Instagram is a great platform to promote your business or brand. However, if you use Instagram to share your personal day-to-day moments, sometimes you wish to keep that content private.
Images and videos posted on Instagram are visible publicly to anyone by default, and you need to set it to private mode so that your content would be visible only to your confirmed followers.
If you want to become the next Beyonce and want broad audience to know you better, then you won’t even be thinking about making your Instagram profile private.
However, if you don’t want extra attention and want to keep content available only for you and your closest circle of friends (followers), then you should think of making it private. As there is a saying – “internet never forgets”, so once you upload something on Instagram, it can stay publicly visible for a lifetime, and it can potentially harm your personal reputation.
Keep reading further and you will learn how to make your Instagram profile private and should you do so.
How to make your Instagram profile private?
After switching to private mode, only approved followers will be able to see the posts and stories you upload on your account. Already existing followers won’t be affected by this and will still be able to view your content afterwards.
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Good news is that you can make your Instagram profile private quick & easy. However, it is important to notice that you will need to follow different steps accordingly to how you access Instagram – through Instagram App (iOS/Android) on your smartphone or computer & mobile browser.
Make your Instagram profile private via Instagram App (iOS & Android) on your smartphone
If you are using Instagram via Instagram App, then follow these steps:
- Open up Instagram App on your smartphone and go to you profile;
- Tap “Three horizontal lines” button at the right upper corner;
- Select “Settings” from the dropdown menu;
- Tap “Privacy”, then select “Account privacy”;
- Click next to “Private account” to make your profile private. Done.
Make your Instagram profile private via computer or smartphone browser
If you are using Instagram via your desktop computer, laptop or smartphone browser, then follow these steps:
- Open up Instagram using your computer or smartphone internet browser;
- Go to your profile and click on “Settings” iconnext to “Edit profile” button;
- Pop-up window will appear, select “Privacy and Security”;
- Under Account privacy tab check box next to “Private account”. Done.
What happens when you set your profile to private mode?
By hearing “private Instagram profile” we understand that our information on Instagram will be more private compared to public account. But what will happen exactly? What will other people see and what information they won’t be able to access? I will explain this in detail.
The main thing that happens is that whenever users views private Instagram account that he doesn’t follow, he will be displayed message stating “This account is private. Follow to see their photos and videos” instead of seeing your Instagram posts. That means, they will have to follow you in order to see your content, your followers or followings list.
After someone clicks “Follow”, you will receive a notification with a follow request that needs to be accepted or denied. So, it is completely up to you whether you allow that user to become your follower or not.
Another thing to note is that your posts with hashtags won’t appear on corresponding hashtag page. Only your current followers will be able to see that particular post on corresponding hashtag page. Keep this in mind because it may reduce organic reach of your posts.
Also, you need to be aware that if someone was following your Instagram profile before you made it private, he will still be able to see your content (he won’t need to send new follow request). So, if you don’t want such user to view your content on Instagram, simply block him.
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Will making your Instagram profile private get you more followers?
Majority of users that made their Instagram profiles private says that they have done so in order to get more followers. It seems logical as in order to view their content user firstly needs to follow them.
It is true, for some type of accounts this strategy works great, some report even 10x follower growth after making their profiles private. However, it is not that simple.
What I noticed is that this strategy works great for already established large accounts (100k+ followers) that post funny jokes or memes. For smaller accounts or accounts not in funny memes niche, this strategy wouldn’t be beneficial.
Firstly, your posts wouldn’t be displayed in Instagram Explore page. As you probably know if your post makes it on Instagram’s Explore page, then you get massive engagement and follower growth.
Secondly, your posts won’t appear on corresponding hashtag pages, so this will reduce your post’s organic reach and engagement too.
All in all, private account’s posts will only be visible to an already established audience. Accounts with small audience would probably start losing followers after switching it to private mode.
If you are not convinced yet, look at Top 100 Instagram accounts with biggest follower base – majority of them will be public accounts. That should tell you something, right?
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I hope that after reading this article you will know how to make your Instagram profile private. However, as stated earlier, you should do so only if you want to protect your privacy. If you want to gain more followers, this won’t help you much.
Have you made your Instagram profile private before? Did you get more followers afterwards? Leave a comment below!
