This guide will cover:

Before Connecting Your Social Channels

Instagram and Facebook Accounts

Due to API restrictions across the Meta platforms (Facebook and Instagram), you are required to have a personal Facebook account authenticated in Meltwater to enable public social media posts to be tracked. After connecting your Monitored connections, data will be pulled into Explore, Monitor, Reporting, and Measure for benchmarking purposes. Learn more about Competitive Benchmarking.

Meltwater is not given any personal information about you or access to your personal profile(s). This authentication is only to enable the collection of public data on Facebook and Instagram pages.

The key for ease of use is to log into the relevant Facebook account with corresponding Fan pages and Instagram business profiles in Chrome prior to connecting in Meltwater. This means your logins cache to the browser, making the process of connection in Meltwater more seamless. Take a look at this video to learn more.

Connecting your Facebook Business Page

Go to Account drop-down in the left-hand navigation bar
Click Social connections
Navigate to the Facebook authentication section
Select Add Account
A pop-up will appear that will prompt you to log in to your Facebook account. Once logged into your Facebook account, the pop-up will disappear and you will have successfully connected your account

Reconnecting Facebook Pages

Monitored Facebook Pages expire every 60 days due to Facebook regulations for all third-party providers like Meltwater. You will receive two email notifications ahead of that expiration date, 10 days before and 1 day before. To reconnect your Monitored Facebook page(s) follow the below steps:

Go to Account drop-down in the left-hand navigation bar
Click Social connections
Navigate to the Facebook authentication section
Select Renew under the Status column
The same pop-up you saw during the original point of connection will appear and will prompt you to log in to your Facebook account. Once logged into your Facebook account, the pop-up will disappear and you will have successfully reconnected your account

Note: We recommend reconnecting your page(s) when you get the initial notification email 10 days before the expiration date to avoid any lapse in Facebook data.

Connecting your Instagram Account

Before connecting your Instagram account in Meltwater, you will need to complete two steps:

Convert your Instagram account to a Business Profile, if it is not.
Link your Instagram business profile to a Facebook Page

Once you’ve made your Instagram a business profile, follow the below steps within Meltwater to connect it:

Select Account drop-down from the left-hand navigation bar
Click Social Connections
Navigate to the Instagram authentication section
Select Add Account
A pop-up will appear that will prompt you to log in to your Facebook account. The Facebook account you will want to log into is the Facebook account you’ve connected your Instagram Business Profile to (see instructions linked above).
After logging in with your Facebook Page credentials an authorized message will be shown.
Continue as your Facebook Page.
Select the Instagram Business Profile to be saved
Select Save.

Note: There will be an expiration date indicating when the profile will need to be reconnected. You will also receive two email reminders before that expiration date.

Reconnecting Instagram Accounts

Due to Instagram’s API policies for third-party providers like Meltwater, your authenticated Instagram accounts expire every 60 days. You will receive two email notifications ahead of that expiration date, 10 days before and 1 day before. To re-authenticate your Monitored Instagram account(s) follow the below steps:

Go to Account drop-down in the left-hand navigation bar
Click Social connections
Navigate to the Instagram authentication section
Select Renew
The same pop-up you saw during the original point of connection will appear and will prompt you to log in to your Facebook account. Once logged into your Facebook account, the pop-up will disappear and you will have successfully re-authenticated your Instagram account

Connecting X (formerly Twitter)

Select Account drop-down from the left-hand navigation bar
Click Social Connections
Navigate to the X authentication section
Select Add Account
Enter the handle
Select Add
Click OK

Next Steps

Now that you've connected all of your Monitored Social Accounts, it's time to add pages, handles, hashtags, and more to gain access to features and additional data in your Explore searches. Learn more about Setting up Monitored Pages, Competitors, Hashtags, Handles, and Keywords in Account Settings.

FAQs

What do I do if I do not have admin access to my organization's Facebook Business Page, and the person that did left?

Access should be transferred before an employee leaves. Currently no options for gaining access without that person with admin access. For further assistance, reach out to Facebook’s support.

I don't want to connect my personal Facebook profile, but rather, my organization's. How can I do that?

You need to be logged in to FB to make the connection. If you are an admin of a company FB page via your personal page, it will still show up with your personal account details when making the connection. We do not post or obtain Facebook information from connected FB accounts in Explore.

How many Facebook pages can I monitor at a time?

This is dependent on the package you have purchased. To better understand the number of Facebook pages you can monitor, contact your account manager.

By connecting my Facebook account, can Meltwater access any personal information?

Due to Facebook’s privacy restrictions, we are not given any personal information about you or access to your personal profile. This authentication is only to collect public data on pages.

How am I notified of a disconnection?

All users will receive two email notifications, one 10 days prior and the second 1 day before the expiration date with a reminder to reconnect your Monitored Facebook Pages and/or Instagram Accounts.

Why do I have to authenticate my account to monitor Instagram?

In December 2018, Facebook—which owns Instagram—changed the information they make available to service providers, such as Meltwater, which changed the way we think about Instagram monitoring. All users of monitoring platforms like Meltwater are now required to authenticate their accounts before monitoring content from Instagram.

Instagram requires re-authentication every 60 days. This is a requirement of Instagram's API that affects all third-party crawlers. So you never miss a post, pop a calendar reminder in your diary every 60 days: Add to GoogleCal.

When I follow the steps to authenticate my Instagram business profile the pop-up box requests that I provide Meltwater access to my account - what does this mean?

This means that you will allow us to gather Instagram data on your behalf. It does not provide access to your Instagram and Facebook profiles. Meltwater will not be able to access your personal information or have the ability to publish posts or send messages. The data we gather for you on your behalf will only be shown in your Meltwater account.

How many Instagram handles can I monitor at a time?

This is dependent on the package you have purchased. To better understand the number of Instagram handles you can monitor, contact your account manager.

💡 Tip

Need more help? Feel free to reach out to us via Live Chat or check out our Customer Community.

Find answers and get help from Meltwater Support and Community Experts.

Connecting your Facebook, Instagram, and X to the Meltwater Platform (Social Connections: Monitored Tab)