What You Need to Know About Instagram's New Creator Account This new option may look good but you'll need at least 10,000 followers to get one.
By Syed Balkhi Edited by Dan Bova
Opinions expressed by Entrepreneur contributors are their own.
Traditional ads on Instagram are being overwhelmingly overtaken by Instagram influencer sponsorships and collaborations. Proof? Scroll through your Instagram feed to see just how many Instagram influencer-sponsored posts you spot there.
Related: 4 Ways to Grow an Authentic Instagram Following in 2019
Based on what you'll see, it makes sense that Instagram is now putting more focus on its most powerful users: influencers.
For this reason, Instagram recently rolled out its new Creator account for Instagram influencers to use. This new type of account gives influencers access to features similar to those of an Instagram business account, to help them grow their brands more effectively.
These new accounts aren't just for typical fashion and fitness Instagram influencers, either. An Instagram Creator account can be useful for bloggers, entrepreneurs, artists, musicians and more to grow their following, increase their brand awareness and engagement and generate sales.
This all sounds good, of course, but the question remains, should you make the switch from a Personal or Business Instagram account to a Creator account? Here's what you need to know about the new Creator account to make the right, informed decision for yourself:
Whether the Instagram Creator account is even available to you
First, you need to know whether or not the Instagram Creator account is even available to you. It may not be, because currently the Instagram Creator account is available only to Instagram influencers with at least 10,000 followers. You also have to have your account connected to a Facebook Business page.
So, if your follower count isn't quite there yet, you'll have to work on getting more Instagram followers in order to be able to switch to a Creator account.
Flexible profile controls
With Instagram's new Creator account, the platform claims to offer more flexible profile controls. This means you can choose a new category for your profile (blogger, author, entrepreneur, musician, and so on) instead of using the one connected to your Facebook business page. You also have the option to toggle your category and contact info on and off. But, you can't turn one off and leave the other one -- it's all or nothing.
Plus, Creator accounts don't offer the extra action buttons that Instagram Business accounts have, such as "Book Now." So, if you want to capture more leads on your Instagram profile, this may not be the best option for you.
More growth tools
One of the biggest features of Instagram's new Creator account is the growth tools. These new tools allow influencers to get better insights and data, to grow their following and widen their reach. For instance, Business accounts on Instagram can see only their overall growth for the week, but with the Creator account, users get access to daily "follow" and "unfollow" data. This is helpful because you can see whether or not the content you're posting each day is working for or against you. You can also get helpful information such as the times your followers are online, your reach and engagement, demographics such as age and location and more.
Plus, Facebook is currently testing a new Instagram Creator Studio dashboard to make it easier to access metrics right from your desktop.
Image source: Social Samosa
The result: Instagram Creator accounts come out on top of Business accounts in this battle.
Simplified messaging
The new Instagram Creator account further offers simplified messaging. Instagram influencers get a ton of messages on a daily basis, so simplified messages can help to improve communication with fans as well as highlight potential business opportunities.
Business profiles have one inbox with a request tab to filter out potential spam. But Instagram Creator accounts have a request tab along with General and Primary tabs. This will help sort your most pressing business messages and regular messages from fans and friends.
Shoppable posts
Creators can now take advantage of shoppable posts, as well. With shoppable posts, when an Instagram user sees a stylish accessory she likes, instead of having to search the caption for the product details and make her way to the website, she can click on the item that's been tagged by the influencer and purchase it directly from Instagram.
Image source: Instagram
The shoppable posts feature is currently limited to just a few select influencers, but as the feature rolls out to all Creators, opportunities for sponsorships and collaboration with brands will surely boom.
Related: 10 Instagram Marketing Tools to Help Grow Your Brand on Instagram in 2019
Over to you
It looks like Instagram's new Creator account will help bloggers, entrepreneurs and influencers of all kinds boost their brand awareness. But it's also important to note that while the new Instagram Creator account can provide a lot of benefits to bigger influencers, many people online are worried that Instagram Creator accounts will make it more difficult for smaller Instagram profiles to grow. We can only wait and see what happens with the introduction of these new Creator accounts. Look over these features closely to decide if an Instagram Creator account is the right choice for you.
