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Posting to Instagram Business
Roxy avatar
Written by Roxy
Updated this week

What is an Instagram Business Profile, and why is it needed?

Instagram has divided account types into Personal, Creator, and Business. Converting a page to a business type enables the following advantages:

  • The first and foremost advantage is automatic posting, unlike manual posting for personal pages. Posts will be published automatically, similarly to how it works with the rest of the social networks that we support.*

  • It will allow you to receive reporting data. We provide audience and content reporting for Instagram business pages.

  • You can create multi-image posts (carousels) to Instagram business pages, including up to 10 photos.

  • Stories auto-posting - there is no need to do it manually as it was before.

  • You can utilize the first comment option.

* Instagram Business publishing is limited to 50 API-published posts within a 24-hour moving period across all media types (including Reels, Stories and Feed posts). Learn more about other API restrictions here.

What pre-work must be done to connect Instagram Business Profile to PromoRepublic? 👈

Please note that Facebook has set certain mandatory requirements that must be fulfilled to connect an Instagram business page to a third-party service like ours. These include:

🟡 Your Instagram page should be a business account.

🟡 Your Instagram page must be linked to a specific Facebook business page where you are an admin.

🟡 You need to review the connection if there is such a button in the Linked Accounts section.

How do you identify the type of account you currently have?

  1. Open the Instagram app on your phone.

  2. Click on your avatar picture at the bottom right to access your account (you'll see only your posts, not the feed of who you're following).

  3. Click on the triple bar symbol in the top right-hand corner. In the listed menu, select 'Settings and Privacy'.

  4. Tap 'Business tools and controls'.

  5. Find 'Switch account type'.

    • If it is currently a business type, you'll see two options at the bottom: 'Switch to personal account' and 'Switch to creator account'. This way, you can be sure that it is a business type.

    • If you see anything different, it means that your account is now either creator or personal. For additional help, watch the short video below on how to identify the type of account you have.

How do you convert your personal Instagram page into a business account?

  1. Open the Instagram app on your phone.

  2. Click on your avatar picture at the bottom right to access your account (you'll see only your posts, not the feed of who you're following).

  3. Click on the triple bar symbol in the top right-hand corner. In the listed menu, select 'Account type and tools'.

  4. On the next step, click 'Switch to professional account'.

  5. Click 'Continue' several times and select the category that best describes your business.

  6. Decide whether your account will be Creator or Business.

    • If you choose Creator, you will be able to connect the page to our platform, but Stories won't be published automatically, and for that reason, we suggest choosing a Business type.

  7. Decide whether you want to sign up for promotional emails from Instagram and whether you want to publicly display your contact information.

  8. The final step is also very important. You will be asked to link your Instagram account to a specific Facebook business page. You can either skip this step for now or proceed.

If you decide not to proceed now, you will need to do it later, and your Instagram account will be changed to a business account. For additional help, watch the short video below on how to convert your personal Instagram page into a business type.

I have converted my Instagram account, and it is already connected to PromoRepublic. Should I reconnect it?

Yes. If it is a business account but still connected as personal, the system will consider this page personal because of the connected type. This is why the posts are not posted automatically. Go ahead and connect it as Business (pictured below).

Once done, you will see your page connected via both types: as personal and as business (see an example below). How do you identify which is personal and which is business? Simple! The icon of the personal type of connection is dark red.

To avoid any confusion we strongly suggest disconnecting the page as personal and leaving it as business. This way, you'll be sure that posts are going to be published automatically.

🟡🟡🟡 IMPORTANT: Before you do it, please check if there are any scheduled (not yet published) posts. If that is the case, you need to save and reschedule them for the business type of connection. Unfortunately, the posts won't be transferred to the newly connected page automatically, and you'll need to reschedule them.

Linking Instagram account to a Facebook business page 👈

There are 3 ways how you can link Instagram and Facebook pages together:

  • In the Instagram mobile app

  • In the Facebook mobile app

  • On the Facebook desktop

🔴 Before you do it, please note that you must have at least one Facebook business page where you are an admin. If you don't have any, log into your Facebook profile and create at least a mock page. It will suffice to link the two pages together.

Linking pages in the Instagram app

  1. Open the Instagram app on your phone.

  2. Click on your avatar picture at the bottom right to access your account (you'll see only your posts, not the feed of who you're following).

  3. Click on 'Edit Profile' below the avatar image.

  4. In the lower part of the page, in the 'Public business information', find 'Page' and click 'Connect or Create'.

  5. It will start the process of redirecting you to Facebook. Click 'Log in to Facebook'.

  6. It will bring up a permission window where you'll be asked to log in to your Facebook profile. Click 'Continue as [your Facebook profile]'.

  7. Choose the necessary business page and tap 'Connect'.

Here is a short video tutorial on how to do it in the Instagram mobile app.

Linking pages in the Facebook app

  1. Open the Facebook app on your phone.

  2. Click on your avatar picture at the bottom right to access your personal profile menu.

  3. To the right of the avatar image, tap on the looking-down arrow and switch to the necessary business page.

  4. Click on the page avatar at the bottom right, scroll down a bit, open 'Settings and Privacy' and then'Settings'.

  5. Go down the page to the Linked Accounts section. 

  6. Select Instagram, tap 'Connect Account' and 'Continue'. Doing this will bring up the Instgaram login page, so feel free to insert the credentials for the desired account.

    • If the login attempt is successful, the system will request that you add this page to a Business Portfolio. Click Continue to proceed.

  7. It will ask you if you want to invite people to this Business Portfolio. Decide and complete the process by tapping OK and Confirm.

Linking pages on the Facebook desktop

  1. Log in to Facebook on the desktop at www.facebook.com, and click your personal profile photo in the top right.

  2. Click 'See All Profiles' and select the business page you want to switch to.

  3. Click the page name at the top left so you see your page content. 

  4. In the left-side menu, tap Settings, and next, find Linked Accounts on the left. Select Instagram and proceed with the account connection by tapping the appropriate button. You will need the Instagram page credentials.

  5. Click 'Connect', then 'Confirm' that you allow access to Instagram messages in Inbox. Doing this will bring up the Instgaram login page, so feel free to insert the credentials for the desired account.

    • If the login attempt is successful, the system will request that you add this page to a Business Portfolio. Click Continue to proceed.

  6. It will ask you if you want to invite people to this Business Portfolio. Decide and complete the process by tapping OK and Done.

    In the end, you should see the information on the two pages linked, and there should not be a Review Connection request. If that is the case, do as required. 

Connecting a page

Once the two pages are linked, go ahead and connect this Instagram page to our platform. If you don't see the desired page on the list, check if all requirements are met.

What are the content requirements for Instagram Business Publishing?

Below are the technical requirements for images, videos, and post captions that you want to publish through a third-party service as PromoRepublic. Please mind them. Otherwise, posts that don't meet these technical specifics won't be published and will be marked red in the Calendar.

Caption: Maximum 2200 characters, 30 #hashtags, and 20 @tags (mentions).

Photo:

  • Maximum file size: 8MB

  • Aspect ratio: Must be within a 4:5 to 1.91:1 range

  • Minimum width: 320 (will be scaled up to the minimum if necessary)

  • Maximum width: 1440 (will be scaled down to the maximum if necessary)

  • Height: Varies, depending on width and aspect ratio

  • Formats: JPEG

Video:

File type

MOV or MP4 (MPEG-4 Part 14), no edit lists, moov atom at the front of the file

Max file size

100MB

Video length

60 seconds maximum, 3 seconds minimum

Aspect ratio

Between 4 / 5 and 16 / 9

Maximum columns (horizontal pixels) is 1920

Frame rate

23-60 FPS

Bit rate

VBR, 5Mbps maximum

Audio codec

AAC, 48khz sample rate maximum, 1 or 2 channels (mono or stereo)

Video codec

HEVC or H264, progressive scan, closed GOP, 4:2:0 chroma subsampling.

I followed all of the steps, but my Instagram posts still aren’t posted.

  • Please check the settings of the Facebook business page that is linked to your Instagram one. If the audience is not set to Public, the post will fail the same way as Facebook one will. You will need to remove SocialPost from Facebook Settings and then reconnect the Instagram Business Profile with the audience set to Public.

  • Please make sure of the Facebook's mandatory requirements that are listed in detail here and below:

  1. The Instagram page is indeed a business account.

  2. The Instagram page is linked to a certain Facebook business page.

  3. If it is, check that you are an admin there.

  4. If so, check that there is no review connection button.

We hope it was helpful!

If you have any further questions,

please contact us at [email protected].

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