I setup a Zap to trigger on new posts on Instagram and post it in the Google Business profile. I connected to Instagram and the Google Business Profile. I ran a test and it looked like the process worked. Google did not approve the video for some reason. I’ve looked at the requirements and I think it meets the criteria. The videos are portrait as you would expect, not landscape. Would that cause it to not be approved. It doesn’t give any other information why it wouldn’t be.
Question
Share Instagram posts to Google Business - Not approved
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+14- Zapier Orchestrator & Solution Partner
Hi
Good question.
We would need to see screenshots with how your Zap steps are configured along with the encountered error.
- Beginner
Thanks, I’ve attached a few screenshots. It all looks pretty simple and seems to work. Google just doesn’t approve the test though.
+14- Zapier Orchestrator & Solution Partner
This Zap action step config doesn’t show any media being mapped from Step 1.
- Beginner
Do you mean the “Photo Source URL”? Doesn’t that get populated automatically when there are new posts on Instagram?
I don’t think that’s the problem as a test works. The test actually posts the last video to Google Business and it comes through okay. It just doesn’t get approved by Google and I’m trying to figure out why. I can see the video has been uploaded correctly in Google. It’s getting that far at least.
+14- Zapier Orchestrator & Solution Partner
You need to map dynamic variables between Zap steps to pass data between steps, similar to what you did for the Summary field.
- Beginner
I am not entirely sure what you mean. I’ve attached a screenshot of my options.
Which one(s) should I be including? I am pretty sure I can’t include the “Caption - Anti wrinkle Treatment” as that may get blocked by Google because of content restrictions. I don’t think you can advertise anything medical.
I thought the Summary was just metadata for the post. I didn’t realise something specific needs to be there.
Are you saying I need to add something into the “Photo Source URL” field? I see I have the same options there. Surely I shouldn’t hardcode anything in there? I would have thought it would be populated with the Instagram post.
Do you have any screenshots or more detailed instructions of what changes I need to make?
+6- Zapier Staff
Hi there
I’m jumping in to see if I can help!
Could you please try mapping the “Media URL” data to the “Photo Source URL” field in Google My Business step. Like so:
This way, the Zap will dynamically pass the media from Instagram every time the Zap runs. You can learn more about mapping fields here: https://help.zapier.com/hc/en-us/articles/8496343026701-Send-data-between-steps-by-mapping-fields
Hopefully, this helps!
- Beginner
Thanks, this is what it looks like now.
I’m unable to run another test as it says I’ve exceeded my quota. I’ll see if it runs automatically on it’s own.
I’ll let you know if it works. Thanks very much.
- Beginner
I was able to publish a new version and run a test but I’m getting this error now which is new.
- Beginner
If I remove the “Media Url” from the “Photo Source URL” it works. I don’t think the problem is on the Zapier side. As I mentioned at the start the video gets published on the Google Business profile. It just doesn’t get accepted for some reason and doesn’t explain why not.
+6- Zapier Staff
Thanks for trying my suggestion out
You might be running into a bug here. I’d recommend reaching out to our Support Team since they have the correct troubleshooting tools to look closer at the Zap and its logs and determine the cause of this issue.
You can reach our Support Team here: https://zapier.com/app/get-help
+8- Zapier Staff
I can see from the logs a bit more detail on that failure. It says it couldn’t fetch the URL. Are you sure those instagram images are publicly available?
+6- Zapier Staff
Hi there
it looks like you’ve reached out to our Support Team about this and they replied yesterday with a suggestion. I’ll share details of the suggestion here in case it’s helpful:
I've had a look at the Zap setup, and to be upfront, I'm not an expert in using Google My Business (GMB) but going by the field descriptions, it looks like you need to put an image URL in the "Photo Source URL" field. I'm not sure if it will allow a video in that field.
As for the "Summary" field, it looks like it expects text content, instead of a video URL, but since you mentioned that the video was sent regardless, I can't dispute it.
In any case, here's how I think it should be set up ideally.
If you’ve got any questions regarding their suggestion it would be best to continue the conversation with them over email. If you can’t locate their reply I’d recommend searching your spam/junk folder or searching your inbox for any emails from zapier.com in case. Sometimes their emails can end up in the spam/junk folder by accident.
+11- Community Manager
Hi there
I’m so sorry we missed your message here previously. Hopefully you’ve since been able to figure this out?
If not, I’ll share the screenshot from that Support ticket Ken referenced here in case it’s useful:
Hope that helps. If you have any further questions or if there's anything else we can help with do let us know! 🙂
What is the location supposed to be?
It’s not drawing anything from Instagram (whether I have a location on a post or not) so I’ve manually put my city and state in there.
When I get to the test portion, it says this right now: “Failed to create a post in Google Business Profile
Oops! Something went wrong. Google may be having issues with their API - please try again later.
Click on the Troubleshoot tab below or learn more in our help center.”
+6- Zapier Staff
Hi
The “Location” field is not a field for the city and state you’re suppose to select a “Location” in the dropdown field. Can you check to see if the account connected in Zapier is an Agency Account: https://support.google.com/business/answer/7353903?hl=en
Locations do not seem to show if the account connected in Zapier is an Agency Account. If this is the case, you can create a new individual user in Google My Business and make that user an Owner of the location. Connecting in Zapier as this new account should provide access to the Locations.
Kindly give it a try and let me know how it goes? I'll keep an eye out for your response!
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