When you connect Instagram channels to Social Media Management, you will have full access to those channels' posts, conversations, performance statistics, and more. In this article, find out how to set up and connect your Instagram channel to Social Media Management.

What types of Instagram accounts can I connect to Social Media Management?

There are two types of Instagram accounts: Personal accounts and Professional accounts. Due to API restrictions, it’s not possible to connect Instagram Personal accounts to Social Media Management.

Under the Professional account umbrella, you can choose to have either an Instagram Creator account or an Instagram Business account. Both Creator accounts and Business accounts can be connected to Social Media Management. Learn more about Creator accounts and Business accounts from Instagram's help center.

Switching to an Instagram Business or Creator account

If your Instagram account is not yet a Professional account, you can switch it in the Instagram app. 

1. In the Instagram app, tap your profile picture from the bottom right.
2. Select the context menu (three lines) from the top right.
3. From the pop-up menu, tap Settings, then Account.
4. Look for Switch to... at the bottom of the menu.
5. If you see the option, Switch to Professional Account, this means your account is still a Personal account. Tap this option to make the switch, and you can choose to set up either a Creator account or Business account in the following prompts.

Checking that your Instagram account is linked to a Facebook Page

In order to complete the channel connection process for Instagram, it is also mandatory for your Instagram Professional account to be linked to a Facebook Page that is also connected to Social Media Management. If you don't intend to manage a Facebook Page for your organization, you will need to create a "dummy" Facebook Page for the purposes of connecting your Instagram channel.

You can link the Facebook Page to your Instagram account in Facebook by going to Settings and Privacy > Settings > Linked Accounts. (If you don't see these settings in Facebook, you may need to switch to the correct profile view for your page first using the drop-down menu underneath your profile picture in the top-right corner of Facebook).

What access do I need on Instagram and Facebook?

As described above, during the process of switching to an Instagram Professional account, you will be asked to link your account to a Facebook Page (or create a new Facebook Page). In order to connect your Instagram channel to Social Media Management, you will need to have Full Control access to that linked Facebook Page in the Meta Business Suite.

Why do I need Full Control access to the linked Facebook Page?

When you’re connecting your Instagram channel to Social Media Management, Facebook will not ask for your Instagram login credentials. Instead, you will be asked for your personal Facebook profile credentials. Next, Facebook will determine which Facebook Pages your personal profile has Full Control access to, and which Instagram accounts are associated with them. These Instagram accounts will then show up as options for you to connect to Social Media Management.

Checking if you have Full Control for a Facebook Page

To verify that you have Full Control for the Facebook page, you can follow the steps below:

1. Begin by making sure you are switched into your personal Facebook account.
2. Visit business.facebook.com to access the Meta Business Suite.
3. Choose the applicable page from the drop-down menu on the left-hand side.
4. Click on Settings. (If you do not see the Settings cog in the bottom left-hand side, that means you do not have the permissions required. You will need to ask someone with Full Control in the Business Suite to either update your permissions or connect the channel themselves).
5. Click on People, followed by your account name.
6. Once you find your personal profile, please check that you are listed under Facebook Page with Full Control.
7. Click on Manage on the right hand-side within the applicable Facebook Page settings.

In the following pop-up window, the slider named Everything under Full Control should be toggled on. Please note, this is a specific switch named Everything — toggling on every other slider on will not have the same result.

If any options in the path shown above aren’t available to you, it is likely that you don’t currently have Full Control. Please reach out to any existing Facebook user with Full Control and ask them to adjust your permissions. 

Connecting your Instagram channels to Social Media Management

To summarize the information above, you will need to check the items in the list below before you will be able to connect your Instagram channels to Social Media Management:

• The Instagram account is a Professional account (e.g. a Creator account or Business account).
• The Instagram account is linked to a Facebook Page that is already connected to SMM.
• You have Full Control access to the linked Facebook Page in the Meta Business Suite.

When you’re all set, you can connect your channel to Social Media Management by following the steps below.

1. In Social Media Management's left-hand navigation sidebar, click the Manage settings (gear) icon and select Channel admin.
2. Click Add Channels in the top right.
3. Under Instagram, click Connect.
   
4. Click Connect to Instagram.
5. Confirm that your Instagram account is already a Professional account and linked to a Facebook page by clicking Done.
6. When the Facebook popup appears, log in with your Facebook credentials. If already logged into Facebook, click Continue as...
7. When prompted to select which Facebook Page(s) you would like to use with Social Media Management, click Select All. Similarly, when prompted to select/de-select permissions for Social Media Management, make sure all permissions are granted. Please visit our article on Troubleshooting Revoked Facebook Page Permissions for full details on these requirements.
8. From the menu on the left, New and disconnected channels, check the box beside any channels you would like to connect.
9. Click Connect Channel.
10. From your list of teams in Social Media Management, select one or more teams to add your channel to.

    Note:

    You must select at least one team to add your channel to. Please visit our Managing Teams article for instructions on setting up a team in your organization.

11. Click Finish.

When complete, you will see your channel available in your channels list with a Connected status.

FAQs and troubleshooting

I received an error during the connection process.

If you have received an error at any stage of the connection process, please check out our System Requirements to make sure your system is compatible. Please also consider reaching out to our Support team for help diagnosing the issue.

My channel didn’t show up as an option to connect.

If a channel does not appear as an option to connect to Social Media Management during the connection process, this usually means that you don’t have the required Full Control to be able to connect it. Please check your permissions on the channel by following the steps above.

If you have verified that you have Full Control and the channel still does not appear, check your Social Media Management Facebook Business Integrations to see if the page has been removed from our access.

1. Please visit facebook.com and switch to your personal profile.
2. Click on your profile picture on top the right-hand side and navigate to Settings & privacy, and then Settings.
3. Click on Security and login and then Business integrations.
4. Find the Brandwatch integration and click View and edit. 

This step will open a pop-up window including a list of all permissions that can be granted to Brandwatch. It may include a list of all of your available Facebook Pages and Instagram accounts. If the list of pages is included as well, please make sure that all Pages are checked off with a blue checkmark — even ones that you do not intend to connect to the platform. Please visit our article on Troubleshooting Revoked Facebook Page Permissions for full details on these requirements.

Now that this is done, you can attempt to reconnect the channel.

If your channel is still not appearing as an option to connect to Social Media Management, please either ask another user with Full Control to attempt the connection or reach out to our Support team.

How can I double-check which Facebook Page is linked to my Instagram account?

You can check this in Facebook by going to Settings and Privacy > Settings > Linked Accounts. (If you don't see these settings in Facebook, you may need to switch to the correct profile view for your page first using the drop-down menu underneath your profile picture in the top right of Facebook).

I’ve added my channel but I can’t see it in Social Media Management.

If you have switched your view in Social Media Management to Team View, the channel may not appear if it’s not included in your chosen team. Please either switch to Admin View in Social Media Management or select the correct Team View. If you’re in Admin View, or in the correct team already, please contact the Support team.

Will I lose any data if I switch from a Personal account to a Professional account?

Instagram Personal accounts do not have Insights data, so you will not lose data by switching to a Professional account. If you switch your Professional account back to a Personal account, you will lose the native Insights data from the Professional account.