How do I connect Instagram, Facebook or LinkedIn to bernard?
Your social accounts live on one card: Account → Workshop keys → Social accounts. Each network has its own row, and each account or Page you connect shows its status in plain words.
The prompt
“Which of my social accounts are connected to bernard, and do any need reconnecting?”
Signed in, Get my prompt fills in your site for you. Otherwise press Copy and fill in the [bracketed] parts. First time? Connect your AI to bernard once: Use your own AI (opens in a new tab).
Connect once
Press Connect Instagram (or Facebook, or LinkedIn, when they appear). The network asks you to sign in and approve bernard. If your login manages more than one Facebook Page or LinkedIn company Page, bernard then shows a short list: tick the ones Bernard may use and press Connect the ticked ones.
Bernard asks each network for everything it will need once, so you are not asked to approve again when new features arrive. What he actually does today is on the card and in the answers below.
What the status words mean
- Connected: working.
- Connected (import only): an older Instagram connection that can bring your posts onto your site but could not post. Press Reconnect if you want Bernard to post for you once that is switched on.
- Reconnect by a date, or Reconnect to keep this working: approve again before the date, or now.
- Needs re-approval: the network gave fewer permissions than a post needs. Press Reconnect; if the network does not ask again, remove bernard in its settings and connect again.
Disconnecting
Press Disconnect on a row. Bernard tells you first that this stops any post scheduled to it, because a post cannot go to an account you removed. Removing bernard in the network’s own settings does the same thing.
Questions people ask
- What does connecting a social account do today?
- Instagram lets Bernard read your posts and bring the ones you choose onto your site. Facebook Pages and LinkedIn appear on the card once each network has approved bernard. A connected account is also where Bernard posts for you: that is switched on one network at a time after each approval, and until then the row says Ready to post for you once approved. Nothing is ever posted until you press Schedule on a post and approve it.
- Why does Facebook or LinkedIn ask me to choose Pages?
- One Facebook or LinkedIn login can manage several Pages. You tick only the ones Bernard may use. To change your choice later, press Choose Pages on the Social accounts card.
- Why does it say Reconnect by a date?
- LinkedIn connections last about 60 days and then need you to approve again; Instagram renews itself in the background unless something stops it. The card warns you a week before, and Reconnect takes a minute. Nothing already on your site is affected.
- What does Needs re-approval mean?
- The network gave bernard fewer permissions than a post needs, usually because an older approval was reused. Press Reconnect. If the network does not ask you to approve again, remove bernard in the network’s settings (Instagram: Settings, Apps and websites) and press Connect again.
- What happens when I disconnect?
- Bernard stops using that account at once, and any post scheduled to it is stopped and marked as not posted, so nothing goes out to an account you removed. When nothing of that login is left connected, bernard deletes its access too.
- How do I remove bernard from the network itself, and what do you delete?
- Remove bernard in Instagram (Settings, Apps and websites), in Facebook (Settings and privacy, Settings, Business integrations) or in LinkedIn (Settings, Data privacy, Permitted services). Instagram and Facebook tell bernard, and bernard deletes the access it held for you. LinkedIn does not tell anyone, so press Disconnect on the card as well and bernard deletes it at once. Posts and photos already on your site stay: they are your own copies.