Sometimes it’s really useful to be able to cross-post content from Instagram to Facebook. And lucky for you, it’s way easier than it used to be!
Linked Accounts in Instagram
The first thing you need to do is to link your Facebook account with your Instagram business page. This needs to be the Facebook account that you use to manage your Facebook page. Most people only have one, which makes this easier.
Ideally, you’d have the Facebook app on your phone, as well as the Instagram app. Get signed in to the right Facebook account on that app, and then switch over to Instagram. Tap your profile icon, and then the menu button in the top right hand corner. Settings is what we’re looking for, and it’s right at the bottom of that menu.
In that menu, scroll to find the Accounts Centre, and tap to open it up.
The screen here will show you the accounts and profiles you currently have connected – it’s probably just your Instagram account right now.
Tap on the arrow next to Accounts and profiles and you’ll see the option to Add Accounts.
Instagram will usually suggest you add the Instagram account your signed into, and the Facebook account you’ve got signed in on your Facebook app at the same time.
Connect multiple accounts in Facebook Account Centre
You can only connect ONE Facebook account and ONE Instagram account to your account centre.
If you have multiple pages on both platforms and you want them all connected together, you’ll have a little more work to do.
First, make sure your Facebook profile (your personal profile, not the page) owns, or has admin access, to all the relevant Facebook pages. You’ll be able to share to your own profile, or to any of the pages you manage.
On Instagram, in the app, you need to make sure to sign in to all the profiles you want to connect into a single account. You can have up to 5 profiles signed in at the same time. Then go into your Settings, as described above, and scroll right to the end to the Logins section. Click the link to set up multi-account login, and choose one of the listed profiles to be the username and password that you use to sign in.
When you do this, anyone who signs into that profile will get access to all the connected ones, so be careful if you share login details with your team.
Share Instagram posts to the right Facebook page
Once you have your accounts added, you might want to double check that Instagram will share posts to the right Facebook page! You don’t want those business posts showing up on your personal profile and annoying all your friends.
In the Accounts Centre, tap on Story and Post sharing. Under Share from tap on your Instagram profile, and see what page or profile is listed under Share to. If it’s the right page, that’s great! If it’s the wrong one, simply tap on the arrow to the right and select the right page from the list.
If it doesn’t show up, you need to double check that the Facebook account you’ve connected is the same one you use to manage your Facebook page. If your profile doesn’t have admin access this won’t work!
This is also where you set the options to automatically share Feed and Story posts to your Facebook page, if that’s a priority for you.
Of course you’ll know Instagram has a whole host of other features for marketing your business, including links, Insights, Direct Messaging, and so on. If you want to make sure you’re using those correctly, why not use our free Instagram MOT training and checklist to give your account the once-over and make sure everything’s running smoothly?
Add your Instagram to your Facebook Page
If you’re starting from your Facebook Page and want to make sure your can cross-post things to Instagram, you can also approach this task from the other angle, starting with the Facebook settings. Connecting the two accounts also allows you to use other Facebook tools to help manage your Instagram page, such as better ad targeting and a combined messaging inbox.
It’s easiest to do this while using Facebook in a browser on a computer, not in the mobile app, or on a mobile device, to access these settings. First, make sure you’re signed into the right Facebook account and go to your Facebook Page – if Facebook prompts you to Switch Profile to interact as your page, you should go ahead and do that.
In the top right corner of Facebook, click the little down arrow and choose Settings and Privacy.
Then on the menu that pops up, choose Settings again. On the next screen, look for Linked accounts in the left hand menu, and then you’ll be able to see if your Instagram account is already connected, and if not, hit that button to add it now.
This should be all you need to do!
One of the main benefits of connecting your Facebook and Instagram profiles is how easily you can share content on both channels at the same time. This is called cross-posting. We did a whole podcast episode on how to do cross-posting properly, so make sure you check that out.
