I feel like this is a question I shouldn't have to ask. And yet, I do. Why? Seriously, why is your Instagram profile set to private? The conversation is the same one I've had about Twitter accounts. The key word in social media is "social". You can't be social if you're hiding behind a curtain.
Now, it's worth noting that I'm not talking about those people who use Instagram for their personal use. If you're using your account to share photos of your kids with your family and friends and you don't want strangers seeing these photos, I totally get it! I would keep my account private too, or get a second account. But I'm not talking about these people.
I'm talking about those people who advertise themselves as social media professionals, people who advertise themselves as their business or brand, and people who are recognized as public profiles.
People want to see who you are and what you post. They can't see that when there's a giant lock in the middle of the screen. And if they can't see your photos, they don't know if they're going to like your photos. Also, in case you weren't aware, people aren't very patient either. They don't want to wait for you to check your account 3 days from now to approve them as a follower.
So, when someone comes to your profile and sees that you're set to private, chances are very high that you're losing them as a follower. Multiply this across multiple visits to your profile and think of all the potential marketing you're missing.
If you're using your Instagram account to promote yourself or your brand, please change your account to public. Let people in and let them connect with you.
Think about it like this. You own a store on one of the busiest streets in town. All of the other companies allow all of the pedestrians walking by to come in, walk around, and check out the store. You on the other hand, have a security guard at the door to your store. He's big and ominous. Most people are going to walk right by your store and not even try to enter, right? And those that do want to attempt to enter have to go through the waiting process, standing there on the street while the security guard waits for approval to let them in. Maybe you're on lunch, or taking the day off. How long are they going to have to wait to enter the store? And don't you think that they'll give up, and go visit the other stores on the street?
So, if you wouldn't do this in real life, why would you do it online?
If your Instagram account is currently set to private, you can change your settings by doing the following: Go to your profile screen and click on "Edit Your Profile", then uncheck the box for "Posts are Private". Then scroll down and save changes. It's that simple!
I hope you see additional followers and success on Instagram after you make these changes!
If you want to join me on Instagram, please follow me at jennherman31
Just goofy… A SoMe profile. That’s locked.
That’s not SoMe. That’s Me.
Haha! Thanks, Christopher! I like that!
thank you for putting this out there! my thoughts exactly.
Thanks Jessica!
thank you for putting this out there! my thoughts exactly.
Thanks Jessica!
When I started on Instagram, I actually had one of my students set it to private so that the kids could not get in…but over time, I have now changed it to non private..I have become a public figure being a blogger, so I know they will find me on the net anyhow..The times have changed. Thanks for the post:)
Thanks Danielle! Yes, times have changed. Especially for a public profile like yours. People know who you are and are looking for you. So it’s best to make it easy to connect. People appreciate that.
The one thing I still keep private is my personal facebook..when i add social media contacts I dont know..i simply keep them as restricted:)
Yes, my personal Facebook is very personal. I keep that locked up with restrictions and I actually only accept people that I actually know. I turn down a lot of friend requests because I just want to keep that for personal use. I always explain to people, and they seem to understand. But I need to keep something private in this crazy online world! 🙂
So true!! I used to ignore the people I do not know, but I started accepting them because there were so many social media peeps..but i put them all in restricted so they can only see the public view:) Nice meeting you on twitter and now chatting in blogging world or where did we originally start chatting? in a group? lol
I’m trying to think back…. I think we connected through a Facebook Fan Page Party first. That was a while ago. Then it’s just evolved from there!
Awesome! 🙂 Have an awesome day Jenn!!
When I started on Instagram, I actually had one of my students set it to private so that the kids could not get in…but over time, I have now changed it to non private..I have become a public figure being a blogger, so I know they will find me on the net anyhow..The times have changed. Thanks for the post:)
Thanks Danielle! Yes, times have changed. Especially for a public profile like yours. People know who you are and are looking for you. So it’s best to make it easy to connect. People appreciate that.
The one thing I still keep private is my personal facebook..when i add social media contacts I dont know..i simply keep them as restricted:)
Yes, my personal Facebook is very personal. I keep that locked up with restrictions and I actually only accept people that I actually know. I turn down a lot of friend requests because I just want to keep that for personal use. I always explain to people, and they seem to understand. But I need to keep something private in this crazy online world! 🙂
So true!! I used to ignore the people I do not know, but I started accepting them because there were so many social media peeps..but i put them all in restricted so they can only see the public view:) Nice meeting you on twitter and now chatting in blogging world or where did we originally start chatting? in a group? lol
I’m trying to think back…. I think we connected through a Facebook Fan Page Party first. That was a while ago. Then it’s just evolved from there!
Awesome! 🙂 Have an awesome day Jenn!!
Thanks for posting this! I’ve been arguing with myself whether I’m keeping my profile private or not. I’m just scared that someone might hack my account or someone will get jealous and report my pictures. But anyways, thank you! I’m keeping it public now. Such a great read. 🙂
Thanks for posting this! I’ve been arguing with myself whether I’m keeping my profile private or not. I’m just scared that someone might hack my account or someone will get jealous and report my pictures. But anyways, thank you! I’m keeping it public now. Such a great read. 🙂
I realize this thread is a year old, but came across it searching for “changing Instagram posting from public to private.” Here’s the thing. I’ve been on Instragram for at least a year, maybe two. I have a public Twitter account, that’s fine, however most of the people I follow on Instragram are friends or coworkers, many of whom I’m not friendly enough to be FB friends with (I try to keep those to actual FRIENDS, or at least people I feel that I’ll be seeing sometime in the next year and who might actually comment or like a post once in a while). Anyway, most of my Instragram friends seem to post all kinds of photos, personal ones of themselves, their kids, spouses, etc. So far since my profile had been public, I made it a point to only post landscapes, flowers, etc. No people. I do take pictures of my family though and would like to post these too, but I’m not interested in posting to the entire world! Not everyone is with every “social media” site.
Basically this is a problem that Instragram has created. What they should do is provide, like FB, a way for users to decide PER POST, what is public and what isn’t’. I suppose you can do something like this via the “direct post” to individual people you follow, but it’s not the same, it’s almost like sending an email to those people rather than just making a given photo visible to them. Plus, you can’t do this for everyone you might want, it’s limited in number.
Anyway, I guess the main issue I have with your sentiment is that you presume a one-size-fits all approach. IE, “this is how I feel this service should be used, so everyone should think the same way.” I tend to think that people use social media sites in different ways to suit their own needs and that’s perfectly fine. The problem is that some sites, like Instagram, are less flexible than others…
Hi Levi. Thanks for chiming in with your thoughts. I agree that it would be helpful to some to select which posts were private vs. public rather than a blanket setting for the entire profile. However, with the simplicity of Instagram’s format, I think they have it set one or the other for a reason. While Facebook allows you to choose settings for each post, they also allow a lot more functions in general. Instagram is designed to be a simpler, faster, and easier platform.
I also appreciate that different users will have different reasons to set their accounts to private. I wholeheartedly believe that if you’re using Instagram for your own personal use (to share with friends and family), then, yes, your account should be private. This post, however, was written for business owners and people using Instagram for business purposes. In these situations, when using Instagram for marketing, the accounts should be set to public to allow for direct and easy communication with their audience.