Instagram FAQs – Your Ultimate Instagram Guide

1. What is Instagram? 

Instagram is one of the most popular social media networks with over a billion active accounts worldwide. It allows users to take, upload and apply filters to photos and videos. Posted content can be organized by hashtags and geographical tagging and then shared with other users, who can like and comment on it. Many organizations use Instagram as it has a significant audience and ample opportunity to build brand awareness and engagement. With an effective digital marketing strategy, organizations can promote their products and services, demonstrate their culture and build relationships with prospects and customers.   

2. How to create an Instagram account? 

To start using Instagram you should download the app and sign up for an account. It’s available for free on iOS, Android, and Windows. After downloading the app, create a new Instagram account or log in with your existing Facebook account. If you choose to make a new Instagram account, you will be asked for a phone number or email address, full name, and password. You will need to come up with a unique username not yet registered in the app. It can be a name representing a company or a few words describing the business. 

3. What is an Instagram business account?

While personal accounts are used to connect with friends, business accounts have special features and provide additional opportunities for businesses. With a business account, you gain access to statistics on users’ actions, data about the target audience and effectiveness of posts in the feed and stories such as the number of impressions, profile visits, etc. Business account followers can write emails, message, call, open the address on maps and build a route to the business location. One of the most important features of business accounts is the ability to run ads through Facebook Ads Manager.

4. How to switch a personal account to a business account on Instagram?

1. Open the app and log in to your existing Instagram account.
2. Open the Main Menu and go to Settings. 
3. Click on Account, tap Switch Account Type, and choose an option to Switch to Professional Account. 
4. Select Business and pick a category that better describes your product or service.
5. Enter your business email and phone number. 
6. Connect the Instagram page with your Facebook Business page. If you don’t have one, you can create it or just press Skip.

5. How to connect an Instagram business account with a Facebook page?

If you have a Facebook page and an Instagram business account, link them together to use additional features. Log in to your Facebook account and go to Page Settings, then find the Instagram section and click the Connect Account button. After that, log in to your Instagram account by entering the login and password of the business profile you want to link. After you connect them, all messages and comments from both Facebook and Instagram become available in one place and you can schedule and publish Instagram posts from your Facebook page and create Instagram ads.

6. How to set up your Instagram profile?

The first thing people check when they visit your Instagram account is your profile image and bio. These can be set up by clicking the Edit Profile button. First, add the company logo as a profile image. Keep in mind it must fit in a circle and be bright and catchy to stand out among others. Then briefly describe what your company does in the bio and add a call to action in the end. Make sure to add your phone number, email, and a link to your website below your bio so people can reach out to you and visit your website. 

7. What are the main content types on Instagram? 

There are four main Instagram content types:

1. Feed is the main section of your account, where you can publish posts that stay there until you delete them. In Feed, you can post a photo, a video, or a carousel (with multiple photos or videos) with text. 
2. Stories stay in your account only for 24 hours, but there is an option to save some of them forever in your Highlights. In Stories, you can post a photo, a video (up to 15 seconds), a photo or a video with text or just a text.
3. IGTV is a section in your account where you can post videos up to 15 minutes long from your phone or up to 1 hour long from your desktop. 
4. Reels nis a channel where you can record short videos up to 15 seconds long. Before uploading it to your profile, you can edit it, add music or text.

8. What are Instagram hashtags? 

Instagram hashtags are special thematic tags used to group content of different accounts by topics. They are used as a tool for organic promotion: people add hashtags to their posts so others can easily find them. Hashtags volume can be high (100-500K publications), medium (50-100K publications) and low (15-50K publications). It’s recommended to use all three types of hashtags to increase your post’s reach, but remember to use no more than 30 hashtags in each post. 

Hashtags are combined words or phrases preceded by a pound sign (#). 

9. What is Instagram Live?

Instagram Live is one of the tools that allows you to communicate with your followers in real-time, attract new audiences to your account and increase your reach. You can go live from the Instagram mobile app at any time without any additional equipment needed. Usually, businesses present some unique information during their live broadcasts, so their followers join it not to miss anything interesting or important. Broadcasts can be up to 60 minutes long and can be uploaded to IGTV afterwards. 

10. What to post on Instagram? 

There is no common rule regarding what exactly to post on Instagram apart from the fact that it should be unique and high-quality. Try to post an alteration of different types of content until you find the optimal proportion that appeals to your Instagram followers. There are 6 main Content Categories that you can choose from:

• Entertaining Content (funny pictures, memes, life hacks, jokes)
• Inspirational Content (quotes, facts, personal stories)
• Educational Content (tips, FAQs, case studies, guides)
• Conversational Content (questions, pools)
• Connection Content (events, employees, life stories)
• Promotional Content (products and services, webinars, discounts)

11. Who owns Instagram?

Facebook owns Instagram.