Publishing to Facebook & Instagram
What you'll learn
- How m18t publishes content natively to Facebook and Instagram.
- How to select channels and publish, retry, update, and sync engagement.
- What Instagram requires, and which platforms aren't wired up yet.
The concept: publish from the same row you wrote in
You wrote the post in m18t. You shouldn't have to re-paste it into Meta Business Suite to ship it. m18t publishes natively to Facebook and Instagram from the same content row — single images and multi-image carousels — and records the result, plus engagement counts, on that row.
Switch brands and the channels re-shard to the next brand's pages and accounts, using that brand's own connected credentials. Same screen, different brand's social presence.
Be clear on scope: Facebook, Instagram, and LinkedIn are the native social destinations today (see Connect LinkedIn). TikTok, X, and Threads are not natively wired — if you select a channel for one of those, m18t tells you so instead of pretending. Those platforms are roadmap.
Before you publish: connect the channels
Publishing needs two things in place per brand:
- A connection to Meta with a valid token, set up on the connections page. See Connect a Facebook Page and Connect an Instagram Account. Tokens are stored in the encrypted vault.
- A channel for the page or account you want to post to (set up in Channels).
How to publish
- Open the content piece and go to the Publishing tab (it appears after the first save).
- In the Channels section, select the channels you want to publish to. A grey dot next to a platform means it can't publish yet.
- Attach your media on the Media tab if the post needs an image (Instagram does — see below).
- In the Social Media Publishing section, each selected channel has its own card. Click Publish on a channel to send it. Each channel publishes and reports independently.
- To send everything you've selected at once, use Publish all pending.
After publishing, a channel card shows its status and engagement counts (likes, comments, and — for Facebook — shares). Use Sync Metrics to refresh those counts.
Common variations
Retrying a failed channel. If a channel errors, its button becomes Retry. Fix the cause (often a token issue) and retry that channel.
Updating or re-publishing. Once a channel is published, its button becomes Update (where the platform supports editing the post) or Re-publish. Re-publishing posts again, so you'll be asked to confirm.
Checking what happened. The Publishing tab has a Recent Activity log of pushes, and View All Logs opens the full log. When a publish fails, the error is recorded there.
Non-wired platforms. If you select a channel for a platform m18t can't publish to yet, its card is dimmed and shows "Publishing for {platform} isn't wired up yet." That's the honest state — those platforms are roadmap.
FAQ
Why did my Instagram publish fail with no image? Instagram requires media. A text-only post will be rejected by the Meta API. Add an image (or a carousel of 2–10 images) on the Media tab, then publish.
Can I publish to TikTok / X / Threads? Not natively today — those are roadmap. m18t will show "Publishing for {platform} isn't wired up yet" if you select such a channel. Facebook, Instagram, and LinkedIn are the native social destinations.
Why is the Publish button disabled or the channel greyed out? Either the platform isn't wired up yet (grey dot / amber note), or the channel's connection/token isn't valid. Check the connection and the vault key.
How do I see likes and comments? After a channel is published, its card shows engagement counts. Click Sync Metrics to refresh them from Meta.
Does selecting a channel publish it automatically? No. Selecting a channel just stages it. You still press Publish (or Publish all pending). There's no auto-publish — see Scheduling vs. Publishing.