The Importance of an Instagram Business Account

To fully leverage Social Cascade's capabilities for Instagram, your organization must use an Instagram Business Account. Personal accounts have limited functionality and do not allow for the direct publishing and analytics tracking required for professional social media management.



Why a Business Account is Essential

Unlike a personal profile, an Instagram Business Account is designed for professional use. It provides critical features that our platform relies on, including:

  • API Access for Direct Publishing: Only Business and Creator accounts can connect to third-party tools like Ayrshare to directly publish content. Personal accounts cannot be connected in this way, which is why your posts would fail if you try to use one.
  • Access to Insights: Business accounts provide detailed analytics, known as Instagram Insights, which track your post performance, audience demographics, and follower growth.3 This data is vital for understanding your audience and optimizing your content strategy.4 Personal accounts do not have access to these insights.5
  • Professional Features: Business accounts allow you to add contact buttons to your profile (such as Email, Call, or Get Directions), link products to your posts for a shoppable experience, and run targeted ad campaigns.6


Common Errors Related to Using a Personal Account

If your Instagram posts are failing, it is most likely because your account is not set up as a Business Account. Here are the most frequent errors and why they occur:

  • "Permission Denied" or "Invalid Account Type" Errors: These messages appear because your Instagram account is a personal one. Personal accounts are not equipped with the necessary permissions for third-party apps to publish content.
  • Post Scheduling and Publishing Failures: Our platform cannot schedule or publish posts to personal accounts. The Instagram API (Application Programming Interface) that we use for direct posting is only available to Business Accounts.
  • Inability to Track Analytics: If you are trying to view performance data on our platform but see no information for your Instagram account, it's because personal accounts do not share analytics with third-party tools.7


How to Convert Your Personal Account to a Business Account

The good news is that converting your personal Instagram account to a Business Account is a quick and easy process.

  1. Open the Instagram app and go to your profile.
  2. Tap the menu icon (three horizontal lines) in the top-right corner.
  3. Tap Settings, then Account.
  4. Scroll to the bottom and select Switch to professional account.
  5. Choose Business as your account type (unless you are a content creator, artist, or public figure, in which case a "Creator" account may be more appropriate).8
  6. Follow the prompts to select a category for your organization and add your contact information.

Important Note: After converting your account, you will need to link your Instagram account to a Facebook Page.9 This is a crucial step for managing all of your organization's assets in one place and enabling posting from our platform.

Official Instagram Support Links:

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