Instagram is expected to reach a staggering 1.35 billion users worldwide by 2023. But for any reason, if you’ve made up your mind to turn off your Instagram Business account, you’re at the right place.
In this article, we’ll walk you through a step-by-step guide on how to turn off a Business account on Instagram and move to a personal account.
Before we dive in, it’s important to know that Instagram offers two types of professional accounts – Creator and Business.
A Creator account is ideal for public figures, content producers, artists, and influencers. It does offer some crucial features, but not enough compared to a Business account.
Instagram Business Account
An Instagram Business account comes with premium features and other add-ons making the platform worthwhile and fruitful for brands and businesses. It’s a go-to choice for retailers, local businesses, brands, organizations, and service providers.
In fact, top brands like Nike, Amazon, and Apple have created Business accounts on Instagram.
In some cases, brands open multiple Business accounts based on the region of their stores. As an example, here’s the Apple Centre Kenya Business account.
They do so to connect better with the audience. It helps in creating better-targeted promotion strategies and cater to a sizable audience at once.
As per Instagram internal data, 9 out of 10 Instagram users follow at least one business profile.
Instagram Business Account vs. Normal Instagram Account
Before we confer the differences, let’s be clear that Instagram Business accounts have all the features that a normal Instagram account has; both allow you to share posts, stories, and reels in the same way.
However, certain features set Business accounts apart from normal Instagram profiles. Let’s see what those are:
#1. Features
A normal Instagram account comes with basic features such as:
- Limit comments and messages
- Hide offensive words
- Block comments from specific people
A Business account has some premium features to help your business reach a vast audience and grow better.
Here are some of them ⬇️
- 💸 Branded Content: Set up and share branded content with a paid partnership label
- 🤔 Response Suggestions: Auto-generated response suggestions based on replies you send often
- ❓ FAQs: Set up common FAQs people might ask and automate responses to those questions
- 📩 Welcome Message: Convey a more personalized chat experience by sending people a welcome message
- ⬆️ Swipe-up Links: Once you’ve over 10K followers, you can allow them to swipe up on Instagram stories and direct them to a product or website
#2. In-App Analytics
Instagram Business accounts offer a professional dashboard that provides in-depth insights into your published content. You can access historical data for up to 90 days or check your account’s insight for custom date ranges.
The Business account majorly provides analytics related to account reach, engagements, follower count, and individual content performance. It also lets you compare two pieces of content to analyze which is performing better.
Whereas, with a normal Instagram account, you merely have any analytics. However, you can still use a third-party tool to create a centralized dashboard for your personal account performance.
#3. Promotions
A normal Instagram account doesn’t allow you to promote your content, product, or service. Whatever you post stays between you and your followers (whose follow requests you accept).
On the other hand, an Instagram Business account allows you to boost or promote a post using Ad Tools. Once your analytics help you determine a working strategy, use this feature to turbo-charge your social media post to get even more views.
#4. Contact Information
Both normal and Business Instagram accounts offer a bio section with a 150-character limit. Plus, an external link redirects users to a website, portfolio, or product offer.
But, apart from these common features, a Business account allows you to be more comprehensive and detailed with your business information.
This means you can:
- Add more than one external link
- Choose your business category (shows up under your brand name)
- Provide contact information (visible to the public): Business email, phone number, address, WhatsApp number, etc.
Besides contact information, an Instagram Business account also allows you to add an Action Button to your profile.
#5. On-Brand Shop
Instagram business profile offers on-brand shops and shoppable posts perfect for retailers and e-commerce businesses. As per Instagram’s research, 70% of shoppers look to Instagram for their next purchase.
By enabling the Shop Tab on your business profile, you can showcase your products in a customizable shop and allow users to purchase directly from Instagram or save them for later.
#6. Monetization Eligibility
If you want to make money on Instagram, you must have a Business account. Or, at the least, a creator account. A normal Instagram account doesn’t provide you with the option to monetize your account.
Turning Off Instagram Business Account
Let’s be clear; switching your Business profile to a Personal account isn’t rocket science. This section will help you do it effortlessly and within five minutes.
The difficult part comes when you’re thinking about whether you should make the switch in the first place (more on that later).
But if you’ve already made up your mind, here are the steps to switch back to your personal Instagram profile ⬇️
Step #1. Visit Your Business Profile
Open Instagram mobile app > Visit your profile > Tap on the options icon in the top right corner.
Step #2. Open Setting
A menu will appear from the bottom of the screen. Then, tap on Settings (must be the first option in the list).
Step #3. Click on Account
In the settings section, search and click on Account.
Next, scroll to the bottom of the Account section and tap on Switch account type.
Step #4. Switch Account Type
Now you’ll be provided with two options, as shown below.
Tap on ‘Switch to personal account.’
You’ll see a prompt message asking you to confirm your decision. The message tab will also tell you what happens when you switch from a Business account to a Personal one.
Whenever ready, tap on the red-colored text saying ‘Switch to personal account.’
Reasons to Turn off the Instagram Business Account
- Change in Preferences: You may prefer to have a Personal account rather than a Business account to keep your social media presence more casual and less focused on promoting a brand or product.
- Privacy Concerns: Some people may be uncomfortable with the amount of personal information required to create a Business account, such as linking to a Facebook page or providing contact information. Turning off your Business account can help mitigate some of these privacy concerns.
- Another Business Account: For some reason, you decided not to proceed with this particular Business account. Either your team created a new account, and you want to reclaim this as your personal account.
- Analytics Overload: People may find in-depth insights overwhelming or unnecessary. Suppose you’re not using the analytics to make informed decisions about your social media strategy. In that case, it may be worth turning off your Business account to simplify your Instagram experience.
- Trial-and-Error: If you were just curious how Business accounts work, but now you have no idea what to do with it? It might become a reason to turn your Instagram Business account off.
But again, before you take your final call, you must have a look at the below section.
Things to Consider Before Switching
You Will Lose Access to Analytics and Insights
Once you switch to a personal account, you’ll no longer have access to any analytics and insights from your Business account. They’ll be removed permanently.
You Will Lose All Premium Features
Business accounts come with an array of features. Unfortunately, you’ll lose them all when you switch to a personal account. However, some basic features like comment restrictions, hiding engagements, and deleting offensive comments will still be in play.
You Can’t Promote or Reach a New Audience
Personal accounts are limited to the following on your profile. It doesn’t allow you to promote or boost content to reach a new audience. Even hashtags won’t work in a Personal account.
Contact Options Becomes Limited
Even if you switch to a Personal account, you must provide personal information, such as Email, contact number, and birthdate. But this information won’t be part of your public profile.
This information is taken as a precaution. If you ever want to initiate an account recovery process, this information will make it easy for you.
And It’s a Wrap
Making a switch from Instagram Business to Personal isn’t a big deal, but making a choice to switch is a bigger deal.
And that’s why, in this article, we have talked about the differences, reasons, and factors that might make you think twice before switching from an Instagram Business account to a personal account.
Although, if you’re sure about your decision, follow the easy-to-do five-step process to get your Business account converted into a Personal account without losing out much in the process.
You may also explore some best repost apps for Instagram to easily reshare.