There's a current Facebook bug that's affecting some Instagram Business/Creator Profiles. In this guide, you'll learn what it is and the workaround for it, so your page will no longer be affected.

This guide presents you with the following information:

  • What triggers the bug

  • How our support detects and confirms the bug for you

  • How you can “fix” your affected Instagram profile

  • The official link to the conversation with Facebook support

If you would rather watch our video, click here.

What Triggers the Bug

When an Instagram profile is being switched to Professional (Business/Creator) for the first time and the step to connect it to Facebook is skipped (as shown in the image below), the instagram_business_account field won’t be assigned to the Instagram profile which will result in, respectively:

  • First, this Instagram profile won’t be connected to a Facebook Page (a mandatory prerequisite for data connections with Emplifi, for details see Prerequisites to Add Instagram Profiles and Data Connections to Emplifi Suite ;

  • Second, the instagram_business_account field won’t be assigned from Facebook;

  • As a result, it won’t be possible to add the Instagram profile as private (owned) or connect insights/publishing permissions on any 3rd Party App, such as Emplifi Suite.

    Why? Because the Facebook Page Roles from the users attempting the connections won’t be detected as sufficient -resulting in a “missing permissions” error.

    image-1.png

Bug Triggered: 

  • At this step, by not connecting Instagram to a Facebook Page, besides the fact that Instagram won’t be connected to a Facebook Page (a mandatory prerequisite for data connections with Emplifi), Facebook will also not assign its business id to it.

  • This behaviour will result in the impossibility, of adding the page as private (owned) or connect insights/publishing permissions, for this Instagram profile on any 3rd Party App, such as Emplifi Suite.

    Even if the Instagram profile will be manually connected to a Facebook Page right after (at Facebook Page Settings → Instagram), the instagram_business_account field will still be missing for the Instagram profile → this behaviour is caused by a Facebook bug.

How Emplifi Support Team Detects and Confirms the Bug for You

If you can confirm that all the prerequisites for connecting Instagram private data with Emplifi are checked (see Prerequisites to Add Instagram Profiles and Data Connections to Emplifi Suite; and you still receive an error that the Facebook login used does not have the correct page role to complete the Instagram private data connections with Emplifi (as shown in the image below)…

…it is very likely that your Instagram profile is affected by this Facebook bug.

Prerequisites to confirm:

  • The Instagram profile is converted to Professional (Business or Creator)

  • The Instagram profile is connected to a Facebook Page

  • The user attempting the connections with Emplifi is using a facebook login with the appropriate Facebook Page Role - check the step 6 from another guide (How to Add Owned Instagram Profiles ) for a more solid explanation of this point.

Go to the next step (How can you fix your Instagram profile) or reach out Emplifi support here with the following information:

  1. Instagram profile URL;2. Facebook page URL;3. A screenshot from the Facebook Page Roles Menu where the Instagram profile is connected, showing your own role;

  2. A screenshot from the Facebook Page Settings -> Instagram, where it is visible the Instagram profile connected.

The Emplifi support team will then use a tool to confirm if the instagram_business_account field is missing for the IG profile(s) you shared. If the Emplifi support team confirms the bug, you will be asked to follow the next step.

How Can You Fix Your Affected Instagram Profile?

Unfortunately, since Facebook has not provided any time estimation for when this bug will be fixed, the only solution as of now is to switch the Instagram profile back to personal and then to professional again through an unconventional way (explained in detail further below).

Please note that this conversion will lead to the loss of media instagram insights data (reach, impressions, saves, etc.). Backing up the insights data is highly recommended.

Follow the steps below exactly. Otherwise, you might run into some issues while connecting it to Facebook.

  1. Before switching the Instagram profile back to personal, make sure Instagram is connected to a Facebook Page. If it’s not connected to a Facebook Page, do the following:

    • Log out from any Instagram sessions that you’re connected to in your browser

    • Go to the Facebook Page (desktop/browser)

    • Go to Page Settings

    • Press Instagram from the left vertical list

    • Press the Connect button

    • Enter the correct Instagram login credentials

  2. Switch the Instagram profile to personal (follow the steps below exactly)
    AGAIN, PLEASE NOTE THAT THIS CONVERSION WILL LEAD TO THE LOSS OF MEDIA INSTAGRAM INSIGHTS DATA (REACH, IMPRESSIONS, SAVES ETC.). BACKING UP THE INSIGHTS DATA IS HIGHLY RECOMMENDED.

    • Go to the Instagram Account in the mobile App

    • Go to Settings

    • Press Account

    • Press Switch to personal account

    • The Account is now personal again

  3. Switch the account back to business manually from the Facebook Page → Settings → Instagram (the user attempting this step has to have Admin role for this Facebook Page)

    • Press Get Started in front of Switch to a Business Profile

    • A new window will pop up. Press Continue

    • You should be asked to edit or remove any information you don't want to be displayed on Instagram. You can always edit this at any time in Settings

    • Press Done once you’re ready
      If you get an error here, just re-log and try again from step 3.

    • You’ll get a confirmation that your Instagram profile is now Business (you can switch it to creator any time in the Instagram mobile app)

Congratulations! The instagram_business_account field has now been assigned to the Instagram profile.
Users with the correct Page Roles on Facebook will now be correctly detected, and it is now possible to connect the page as private (owned) or the publishing permissions/insights with Emplifi!

You can find the official communication with Facebook support here.