music for creators collection.

How to use Soundstripe with your business accounts and influencers

To get started with Soundstripe and properly license music and sound effects for your brands’ and influencers’ business accounts, here’s a helpful guide on getting started with a Soundstripe enterprise plan.

If you’re unsure what plan might suit you, contact a Soundstripe sales representative directly here. 

We can walk you through the custom pricing and term contract options and help you choose the right plan to license and protect you and your company.