Connecting Instagram

Venuesmith posts through Instagram's official API, and Meta only opens that API to Instagram accounts that are linked to a Facebook Page. So most of the setup happens on Facebook, and this page covers it in order. Do it on a computer, in a normal web browser.

Before you start

Each location needs:

• An Instagram Business or Creator account for the venue.
• A Facebook Page for the venue that your own Facebook login manages.
• The Instagram account linked to that Page.

You also need to be an owner or admin of your Venuesmith workspace to connect or disconnect an account.

If the venue already has all three, go straight to step 3. If you're not sure, try step 3 anyway: when the venue's account isn't in the list at the end, it isn't linked to a Page you manage yet, and steps 1 and 2 sort that out.

Step 1: create a Facebook Page

Skip this if the venue already has a Page and your Facebook account manages it.

1. Log in to Facebook as yourself and open facebook.com/pages/creation.
2. Type the venue's name in Page name.
3. In Category, type a word that describes the venue (Restaurant, for example) and click the closest match in the list that appears. Create Page stays greyed out until you've picked one.
4. The bio is optional. Click Create Page.
5. Facebook then offers five optional setup steps, such as contact details and pictures. Click Next or Skip on each and Done at the end. You can fill them in later.

Once the Page exists, Facebook switches you into it, and the picture at the top right of Facebook becomes the Page's. Stay switched in for step 2. To create another Page afterwards, switch back first: click that picture and choose your own name. If the Page creation link shows "This content isn't available at the moment", you're still switched into a Page.

Step 2: link the Instagram account to the Page

1. While switched into the Page, open the Page's Instagram settings. It should say No Instagram connected.
2. Click Connect account, then Connect.
3. Facebook asks whether people who help manage the Page can see Instagram messages in its inbox. Choose either option and click Continue.
4. An Instagram window opens. If it asks you to log in, use the venue account's details. When several Instagram profiles share one login, Instagram lists them under Choose an Instagram profile to continue, and you click the venue's one.
5. The window then says Log in as followed by an account name. If that's the venue's account, click it. If it names a different account, stop and read the next section.
6. Facebook offers to add the Page and the Instagram account to a business portfolio. Click Add.

The settings page now shows Connected Instagram with the account's @name. If the Instagram account was a personal one, Facebook turns it into a professional account as part of linking.

When the Instagram window shows the wrong account

Instagram remembers the last account used in your browser, so the window can open straight on Log in as another account (a different venue you look after, for example). Don't click it. Close the Instagram window, open a private or incognito browser window, log in to Facebook there and start step 2 again. With no Instagram login remembered, Instagram asks you to log in and then lets you choose the profile.

If you've already clicked through on the wrong account, Facebook says This Instagram profile is already connected to a Page and offers Switch Page or Keep current Page. Click Cancel. An Instagram account can only be linked to one Page, so Switch Page would take it off the other venue's Page.

Step 3: connect it in Venuesmith

1. In Venuesmith, go to Locations, open the location, click the Instagram tab and then Connect Instagram.
2. Facebook asks whether to continue as you with your previous settings. The first time, click Edit settings. On later visits Continue is fine, as long as you chose "all current and future" on every screen last time.
3. Facebook asks which Pages, which Businesses and which Instagram accounts to share, one screen at a time. On each screen choose the Opt in to all current and future option and click Continue.
4. Check the summary and click Save, then Got it.
5. You land back on the Instagram tab. If you shared more than one Instagram account, it says Choose account and lists each @name with its Facebook Page. Click Use for this venue next to this location's account. If only one account was shared, Venuesmith connects it straight away.

The tab then shows Connected with the Instagram account's ID number (not its @name), so take care to pick the right one in the list.

Always choose "all current and future". Ticking individual Pages replaces your earlier choice, so any Page you leave out loses access and a location connected through it stops publishing. With everything shared, all your locations keep working and Pages you add later are included without another trip through these screens.

Connecting several locations

Every location has its own Instagram account, connected from its own Instagram tab, and one Facebook login can look after all of them. For each venue, do steps 1 and 2 if it has no linked Page yet, then step 3. Once you've shared "all current and future", step 3 comes down to Continue on Facebook and Use for this venue next to the right account.

When access lapses

Meta can end Venuesmith's access at any time, for example after a Facebook password change or a security check, even when the tab shows an expiry date that hasn't arrived. You'll notice because:

• scheduled posts are marked Failed with an access error,
• the dashboard shows a banner with a Reconnect button,
• insights stop updating.

Click Reconnect (or Connect Instagram on the location's Instagram tab) and go through step 3 again. Then open each failed post and click Try again.

Troubleshooting

The venue's account isn't in the list

The same goes for the message "no Instagram business account is linked to any of your Facebook Pages". Either the Instagram account isn't linked to a Page your Facebook login manages, or that Page wasn't shared with Venuesmith. Do step 2, then step 3 with Edit settings.

Facebook shows "Can't load URL" or another error

If Facebook shows an error where the sharing screens should be, the problem is on our side. Email hello@venuesmith.com with a screenshot and the location's name.

"This content isn't available at the moment" when creating a Page

You're switched into a Page. Click the picture at the top right of Facebook, choose your own name and open the Page creation link again.

"This Instagram profile is already connected to a Page"

You logged in to the wrong Instagram account in step 2. See When the Instagram window shows the wrong account.

What publishes where

Channel	Toggle
Instagram feed	Default for every draft
Instagram Story	Per-draft "Story" format toggle
Facebook Page	Per-draft cross-post toggle
LinkedIn / Pinterest / Google Business Profile	Per-draft cross-post toggles (when connected)