Connecting Your Social Accounts

Before Orsa can post for you, you connect your brand’s social account. You do this once per platform, from the Content Channels part of your brand’s Info tab.

Two words matter here:

• A channel is a label for a place your brand posts, like “Instagram Marketing”. It holds the platform, the account’s @handle and a short description. Channels are used for planning, for example by your posting schedules. A channel on its own can’t publish anything.
• A connected account is a channel that you’ve signed in to and given Orsa permission to post on. Only connected accounts show up when you publish a design.

Once an account is connected, you can post or schedule a design from the design editor. See Scheduling a Post.

Only the brand’s Owner and Admins can connect or disconnect social accounts. Members don’t see the Connect button or the Disconnect option, but they can still add channels and post to accounts that are already connected.

Quick start (5 minutes)

1. Open your brand’s Info tab and click Content Channels.
2. Click New Channel.
3. Fill in Name (like “Instagram”), pick the Platform, and type the Account Handle (like @harborbakery). Click Save.
4. Click Connect on the new channel.
5. On the connection screen that opens, sign in to the platform and approve every permission it asks for.
6. You land back on Content Channels and see “Instagram connected as @harborbakery”. The channel now shows Connected as @harborbakery.

Example: a bakery adds a channel named “Instagram”, picks Instagram, types @harborbakery, clicks Save, then Connect. After signing in to Instagram and approving access, the channel shows Connected as @harborbakery with the account’s profile picture.

Add a channel

You need a channel before you can connect an account to it.

1. Open the Content Channels part of your brand’s Info tab.
2. Click New Channel.
3. Fill in the form:

4. Click Save.

If you leave out a required field, you’ll see “Please fill in required fields: Name, Platform, and Account Handle”.

To change a channel later, click Edit on it, make your changes and click Save.

Connect an account

1. On Content Channels, find the channel for the platform you want to connect.
2. Click Connect. The button shows Connecting… for a moment.
3. A connection screen from bundle.social opens in the same browser tab. bundle.social is the service Orsa uses to post to social platforms.
4. Sign in to the platform with the account you want to post from.
5. Approve all the permissions it asks for.
6. You’re sent back to Content Channels.

When it works, you see a message like “Instagram connected as @harborbakery”. The channel then shows a Connection field with the account’s picture and Connected as @harborbakery.

If the connection didn’t finish, you see “Instagram connection was not completed” (with your platform’s name). Click Connect and try again.

Which platforms you can connect

The Connect button only shows on channels for these platforms:

You can still add Twitter/X, Pinterest and Website/Blog channels. They’re useful for planning and posting schedules, but Orsa can’t post to them. To post there, download your design and upload it yourself. See Exporting Designs.

For what each post type allows, see Platform Rules for Posts.

One account per platform

Each brand can have one connected account per platform: one Instagram, one Facebook, one LinkedIn, one TikTok and one YouTube.

• If you have two channels for the same platform, both show the same connected account.
• When you publish a design, Post to lists each connected platform once.

Example: an agency manages a café’s Instagram and the owner’s personal Instagram. Only one of them can be connected to the café’s brand. The other needs its own brand in Orsa.

Instagram requirements

Instagram is stricter than the other platforms. Before you click Connect:

• Use a professional account. Your Instagram must be a Business or Creator account. Personal accounts can’t be connected. You can switch in the Instagram app’s settings.
• Approve every permission on the connection screen. Don’t untick any.
• Link Instagram to a Facebook Page if you connect through Facebook.
• Reconnect with the same account. If your Instagram was connected before, sign in with that same account when you reconnect.

If something’s missing, you come back to Content Channels with one of these messages:

Instagram connected through Facebook. Some Instagram options, like adding a location or music, only work when Instagram is connected through Facebook. If yours isn’t, the publish panel says “Connect Instagram via Facebook to search locations” or “Connect Instagram via Facebook to add music”. See Instagram Post Options.

Check that an account is connected

Open Content Channels and look at the channel:

• Connected: a Connection field shows the account’s picture and Connected as @username. There’s no Connect button.
• Not connected: a Connect button shows next to Edit (for Owners and Admins only).

In the design editor, the Socials option on the Publish tab is greyed out until at least one account is connected. Its tooltip says “Connect a social account in your brand’s Info tab → Content Channels to publish directly”.

Disconnect an account

1. On Content Channels, open the ⋮ menu on the connected channel.
2. Click Disconnect followed by the platform name, like Disconnect Instagram.
3. Read the message: “Are you sure you want to disconnect @harborbakery? Scheduled posts to this account will be cancelled.”
4. Click Disconnect. You see “Account disconnected”.

What happens to posts you already scheduled:

• Every post scheduled to that account that hasn’t been published yet is cancelled for you and removed from the design’s Scheduled Posts list on the Publish tab.
• Cancelled posts aren’t published, even after you reconnect. To post them, connect the account again and schedule them again. See Post Status and Failures.
• Posts scheduled to your other connected accounts aren’t affected.

Posts that were already published stay on the platform. Disconnecting doesn’t delete anything from your social account.

To post again, click Connect on the channel.

Delete a channel

Open the ⋮ menu on the channel and click Delete Channel, then Delete.

If it’s the last channel for a connected platform, you’ll see “Disconnect Instagram first, then delete the channel” (with your platform’s name). Click Disconnect first, then delete the channel.

Ideas for using connected accounts

One brand, three platforms.

A yoga studio adds three channels: “Instagram” (@flowyoga), “Facebook” (Flow Yoga Studio) and “YouTube” (Flow Yoga). It connects all three. Now one design can be scheduled as an Instagram Reel, a Facebook Reel and a YouTube Short from the same Publish tab.

Plan for platforms you post to by hand.

A bookshop posts on Pinterest by hand. It adds a “Pinterest” channel so its posting schedule includes Pinterest pins, and downloads the designs to upload them itself.

Hand over a client’s account.

A freelancer finishes working with a client. They click Disconnect Instagram on the client’s brand, then cancel the posts that were still scheduled.

Tips for the best results

• Name channels after the platform and purpose, like “Instagram — Main” or “LinkedIn — Company page”. Names show in your posting schedules and in Quick Select.
• Switch Instagram to a Business or Creator account first. It’s the most common reason a connection fails.
• Approve every permission. On Instagram, skipping one makes the connection fail.
• Connect the account your brand actually posts from. Each platform takes one account per brand.
• Cancel scheduled posts before you disconnect, so you know exactly what won’t go out and the designs unlock.

Common questions

I don’t see a Connect button. Either the account is already connected (look for Connected as @username), the channel’s platform is Twitter/X, Pinterest or Website/Blog, which can’t be connected, or you’re a Member. Only Owners and Admins can connect and disconnect accounts.

I came back and saw “connection was not completed”. The connection screen was closed or something didn’t finish. Click Connect and go through all the steps again.

Instagram says my account must be professional. Personal Instagram accounts can’t be connected. Switch to a Business or Creator account in the Instagram app, then click Connect again.

Instagram says “No Instagram account was found”. Your Instagram isn’t linked to a Facebook Page. Link it, then click Connect again.

Can I connect two Instagram accounts to one brand? No. Each brand connects one account per platform. Use a separate brand for the second account.

Can Orsa post to X (Twitter), Pinterest or my website? No. You can add these as channels for planning, but publishing only works for Instagram, Facebook, LinkedIn, TikTok and YouTube.

I disconnected, but my design is still locked. Its scheduled post wasn’t cancelled. Open the design, go to Publish, and click Cancel Post on the post.

I deleted a channel, but the account still shows when I publish. Deleting a channel doesn’t disconnect the account. Add a channel for that platform again, then use Disconnect from its ⋮ menu.

The Socials option on the Publish tab is greyed out. No account is connected for this brand yet. Connect one on Content Channels.