Having an Instagram account for your school can be a great way to grow and attract more students. Here are some step by step instructions on how to set one up.
You can either watch the YouTube video below, or follow the step by step instructions below the video.
How to Set Up Your School’s Instagram Account
First, open Instagram on your pc or laptop. Once you have it open, you’ll need to sign up for an account by clicking Create a New Account at the bottom of the page.
- Next, fill out all the information requested. Enter your email, school name and User Name.
- You can use your school name for both Full Name and User Name.
- Note that both must be under 30 characters and the User Name cannot have spaces in it.
- As you will be linking this to your school Facebook page, it is best to use the same email address as you used to create your school Facebook page. If you don’t have a Facebook page please see How to Set Up a Facebook Page for Your School.
Note that no one can see any of the information you enter apart from the name and username. The reason behind asking for your age is for security reasons.
Once you have filled out all the information, select the submit button at the bottom of the screen. You will need a security code which can be texted or emailed to you. You will then be redirected to the main Instagram page.
Making Your Account a Business or Professional Account
To officially become a business or professional account, you will need to go into your profile settings.
- Select the three lines in the bottom left hand corner and open settings.
- Scroll down in settings until you find: ‘Account type and tools’, click on it.
- Then click ‘Switch to Professional account’ then select the most accurate description for your school.
Using a Professional account for your school on Instagram will mean that people can contact you directly by email or phone from your Instagram account. It will also give you access to Insights which will show you when your followers are most active on Instagram and how many people your posts are reaching.
Instagram will then double check your contact information to put on your profile, if you don’t want this information public then leave the box saying ‘show contact info on profile’ empty.
To give parents and students more information about your school, upload a profile picture of your school logo and add a bio as a description for your school. Remember to include the type of school, age range of students, and highlight your school’s strengths and its Unique Selling Point.
How to Post on Instagram
To keep parents and students updated and reach new parents, create posts by selecting the create button on the left, upload photos or videos and give your post a description. Make sure that you keep to Instagram’s recommended dimensions for the images, or Instagram will crop the images and your grid will look messy. Here are the recommended dimensions in 2026:
- Landscape: 1080 x 566 px
- Vertical: 1080 x 1350 px
- Square: 1080 x 1080 px
Stories are a great way to update parents and students who are already following you. To create a Story, click on your profile picture on the home tab, upload an image or video and then post it. Stories only last for 24 hours, but you can add it to a Highlight to keep it displayed on your profile.
Optionally, connect to your Facebook Page, which enables features like cross-posting and ads. In the settings tab under ‘Accounts Centre’ select ‘add account’ and sign into Facebook and it will be connected.