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 add your Instagram accounts to Social Media Management.

Requirements for connecting an Instagram channel

In order to successfully add an Instagram account to Social Media Management, you must first ensure the following:

• Make sure that you are connecting an Instagram Creator account or Business account. Due to API restrictions, it is currently only possible to connect Instagram Professional accounts (Business or Creator accounts) to Social Media Management rather than personal accounts.

  Note:

  Due to API limitations, it is not currently possible to publish Instagram Stories with Creator accounts connected to Social Media Management. If you plan to publish Instagram Stories, we recommend that you switch your Instagram account to a Business account.

• Make sure that your Instagram Creator or Business account is linked to a Facebook Page. It is mandatory for your Instagram account to be linked to a Facebook Page in order to connect the Instagram channel to Social Media Management.
• Make sure that you have Full Control access to the linked Facebook Page and that you have previously connected the linked Facebook channel to Social Media Management. When you’re connecting your Instagram channel to Social Media Management, you will be asked for your personal Facebook profile credentials. 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. If you connect your channel with Full Control access, you're less likely to experience channel disconnections related to password and security changes.

Once you have met the above requirements, you can proceed in connecting your Instagram channel to Social Media Management.

Switching to an Instagram Business or Creator account

If you want to switch from a Personal Instagram account to a Professional account, or if you want to switch Professional account types (Business vs. Creator), you can update your account settings in the Instagram app by following the steps below:

1. In the Instagram app, tap your profile picture in the bottom right.
2. Select the context menu (three lines) in the top right, then select Settings and privacy.
3. Find the For professionals section. Your options here will vary depending on your current account type. If you have a Personal account, select Account type and tools. If you have a Creator account, select Creator tools and controls. If you have a Business account, select Business tools and controls.
4. Select Switch account type from 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.

Linking your Instagram account to a Facebook Page

To complete the channel connection process for Instagram, it is 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.

1. Make sure you first switch to your Page view in your Facebook account by clicking on the profile icon in the top-right corner, then selecting your page.
2. Once switched into your page, click your page icon in the top-right corner again, then select Settings & privacy, then Settings.
3. In the left-hand Settings & privacy sidebar, scroll down to Permissions and select Linked Accounts.
4. In the following menu, click View next to Instagram, then click Connect account on the following page.
5. Follow the connection prompts to the Instagram login screen and log in with your Instagram credentials. Proceed and Continue to grant Facebook permission to add the Instagram account to your business portfolio.
6. When complete, you will see a verification pop-up that your Instagram account was linked to your Facebook Page successfully, and your Instagram account will display under Linked Accounts.

Verifying your access 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.

Verifying Full Control access to a Facebook Page

To verify that you have Full Control access to a page, follow the steps below:

1. Begin by making sure you are switched into your personal Facebook profile, rather than the page. You can switch between your personal profile and your page by clicking on the profile icon in the top-right corner of Facebook and using the drop-down menu to switch between them.
2. Visit business.facebook.com to access the Meta Business Suite and choose the applicable page from the drop-down menu on the left-hand side.
3. Click on Settings at the bottom at the left-hand navigation sidebar.

   Warning:

   If you do not see the Settings cog icon at the bottom of the navigation sidebar in your Meta Business Suite, you do not have the permissions required to access the page. You will need to ask someone with Full Control in the Business Suite to either update your permissions, or connect the channel to Social Media Management themselves.

If you have Full Control access to a page and would like to add additional users with Full Control access:

1. After navigating to the page settings in the Meta Business Suite, click on People in the left-hand navigation sidebar. You will see all of the users who can access your page and what permissions they have.
2. To add a new user to your page, click Invite people in the top-right corner of the menu. Enter the user's email address to send them an invitation, and continue through the process to assign them Full Control access to the page.
3. To edit a user's access and make sure they have Full Control, click on a user in your People list, then click Manage under Business Portfolio Access. In the following pop-up window, make sure the Everything slider under Full Control is toggled on. Please note, this is a specific switch named Everything — toggling on every other slider on will not have the same result.

Connecting an Instagram channel to Social Media Management

Please confirm the following items in the list below before adding an Instagram account 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 Social Media Management.
• You have Full Control access to the linked Facebook Page in the Meta Business Suite.

When all of the above conditions have been met, you can connect your Instagram 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 and Optimized Meta Connection label, indicating that it has been connected by a Meta user with Full Control access and your channel will be less likely to experience disconnections related to password and security changes.

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.