What the difference is between personal profiles, Facebook Pages and Instagram professional accounts, and how to get ready to use a scheduling tool.
Personal accounts and business accounts are different things
Scheduling tools generally publish through Meta's official tools, and those tools are built around business accounts. On Facebook, that means a Page rather than your personal profile. On Instagram, it means a professional account rather than a personal one.
Orbis Social works with Facebook Pages and Instagram professional accounts. It does not work with personal profiles.
Check that your business has a Facebook Page
A Page is a public presence for a business, and it is separate from your personal profile, although a person's Facebook account is used to manage it. If you have been promoting the business from a personal profile, create a Page and invite your customers to follow it.
Check who has control of the Page as well. It is common to find that the only person with full access is a former employee, or the person who built your website. Sort this out before you need it. Meta's Help Centre explains how Page access works, and recovering access can take time.
Switch Instagram to a professional account
A personal Instagram account can be switched to a professional account in the app's settings. The menu names change from time to time, so look for the account type settings, or search for it in Instagram's Help Centre. You can choose between a Business and a Creator account.
It is also a good idea to link your Instagram professional account to your Facebook Page, which Meta's tools commonly rely on. Linking also lets you manage both from Meta's own tools.
Tidy up before you connect
A few minutes of housekeeping now can prevent problems later:
- Make sure that the person connecting has the right level of access on the Page.
- Turn on two-factor authentication on the Facebook and Instagram accounts involved.
- Remove access for anybody who no longer needs it.
- Check that your profile details, opening hours and links are up to date.
Understand what you are granting
When you connect a tool, Meta will show you what access it is asking for, such as which Pages it can manage. Read this screen. You can usually choose which Pages to include, and you can remove the connection later.
Any trustworthy tool should explain what it does with this access. For Orbis Social, see our Privacy Policy and our data deletion page.
Put it into practice with Orbis Social
Plan, write, approve and publish to Facebook Pages and Instagram professional accounts.
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