What Are Instagram Categories and How to Choose Yours?

Reaching customers on social media is more important than ever, so today we’ll be explaining the Instagram business categories feature and how you should use it.

As a small business owner, you should never use your personal social media profiles for your business. Not only does it look unprofessional, but a professional account gives you access to important features such as analytics, adding links to Instagram stories and promoting your Instagram posts. 

In this guide, we’ll walk you through setting up your business profile and how to add a category on Instagram. In the end, we’ll mention some of the best categories to choose from.

Just like hashtags, an Instagram business category helps you connect with the right people. It immediately tells people what you do and encourages prospective followers to check out your Instagram posts.

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How to set up an Instagram business profile

You will first need to create your profile on Instagram (you can use either your personal account on Facebook or email address to do this).

Once you have your Instagram profile set up, it’s pretty easy to switch to a business account. Here are the steps to follow:

• Go to Settings
• Go to Account
• Tap Switch to a business account

Before you decide to switch, make sure your profile is public, since private personal accounts can’t be switched to business profiles. Also, don’t forget to link your business’ Facebook page to your profile, as this will also allow you to easily reshare content between the two platforms.

Instagram business account vs. creator account

In 2019, another type of Instagram account was introduced: creator account. The idea was to help separate influences, bloggers and other public figures from traditional small businesses (and incentivize more of them to use Instagram marketing of course).

As a business profile, you can still pick categories like public figure or content creator, however, you may want to consider switching to the Instagram creator account for more tailored features.

Adding an Instagram business category

Adding your website and contact information to your Instagram business profile is pretty straightforward. Just hit the “Edit profile” action button and take it from there. For your business category, you can add a new category under the “Public Business Information” section.

Simple enough, right? But does a profile page category matter, and is choosing the best Instagram category worth your time?

Just like hashtags, an Instagram profile category helps you connect with the right people. It immediately tells people what you do and encourages prospective followers to check out your Instagram posts. 

However, choosing the best category can be confusing. For example, you might be a blogger that also sells crafts. Or you could be running an eclectic local business that is an event venue, social club and vegan restaurant.

So how do you pick the best business category? We propose two simple rules:

1. Ask clients how they would describe you; go back to your mission statement and see what it is that makes your local business different.
2. Search for all the categories that apply; the list of Instagram business categories contains over 1,500 different options, so you should try to find the one that best describes your business.

Some categories to consider for your Instagram business account

Not sure where to start? Here are just some of the most popular Instagram categories:

• Religious organization: Whether you run a church, religious center, or youth organization, Instagram can be a great place to connect with your congregation. If you’ve got a cool logo, like one of these church logo examples make sure to use it for your profile picture.
• Clothing store: This is definitely one of the most popular Instagram business categories; however if you don’t sell clothes exclusively, but these are the most important products you can also opt for a category like Clothing (Brand).
• Goods company: If you sell office supplies or commercial equipment, pick a category that says so. On the other hand, if you have a wide selection of products the goods company category can help you avoid excluding potential customers.
• Medical center: This is another area where you definitely want to be as specific as possible. If you’re looking for an obstetrician-gynecologist (or alternatively OBGYN as a business category), a mental health service might not be all that helpful.
• Media website: For traditional media outlets, the news company category might be a better fit. However, if your stuff is closer to the fun, eclectic style of Buzzfeed and Vice, media website is a great Instagram category to use.
• Nonprofit organization: You can always use this umbrella business category, however since nonprofits strive to rally people around a mission or set of values, it can also be great to find a category that better matches what you do; for example youth organization or environmental conservation organization.
• Public figure: Many politicians and celebrities use this category, however, if you’re an influencer or blogger, make sure you choose the creator account over a business profile.
• Restaurants: If you run a chicken joint, Korean restaurant, or juice bar remember that all of these are distinct Instagram categories. There are also categories like Asian fusion restaurant, so make sure to search thoroughly through restaurant subcategories as there’s a big chance you’ll find one that’s perfect for you.
• Arts & Entertainment: You can go with something specific like a modern art museum, or stick to the umbrella term visual arts. There are even some funny Instagram categories like Behind the Scenes and Fails and Bloopers, which can be useful for additional accounts to promote your entertainment business.
• Social club: There’s a long list of Instagram business categories to fit almost any type of social club including sorority, private members club, comedy club, etc.
• Real estate company: Real estate agents should have their own personal branding. So it’s a good idea to have separate Instagram profiles for the real estate agency and the agents themselves. Other business categories from similar fields include condo building, contractor, and real estate developer.
• ‍Sports: This is another broad field of Instagram business categories, including fun specifics like kayak rental, go-kart track, or rock-climbing gym.‍

Not what you’re looking for? All Instagram categories can be found in this complete list.

Further Instagram tips

If you are interested in more articles that can help you boost your social media presence, I recommend you check out our articles on how to create quality content for Instagram, a list of popular Instagram profile themes, a list of the best Instagram ads and our comphrensive guide for creating Instagram ads.