Add an Instagram business profile to Hootsuite to manage its publishing and engagement along with your other social content.
Super admins, admins, and those with custom organization permissions to Add Social Networks can add social networks to organizations.
Before you begin
Business profiles with linked Facebook Pages have access to the full Instagram functionality available in Hootsuite. This includes post engagement in streams, analytics, and direct publishing. See Using Instagram with Hootsuite to learn more about what's available to each profile type.
To successfully connect your Instagram business profile and enable full Instagram functionality, make sure you have:
- A Facebook Page linked to your business profile (each business profile can only be associated with a single Facebook Page and vice versa)
Connect an Instagram account to a Facebook Page - An Admin or Editor page role for that Facebook Page
Manage Page roles - The usernames and passwords for both your Instagram account and the Facebook account that manages the Page it’s connected to
Important: Personal profiles and creator profiles have limited access to functionality from Instagram’s API. If you don’t have a business profile, you can convert your personal profile to a business profile for free; having a business is not required. Convert your personal profile into a business profile.
Important: Before adding each new profile with the following steps, open another web browser tab, and make sure you are logged out of both Instagram and Facebook.
(Hootsuite connects automatically to any social networks currently signed in to in your browser, including any you’ve signed in to for authentication with Hootsuite.)
To add an Instagram account
- Select your profile picture (
by default) in the top right corner, and then select Manage Social Networks.
- For personal use: Select + Private Network in the bottom left corner.
For use within an organization: Select Manage beside the org name, and then select Add a Social Network. - Select Instagram from the list on the left, and then select Connect with Instagram.
- Enter your Instagram account credentials (username and password), select Log In, and then select Authorize/Continue.
- Select Sign in to Facebook to complete the connection.
If you don’t complete the authentication with an associated Facebook Page, your Instagram business profile will have the limited functionality of a personal profile.
To add a personal profile, select Exit with limited access at this step. - Enter your Facebook username and password, and then select Log In.
The Facebook user signing in must be an admin of the Page associated with the Instagram business profile.
Getting an error? See this troubleshooting article
Getting sent to your Facebook Page inside Facebook? See this troubleshooting article - You may be prompted to authorize access to your Instagram Business profile. Select OK.
- Select Done.
To verify your Instagram account setup
You’ll know if your business profile is successfully enabled with Hootsuite because it will display your Instagram profile picture. Business profiles that haven’t completed the authentication with Facebook (and personal profiles) will have the default black Instagram logo as their profile picture, shown here, and limited functionality.
See a list of Instagram profiles in your dashboard and check their setup status. The setup that enables direct publishing also enables analytics and stream engagement.
