How to manage multiple Instagram accounts for one brand

5 Tips on how to manage multiple Instagram accounts

Whether you’re working directly for a brand or marketing agency, you’ll likely need to keep track of several different social accounts at once.

These five tips are designed to help you monitor and update several Instagram accounts simultaneously without sacrificing performance.

1. Set goals for each profile

To get the most out of your account management, you need to set specific social media goals for each profile. Even if you’re managing multiple accounts for the same company, the goals of each account will likely be different.

Product-focused accounts may exist to drive your sales. Meanwhile, your goal with an employer brand account will likely be to boost recruitment figures or grow your community engagements in a certain region.

Outline the audience and purpose for each account. Then define clear goals for each of your accounts based on those targets.

There’s no single right or wrong way to set meaningful social media goals. But a reliable framework to follow is that they’re SMART—specific, measurable, achievable, realistic and time-sensitive.

2. Create a content strategy for each account

Once you’ve clearly defined the goals for each account, you need to create a plan to achieve them. This involves creating a unique social media content strategy for each account.

Start by understanding which types of posts resonate with your audience the most. You should also think about the best times to post and how regularly each account needs to be updated.

If you’ve taken over an existing account, it’s worth performing a content audit to see what’s working and where you need to pivot.

Another important input is to analyze your competition. List some of the Instagram accounts creating content for a similar audience to yours, then review what they’re doing differently. Make sure you also list accounts that post similar types of content to yours. This insight will inform ways you can differentiate from your competition.

By creating a unique strategy for each account, you ensure each of your accounts is meeting its niche and targeting its specific audience.

3. Establish a content calendar

Content calendars are a reliable way to visualize your strategy and make sure your goals are achievable in a given timeframe.

A content calendar also keeps you organized, which is essential for managing multiple Instagram accounts at once.

Make sure you create a content calendar for each account, so you’re posting at the right time and often enough across each to maximize your potential engagement.

4. Track analytics and performance

Collecting and reviewing Instagram analytics is the best way to refine each of your accounts so their reach and engagement potential increase over time.

Data points that are typically helpful for any Instagram account include reach, impressions, engagement rate and content interactions. But you should also track analytics that speak to each of your account’s specific goals.

Your goals will inform which metric is most important for each account. For example, a brand’s main account may prioritize impressions and reach to maximize brand awareness. Conversely, if you’re managing an account that focuses on a specific product line, you’ll want to make sure it achieves a higher engagement rate alongside reliable sales conversions.

Instagram offers native analytics tools—navigate to your profile and select the Insights button to access these.

5. Use a social media management tool

If you’re managing multiple accounts, your analytics and all of the above tips would benefit from an all-in-one social media management tool.

An all-in-one tool allows social media managers to manage the data of several accounts from a single location. This means you can aggregate the data from all of your accounts at once, making it easier to track and optimize performance.

Social media management solutions also give you access to scheduling and calendar tools for more streamlined content strategy management. In Sprout, you can access both Instagram scheduling and ViralPost® which help you schedule Instagram posts for specific times, so each account is reaching its audience when they’re most active.

Sprout’s further Instagram team tools help you set clear goals for each of these accounts and also integrate with performance monitoring reports, so you can keep informed on how well your accounts are performing.

How to manage and switch between Instagram accounts

The technicalities of switching between multiple Instagram accounts can be fiddly if you’ve not handled several accounts before. Below, we explain how you can do this natively on Instagram, and how this process is improved by using Sprout.

How to manage multiple Instagram accounts natively

This process works differently depending on if you’re using a mobile or desktop.

For desktop users, you need to use the Switch button in the top right of the screen and follow these steps:

1. Select Switch next to your profile picture
2. Click Login to an existing account
3. Enter your username and password for the account you want to add
4. Click Log in

On mobile, you can switch back and forth between accounts by using the app settings. Do so by following these steps:

1. Go to your profile page
2. Select the three bars in the top right corner
3. Select Add account
4. Select Log in to existing account
5. Enter the username and password for the account you want to add
6. Click Log in

Repeat this process for each account you want to manage on the device. Once all of your accounts are logged in, you can switch back and forth directly from your profile.

It’s important to remember that you can only add and manage a maximum of five accounts in Instagram itself.

How to manage multiple Instagram accounts with Sprout

Sprout enables you to manage multiple Instagram accounts seamlessly within a centralized dashboard.

To connect your Instagram account with Sprout, simply follow these instructions. Note: An Instagram Business account is required.

Once connected, manage all your connected profiles using Sprout’s suite of social media management tools. You can use these tools to plan, schedule, collaborate and analyze performance across each of your Instagram profiles.

Track post-level performance insights across Instagram accounts and other social platforms to see what’s working in your holistic social strategy and what isn’t. Then make any optimizations directly within Sprout.

Your team also won’t miss an opportunity to engage directly with each account’s followers through our Smart Inbox. Here you can collaborate on creating or assigning cases, mark messages as complete and alert other users with real-time notifications through the Collision Detection feature. This feature can be extremely helpful for brands that have several people managing different brand profiles.

Manage multiple Instagram accounts with purpose

Brands with multiple Instagram accounts are using those platforms to tell niche stories through visual content. By targeting multiple audiences with different accounts, you have the opportunity to create personalized content that resonates with each interest group.

Managing multiple accounts doesn’t have to be complicated. By using the right tools, you can create a strategy that helps you leverage these accounts to meet your business goals.

Instagram remains one of the most important, yet rapidly-evolving social platforms. Learn how you can establish a creative, engaging and high-impact Instagram strategy that transforms your brand for the better.