With the launch of Instagram Creator accounts and their subsequent folding into the category of Instagram Professional Accounts, you may be wondering if this profile type is the right fit for you.
After all, Instagram’s efforts to cater to professional businesses and brands in more ways than just Instagram shopping are great news – but they may leave you with a bit of an identity crisis!
That’s why we created this guide to the Instagram Creator profile – to help you figure out if it’s the best match for you as a content creator or influencer. And if it’s not, we’ll point you in the right direction to another Instagram profile option!
We also included a helpful Q&A with our Affiliate Manager Chloe – an ace Tailwind marketer by day, and successful fashion blogger and influencer by night. She’ll share her experience with the Creator profile and what prompted her to make the switch!
What is an Instagram Creator Account?
A Creator Account (or, Profile) is one of two Instagram Professional profiles on the platform (the other is an Instagram business account!)
The Creator profile enables influencers and creators to “access features that make it easier to control [your] online presence, understand your growth and manage messages.” – Instagram.
Ashley Yuki, Instagram product manager, told the Hollywood Reporter, “We want to make sure that Instagram is the best place, and the easiest place, to build fan communities and also build [creators’] personal brands.”
With a Creator Account, you can:
- Access in-depth growth data 📊
- Simplify your incoming messages from fans 📥
- Partner with brands you trust to create shoppable posts in ways very different from the options available on Business Accounts. 🛒
Who Is the Instagram Creator Account for?
The Instagram Creator account is best for public figures, content producers, artists, and Instagram influencers, according to Instagram.
Businesses can be Creators, and vice versa, which is what can make this choice a little tricky. Generally, we recommend a Creator account if you don’t actually sell products yourself, but collaborate with brands to promote their products. Or, if your main goal is to produce content for your audience!
Instagram Creator Account Requirements
There are no requirements for an Instagram Creator account, the way there are for say, getting verified on Instagram.
The only thing to be aware of is that you will need to include some type of contact information, but you can control when this is visible on your profile.
How to Make Your Instagram a Creator Account
Set up of an Instagram Creator account is really simple. Here are the steps to set up your Creator account with a brand new profile or a personal account:
- Open the Instagram app
- Navigate to your Instagram profile in the bottom right corner of the app
- Tap the menu button in the top right corner
- Tap “Settings” and scroll down to “Account”
- Scroll down the menu and tap “Switch to Professional Account”
- Swipe through the features of the Professional account and Select Continue
- Select a Category for your brand from the available options
- Select “Creator” as your account type on the next screen
- Review your contact info and select Next
- Connect your existing Facebook business page to your Instagram account, or create a new Facebook page
If you have an existing Business account, you’ll find the option to switch in Settings >Account > Switch to Creator account!
How to Turn Off Creator Account on Instagram
Okay, so now we’ve covered the benefits of hopping on the Creator Account train 🚂 and how to set one up, but maybe you’re second-guessing your decision. No worries, switching back to a Business Profile or a personal profile is easy as can be!
- Click on the three horizontal lines in the top right corner.
- Select Settings on the menu that pops up at the right of your screen.
- Tap on Account.
- Click on Switch to Business Account this time. Alternatively, you could switch to a Personal Account on this step if that’s your jam.
Then, you’ll get a little reminder pop-up letting you know that you can switch back at any time.
Once you’ve officially switched, you’ll see a green banner confirming that you’ve made the change! ✅
Instagram Creator Profile Pros and Cons
Curious what the Creator Profile includes? Here’s a list of the main features and benefits contained in this professional account type.
Pro: Access to the Instagram Professional Dashboard
With a Creator account, you can access the new Instagram professional dashboard from the top of your Instagram profile.
This hub contains all the tools and resources you need to manage your Creator profile, including performance insights, branded content tools, promotions management, and Instagram Shopping.
You’ll also see tips, best practices, and resource guides from Instagram for Creators!
Pro: Detailed Instagram Insights and Analytics
If you find yourself geeking out over tracking engagement and growth metrics, then you are going to love these analytics contained in the Instagram Professional dashboard!
Here’s the kind of insights you’ll find:
- An overview of Reach and Impressions, as well as Account Activity (what people did on your profile)
- Audience insights, including follower breakdowns of follows, unfollows and overall follower growth, top locations, audience demographics, and most active times of your followers
- The performance of Posts, Instagram Stories, and IGTV videos you’ve shared by customizable metrics like Impressions, likes, comments, follows, and more!
Pro: Streamlined Messaging
If you’re tired of your inbox constantly being flooded with messages, you’re going to love this! With a Creator Account, you’ll be able to filter through your DMs with three inboxes. It’s much more manageable and you’ll never miss the important ones!
You’ll have one Primary inbox for receiving messages from people you follow or interact with often, and one General inbox for first-time communicators.
What about people requesting to DM you for the first time? Instagram thought of that too with the Requests folder!
In that situation, you’ll simply Accept or Decline that user’s request to contact you, and then decide which inbox you want messages to be sent to in the future. It’s as simple as that!
Pro: Flexible Creator Account Profile Controls
With a Creator Account, you have even more freedom to customize the look and feel of your profile. Take your profile display options for instance.
Want to display your category label for all the world to see? Go for it. You can turn it off at any time. Want to display your contact info so that brands wanting to collaborate are able to get ahold of you? You have that option – and the option to stop displaying it at any time.
Category labels are great for classifying the line of work that you’re in. That way, if a brand wants to collaborate with you, they can easily identify that your brand aligns with theirs so you can both save time.
Instagram Creator Account Categories
When you first set up your Instagram Creator profile, you’ll be directed to choose your account category. This identifies the niche or industry you’re in – or basically, what you do!
There are hundreds of category options available for your account – so many that Instagram suggests categories for you based on what’s most popular!
Profile categories like actor, blogger, coach, comedian, writer, digital creator, and motivational speaker are suggested, just to name a few. Can’t find what you’re looking for? Use the search bar at the top to reveal even more industry options.
Pro: Shoppable Posts
Wouldn’t it be nifty if your followers could purchase clothes and other products directly through your posts without having to DM you to ask for a link? Good news! Instagram is one step ahead of you.
One of the coolest features of Creator Accounts is the ability to create shoppable posts promoting brands that you love (and that are willing to pay you for sharing!) 🛍
When you tag certain items in your posts, your viewers can easily click on the item to learn more about it. Then, they can actually purchase that product directly through Instagram!
Pro: Facebook Creator Studio App
The Facebook Creator Studio is a handy additional tool for managing your Instagram account. Using this tool allows you to create and schedule Instagram posts and IGTV videos, view your insights dashboard, and even manage brand collabs!
We’ll be honest, the tool is fairly simple and straightforward. If all you need is scheduling capabilities for your posts, Creator Studio can do the work for you.
It misses some of the important nuances for Instagram marketing that Instagram scheduling tools like Tailwind have, like searching for top hashtags, format your caption with fonts and emojis, visually plan your Instagram feed with drag-and-drop, and post at the best times with SmartSchedule.
But, you know, it works. 😏
Start a Free Trial of Tailwind for Instagram!
- Schedule photos and videos directly to your Instagram feed with Auto Post.
- Optimize every post for more engagement with SmartSchedule and Hashtag Finder.
- Automatically hide your post’s hashtags in the first comment to keep your caption clean & clutter-free.
- Make your posts more discoverable with user tagging & location tagging.
- Analyze what's working across every post and profile with smart analytics.
Con: No Auto-Posting to Creator Accounts
As useful as it is to have a Creator Account, there is one main downside to this profile type.
Instagram API limits access to Creator accounts, which means some of your favorite scheduling tool features are not available… like Auto Post.
You can still schedule posts and use push notifications to publish them on time, but if setting-and-forgetting it is your bread and butter, you’d be better of with an Instagram Business profile.
Why Chloe Switched to an Instagram Creator Profile
Chloe is our ace Affiliate Marketing Manager at Tailwind and the successful owner of the Chloe Alysse blog! Boasting 55,000 followers on Instagram, she had to carefully consider the pros and cons of the Instagram Creator account vs personal when the feature first rolled out.
Here are her thoughts!
Tailwind: What made you decide to go for it?
Chloe: “Instagram relies on influencers and influencer marketing, so I assumed that they introduced this tool to help me succeed.
There are so many creators and businesses out there, and I think it will help to have these categories defined so that Instagram can better meet all of our unique needs.”
Tailwind: Did you worry about making the change?
Chloe: “Not really! Social media is always changing.
I learn best from trying new features and new things in general, and seeing what works and what fails miserably! I figured I could always go back if I didn’t like it and just took the plunge! ”
Tailwind: How has switching to a Creator Account specifically impacted your brand performance?
Chloe: “I immediately noticed an improvement in engagement. The improved inbox has allowed me more peace of mind and helped me stay organized! In my Priority inbox, I keep my friends, fellow bloggers, and brands I’m in regular contact with.
Everyone else stays in General. I have to approve anyone who hasn’t previously sent me a message. My old inbox was so chaotic, and I could never find important messages!”
It made perfect sense for Chloe to classify her account as a Creator Profile. She explains:
“There are so many different types of businesses on Instagram, so it’s nice to know that my account type is specifically designed for people doing what I’m doing – creating content and connecting with people! 👩🏻🎨 I’ve gone through different waves of growth and engagement, and since I switched to a Creator Account, my engagement has been more consistent.
I think in the future differentiating between a Business and Creator Account will be more important, but for now, I’m happy to be part of the experiment!” 😀
Conclusion – Should I Switch to an Instagram Creator Account?
At this point, it’s plain to see that there are plenty of benefits of upgrading to a Creator Account and maybe just one possible drawback:
- Get – Enhanced analytics, perfect for showing potential sponsors what you can offer and how your sponsored posts perform. 📈
- Get – Simplified direct messages so you never miss an important message in the flood of DMs! 📥
- Get – Flexible profile options to control how people contact you and how much they can learn about you. ☎️
- Lose – auto-post, but still publish manually with notifications. 🚨
So, are you planning on making the switch to a Creator Account? If not, what is holding you back? Let us know in the comments below. 🧠
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91 Comments
Can I switch to a creator account with only 5K+ followers?
Hi Alexis! Thank you for reaching out. You should be able to make the switch regardless of the amount of followers you have since Instagram has rolled this feature out to everyone! Double-check by completing the following steps. 1) Click the 3 horizontal lines in the top right corner of your profile. 2) Click Settings on the pop-up menu. 3) Click on Account. 4) You should then see the option to switch to a Creator Account (it’ll be in blue text at the bottom of your menu). Hope this helps!
I noticed that when I switched from a Business Profile to a Creator Profile, I lost the ability to cross-post to my Facebook Business Page – posts only seem to go to my personal Facebook profile. Not sure what the logic is there, so I’m planning to investigate an IFTTT recipie as a work-around.
Hi Daniel! Great point. I looked into it and found an easy solution! I also added in a new section to the blog post that addresses how to fix this issue under the heading, “Linking Your New Creator Account to Your Facebook Page.”
– First, pretend you are going to make a new post. There, you’ll see that your cross-posts to Facebook will automatically be shared to your personal account.
– At the bottom of the screen, you’ll see an Advanced Settings button. Click that.
– Click on the switch labeled Share Your Posts to Facebook.
– Click continue when the pop-up window prompts you to sign-in with Facebook. Follow the steps to sign-in like normal. This will be even easier if you’re already signed-in with the Facebook app.
– From there, you will be redirected back to your original “post” on Instagram. But NOW, you’ll see that your business page is linked!
If you have any issues, please feel free to reach out! We are always happy to help 😄
Hey Calla,
Two things:
1. I think this article was so great, I featured this article on my show on Alexa a couple of days ago. If you didn’t hear it, you can find it on iTunes (or I can send you the link).
2. When I followed your steps above, I can only post to my personal Facebook page. I am logged in with the Facebook app, but it only lists my personal page. Hopefully this gets addressed in a future update.
Again, AWESOME work on this article!
-Daniel
Is there anything the business account has that the Creator Account doesn’t? (Other than auto-post)
Hi Joanne! Thank you for your question. With a Business Account, you CAN auto-post, run ads, and book appointments directly through your account. However, keep in mind that you cannot auto-post through third party schedulers, and you also won’t have access to net unfollower/follower data. It’s fun to experiment with both types to decide what features are most important for YOU!
Thanks so much for this very detailed account of the erm…new accounts! 😀 So strange that they didn’t roll this out to Business accounts, too — seems like those of us on those accounts would very much want to know those detailed and specific analytics so we could improve our advertising if using IG for ads — huh. I’m really stumped on why FB decided to skimp on Businesses who are already spending money on ads and instead give all these features to a different type of account (not that they don’t deserve it, but a strange way to divvy up the features). Thoughts?
Hi Gina! Thanks so much for your comment. As a business owner myself, I completely agree that having access to in-depth analytics is incredibly important to my decision-making process and the way I structure my content. I will say that my Business Account still provides me with about 90% of the same information – I just am not given access to “growth” analytics like net follower/unfollower data (which is especially important for influencers who are trying to prove their worth for potential brand partnerships). With that in mind, it’s really easy to switch over to a Creator Account, so if you’re ever curious, you can mosey on over there and take a peek at those analytics!
Prior to the launch of the Creator Account, creators and influencers had to disguise themselves as “businesses” so that they could be given access to analytics and all the cool features that Business Accounts have to offer. Now that Creator Accounts are an option, they have tools that are geared specifically towards their needs and don’t have to pretend to be something that they are not. While you are absolutely right that businesses are important stakeholders here, influencers also play an essential role on the platform (especially as influencer marketing becomes so common!) 🤩 Either way, it will be interesting to see how users interact with the Creator Account in the future!
Please let us know if you ever need anything – we are always here to help!
I’ve just switched after reading your article… thanks for the detailed steps! I’ve been stagnant at around 1800 for a while now and will try anything (ethical) to see these numbers start growing. Thanks for the great read.
Hi Nelson! Thank you for your kind words. Best of luck with your growth! Please let us know if you need any help in the future.
Hi Calla, thank you so much for this useful new information!
I have a business account but am interested in switching to the new Creator Account, but the only thing that holds me back at this time is the auto-post feature that I am currently using through Tailwind…so, if I switch to the new Creator Account, what happens to the auto-post feature on Tailwind and can I then just cross-post to Instagram when I post and schedule pins for Pinterest?
Hope this is not too convoluted, I am learning the ropes here!
Thanks!
emanuela
Hi Emanuela! Thank you for reaching out. As a business owner myself, I value the ability to batch my content and then set it and forget it with Tailwind’s auto-post feature. When I made the switch to a Creator Account for the sake of writing this blog post, I received a notification from Tailwind that let me know my scheduled post was not able to auto-post. BUT, I still could manually post it at the peak time with push notifications – I just had to ensure that I had the picture saved to my phone so that it would be ready to go when the time was right.
While it may seem like a bit of a hassle, you CAN still plan out your posts and batch your content beforehand! Also, the status of your Instagram account should have no bearing on your Tailwind for Pinterest account either.
Ultimately, it boils down to what features you value the most – the convenience of auto-posting, or the ability to access net follower/unfollower data, a simplified inbox, and shoppable posts.
Best of luck learning the ropes; we are always here to help!
Great article! Inspired me to make the switch to a creator profile. One big point is this I think you should use a creator profile instead of a business profile if you are not truly a “business”. Have to play along with how Instagram wants you to use the platform to be more successful.
Hi Kelvin! That’s a great point. Until this new feature rolled out, many creators and influencers had to disguise themselves as “businesses” in order to access analytics and promote their posts. It’s great to see that Instagram is acknowledging that this highly influential subgroup of users has their own specific needs that ought to be addressed. I am excited to see how these creatives adopt this tool and use it to their advantage in the future!
Thank you for this!
This was the first I heard about the new IG accont option. I just made the switch on my own account halfway through reading your article. 🙂
Hi Emma! Thank you for your kind words – I am so happy to hear that you made the switch. Please do not hesitate to reach out if you need any help navigating your new Creator Account in the future!
Hi,
Thanks for sharing this information with us. Really Informative.
I also switched my account and now I am getting more followers day by day. Well, Instagram is one of the best Social Media platforms to connect with target audiences and gain more followers.
Hi Arjun! Thank you so much for reaching out. I am thrilled to hear about your success with your Creator Account! Please let us know if we can be of any help to you in the future 😄
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