2 min read
Social media and Google
Sales channels → Social media puts your products on Instagram, Facebook, WhatsApp and Google Shopping, and keeps them in sync: new products, prices, stock and photos. Shoppers tap a product and buy on your own store, so every order arrives in Orders as usual.
How the channels connect
| Channel | Signs in with | What happens |
|---|---|---|
| Instagram, Facebook, WhatsApp | Facebook (your Meta business) | We make one catalog for your store in your Meta business. All three read it. WhatsApp shows it on your business profile. |
| Google (Merchant Center) | Your products go to your Merchant Center account for free listings and Shopping ads. |
You need:
- Meta: a Meta business account (Meta Business Suite). For Instagram, an Instagram business account linked to it. For WhatsApp, a WhatsApp Business account.
- Google: a Merchant Center account (merchants.google.com) with your website verified.
Connect a channel
- Open Sales channels → Social media and pick the channel.
- Before you connect lists products the platform may reject, such as no photo, no description or no barcode. Fixing them first means more products get listed.
- Click Connect, pick All active products, and click Continue with Facebook or Continue with Google.
- Sign in and allow access. You come back to the channel page, which says it’s connected and the first sync has started.
If you already connected Facebook for one channel, connecting Instagram or WhatsApp uses the same account straight away, without signing in again.
If you see Request access instead of Continue with…, that platform isn’t switched on for your store yet. Send the request and we’ll email you when it’s ready.
Sync
Your catalog is sent again every 6 hours. Each time, only products that changed are sent, and products you archive are removed from the platform. To send changes now, open the channel, click Manage, then Sync now.
The bar at the top of the channel page shows where things stand:
| Status | Meaning |
|---|---|
| First sync | Sending your catalog for the first time |
| Syncing | Sending changes now |
| Connected | Up to date; it shows when it last synced |
| Error | The platform refused something; its own words are shown. It tries again at the next sync |
| Access expired | The platform no longer accepts the saved sign-in (Facebook’s lasts about 60 days). Click Reconnect |
| Paused | You paused it; nothing new is sent |
| Disconnected | You disconnected it |
Pause or disconnect
On the channel page, click Manage:
- Pause listings stops sending changes. The platform keeps what it already has. Click Resume listings to sync again.
- Disconnect stops the channel. Products already on the platform stay there until you remove them on the platform. When no channel uses Facebook or Google any more, the saved sign-in is deleted.
Orders from these channels
Orders that came from Instagram, Facebook, WhatsApp or Google Shopping show via Instagram (and so on) on the order page, and are counted on the channel page.