To gain more exposure for your video content, our Online Video Platform (OVP) offers an easy method to export videos to your Instagram account.
In this article, you will find instructions to:
- Create and authenticate an Instagram export channel in the OVP;
- Export video content to your Instagram account.
To export content to your Instagram account, you need an Instagram business account that is connected to one of your Facebook pages.
Prerequisites
Before you begin, make sure you have:
- An Instagram business account connected to one of your Facebook pages;
- The Instagram export feature enabled on your Blue Billywig publication (contact support if you are unsure).
1.0 | Set up Instagram Export
To get started with exporting to Instagram:
- Click “Media library” in the OVP;
- In the left menu, select the “Social” tab;
- Click the Connect button and select Instagram from the dropdown:
- Authenticate by clicking the Authenticate button and log in to the Instagram account you wish to use;
Authentication requires an Instagram business account connected to one of your Facebook pages. Personal Instagram accounts cannot be used.
- Authorize the Blue Billywig API to manage your Instagram account via Facebook;
After authorizing is complete, you can start setting the following:
- Channel description (optional)
Enter a name for the channel to easily manage multiple export channels. - Selected page:
Define which Instagram account you would like to connect.
Instagram access tokens expire periodically. When this happens, the channel will show an “Authentication expired” status. Re-authenticate by clicking the re-authenticate button in the channel settings to restore the connection.
2.0 | Export videos to an Instagram account
Export videos to your Instagram account by:
- Manually selecting individual videos; or
- Automatically syncing videos (using filters or existing playlists).
2.1 | Manually export individual videos
- Click Media library in the OVP;
- In the left menu, select the Media Clips tab;
- Open the Social tab and select the Instagram export option;
Want to add to multiple social media platforms? Just add another platform to the list.
- Add a custom description or click “Accept prefilled content” to use the description already added to the clip’s metadata;
- (Optional): select a different Instagram account to override the default set in the channel settings;
- (Optional): check Schedule post to post your content at the set date and time;
- Click Share to start your export.
- The status pop-up window indicates the export progress;
- After the export is completed, go to your Instagram account to see the exported video.
The video description has a maximum length of 2,200 characters.
2.2 | Automated Syncing
Instead of manually exporting mediaclips, it is also possible to automatically export videos that meet specified metadata conditions or that are part of an existing playlist:
- Click Media library in the OVP;
- In the left menu, select the Social tab and select your channel;
- Head over to the Automated syncing tab and enable automated syncing by selecting the checkbox;
- The easiest way to automatically export videos to your Instagram account is by using the playlist option (read more about creating playlists);
- Instead of using an existing playlist, you can also apply the relevant filters in the current window;
- Use a SOLR query for more advanced filtering (for advanced users only);
- Optionally set a clip limit to cap the number of videos synced (default: 30). Disable the limit to sync all matching content;
- Do not forget to activate your channel in the upper right corner and click “Save”;
- Mediaclips will be added to the Instagram export queue as soon as they meet the specified conditions or when they are added to a playlist;
- Exported videos will appear on your Instagram account shortly after.