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Connections — auto-publish to Instagram and Facebook

Scheduling a post does nothing on its own — somebody has to actually push it to Instagram or Facebook. The Connections page is where each venue plugs in its own Instagram and Facebook so the system can do that pushing automatically. You log in once with the venue’s own social-media credentials, and from then on every post you schedule lands on the right account at the right time, no copy-pasting.

What it does

When you connect, the system stores a token that tells Instagram and Facebook “this app is allowed to post on this venue’s behalf”. The token is yours — each venue gets their own. We never see your password, and you can revoke the connection at any time from Instagram or Facebook’s own security settings.

Once connected, two things change. First, when you schedule a post from the Composer or the Calendar, you’ll see a green dot and the line “Will auto-publish at the scheduled time” — meaning you don’t have to do anything else. Second, the Calendar’s detail panel grows a Publish now button, so even before the scheduled time you can push a draft out immediately.

If a venue has both Instagram and Facebook, one Meta login covers both. Instagram requires that the venue’s account be a Business or Creator account, and that it’s linked to a Facebook Page. This is Meta’s design, not ours — Instagram’s auto-publish only exists on top of Facebook Page infrastructure. If a venue is still on a personal Instagram, converting takes two minutes in the Instagram app and is free.

The rule

Connect once per venue, not per post. Each venue logs in with their own Instagram and Facebook. The platform never publishes from a master account.

How to use it

Open Growth → Connections. Below the header you’ll see one card per platform.

Connecting Instagram and Facebook

Click Connect Instagram & Facebook. The browser redirects to Facebook’s login page. Sign in with the venue’s Meta credentials — the same email and password used to manage the venue’s Facebook Page. Facebook will show a screen listing exactly what the app is asking permission to do: post to the Page, post to Instagram, read engagement stats. Approve.

If the venue manages more than one Facebook Page, Facebook asks which one to grant access to. Pick the venue’s own Page, not a personal profile.

You’ll be redirected back to Connections and see a green banner confirming what got connected — the Page name and the Instagram handle. The card flips from the empty state to a connected state showing both names with a green dot.

When something’s off

A few things can go wrong, and the page tries to say so plainly:

  • No Instagram linked to this Page — the Facebook Page connected fine, but no Instagram Business account is attached to it on Meta’s side. Facebook auto-publish still works; Instagram won’t. Fix this by linking an Instagram Business or Creator account to the Page in the Instagram app.
  • Token expires in N days — the user-side token Meta issued lasts about 60 days. If you don’t reconnect within the window, scheduled posts will start failing. We show a warning when there’s less than 14 days left. Reconnecting is the same two-click flow.
  • A red banner with a code like token_exchange_failed or no_pages_found — something went wrong on Meta’s side. The most common cause is that the venue’s Meta account doesn’t manage any Facebook Pages, or the login was cancelled. Try again.

Disconnecting

Click Disconnect to remove the stored token from BiteTheMenu. Any scheduled posts after this point will pause and surface as “No account connected” in the Calendar — they won’t fail, but they won’t auto-publish either. Reconnect at any time to resume.

If you want a clean break, also revoke access from Meta’s side at Settings & Privacy → Settings → Business Integrations on Facebook. That’s the only way to invalidate the token Meta issued.

Worked example

Marco at iO Osteria has just finished setting up the Voice & Brand profile and drafted three posts for the week. He opens Growth → Connections and the page is empty. He clicks Connect Instagram & Facebook.

Facebook opens. He logs in with marco@iosteria.com and the iO Osteria password. Facebook shows a screen listing the permissions: “Manage your Pages”, “Publish to Instagram”, “Read your Pages’ engagement”. He clicks Continue. Facebook asks which Page — iO Osteria has just one, so he picks iO Osteria Bangkok. Continue. Approve.

The browser comes back to Connections. A green banner says “Connected. Facebook Page: iO Osteria Bangkok. Instagram: @iosteriabangkok”. The card below now shows both, with a green dot and the Disconnect button.

He opens Growth → Calendar, clicks on one of the three drafts he scheduled for tomorrow at 11:30, and the detail panel now reads “Will auto-publish at the scheduled time via your connected Instagram”. He doesn’t need to do anything else.

Tomorrow morning at 11:30, the post lands on iO Osteria’s Instagram with the caption, hashtags, and image he’d approved the day before. He sees the green Published badge in the Calendar and a “View live” link to the actual post on Instagram.

  • Calendar — where scheduled posts show their auto-publish status and the Publish now override lives.
  • Composer — drafts a post; this page is what turns the schedule into reality.
  • Voice & Brand — what the posts sound like.