What to do When Hootsuite Won’t Connect to Your Facebook Page

HootSuite is a great website that allows you to compile all your social media account updates, feeds, and activity into one simple dashboard. Having a social media presence is becoming more and more important to business owners, and many individuals who use social media purely for personal reasons find it tiresome to log into so many different accounts just to conduct standard social media posting, updating, and viewing.

HootSuite has made that laborious process simpler by allowing you to add feeds and accounts to one dashboard and conduct all of your social media activity from that dashboard, including scheduling posts. Sometimes, though, HootSuite users find themselves unable to connect to Facebook. Typically there are a few reasons this can happen and some simple fixes. Below is a brief overview of how to properly connect Facebook to HootSuite, typical Facebook connection problems, and how to fix them.

How to Connect Your Facebook Account to your HootSuite Dashboard

Connecting your Facebook account to your HootSuite dashboard is a relatively simple process that should take no more than a few minutes. Making sure you set up your Facebook connection correctly is the first step to fixing any problems you might be having. If you cannot connect your Facebook account to HootSuite, try re-connecting it using the steps below and see if that makes a difference.

• Log in to HootSuite.
• Select “settings” in the footer.
• Click on “social networks”, at the top.
• Click “add social network”, at the top right.
• Click on “Facebook”.
• Select “Connect with Facebook”.
• You will be taken to a second screen where you will again have to click “Connect with Facebook”.
• Enter your Facebook email and password and click “connect”.
• Click “finish”.

If you have completed all these steps in order, you have connected your Facebook account. However, many people are confused because they don’t see any updates and think that their account is not connected. This is inaccurate. In order to start seeing updates, you have to add Facebook to your dashboard by adding a column. To add a column, follow the steps below.

• Click “home” at the top of the screen.
• Click “add column” at the top right.
• Select “Facebook” from the drop-down entitled “select social network”
• Select “News Feed” under “type”.
• Click your profile image and make sure it has a check mark on it.
• Click “Create Column”.

You should now be able to see your Facebook news feed.

Common Facebook Problems and How to Fix Them

If you have completed the Facebook connection as described above, you’ve added a column, and you’re still having trouble (or you have trouble with any of the steps), there are several issues that could be the main cause. Fortunately, these issues all have relatively simple fixes. Look at the following issues and see if any of them apply to your current situation. By applying the quick fix, you may be able to solve the Facebook connection problem easily.

• Issue: Attempting to add a Facebook business account to your Hootsuite dashboard instead of a page.

Sometimes when people go to set up their dashboard they want to see the activity related to their Facebook business page instead of their personal page. You can easily do this, but adding a business account instead of the actual page will result in an error.

• The Fix: Follow Hootsuite’s guide to adding a business page – keyword being page – and you will be able to resolve the issue. Be sure you don’t skip all of the “allow” pages, otherwise it will not connect properly.

• Issue: Not being able to add or see Facebook pages or carry out Facebook functions from your dashboard.

• The Fix: You can remove HootSuite from your allowed apps on Facebook, and then re-connect from the HootSuite dashboard using the steps outlined at the beginning of this article. Note that when you remove the HootSuite apps and permissions from your Facebook account, however, all of your Facebook streams will stop working on Hootsuite until the permissions are set up again.

• Issue: Not being logged into a Facebook account with administrative access.

• The Fix: Always make sure you are logged in with an account for which you are the administrator. For instance, if you are trying to add the business page of a company you work for and post for, but you are not added as an administrator, you will run up against errors. Obtain administrative access for the Facebook pages you’re trying to add (through Facebook) and then try to connect.

• Issue: Not being logged in to Facebook.

• The Fix: It is important to make sure you log into Facebook when you attempt to connect your account. You should also log into Facebook itself once and then refrain from logging out, as you will experience issues if you aren’t logged in. You don’t have to go into your Facebook page every day because you will remain logged in until you click log out.

• Issue: Having a crowded web history.

• The Fix: If you haven’t cleared out your cookies in awhile (or your browsing history), you can run up against some problems using HootSuite. For a quick fix, try clicking Ctrl+F5. This will clear the immediate browsing history on your computer. To fully clear your history, go into the control panel and find the internet and web settings. You should be able to click “clear all cookies” and “delete browsing history” from there and clear out your system. Your entire computer should run faster after completing this quick fix.

• Issue: Having your Facebook settings set up in a way that restrict third-party access.

• The Fix: Even if you do everything right when you go to connect your Facebook account to HootSuite, you won’t be able to complete the process if your Facebook account is set up to restrict third-party access. You can easily fix this by going to your Facebook privacy settings and ensuring that you allow third-party access to your account. Make sure you do this for your personal account. Even if your business account doesn’t have any restrictions, your business page is run from your personal account, so it’s important to have the appropriate permissions set up from your personal account.

Going Forward

If you have exhausted all of the possibilities above and you are still running into issues, it might be a problem on either Facebook’s or HootSuite’s end. Try contacting HootSuite customer service to see if they are aware of any ongoing glitches. If that returns no results, do the same for Facebook. Sometimes Facebook undergoes routine updates which interfere with HootSuite. In most situations you can fix any connectivity or Facebook issues by simply re-connecting your account or accounts. If clearing your browser history, re-connecting your account, closing and re-opening your web browser, and restarting your computer all fail to fix the problem, it is almost certainly a problem with either Facebook or HootSuite. However, in almost every situation, going through the list of fixes above will solve your connectivity issues. Always keep a clear web browsing history and clean your computer out regularly so you can enjoy the best experience on HootSuite and other sites, as well.