Connect your channels

A channel is a social account connected to a workspace. OmniSocials publishes to your channels and reads their comments, messages and analytics. This article covers which platforms you can connect, how to connect a channel, and how to fix a connection that stops working.

Supported platforms

Each workspace connects one account per platform. LinkedIn has two: one LinkedIn profile and one LinkedIn Page.

• Instagram: posts, stories and reels
• Facebook (a Facebook Page): posts, stories and reels
• LinkedIn Profile: posts and carousels
• LinkedIn Page: posts and carousels
• Threads: posts and threads
• YouTube: Shorts
• TikTok: videos and photo posts
• Pinterest: pins and carousels
• Bluesky: posts and threads
• Mastodon: posts and threads
• X: posts and threads
• Google Business Profile: updates, events and offers
• Telegram: channel and group posts
• Discord: posts to one channel of your server

Platforms that are still in progress show as icons in a Coming soon row at the end of the channels list. You can't connect them yet.

Before you connect

Check these requirements first, so the connection works the first time:

• Instagram needs a Business or Creator account.
• Facebook needs a Facebook Page where you have admin permissions.
• LinkedIn Page needs you to be an admin of the page.
• YouTube needs a YouTube channel on the Google account you sign in with.
• Google Business Profile needs at least one Business Profile location on the Google account.
• Telegram needs you to be an admin of the channel or group. In a group, your admin rights need to include adding members.
• Discord needs the Manage Server permission in the server for Continue with Discord. Without it, connect with a webhook URL of the channel.

To connect or disconnect channels, your role needs the Manage social channels permission. Owners and admins have it.

Connect a channel

You can connect channels in three places:

• In step 3 of onboarding, Connect your socials. Click a platform's tile to connect it. Connect at least one account, then click Continue.
• From the sidebar: click the workspace name at the top, then click the channels button under the workspace (it shows the channel icons, or Add your first channel). The Channels window opens for the current workspace.
• In Settings: under Organisation, click Workspaces, click a workspace and find Social channels on its General tab.

The Channels window and the Settings page show the same list in three parts: Needs attention (connections that expired), Connected and Add a channel.

To connect a channel:

1. Under Add a channel, click the platform. Each tile shows what you can post there, for example Posts, Stories & Reels.
2. If the platform asks for one more step first, such as a sign-in method or a server, complete it in the same window.
3. Sign in to the platform and allow the permissions OmniSocials asks for.
4. Back in OmniSocials, the Channels window opens with the new account marked Just added, and a message says which account connected.

Some platforms ask for one more choice. Each choice opens in the Channels window, with a back arrow to the list:

• Facebook asks how you sign in: Sign in with Instagram (marked Recommended, for a Page linked to an Instagram Business or Creator account) or Sign in with Facebook (for a Facebook Page you manage as an admin). Click Continue with Instagram or Continue with Facebook. If your sign-in gives access to more than one Page, choose the Page in Choose a Facebook Page.
• LinkedIn Page asks you to pick the company page in Choose a LinkedIn Page. LinkedIn Profile connects your own profile.
• YouTube asks you to pick a channel in Choose a YouTube channel if your Google account manages more than one.
• Google Business Profile asks you to pick the location in Choose a Google Business location if the Google account manages more than one.
• Bluesky asks for your Bluesky handle, for example username.bsky.social. Enter it and click Continue.
• Mastodon asks for the Server your account is on, for example mastodon.social, or pick one of the suggested servers. Click Continue.
• Telegram opens the OmniSocials bot in Telegram. Press Start, tap Choose a channel or Choose a group, and pick your chat. In a channel, Telegram adds the bot as an admin that can post. In a group, the bot joins as a member. See Telegram.
• Discord opens Connect Discord. Click Continue with Discord, then choose your server and a text channel on Discord's own screen and press Authorize. Or click Use a webhook URL instead and paste the URL of a webhook you made in Discord. See Discord.

The onboarding step shows every platform as a tile instead:

To learn more about a platform, see its article in the Integrations section, for example Instagram or LinkedIn.

Manage connected channels

Each connected account is a row under Connected, with its profile picture, its handle or name, and the platform below it, for example Facebook Page. Status lines follow on the same line, such as Instagram mentions on. The ... menu at the end of the row has:

• Open on and the platform, to open the account on the platform.
• Reconnect, to sign in again and renew the connection.
• Disconnect, to remove the channel from the workspace.

Reconnect an expired channel

A platform can end a connection, for example when its access expires or is revoked. When that happens:

• The channel moves to Needs attention at the top of the list. Its row says Expired with the date, how many posts wait for the channel, and has a Reconnect button.
• The workspace dropdown shows an amber ring on the channel's icon, Reconnect next to the workspace's channels and how many channels need a reconnect. The workspace picture at the top of the sidebar gets an amber dot.

Click Reconnect and sign in to the platform again. Reconnect as soon as you can, because scheduled posts can't publish to an expired channel. After a successful sign-in, the row is marked Reconnected.

Instagram, LinkedIn Profile and LinkedIn Page connections also show Expires in and a number of days when the connection is close to expiring. Click Reconnect in the row's ... menu to keep it connected.

Disconnect a channel

1. In the channel's row, click ... and then Disconnect.
2. Read the confirmation. If scheduled posts still go to this channel, it tells you how many. Disconnecting turns the channel off in those posts, so they won't publish there.
3. Click Disconnect.

Posts that are already published aren't affected, and you can connect the channel again at any time.

Disconnecting Discord never deletes the webhook in your Discord server. Delete it in Discord under Server Settings > Integrations > Webhooks if nothing else uses it.

Troubleshooting

• You don't have permission to manage social channels: ask your organization's owner or an admin for a role with the Manage social channels permission.
• X keeps asking you to log in: open x.com in another tab and sign in there first, using your X password instead of Sign in with Google. Then come back and click X under Add a channel again.
• The wrong Instagram account connects: log out of Instagram on instagram.com or switch to the right account there, then connect again.
• YouTube says the Google account has no channel: create a channel on YouTube and connect again, or sign in with another Google account.
• Facebook or YouTube reports missing permissions: connect again and keep every permission box checked in the platform's window.

Up next

• Create a post
• Content calendar
• Social Inbox