Choosing the Right Instagram Account for Your Nonprofit: Creator vs Business
Dec 05, 2023
Instagram is among the most engaging social media platforms and as such often plays a crucial role in nonprofit marketing strategies. When setting up your account for the first time, you’ll notice you have options: a personal account, a Creator account, or a Business account.
Instagram offers the Creator and Business profile options as two distinct types of accounts for professional users. While neither is necessarily “better” than the other from an overall standpoint, they both offer distinct benefits that could be better suited to your nonprofit’s overall needs.
Read on to discover the pros and cons to both Instagram account types and see which is right for your organization!
Instagram Creator Accounts:
Instagram Creator accounts were originally created for Instagram influencers and creators. As a result, they are tailored to those looking to build their personal brand, grow their fan base, and engage with potential brand partners, but that’s not to say they can’t be powerful tools for organizations like nonprofits as well.
These accounts offer detailed insights into audience demographics, optimal posting times, and other vital metrics. Features like Call-to-Action buttons, daily follower data, the Creator Studio for consolidated analytics, and inbox sorting enhance user engagement and brand building. Importantly, Creator accounts include a specialty label beneath the display name, emphasizing the user's niche.
Pros of Creator Accounts:
- Access to Instagram Music’s full library, allowing the use of popular music in content, vital for the virality potential of Instagram Reels and other video content.
- Ability to create a broadcast channel
- Detailed insights into audience demographics and engagement metrics.
- DM-filtering for efficient message management
- Primary inbox: messages from followers that give you a notification
- General inbox: messages from followers that do not give you a notification
- Requests: messages from accounts you don’t follow that do not give you a notification. You can choose whether to accept or deny these requests.
Cons of Creator Accounts:
- Lower organic reach due to Instagram's emphasis on paid advertising.
- Inability to connect with third-party tools for scheduling and automating publishing for Instagram reels and stories.
Instagram Business Accounts:
Instagram Business accounts are designed for brands and businesses aiming to achieve marketing goals. They provide Call-to-Action buttons for easy customer interaction, detailed insights into audience and content performance, and integrations with third-party tools for automating social media marketing. These accounts also allow for promoted posts as ads, a label beneath the display name for clear branding, access to influencer networks, and the ability to create shoppable posts.
Pros of Business Accounts:
- Shoppable posts directly tag products in various post formats.
- Ability to create and run ads to expand reach.
- Integration with third-party tools to schedule and auto publish posts, saving time and streamlining workflow.
Cons of Business Accounts:
- Inability to use popular music from well-known artists due to copyright concerns.
- Cannot create broadcast channels
Choosing the Right Account for Your Needs:
Nonprofits should consider their primary objectives on Instagram when choosing between these account types. If the focus is on brand building, audience engagement, and leveraging popular music in content, a Creator account may be more suitable. However, if the nonprofit's strategy involves extensive use of shoppable posts, advertisements, and third-party tool integrations for content management, a Business account would be more advantageous.
