New Page Experience: Troubleshooting Facebook and Instagram Connection Errors

Meta, Facebook and Instagram’s parent company has introduced a New Page Experience that is supposed to provide several new features to users, but if you are used to the Classic Page experience, you may be confused about where certain settings are.

For more information, check out Meta’s document on the New Page Experience. 

Give Facebook access and check Page Roles

Here’s how to give Facebook access to your new Page on a computer:

1. Click your profile picture.
2. Click Settings and Privacy > Settings
3. In Settings, click New Page Experience.
4. Select Page Access.
5. Below are People with Facebook access, click Add New.

6. Click Next.

Find the person you would want to give Facebook access to by searching for their name or email address.

7. If you want to give the person Facebook access with full control, turn on Allow this person to have full control. Learn more about Facebook access.

8. Click Give Access.

Enter your password to confirm Facebook access to the Page.

9. Click Confirm.

The person you gave Facebook access to should now appear with an Invitation Sent notification until they accept your invitation.

You can add or remove Facebook access for someone at any time in the Page Access section.

To edit someone’s access, remove them first, then follow the steps to give them different access again.

Note: Giving Facebook access with full control of your Page includes access to all the actions you can take, such as giving control or task access to more people, removing people with Facebook access (including you), posting content, and deleting the Page. For more information, visit Meta.

If you suspect you missed a notification or did not send one, take a look at the Page Management History to see who has recently made changes and been invited to the page:

Next, please make sure there are no errors in Page Quality that would block posting to the Facebook page:  

Connect Facebook to Instagram

This can be done in multiple ways, but the easiest way is to go through your Professional Dashboard. Your Professional Dashboard is meant to be a quick solution to your most common tools to manage your page.

1. Click on your Profile Picture in the top right corner of Facebook, then, click on the page profile.

2. Select Professional Dashboard from the options on the left-hand menu.

3. Select Linked Accounts on the left-hand menu.

4. Here you should see your linked Instagram or WhatsApp account.

Connect Instagram to Facebook

1. This process should remain the same regardless of what page version you are on (New Page Experience vs. Classic Page) as Instagram has not changed its settings.

It’s important to ensure that your Instagram Business account is fully linked to a Facebook Page. This step can be completed on your mobile device or in your browser. Instagram accounts connected to Social Marketing must be Professional > Business accounts, not Professional > Creator accounts. The API currently does not support Instagram connections to Creator accounts. 

Mobile:

1. Open the Instagram app
2. Tap, then tap Settings
3. Tap Account 
4. Tap Sharing to Other Apps
5. Tap Facebook, then log in with your Facebook credentials
6. Tap Continue, then tap Yes, Finish Setup

Browser:

1. Log into Instagram.com
2. Click on your profile picture in the top right-hand corner
3. Select Settings > scroll down to Meta Accounts Center
4. Connect your Facebook account to Instagram by clicking Add Account

Please ensure that your Instagram profile is fully filled out, including phone number, birthday, etc. This is due to changes in the security requirements for Facebook’s API. The account may connect successfully if this is not done, but your posts may fail.

Switch to a personal account (and back again)

Sometimes, switching to a personal account from a business account on Instagram will fix the issue. This will turn off in-app insights for Instagram, and any existing insights on your posts or promotions will be lost.

Switch to a personal account

1. Open the Instagram app on your mobile device
2. Tap   or your profile picture in the bottom right
3. Go to > Settings > Account
4. Tap Switch Account Type
5. Under Account, tap Switch to Personal Account.
6. Tap Switch to Personal Account to confirm

Switch back to a professional account

Provided you have just followed the previous steps, you should be on the Settings page on Instagram on your mobile device. If you aren’t, follow steps 1-3 from the previous section again.

1. Tap Account
2. Tap Switch to Professional Business Account
3. Follow Instagram’s instructions

Final Step: Connect Your Facebook account to Products and Business Hub

1. Select + to be taken to the Facebook Login screen. Enter your Facebook admin login credentials. If Facebook logs you in directly, please ensure you are logging in with the correct account with Admin privileges. To avoid errors, try completing this process in an incognito window–Facebook will prompt you to enter the credentials.
   
   You need to make sure that the name next to “Continue” is the right Facebook account that you’re logging in with, i.e, the Facebook account that has Admin permission on the page.Do NOT click Continue. Click “Edit Settings” first:
   • It will take you to a page similar to the one below. Note – Make sure to select ‘All Pages’ as indicated in the screenshot below and not just the page you want to connect to. This will not bring in all of your pages, however, it is required for the API to successfully connect. If the page is not here, make sure the account you logged in with is the one you have the page permissions on. 
   • Click Next.
2. Make sure all toggles are turned to “Yes”. Then click Done

You’ll get directed back to our platform where a list of the pages you can connect to will appear. Select the one you want to connect to.

 

Managing Your Page with the Meta Business Suite

What is the Meta Business Suite?

Inside Business Suite, business owners will be able to see critical alerts, messages, comments, and other activity taking place across Facebook and Instagram right on the new app’s home screen or by going to business.facebook.com. It is also used as a place to manage several pages at once without switching between profiles. For more information, you can search for great articles such as How to Use Meta Business Suite.

When you click on your Page, you’ll be taken to the Manage Page screen where you’ll see a link to the Meta Business Suite.

In Meta Business Suite, you will see your page on the left-hand side with several options. This landing page is important as any Alerts or restrictions on your account that are blocking you from posting will appear where the red box is in the picture below. If your account is in good status, it will show nothing here. 

An alert that you need to action will appear like so:

You can also set up a Business Account to manage several pages under one Business account. Click on the drop-down arrow under your page name on the left-hand menu and select Create a business account.

Once you select your Business Account, you can manage several Page settings and assets through the Business Suite also. A new settings cog will appear in the bottom left-hand bottom corner once you create and select your business account. 

Under People, you can check what type of access people have to manage your page:

You can see your connected accounts and who has access under Business assets.

Selecting More business settings will take you to settings to manage several pages at once

Troubleshooting Common Instagram Errors

Facebook and Instagram can be complicated and posting through an API may throw vague errors when a post fails. Please review common failed post errors we encounter when posting to Instagram. Facebook errors can be more individualized to the account. Please reach out to support@reputate.co.za. 

 

Common Instagram Error Messages

Errors: You haven’t given this app permission to post to this Instagram account. Update your permissions by editing your Facebook and Instagram connections.

We are seeing this error more and more with pages on the New Page Experience. To resolve this, have the owner of the page or someone with Admin access (see Step 1) address this alert in the Meta Business Suite.

1. Click on your page on Facebook
2. You should see the Meta Business Suite link on the left-hand menu

This will take you to the Meta Business Suite in a separate window where you can see an “Alert” message on the Home page:

3. Select Get Started on the alert

4. You will see the following message. Press Continue

5. Although the pop-up mentions an Admin, a Page owner must be the one to confirm the connection. We’ve reached out to Facebook as we’ve had issues resolving this and it looks like it needs to be the Owner of the Facebook page, as in, the email address that was originally tied to the creation of the Facebook page. This is where the request is sent. For information on how to Transfer Ownership please see here.

IMPORTANT: Please make sure your notifications are turned ON on Facebook in order to receive this email notification. For more information on how to do this, please see here. 

Check your page roles in Step 1.

Once you resolve this alert, you can post again to Instagram.

Errors: Your connected Instagram account is not a Business account. Convert your account to a Business account, then reconnect.

Your Instagram account must be a Professional Business account. There are two types of Professional accounts: Business and Creator accounts. The API will only accept Business accounts.

In your Instagram settings, click “Professional Account” and make sure it lists you as a business. One way to confirm is to be sure it says “Switch to a Creator account” at the bottom of the page. This means you are on a business account. If you are on a personal account, please see Step 3.

Errors: Your Instagram account requires your attention. Log in to Instagram and follow their instructions.

When you log into your Instagram account, you should see a pop-up asking for missing information to be filled in in your profile. If you do not see this, please navigate to the Instagram settings and enter in a phone number, birthday, or any missing information.

Once this is saved, try the post once again.

Hopefully, these troubleshooting steps were able to resolve any issues you ran into when trying to connect or post to Instagram. If you are still having trouble, please reach out to our Support team at support@reputate.co.za. We’d be happy to set up a screen share to resolve your issues.