Amplifying Black-Owned Businesses on Instagram

By  

Divya Kunapuli and Rachel Brooks

June 29, 2021

We’re making it easier for people to discover Black-owned businesses directly on Instagram. Businesses based in the US with Shops on Instagram will now be able to designate as Black-owned and display a “Black-owned” label.

In the last year, the Instagram community has come together in support of Black-owned businesses, and businesses have found creative ways to be discovered. Last summer through fall, there were over 1.3 million Instagram posts in support of “Black-owned” or “Black-led” businesses. And the number of businesses located in the US with “Black-owned” or “Black-led” in their profile increased over 50%.

How to designate your business as Black-owned on Instagram

To begin, tap on “Edit Profile,” and select “Business Diversity Info” where you can learn more about what it means to designate your business as Black-owned. Tap “Get Started” and you will land on the “Diversity Info” page. Toggle on the “Show Black-owned business label” setting, which will enable a “Black-owned” label on your business profile and product pages.

Once you designate your business as Black-owned, it may also be highlighted in places like the Shop tab — helping more potential customers discover your business

It’s also important that businesses can safely express themselves on Instagram. Business accounts have full access to tools to protect from abuse, spam, inappropriate comments and offensive language. You can learn more by visiting our Help Center.

Discover more Black-owned businesses

We’ve heard from our community that in addition to showing love to their favorite Black-owned businesses, they’re eager to discover more of them. If you are located in the US, you will see the “Black-owned” label on the profile and corresponding product pages of any eligible business that has self-designated. You can also explore curated collections created by @Shop in the Shop tab, highlighting a range of products from Black-owned businesses.

An example notification of Black-owned shop on Instagram.

We also partnered with @blackownedeverything, @ghettogastro, @alexandrawinbush and @browniepointsforyou, highlighting these amazing Black-owned businesses on Instagram. You can see more from them on @instagramforbusiness and @creators throughout the week.

This is just one part of our ongoing investment in creating more economic opportunity for Black-owned businesses. We’ll have more updates to share soon.