In a lot of ways, Instagram is just like Twitter. One way they are similar is that everyone has the same "type" of account - there's no differentiation between personal and professional accounts. They all look the same and have the same format. And yet, everyone on Twitter - and on Instagram - uses their accounts slightly differently.

Some use them for sharing personal photos. Some use them to showcase their business. Some use them to be inspirational. Some use them to promote themselves.

No matter how you use Instagram, I frequently explain that there are THREE types of Instagram users. But, just because you think you're using Instagram as one type, doesn't mean you are. So what type of Instagram user are you?

Let's find out!

Personal Account

If you're using Instagram for personal use, you mostly fall into these parameters:

• Share photos of your family, pets, vacations, and other personal aspects
• You follow friends, family, celebrities, and occasional brands that interest you
• Your account may be set to private to protect your images from being seen publicly

Business Account

If you're using Instagram for your business, you mostly fall into these parameters:

• Share photos of your products, services, employees, and customers
• Reshare or share user generated content from your audience
• You follow customers, others in your industry, and business associates
• Your account is public for easy viewing and following

Brand Account

Some people (like myself) don't fall into either of these two first types. Instead, they are using Instagram to promote their "brand", and fall into a combination of the two parameters above.

• Share some photos of family and personal aspects as well as photos of their business
• Incorporate user generated content
• Follow friends, family, celebrities, customers, others in the industry, and business associates
• Account is public for easy viewing and following

Depending on your business or personal reasons for using Instagram, you will fall into one of these three categories.

The problem is that many think they're using Instagram as a business but they're really using it as a personal account or even a brand account. It's important to know WHY you're using Instagram and then format your profile and content to match appropriately.

If you are using your Instagram account to represent your business, focus on your business. Share images of your products, services, and business space. Highlight your employees at work and the things you do within your community, as a part of your business. Share images of your customers enjoying your products or services and incorporate user generated content into what you share on Instagram.

While, you want to showcase the personality of your business, you don't need to share the personal images of individuals (including yourself). Think about big brand companies like Nike, Ben and Jerry's, Starbucks, Volkswagen, and Taco Bell. You don't see any of them sharing the CEO's personal vacation photos do you? And yet, they still show tons of personality and find fun ways to genuinely connect with their audiences.

If you're going to use Instagram for your business, keep it for your business purposes. Keep it social, keep it fun, keep it relevant, and keep it professional.

If you're going to use Instagram as a brand, much like I do, then you can get a little more personal. Using Instagram as a brand is more appropriate for home based businesses, solopreneurs, celebrities, industry experts, and others aiming to make a name for themselves, not exclusively their company name.

Because these users are connecting on a more personal level, and showcasing their personal experiences and journeys, it's more acceptable to incorporate personal touches to their Instagram accounts. But this doesn't mean sharing every personal photo of your vacation!

Sharing one or two images from your vacation or family gathering is good - it shows who you are. But sharing dozens of images of all your nieces and nephews becomes (most likely) irrelevant to your brand and your audience. Keep these masses of photos for your personal Facebook or personal Instagram account.

As a brand, it's also important to show your business achievements, products, services, and contributions to your community. People are following you because of what you do and to connect with them, you need to provide that content.

So, go check out your Instagram gallery. Are you using Instagram the way you planned to? If not, you may want to reconsider your Instagram content strategy to align with your professional goals