Instagram launches 'best practices' to help creators

Instagram's professional dashboard is getting an update.

If you have a professional Instagram account — if you're a creator, an actor, a writer, a business, or any of the other dozens of options to choose from — your account looks a bit different than a typical Instagram account. You can have a little hyperlinked tag under your name on your profile, you can see analytics about your grid and story posts, and there's heightened performance tracking and other tools.

On Tuesday, the social media platform announced that professional users will also have access to a "best practices" section on their dashboard, which is intended to aid creators in engagement, reach, monetization, and optimization. According to Meta's blog post, users will have access not only to general tips but also personalized help "to give you a sense of how your account is performing."

"Though anyone can be a creator, succeeding as one takes effort, time, and the right information," Instagram Creators wrote in a blog post. "That’s why we’re excited to introduce best practices, our new in-app destination that guides you with best practices, personalized tips, and educational reels to help you understand how to grow your audience and strengthen your content on Instagram."

If you're a creator, you can access the new tool by navigating to your profile and clicking "professional dashboard" at the top of the page (under your bio but above "edit profile" and "share profile"). You might not have it immediately, but it should update when you update your app. The professional dashboard is only available on the Instagram app.

Best practices include five main topic areas: creation, engagement, reach, monetization, and guidelines. I have a professional dashboard, and my creation section includes tips like "make creating reels part of your routine," "check your timing," and "try trending audio." My engagement section includes tips like "focus on deeper engagement" and "reply to comments within a couple of days." Under the reach section, I was implored to "understand how people see your content" and to "track long-term follower growth." I was reminded that I am "able to monetize" and was encouraged to "learn the ways to earn" under the monetization tab. The guidelines section told me I was "following our guidelines" and reminded me to keep doing that. Under the tips in each of the sections, there's a series of Reels that show how creators use the tools.

"We want to make sure creators have the resources they need to succeed on Instagram, so we’ll keep updating best practices to make sure it has our latest guidance," Meta wrote in its blog post about the update.

While this is only available for creator accounts with a professional dashboard, we have good news: anyone can have that. Click the three dots or dashes in the top right corner of your profile, navigate to settings and privacy, click account type and tools, and switch to a professional account.