Give the shop its own Instagram account, in the shop's name, with a login the business owns and keeps with its other passwords. Then decide which account keeps the existing followers.

One account for the family and the shop

The shop's Instagram is the owner's own account. New stock sits between a child's birthday, a garden in bloom and a holiday beach.

It started that way because the owner already had an account and the shop did not. Posting from the account already open on the phone was easiest.

Now customers follow it for the shop and see the family. Staff who take good photos at the counter have to send them to the owner, who posts them in the evening.

And the account, its followers and its password all belong to one person rather than to the shop.

Why it stays that way

The Instagram app works with one account at a time. Moving between two means logging out of one and back into the other, every time, on every phone.

There is no special kind of Instagram account for shops. A shop's account is simply an ordinary account opened in the shop's name, with the shop's email address.

And the followers feel too valuable to risk. Starting again from nothing seems worse than putting up with the mix.

What the mix costs

The second is where the real risk sits. A personal password shared with staff can easily be the same one, or nearly the same one, that the owner uses for email.

What a shop account needs

A username in the shop's name, as close as possible to the name on the sign and on the shop's other accounts.

An email address on the shop's own domain, ideally one that more than one person reads, so a password reset never depends on one person's inbox.

A short bio saying what the shop sells, the neighbourhood and the hours, with the website address in the one link the bio allows.

And the same profile image as the shop's other accounts, so customers who find it recognise it straight away.

Which account keeps the followers

If most followers are customers, keep the existing account for the shop. Change its username and name to the shop's, change its email to the shop's address, and remove the family photos.

Then open a new personal account, set to private, and ask friends and relatives to follow that one instead.

If most followers are friends and family, do the opposite: open a new account for the shop, and announce it on the personal account a few times so customers can follow it.

Once a username is changed, the old one can be taken by someone else. Open the new account under the name you are leaving straight away if you want to keep it.

A worked example

A cheese shop beside a neighbourhood bakery posted new arrivals, cut wheels and cheese boards on the owner's personal Instagram, between photos of her children and her garden.

Counter staff took the best photos, of a wheel just opened or a board made up for a party, and texted them to the owner, who posted them at night when she remembered.

Customers searching for the shop's name on Instagram found nothing, because the account carried the owner's name. One customer asked about a cheese in the comments under a family photo.

Most followers were customers, so the account became the shop's: a new username, the shop's email address, the address and hours in the bio, and the family photos removed over a weekend.

A private account under the old username now holds the family. The shop's account stays logged in on a phone kept at the counter, and its password sits with the shop's others.

A login the shop owns

Store the account's username and password wherever the shop keeps its other logins, whether that is a password manager or a sealed list in the office.

Decide who knows it, and change it whenever one of them leaves. A former employee with the password can still post as the shop.

Keep the recovery email on the shop's domain. If the password is lost, the reset goes to an inbox the shop controls.

Posting without switching accounts

The easiest way to stop posts going to the wrong account is to keep the two accounts on different phones.

A shop phone or tablet that stays logged in to the shop's account lets staff post from the counter, and the owner's own phone stays personal.

Where that is not possible, agree that the shop's account is only ever used on one device, and check which account is open before every post.

Connecting it to Facebook

Instagram can share each post to Facebook as it goes up. If the personal account was sharing to the owner's own Facebook profile, point the shop's account at the shop's Facebook page instead.

Check the location tags too. Posts from the shop should be tagged at the shop, never at the owner's street.

The counter-case

For a business that is really one person, such as a photographer, an illustrator or a personal trainer, the personal account can reasonably be the business account, because the person is what customers follow.

Even then, family photos are better kept in a private account, and the login should be stored where someone else could find it in an emergency.

And a shop that posts once a month may not feel the password problem yet. It will when the first employee wants to help.

For any shop with staff, customers and a name of its own, though, the account should be the shop's: in its name, under its email, with a login the shop keeps.

This week

  1. Count who follows the account now.
  2. Decide which account keeps the followers.
  3. Rename it to match the shop.
  4. Move the email to the shop's domain.
  5. Store the password with the shop's others.
  6. Keep it on a shop device.
  7. Move the family to a private account.

Step four is the one that makes the account the shop's. Whoever controls the email address controls the password reset, and with it the account.

Where customers' own photos of the shop collect is covered in the location tag customers use on Instagram.

Frequently asked questions

Can a shop have its own Instagram account?

Yes. There is no special type of Instagram account for shops; a shop's account is an ordinary account opened in the shop's name, with the shop's own email address.

Why not keep using the personal account?

Customers see family photos, staff need the owner's personal password to post, the shop's name finds nothing in search, and the account belongs to one person.

Which account should keep the followers?

If most followers are customers, rename the existing account for the shop and start a new personal one. If most are friends, start a new shop account.

How do staff post without the owner's password?

Give them the shop account's login, not the owner's, ideally on a shop phone or tablet that stays logged in, and change it when someone leaves.

What email should the shop account use?

An address on the shop's own domain that more than one person can read. Whoever controls that inbox controls password resets, and so the account.

Should the family account be private?

Usually, yes. A private personal account keeps children and the house out of view, and the shop's customers no longer see them between products.

West Coast Media Solutions Inc. provides web design, web development, hosting, digital marketing, and business consulting to organisations across Canada, drawing on more than twenty-five years in the field.

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