If your channel has been connected for a long time, Social Media Management’s connection to your channel via the network API may become faulty. In such cases, your channel may not instantly become disconnected, though you may experience minor issues such as post publishing errors or missing comments. Over time, your channel may eventually become disconnected if not refreshed periodically.
Since we regularly update our platforms to stay current with network features and bug fixes, we recommend that you refresh your channel connections every 3-4 months to keep your channel authentication fresh and minimize connection issues. Refreshing channels is a quick process that a Social Media Management Admin or Team Leader can do at any time.
Note:
Refreshing a channel connection follows the same steps as connecting a channel from scratch. During the refreshing process you will have the option to refresh and "add a stability token" to a connected channel administered by your organization. Please follow the steps below to get familiar with the process. Please do not delete or remove the channel.
- From Social Media Management's left-hand navigation sidebar, click on the Settings (cog) icon > Channel admin.
- Click the Add Channels button in the top-right corner.
- In step 1, select Connect under the applicable network, then click Continue through step 2 to confirm you would like to connect. In step 3, click Connect Channel to proceed to the network authentication.
- You will see a pop-up screen when Brandwatch is authenticating with the external network. When prompted, log into the native network using your social account credentials and accept any permission authorizations. (If you are already logged into your social account in your browser, Brandwatch may proceed through this step without any authorization needed). You will see a confirmation pop-up when authentication is complete and be redirected back to Brandwatch.
- When routed back to Social Media Management, you’ll see three tabs. Select the middle tab, Connected channels administrated by your organization, and you will see the option to "add a stability token to your connected channel." Check the checkbox next to the desired channel, then click Connect 1 Channel to refresh the channel's connection.
- In the final step, select the team(s) you would like to add the channel to, then click Finish.
After the refresh is successful, you will see a notification from Brandwatch in the top-right corner that the channel was added successfully and the page will reload.
Tip:
The audit log in your Social Media Management settings will log the refreshed channel connection. You can view the dates and times of your channel connections there at any time.