What this integration does
Once connected, your Instagram Business account's Direct Messages flow straight into your SalesThumb Inbox — right alongside your SMS, email, web chat, and Facebook Messenger threads. Your team replies from one place instead of switching over to the Instagram app.
A quick note on how this connects: SalesThumb uses a manual access token paste rather than "Login with Instagram" style OAuth. That's because Meta's OAuth flow ("Login for Business") requires an app review process that only an account owner can complete on Meta's side. The paste-token approach skips that entirely — you generate your own long-lived token in the Meta developer console and hand it to SalesThumb directly. Instagram Business Messaging runs on the same underlying Meta Graph API as Facebook Messenger, so if you've already connected Facebook, this will feel familiar.
Before you start
You'll need:
- An Instagram Business or Creator account linked to a Meta App (same developer console flow used for the Facebook connector)
- A long-lived access token generated from that Meta App, plus your Instagram Business Account ID
- OWNER or ADMIN access on your SalesThumb account — connecting and disconnecting integrations is restricted to those two roles
Step 1: Get your access token from Meta
1. Log into the Meta for Developers console and open the Meta App tied to your Instagram Business account (the same app used for Facebook Messenger, if you've set that up). 2. Generate a long-lived access token for the Instagram account from the developer console. 3. Copy the token and your Instagram Business Account ID somewhere safe for a moment — you'll paste both into SalesThumb next.
Step 2: Connect in SalesThumb
1. Go to Settings → Integrations and find the Instagram card. 2. Click through to open the Instagram page. 3. Fill in the connect form: - Instagram Business Account ID - Access Token — the long-lived token you generated in Step 1 - Username (optional) — a friendly label so you can recognize the connection at a glance 4. Click Connect.
Your token is encrypted the moment you hit Connect and isn't displayed again after that — so double-check it before submitting. If you need to rotate or replace it later, just reconnect with the new token; SalesThumb refreshes the existing connection rather than creating a duplicate.
If your Instagram account is already linked to a Facebook Page you've connected through the one-click Meta OAuth option on the Facebook Messenger settings page, that flow can pick up and link Instagram automatically in the same step — worth checking there first if you don't want to generate a separate token by hand.
Step 3: Subscribe your webhook
After connecting, SalesThumb shows you a Webhook URL for Instagram. Copy it into your Meta App's Instagram settings and subscribe it to the `messages` event — that's what tells Meta to push new conversations to SalesThumb in real time.
Where messages show up
New Instagram DMs land in your Inbox automatically once the webhook is subscribed, tagged with an Instagram badge so you can tell the channel apart from SMS, email, and Facebook at a glance. Replying from the Inbox sends back through Instagram directly. As with Facebook Messenger, the Instagram send path is text-only — photo/file attachments aren't supported on this channel, so the attach option is hidden when you're replying to an Instagram thread.
Disconnecting
If you need to turn the connection off, go back to Settings → Integrations → Instagram and click Disconnect. You'll see a confirmation prompt warning that messages already pulled into the Inbox stay, but no new ones will sync.
Confirming that prompt marks the connection inactive — it does not delete the connection record or erase the stored token. Instagram stops pulling in new conversations immediately, but everything already in your Inbox stays put, and your connection history is preserved. When you're ready to reconnect, just paste your Instagram Business Account ID and access token again; SalesThumb reactivates that same connection rather than starting from scratch.
A note on demo mode
If you haven't connected a real account yet, the Instagram settings page and Inbox show clearly labeled demo data so you can see how the feature works before you set anything up in the Meta developer console. Once you paste in a real Business Account ID and access token and click Connect, demo mode turns off and everything switches to your live conversations.
Things to know
- Connecting and disconnecting Instagram is restricted to OWNER and ADMIN roles.
- There's one Instagram connection per shop — connecting again with new credentials updates that same connection rather than creating a second one.
- Replies can only go to someone who has already messaged your account — you can't start a new Instagram DM thread from SalesThumb, only reply within an existing conversation.
- Sending replies is rate-limited to keep the connection healthy under heavy volume; if you hit the limit you'll see a clear message telling you to try again shortly.
- Instagram replies are subject to your shop's monthly messaging spend cap, same as other channels — if that cap is reached, sending pauses until it resets.
- Attachments (photos, files) aren't supported when replying on Instagram — it's a text-only channel.
Frequently asked questions
Do I need a separate Meta App from my Facebook Messenger connection? No — Instagram Business Messaging runs on the same Meta Graph API infrastructure as Facebook Messenger, so you can generate the Instagram access token from the same Meta App you already set up for Facebook.
Can I connect Instagram without going through Facebook first? Yes. The manual token-paste flow on the Instagram settings page works on its own — you just need an Instagram Business or Creator account linked to a Meta App and a long-lived access token from that app.
What happens to old conversations if I disconnect? Nothing — disconnecting only stops new messages from syncing in. Every conversation already in your Inbox stays exactly where it is.
Can I send photos over Instagram DM from SalesThumb? Not currently. Instagram replies from the Inbox are text-only.
Why am I only seeing demo data on the Instagram page? That means no real account is connected yet. SalesThumb shows realistic sample conversations so the Inbox and Settings pages are fully browsable before you set anything up — paste in your real Business Account ID and access token to switch to live data.
Who can connect or disconnect Instagram? Only users with OWNER or ADMIN access on the shop. This is restricted because connecting binds your shop to an external credential with billing and abuse implications for the connected account.
Need help? Email info@roffik.com.