Troubleshooting Instagram connections

Connecting or reconnecting your Instagram business or creator account can sometimes prove to be a little tricky due to the more complex nature of Facebook and Instagram's APIs. This troubleshooting guide will help if you are not seeing your Instagram business or creator account listed when you're working through the steps to connect your account OR if you are facing the error below when trying to reconnect your Instagram business or creator account after it's become disconnected.

Sorry! We had trouble finding the Facebook Page connected to your @profile-name Instagram profile. Please try again, and double check you're signing in with the right Facebook account.

Both of these issues can occur if a) your Instagram account has not been properly converted to a business or creator account with a Facebook Page linked to it, b) your personal Facebook profile does not have the admin role on the Page that is linked to your Instagram account, or c) permissions for Buffer to access your Facebook account have not been properly set up.

Troubleshooting checklist

1. Head over to Facebook and navigate to the list of Pages you have access to (or click this link). Click on the Page that is linked to your Instagram business or creator account.

2. Once you're in your Page, click Settings in the left hand sidebar.

   

3. First, we need to make sure your Instagram account and your Facebook Page are properly linked together. Click Instagram in the left hand sidebar.

4. Once in Instagram settings, you should see your Instagram account connected to the Page. You should also see a section that says "Business contact information". In this case, please continue to the next step.

   

   If you see a screen that differs from the image above, it means your Instagram account is either not connected to your Facebook Page, or it hasn't been converted to a business or creator account. These are some other screens you might see and the steps you should take. You can click on the images to expand them.

   	If you see a button that says Connect Account, it means your Instagram account is not linked to your Facebook Page. Please follow the steps here to complete this process and then try connecting your Instagram account again.
   	If you see a button that says Get Started, it means your Instagram account is linked to your Facebook Page but it hasn't been converted to a business or creator account. Click Get Started and follow the on-screen prompts to convert your Instagram account to a business account. Then, try connecting your Instagram account again.
   	If you see a button that says Review Connection, it means that the account must be confirmed before third-party applications are able to verify the connection. Please click the button and follow the prompts to confirm. Note: If you encounter issues with this process, you may need to reach out to Facebook Support in order to confirm the connection.

5. Next, we need to make sure your personal Facebook profile has the admin role on the Facebook Page that is linked to your Instagram account. Click Page roles on the left hand side.

   

6. You’ll need to see your Facebook profile name with "Admin" listed beneath it under the "Existing Page roles" section. Note that if it says "Analyst," "Editor," "Advertiser," or anything besides "Admin," your connection will not work. If this is the case, you'll need to get in touch with your Page admin and ask them to grant you the admin role by following our steps here, or alternatively, ask them connect the Instagram account to your team's Buffer account.

   Once you spot your name, also take note if the image to the left of your name is your profile picture or a briefcase icon. If it is a briefcase icon (as shown next to the middle arrow in the screenshot below), please continue to step 7.

   

   If you see your profile image to the left of your name and you don't see the briefcase icon and your Page name listed under "Page Owner" (unlike what we see next to the top arrow in the screenshot above), you can continue to step 7.

   If, however, you see your profile image next to your name and you do see a briefcase next to your Page name under "Page Owner" (just like we see for Hannah in the screenshot above), head over to our Page role guidance within Facebook Business Suite to rectify that. Afterward, return here to complete steps 7 through 13.

7. Finally, we need to check that Buffer has all of the permissions required to access your Facebook account. Click on the small drop down arrow at the top right of your screen and then click Settings & privacy > Settings. From there, click Business integrations on the left hand side (or click this link).

   

8. Find Buffer in the list of integrations and click View and edit.

   

9. In the pop up window, we need to ensure that all Facebook Pages are checked in all sections as shown below. Each section may need to be expanded by clicking See all Pages.
   

   Note: If you don’t see any individual Pages listed in the following screens, it means that you’ve previously granted Buffer permissions to access all Pages, which is the ideal setup. In this case, you won’t need to check any Pages here, and instead you’ll need to reestablish the authorization, as described in step 11.

   

    

10. Once that's done, try connecting your Instagram account to Buffer again.

11. If you still see the same error, or you didn’t see Pages to add in step 9, you'll need to remove Buffer from Business Integrations in Facebook entirely, in order to then reestablish the authorization for Buffer for access your Facebook account with the correct permissions. You can do that by checking the box next to Buffer and clicking Remove.

    📝 It's important to note that this will disconnect any existing Facebook and Instagram channels you have connected to Buffer and those will need to be reconnected. These reauthorization steps will not remove any posts, comments or analytics already in Buffer. These steps only re-establish your connection.

    

12. A window will pop up asking if you want to remove Buffer with a check box at the bottom. Leave both check boxes unticked and then click Remove.

    

13. Then, head back over to to Buffer and try your Instagram connection again. 

    📝 If you notice an option to "Choose what you allow" do not click this option. Modifying any of the permissions here will mean that we are not able to authenticate with Facebook and it will not be possible to connect your Instagram channel.