Instagram is a popular photo-sharing app that allows people to connect with friends, family, brands, celebrities, and more. Instagram helps shops grow brand awareness by sharing their brand personality and products with followers and people exploring their feed.

With Instagram, shops like yours can promote your products in a friendly, authentic way. You can interact with existing followers, target new followers, and convert those followers into loyal customers.

How Instagram Benefits Your Shop


  • Create shoppable posts and stories where shoppers can comment "SOLD" and purchase items right in the app.
  • Go live on Instagram as part of the CommentSold live selling process.
  • Share curated looks or projects and let shoppers purchase the pieces they want.
  • Build rapport and brand loyalty with new and existing shoppers through regular posts, comment discussion, and general support.

Before You Connect


Before you can connect your Instagram account to CommentSold, you'll need to ensure that you've completed the following steps:

Connect Your Instagram Account


Once you connect your Facebook Page and Instagram business account, you will need to connect them or reconnect them in CommentSold.

  1. Select Social Setup in the side menu of your CommentSold dashboard.
  2. Select the Facebook Pages tab from the options listed at the top of the page.
  3. Select Re-Connect Facebook.
    • Do not skip this step, even if you have previously connected your Facebook account.
  4. Select the Instagram tab from the options listed at the top of the page.
  5. Select Re-connect Facebook once more.
    • This step gives CommentSold permission to send auto-replies through Instagram messages.
  6. Select OK in the confirmation popup
  7. In the Connect Your Facebook Page section, ensure your Facebook page and Instagram account are linked.
  8. Select Select Page for the desired Instagram account.
Expand to view a description of all Instagram settings

Once you've connected your Instagram account, you can configure your Instagram settings. 

  • Post to App on Autolink. Enable if you wish for CommentSold to simultaneously post a product to your mobile app at the same time you publish an autolinked product post to Instagram.
  • Send Notification on Autolink. Enable if you wish to send a push notification to mobile app users when an autolinked Instagram post publishes to your app. You must have Post to App on Autolink enabled to enable this setting.

Troubleshooting Errors


Expand this section to know about the common errors and how to troubleshoot them.

Here are some common errors and their resolutions:

Issue: “2a Error challenge required”

Challenge_required error message is the most common type of error on Instagram. When you try to use Instagram from a new IP address, you might face the Instagram challenge required error. This is a security measure as the system might think a bot is trying to access your profile.

Try these steps to resolve:

  1. Clear cache memory
  2. Update the app
  3. Check server status
  4. Reinstall the app
  5. Improve Internet connection
  6. Restart your smartphone
  7. Update OS
  8. Login from a known device
  9. Setup Two Factor authentication
  10. Reset password
  11. Contact Instagram support

Issue: “Connection error: user session not valid”

This occurs when you have two web browser windows opened with the same session. When you log out of one of the browsers, the other window times out.

This can be solved by clearing your cache or switching to an Incognito window.

If you have recently had someone else on your team connect their FB account under Social Setup, the session token may have expired. Try clicking Re-connect Facebook under Social Setup.

Error: “only photo or video is accepted" when trying to post to IG

The most common causes for this are:

  • The image for the product is not in JPEG format
  • The image file size exceeds 8MB

A temporary disconnect in the API. Usually if you wait a few minutes and try again it will work.

Issue: Product tagging not working

Tagging is tied to Commerce Manager in FB & is likely being impacted by an out of date Catalog. Try this:

  1. In the Commerce Manager, select Data Feeds and scroll down to Schedules.
  2. Confirm that the URL matches the shop's Facebook Catalog URL in CommentSold.
  3. Back in the Commerce Manager, select Request update now.

Issue: Direct Message replies not sending

First, check that the post is linked to a product under the Posts tab. Unlinked posts will show with a red Not Linked badge.

If the post is not linked, you can manually link the post.

 

If the post is linked, check this:

 

If none of the above work/are applicable, try this:

  1. Disable and re-enable Autolink to Post under Social Setup.
  2. Contact CommentSold support to disconnect Instagram under Social Setup. You can then reconnect on your own.

Issue: Instagram account not showing in Social Setup tab or getting connection error

 

  1. Confirm that your Instagram page is properly connected to your Facebook Business page. Here is an example of a properly connected IG & FB account.
  2. Make sure your personal Facebook profile has Facebook Page Access to the Facebook Business page that is linked to your Instagram account. https://www.facebook.com/help/187316341316631
  3. Reestablish the authorization for CommentSold to access your Facebook account with the correct permissions by removing CommentSold from Business Integrations in Facebook entirely. 

To do this:

  1. Select on the small drop down arrow at the top right of your screen and then select Settings & privacy > Settings. From there, select Business integrations on the left hand side (or click this link).
  2. Check the box next to the CommentSold app and select Remove.
  3. A window will pop up asking if you want to remove CommentSold with a check box at the bottom. Leave both check boxes unchecked and then select Remove.
  4. In CommentSold, under Social Setup, Connect Facebook again and try your Instagram connection again.
  5. If you are presented an option to "Choose what you allow" do not select this option. Modifying any of the permissions here will mean that we are not able to authenticate with Facebook and it will not be possible to connect your Instagram channel.
     

Learn More


  • Instagram
  • Social Selling
  • Setup
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