👉 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 direct automatic posting through PromoRepublic, and it also unlocks reporting metrics in PromoRepublic reports. Here is a full list of advantages of switching to Instagram Business:
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.
You can create multi-image posts (carousels) to Instagram business pages, including up to 10 photos.
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.
Auto-posting Stories: there is no need to do it manually as it was before.
You can utilize the first comment option, it is available for all PromoRepublic users.
👉 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 what type of account you currently have?
Open the Instagram app on your mobile device.
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).
Click on the triple bar symbol in the top right-hand corner.
In the listed menu, select 'Settings and Privacy'.
Tap 'Business tools and controls'.
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 created 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?
Open the Instagram app on your mobile device.
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).
Click on the triple bar symbol in the top right-hand corner.
In the listed menu, select 'Account type and tools'.
On the next step, click 'Switch to professional account'.
Click 'Continue' several times and select the category that best describes your business.
Decide whether your account will be Creator or Business. If you choose Creator, you will be able to connect it to our platform, but Stories won't automatically be published. We suggest choosing a Business type.
Decide whether you want to sign up for promotional emails from Instagram and whether you want to publicly display your contact information.
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, know that you will need to do it later and that your Instagram is now 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. It is most probably connected now as personal. If it is a business account but still connected as personal, the system will consider this page personal because of the type it is connected to. 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 personal type of connection has no avatar picture, the icon's colour is dark red, and the name is actually the account's handle.
Whereas the business type of connection shows the page's avatar, the icon's colour is bright red, and the name rather than the handle. Please know that these can differ (see an example below).
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.
🟡🟡🟡 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 business account to a Facebook business page
There are two ways you can link your Instagram and Facebook pages together: either in the Instagram mobile app or on Facebook (on the desktop).
🔴 Before you do it, please note that you must have at least one Facebook business page created where you are an admin. If you don't have any, log into your Facebook profile and create a dummy page. It will do to link the two pages together.
Instagram app
On your phone log into your profile in the Facebook app.
Open the Instagram app on your mobile device.
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).
Click on 'Edit Profile' below the avatar image.
In the lower part of the page, in the 'Public business information', find 'Page' and click 'Connect or Create'.
It will start the process of redirecting you to Facebook. Click 'Log in to Facebook'.
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]'.
Choose the necessary business page and tap 'Connect'.
For your convenience, we've created a short video tutorial on how to do it in the Instagram mobile app.
Once the two pages are linked together, go ahead and connect it to our platform. It will bring a Facebook permission pop-up where you should see the necessary page listed.
Click Next, then Done, then OK. After that, your page will be listed in PromoRepublic's interface.
In case you don't see the desired page in the list, check if all requirements are met.
IMPORTANT:
Please note that for our system, the newly connected page is considered as a new one. If there are any scheduled posts, they will not be copied to this new page. It has to be done manually. To make this process easier, we suggest saving the posts to the My Ideas section and then rescheduling them to the newly connected page. After that feel free to disconnect your page as personal.
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 two key requirements that are listed in detail here and below:
This Instagram page is indeed a business account
This Instagram page is linked to a particular Facebook business page.
In case it is, check that you are an admin on this Facebook business page.
In case it is, also 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].