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Add Instagram as a source
Add Instagram as a source

Add Instagram as a source and start collecting content for your Flows

Updated over a month ago

Instagram source types

  • Username: Collects public Instagram media from your own connected account. Flowbox will also collect and display the caption, username and user profile image.

  • Username Stories: Collects public Instagram stories media from your own connected account. Flowbox will also collect and display the caption, username and user profile image.

  • Mentions: Collects public Instagram media that @mentioned your connected Instagram account. Flowbox will also collect and display the username and caption, but not the user profile image.

  • Photo tag: Collects public Instagram media that have tagged your connected Instagram account on the post. Flowbox will also collect and display the username and caption but not the user profile image.

  • Hashtag: Collects public Instagram media that include a specified hashtag. Flowbox will collect and display the caption of the post but not the username and user profile image.
    ​Important: To set up the hashtag source in your Flow, enter the hashtag without the '#' symbol.

LIMITATIONS TO COLLECTING CONTENT VIA A HASHTAG

  • You can query a maximum of 30 unique hashtags on behalf of an Instagram Business User (and per Flowbox account) within a rolling 7-day period. Once you query a hashtag, it will count against this limit for 7 days. Subsequent queries on the same hashtag within this time frame will not count against your limit, and will not reset its initial query 7 day timer.

  • Personally identifiable information such as usernames and profile pictures won't be included in the responses.

  • You cannot comment on hashtagged media objects discovered through Flowbox.

  • Emojis in hashtag queries are not supported (e.g., you can use #Flowbox but not #Flowbox💙).

  • Only content posted with the hashtag from the last 24 hours will be fetched from Instagram.

Adding Instagram as a source

In order to avoid duplicates in the system, we recommend only connecting a source to your Collection Flow, commonly named "Master Flow", and then distributing the posts to other Flows.

Once Instagram is connected to your account, you can add Instagram as a source to your Flows by following these steps:

  1. Go to 'Visual Marketing' > 'Flows'.

  2. Click on ‘Sources’ directly from the Flows page or use the top-right button within your Collection Flow.

  3. A popup box will open.

  4. Click on "Add Source".

  5. Select "Instagram" and your source type (hashtag, username, mentions, photo tag, username stories).
    ​You can see the different type descriptions above.

  6. Add the value for that type of source.

  7. Optional: Toggle on 'Require approval' to collect directly on the "Approved" tab all the content from this source.

  8. Click "Add".

From now on, all new Instagram content related to this source will appear in the Inbox of this Collection Flow and can easily be approved and used for your Flows.

GENERAL LIMITATIONS

  • Due to Instagram's API restrictions Flowbox cannot collect Instagram Stories from creators other than yourself (username).

  • Posts that have been marked private by the user will not be collected due to API restrictions. Even if you are following a private account, Flowbox will not collect this content as the user has not allowed it to be public.

Additional information

You will not collect duplicate posts in Flowbox if someone tags your brand and uses your hashtag too for example. You will also be able to find the content when you filter for photo tags and hashtags in the search bar in your Inbox.

Additionally, if an already-collected post gets collected via a mention-source Flowbox will update all the occurrences of that post with the additional information that is collected via mentions (e.g. comments, username).

To exclude posts from the collected posts that contain certain words or hashtags, you can additionally use the 'Filters' settings. Read more about our blocked hashtag feature here.

BEST PRACTICES

  • In order to avoid duplicates in the system, we recommend only connecting a source to one Flow, such as your "Master Flow", and then distributing the posts to other Flows.

  • Post your hashtag and photo tags on your social media profiles and encourage your customers to use them.

Collect older content

Flowbox can only collect new content that is posted on Instagram after adding a new source, due to API restrictions. To collect older content, we recommend installing our Chrome Extension.

Additional Resources

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