Ever since Facebook acquired Instagram back in 2012, it has made continued efforts to ensure that the two platforms work seamlessly together. Now brands and creators alike can easily manage their cross-app presence in one place. To do that, however, you need to link your Instagram account to your Facebook page, which will allow you to simultaneously post content across these platforms.
In this post, we provide you with an in-depth guide on how to link Instagram to Facebook. We also explore some of the main reasons why you’d want to do this–whether you’re a creator or managing your brand account. Let’s get started.
How to Link Instagram to Facebook: A Complete Guide:
Why Link Your Instagram to a Facebook Page?
Linking your Instagram to your Facebook page doesn’t just make it easier to cross-post content, although this may be the most common use case. There are several other reasons why you should consider linking the two.
Simplify Cross-Platform Publishing
Of course, the main reason why most people would want to link their Instagram account to their Facebook page is to simplify publishing across the two platforms. With the two accounts linked, you’ll have the option to automatically publish your Instagram post to Facebook and vice versa. That means you won’t have to manually log in and create a new post for a second platform.
That way, you can easily use a social media scheduling tool to schedule your posts across the two platforms. This helps you save a ton of time as you get to manage your cross-platform publishing in one place.
Improve Credibility
When your Instagram and Facebook accounts are connected, you prove to your audience that each account is credible. It gives them the confidence that they’re dealing with the same business on each platform. This not only helps to build trust, but also provides your audience with a smoother experience and streamlines their interactions with your business.
Streamline Your Messaging
On the same note, connecting your Instagram and Facebook allows you to manage your communications in one place. You can easily see the messages coming through both platforms and quickly respond to them, meaning your response time also improves. This significantly enhances the customer experience and will also boost your brand reputation.
Advertise More Effectively
For advertisers in some regions, it’s mandatory to link their Instagram account to a Facebook page. Even if linking your Facebook isn’t mandatory, this is still a recommended step because it allows you to run ads across both platforms while paying for them in one place. This allows you to advertise more effectively and better manage your ad expenses.
Create a Custom Geotag for Instagram
Geotagging on Instagram is a great way to improve your Instagram SEO and help people discover your business so as to drive foot traffic. It’s ideal for businesses with a physical location that they want people to visit such as hotels, restaurants, and local shops. To create a custom geotag with your business’s location, you need to have your account linked to your Facebook page.
Get More Powerful Insights
When you connect your Instagram account with your Facebook page, you can get valuable cross-platform insights into your performance. This allows you to compare audiences, analyze post performance, and more. Having comprehensive insights into your performance across these two platforms can help you make informed decisions on how to improve your paid marketing efforts.
Enable Instagram Shopping
Another crucial reason why brands would want to link their Instagram with their Facebook page is so they can set up an Instagram Shop. If you plan on listing and selling your products via Instagram Shopping, you’ll need to connect your account with a Facebook page.
Once your product catalog is displayed through Instagram, you can create a more seamless shopping experience and allow customers to browse without leaving the platform. Connecting the two platforms will also ensure that your business info is properly synced, and you can use features such as the appointment button.
How to Link Your Instagram Account to a Facebook Page
Now that you have a clear idea of how you can benefit from linking your Instagram account to your Facebook page, it’s time to get into the practical aspects. Here are the steps to link the two platforms from either Facebook or Instagram.
Linking from Facebook
Step 1: Open the Facebook page you want to link and click on “Settings.” Keep in mind that you must be the admin of the page to be able to perform this action.
Step 2: Click on “Linked accounts” from the left-hand panel. This will open up the option to link your Facebook page to a professional Instagram account.
Step 3: Click on the blue “Connect Account” button. This will open a pop-up window with information about the additional features you can access by linking your accounts. Click on “Connect” to confirm.
Step 4: The next pop-up window will give you the option to choose your Instagram message settings. You can use the toggle to choose whether you want to allow access to Instagram messages in your inbox.
Turning on this option is ideal if you want to manage your communications in one place. However, this may not necessarily work for all businesses depending on who has access to your Page and who is in charge of messaging. Click on the “Confirm” button to proceed.
Step 5: Next, you’ll see a pop-up window to log in to your Instagram account. Once logged in, your account will be automatically linked to your Facebook page.
Linking from Instagram
Step 1: Log into your Instagram account and go to your profile window. Make sure you’re using a professional account since Facebook doesn’t allow you to link to a personal account.
Step 2: Tap on the “Edit Profile” button right below your professional dashboard. This will open up a window to make all types of edits to your account.
Step 3: Select “Page” under “Public business information.” This will give you the option to connect to an existing Facebook page or create a new one. Tap on “Continue.”
Step 4: As you proceed, you’ll be given the option to log into your Facebook account. Log in using the credentials used for your Facebook page and this will automatically link the page with your Instagram account.
How to Unlink Your Instagram Account from Facebook
Now what happens when you no longer want to link your two accounts? Perhaps you’re no longer going to use Facebook as a marketing channel. In some cases, you might need to create a new account because the previous one got compromised. Or perhaps you just want to keep the two platforms separate. All you need to do is simply unlink Instagram and Facebook.
You can do this by going to your linked accounts on Facebook and clicking on the “Disconnect Account” button. To do this through Instagram, follow the same steps as before and select the option to “Disconnect Page” when you tap on “Page.” This will instantly unlink the two platforms.
Best Practices for Using Instagram and Facebook Together
Next, it’s time to figure out how to make the most of your connected Instagram and Facebook accounts. While you may think it’s as simple as automatically sharing all your Instagram posts to Facebook or vice versa, that’s not necessarily the best thing to do. Check out these best practices on how you can use Instagram and Facebook together.
Know Which Content to Cross-Post
First, you have to figure out when it’s a good idea to cross-post. Some posts may work great for Instagram without making much sense for Facebook. Alternatively, some of your Facebook posts won’t necessarily work for your Instagram audience. So it’s crucial to have a clear idea of which posts you should simultaneously share on Facebook and Instagram.
Of course, your text-based Facebook posts would naturally be off-limits for Instagram unless they come with an associated image. That means visual content is always a necessity for these types of posts. So consider turning your text-heavy content into an image-based post if you want to share it via Instagram as well.
It’s also important to consider the audience of your posts before cross-posting. While brands typically cater to the same type of audience across platforms, you can expect some type of difference in the behavior and preferences of different platform users. For example, users in one platform may be more interested in educational content while users in another platform may be on the lookout for entertaining content. At the same time, users on both platforms may like to engage with content that shows them how to do something.
Additionally, you should keep in mind whether you want to reach as many people as possible or only those within a specific platform. For posts where maximum reach is desirable, it’s best if you cross-post to both Instagram and Facebook.
This may include sales and promotions where you want to drive more sales and get as many people as possible to make a purchase. It may also include things such as contests and giveaways that are non-platform specific. Cross-posting will allow you to drive more participation by expanding your reach and getting your message in front of as many people as possible.
The same goes for product launch announcements and brand updates that you want everyone to see. For example, Colourpop Cosmetics recently launched a new NARUTO collection of cosmetics, which they cross-posted on both Instagram and Facebook. As expected, this helped the brand to get a lot of exposure, driving hundreds of thousands of collective engagements from the two platforms.
Design for Cross-Platform Posting
For the content that you do want to cross-post on both Instagram and Facebook, make sure it’s optimized according to each platform’s image size requirements. Remember that each platform has unique guidelines and recommendations on image and video sizes to ensure that your content is optimally displayed.
So it may not necessarily be the best idea to simply reuse the same image on Facebook when you’ve designed it to meet Instagram’s requirements. Similarly, images designed for Facebook won’t necessarily look great on Instagram. In some cases, it may cause the image to look distorted or incomplete, which is the last thing you want. This is why it’s important to ensure that the content is specifically designed for cross-platform posting to ensure optimal display on both platforms.
Check out our comprehensive guide on social media image sizes to get a better sense of what the requirements and recommendations are for each platform. This will allow you to design visuals that would look great on both Instagram and Facebook.
Get Your Timing Right
Timing is vital when it comes to driving engagement on social media. Your followers aren’t active 24/7, and it’s crucial that you take advantage of the small window of opportunity when they’re most active to get them to engage with your posts. This will then help you drive more visibility as the increased engagement improves your chances of showing up on relevant Explore pages and social media feeds.
That said, user behavior on different social media platforms may vary. This means the best time to post on Instagram doesn’t necessarily coincide with the best time to post on Facebook. So you may have a hard time scheduling your posts to go out at a time that works for both platforms. Make sure to test different post timings so you can optimize your social media publishing schedule and get the best results for both Instagram and Facebook.
Making Instagram and Facebook Work Together
With the right approach, linking your Instagram and Facebook accounts could help you to maximize your reach and amplify your promotion efforts. However, you need to be strategic with this and carefully decide when and what to cross-post. This will allow you to reach the right audience through the right platforms and get your message across more effectively. Make the most of the tips and best practices highlighted above to get started with linking your Instagram account to a Facebook page.
Frequently Asked Questions
How can I post from Instagram to Facebook?
You can start posting from Instagram to Facebook by connecting your account with your Facebook page.
Can I post from Facebook to Instagram?
Yes, you can select the option to share your Facebook post to Instagram once your two accounts are linked.
Why can’t I link my Instagram to Facebook?
Facebook only allows linking with an Instagram professional account. If you can’t link your Instagram to Facebook, it’s likely that you’re not using a professional account yet.
Can I access Instagram messages from Facebook?
Yes, Facebook lets you manage your Instagram messages in one place once your accounts are linked.
Can I link multiple Facebook accounts with my Instagram?
No, you can only link one Facebook page with your Instagram account.
