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Troubleshooting Issues with Feeds and Facebook/Instagram Importer Tools

 

Overview

Our Feeds feature and Facebook/Instagram Importer tools can save you a lot of time when trying to gather entries for your campaign automatically. Unfortunately, running into issues can be frustrating when trying to get things set up. Some common issues are things like:

  • Not seeing all the available Tweets in an RT contest

  • Not seeing any Pages pop up to select when setting up your Feed/Import

  • No posts coming in as entries after doing the initial setup

  • Seeing some Pages listed, but not the one from which you're trying to import entries

This doc will help walk you through some common troubleshooting steps to hopefully help you get your Feed or Import running smoothly, and assumes that the features are being used correctly.

Professional Account vs. Personal Account (Instagram)

For Feeds and using the Importer on Instagram, you'll want to ensure that the Instagram account from which you're trying to pull posts or comments is a professional account (specifically, a business account) and not a personal account. To do that:

  1. Log into the Instagram account that you want to use for the feed.

  2. Navigate to your bio, tap the Options icon (three lines) in the top-right corner, then tap Settings in the menu that pops in.

  3. Click Account.

  4. Scroll to the bottom; if it says Switch account type - that means you're already established as a professional account. Tap on that, and make sure your options are Switch to personal account or Switch to creator account - if those two are showing, you have a business account set up and you're ready to go.

    Note: If you are set up as a creator account, that won't work - creator accounts do not have access to the API. You'll need to switch to a business account.

  5. If it says Switch to professional account  - you'd need to go through the process of switching.

IMPORTANT NOTE REGARDING PROFESSIONAL ACCOUNTS: The only way to link a Facebook Page to an Instagram account correctly is by doing the conversion using the Instagram app on iOS or Android. All other linked Instagram accounts via any other flow are not guaranteed to be professional accounts.

If you had set up your professional account on the Facebook or Instagram website on a desktop, you'd need to disconnect the professional account, log in via your mobile app, and reconnect it there.

Checking Information and App Permissions (Facebook)

There are a few things you'll need to check on the Facebook side when it comes to both Instagram Feeds and both Importer Tools; these are mostly steps to make sure that the Instagram account and Facebook account are properly communicating with each other, and that ShortStack has all the permissions it needs to pull stuff into your account for you.

Verifying That Your Instagram Information is Properly Pulled into Facebook

  1. Log into your Facebook account with admin access to the linked Page, and go to the Page.

  2. Click Settings at the bottom of the Manage Page section on the left.

  3. Click Instagram from the Page settings menu on the left side.

  4. If your FB Page is connected to an Instagram account, the Connected Instagram account section at the top of the page will let you know if the Facebook account you're currently logged into has access to manage the connected Instagram account. Below, verify that the Instagram Account Details are present/correct and that you see the Basic, Business Contact, and Private Information all filled out to your liking.

Making Sure the ShortStack App Has All Needed Permissions

  1. Click your user pic at the very top-right corner of Facebook.

  2. Click Settings & privacy in the drop-down.

  3. In the Settings & privacy sub-menu, click Settings.

  4. Scroll down on the left side, and click Business Integrations.

  5. On the right side, locate ShortStack, then click the View and Edit link.

  6. In the pop-up, scroll down and make sure all of the sliders are flipped to the on (blue) position, including Access profile and posts from the Instagram business connected to your Page, Manage comments for the Instagram account connected to your page, Read content posted on the Page, Manage accounts, settings, and webhooks for a Page, Read user content on your Page, and Show a list of the Pages you manage. If you have multiple Pages and/or Instagram accounts attached, you'll need to select the specific Pages/accounts under each slider.

Checking Account Permissions (Facebook)

The final group of items you can check has to do with your Facebook account; notably, making sure that your account is listed as an admin on the Facebook Page that is linked to your Instagram account, and that the correct Facebook account is linked to your ShortStack account.

Making Sure You're An Admin

  1. Log into your Facebook account and go to the Page where you should have Admin access.

  2. Click Settings at the bottom of the Manage Page section on the left.

  3. Click Page Roles from the Page settings menu on the left side.

  4. Scroll down to the Existing Page Roles section, and double-check that you're listed as an Admin.

  5. If you're not - you'll have to get an existing admin or the Page owner to provide you with that role.

Deauthorize ShortStack

The following procedure will remove the permissions you have granted to ShortStack. It does not affect your account or campaigns, but you will be prompted to grant permission to ShortStack again when you try to log in or publish a campaign.

Explanation: Facebook provides ShortStack with a unique token that allows us to do things on your behalf. That token may be invalid in some way, so this procedure forces Facebook to issue ShortStack a new token.

  1. Go to https://www.facebook.com/settings?tab=business_tools&ref=settings 

  2. Find ShortStack, click the checkbox to the right, and then click the Remove button to confirm.

  3. Log out of ShortStack.
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