Why I Combined My Personal and Business Instagram Accounts

When I started Ink & Olive, I instinctively created Facebook and Instagram accounts with the handle, @inkandolivemedia. While I urge clients to create a business account on Facebook, I typically encourage them to maintain a single account on Instagram.

So why didn’t I follow my own advice?

As a design and marketing company, I wanted to be able to be able to share client work without it clashing with my personal preferences and aesthetic. I also thought that, as a social media manager and consultant, it would be easy peasy for me to follow the planning guides that I build for clients and consistently maintain two Instagram accounts of my own (while also creating and planning content for the businesses I work with).

What changed?

My thought process eventually evolved and I now share the same opinion for myself and my business that I do for my clients. In a previous role as a Social Media Manager and Agent Services Coordinator at a real estate office, we told Realtors not to be “secret agents”. Your sphere should know what you do for a living, otherwise, you cannot be upset when they choose someone else to sell their home. Before combining my accounts, I was rarely sharing about my business on my personal social media platforms and combining my personal and professional Instagram accounts helps me do so more often.

Personally

Helps alleviate analysis paralysis

When I am not attempting to distinguish the line between personal and professional, it is easier for me to move forward and share either type of content to my single, combined account. For example, when I am traveling, I want my friends and family to see my photos and to feel a part of my adventures. I also want to invite clients, potential clients, and fellow creatives to view why I created this business for myself. The beauty of what I do is being able to provide the highest level of service for my clients from anywhere in the world with an internet connection. 

Helps me to post more consistently

In addition to posting without overthinking my content, I also have more to share. From tools that I’m loving to food that I’m cooking to plants that I can’t seem to keep alive, when sharing all of these aspects of my life in one place, I’m more likely to post consistently.

Strategically

Only one account to promote and grow

With only one account, there is no need to decide between sharing my personal or business Instagram handle. I am a part of a handful of Facebook groups that encourage and uplift fellow business women and they frequently invite members to share their Instagram handles. I can now participate in these conversations without wondering if I should focus on my personal or my business Instagram account. It is also just one account to cross promote on my other social media platforms and throughout my blog and email content.

Combining my accounts adheres to my value proposition

I take my clients’ businesses and success personally. If I expect my clients to let me into their businesses and their lives, I should be inviting them into mine. In addition, people want to work with people, not faceless businesses and logos. The distinction between business and personal is becoming harder and harder to distinguish and small business owners are their business! 

Room for growth

While I enjoy collaborating with other small business, such as Melissa Ferguson Photography, I don’t plan to amass employees. I see myself as the face of my business.

With that said, the beauty in being human is our constant growth. If, in the future, I amass a following and more clear divisions of my brand, I can split up my account. And, at that point I’ll have a greater audience to point to the new handle.

I am a constant proclaimer to “do as I say and not as I do” but having a single Instagram account is something I believe for myself and for the majority of my clients. While there will always be exceptions, if you are a small business owner who is interested in sharing the many facets of your life, there is no need to have more than one Instagram account. 

What do you think- are you considering updating your accounts? How many accounts do you manage for yourself? 

I’d love for you to follow me on Instagram and share your thoughts!