Connecting your Social Channels on Zoho Social
Depending on the plan you choose, you can connect Zoho Social with up to 14 different social media channels. These include your Facebook Page, X Profile, Instagram Professional Account, LinkedIn Profile, LinkedIn Company Page, YouTube Channel, Google Business Profile listing, Pinterest Profile, Mastodon Channel, TikTok Profile, Threads Profile and Bluesky Profile. Other integrations in the Inbox module include WhatsApp Business account and Telegram Business account. Let's see how you can get started with this tool.
Once you've signed up for Zoho Social, a Portal is automatically created for you. This portal houses all of your brands. A brand represents an individual business entity or a single unit. A brand is created when you connect your first social media channel to Social.
Users from India will not be able to connect TikTok with Zoho Social due to restrictions imposed by the Government of India.
You must be an admin in your Zoho Social account to connect social channels.
Let's look at the steps involved in connecting your channels to Zoho Social.
Connect Instagram
To connect your Instagram account to Zoho Social, you need to satisfy some prerequisites:
- Your Instagram account must be a professional account.
- If you're connecting your Instagram account via Facebook, then it must be connected to a Facebook account, and in turn, a Facebook Page.
- If you're connecting Instagram through Facebook, the connected Facebook account should have admin permissions for the right Facebook Page linked to your Instagram account.
To change your Instagram account from personal to a professional account:
- Go to your Instagram mobile app and head over to Settings and Privacy under Profile.
- Under Account Type and Tools, tap Switch to professional account.

- Click Continue until you reach a screen that prompts you to choose what best describes you.
- Choose from the listed categories, then click Done.
- Choose your account type as Business on the next screen, then click Next.

- In order to switch to a professional account on Instagram and access features like ads, Facebook requires you to authenticate your Business Profile with a Facebook Page.
- Once you have signed in to the right Facebook account, finish the setup of your professional account by adding all the information needed to complete your profile, such as a website, bio, inviting friends, adding a post and boosting it, and adding your goals.
- Click Done.
To connect your Instagram professional account and Facebook account:
- On your Facebook dashboard, click your profile icon in the top-right corner.
- Select the Page you want to connect.
- Click your Page's profile icon in the top-right corner.
- Go to Settings & privacy -> Settings.
- Under Permissions, click Linked accounts.
- Click View next to Instagram.

- Click Connect account and connect your Instagram account to Facebook.
To connect your Instagram account via Facebook to Social:
- Go to Settings -> Social Channels and click Connect next to Instagram.

Alternatively, you can also click Connect Instagram from the initial brand set-up pop-up.

- Log in to the Facebook account connecting to your Instagram business account by providing the username and password.
- Choose the Instagram account that you want to connect to Social.

- Choose the type of your account.
- Click Add to add the account to Social.
- Click Done.
If your Instagram account isn't listed, then please check if you have admin permissions to proceed with connection.To connect your Instagram account directly (without involving a Facebook account) to Social:
- Go to Settings -> Social Channels and click Connect next to Instagram.
Alternatively, you can also click Connect Instagram from the initial brand set-up pop-up. - Click Connect via Instagram in the next pop-up to connect the account directly.

- In the new window, login to your Instagram account by entering the username and password.

- Read the permissions and click Allow to allow Zoho Social to access your Instagram account.
If you connect your Instagram account directly to Zoho Social, you'll be unable to view impressions and statistics for your Instagram Stories on Zoho Social due to API limitations.
Connect Facebook
You need to have admin privileges for the Facebook account connected to the Facebook Page in order to facilitate the connection.
- Go to Settings -> Social Channels and click Connect next to Facebook.
Alternatively, you can also click Connect Facebook from the initial brand set-up pop-up. - Log in to the Facebook account that has your Facebook Page connected, by providing the username and password.
If you've already logged in to Facebook, switch to or select the profile you want to connect. - Choose the right page you want to connect to Social from the list of pages associated with the account.

- Click Add to add the page to Social.
Connect LinkedIn
To connect your LinkedIn account to Social, you must have super admin privileges in your LinkedIn account.
You can connect your LinkedIn personal profile, company page and showcase pages to Zoho Social.
- Go to Settings -> Social Channels and click Connect next to LinkedIn.
Alternatively, you can also click Connect LinkedIn from the initial brand set-up pop-up. - Log in to your LinkedIn account by providing the username and password.
- Approve the sign-in notification send to the mobile device linked to your account.
- Read the permissions pop-up and click Allow to allow Zoho Social to access your LinkedIn account.
- Select the desired LinkedIn profile you want to add to Social. If you're connecting your LinkedIn page, select the page from the list of associated pages.

- Click Add.
Connect Google Business Profile
- Go to Settings -> Social Channels and click Connect next to Google My Business.
Alternatively, you can also click Connect Google My Business from the initial brand set-up pop-up. - Log in to the Google account that's associated with your Google Business Profile.
- Click Continue in the permissions pop-up and provide permissions for Zoho Social to access the Business Profile.
- Select the Business Profile from all the listings associated with the connected Google account.

- Click Add.
Connect YouTube
To access YouTube's advanced features through Zoho Social, you must verify your account before connection. Post verification, please reach out to us at
support@zohosocial.com to reconnect the channel from our end, so that you can start accessing the advanced features.
Disconnecting the channel from your end can lead to the loss of scheduled posts, and drafts content. To avoid this, please write to us to initiate a safe reconnection and to have uninterrupted access to the channel.
- Go to Settings -> Social Channels and click Connect next to YouTube.
Alternatively, you can also click Connect YouTube from the initial brand set-up pop-up. - Log in to the Google account that's associated with your YouTube channel. If you've already logged in to Google from Social, proceed with double verification from the connected mobile phone.
- Select the permissions you want to provide to Zoho Social for accessing your YouTube channel and click Continue.

- Select the channel you want to connect to this brand in Zoho Social.
- Click Add.
Connect Pinterest
- Go to Settings -> Social Channels and click Connect next to Pinterest.
Alternatively, you can also click Connect Pinterest from the initial brand set-up pop-up.
- Log in to your Pinterest account by providing the credentials or log in through Facebook or Google.
Authorize Zoho Social to access your boards, pins, and account details by clicking Give access.
Connect Mastodon
- Go to Settings -> Social Channels and click Connect next to Mastodon.
Alternatively, you can also click Connect Mastodon from the initial brand set-up pop-up. - Choose the appropriate server from the listed servers, or click Others and enter the server name.

- Click Connect Mastodon.
- Log in to your Mastodon account by providing the username and password.
- Authorize Zoho Social to access your profile after reading the permissions.

- If your Mastodon server is not listed while connecting with Zoho Social, choose the Other option and specify the Server Name. Refrain from entering the complete URL of the server. For example, if the server URL is https://travels.zylker/ just enter travels.zylker to connect the server with Zoho Social.

Connect TikTok
- Go to Settings -> Social Channels and click Connect next to TikTok.
Alternatively, you can also click Connect TikTok from the initial brand set-up pop-up. - Log in to your TikTok account by providing the credentials.
- Click Authorize to allow Zoho Social to access your account.

TikTok isn't available in India due to ongoing restrictions by the Indian government.
Connect X
- Go to Settings -> Social Channels and click Connect next to X.
Alternatively, you can also click Connect X from the initial brand set-up pop-up.
- Provide your X account's username and password.
- Click Authorize app to authorize Zoho Social to access your X profile.
Connect Threads
- You must have an Instagram account to create a Threads profile.
- Any changes to your Instagram username are also reflected in your Threads' username.
- Navigate to Settings -> Social Channels and click Connect next to Threads Profile.
Alternatively, you can also click the Threads icon in the Add more channels section under Brand Health to start connecting. - Log in to Threads by providing your Instagram username and password, or you can authorize to continue via Instagram.
- Click Edit access in the permissions pop-up to edit the permissions that you want to provide to Zoho Social.
- Go on to provide permissions for Zoho Social to access, publish, and monitor the stats of posts from the Threads profile by clicking Continue as <username>.

- The Access and display your Threads information and posts permission is mandatory, whereas the other permissions are optional. If you disable any of the other permissions, you won't be able to do the other functionalities like publishing or monitoring the post stats for the posts in Social.
- If you've already connected Threads to Zoho Social earlier, when you disconnect it and try connecting again, you won't be able to modify any permissions.

To modify existing permissions, you have to remove Zoho Social's permissions from your Threads account and authorize it again. Go to Settings -> Account -> Website permissions and click Remove next to Zoho Social.
Connect Bluesky
- Go to Settings -> Social Channels and click Connect next to Bluesky Profile.

Alternatively, you can also click the Bluesky icon in the Add more channels section under Brand Health to start connecting.

- Connect your Bluesky account by providing the username and app password.
- Click Connect Bluesky to connect your account to Social.

The app password generated from your Bluesky account is necessary for third-party apps like Zoho Social to access your account and its details.
Integrate WhatsApp
To connect your WhatsApp account to Zoho Social, you must have a Facebook account. This is because Meta requires your WhatsApp account to be connected to Facebook.
- Go to Settings -> Integrations.
Click Connect WhatsApp.
- Enter the credentials of your Facebook account and click Login.
- Authorize Zoho Social to access your Facebook and WhatsApp business account by clicking Continue as <username> in the first pop-up and Get Started in the next.

- Fill in your business information by choosing an existing business portfolio or creating a new portfolio to add your WhatsApp profile and number and click Next.

- Authorize Zoho Social to manage your WhatsApp account and conversations by clicking Continue.
- Click Finish to complete the setup.

- Select the phone number you want to link to Zoho Social and click Choose.
Integrate Telegram
- Go to Settings -> Integrations.
Click Connect Telegram.
- Follow the steps on the screen to connect to Telegram.
In the Telegram app, search for BotFather in the chat section.
- If you don't have an existing bot: Click /start -> type an send /newbot. Follow the instructions to create a new bot and obtain the token. Enter the token provided for this bot in the Bot Token field.
- If you have an existing bot: Type and send /mybots, choose the desired bot, select API Token, and enter the token in the Bot Token field.
- Provide a bot username along with the entered bot token.
- Click Connect.

- Go to Settings -> Social Channels.
- Click Disconnect next to the social channel that you want to disconnect from Social.

- Click Disconnect in the pop-up again to confirm.