Instagram is one of the most popular social media platforms designed for sharing photos and videos. It’s known for its visually-oriented nature, offering various filters and creative tools for enhancing images and videos, making it a versatile platform for influencer marketing and brand promotion.

Screenly has made it easy to display your latest Instagram posts on a digital sign. This can increase brand visibility by reaching a broader audience, creating brand recognition, and boosting social media engagement.

There is more than one method to display your latest Instagram posts on Screenly’s digital signs but we recommend using the Edge App approach, since it is the most secure method. Once it has been set up, our Instagram edge app is programmed to fetch the latest two posts from your Instagram account and display them on the digital sign.

Using Edge App

The cornerstone of this approach leverages the security features in our Edge Apps. This means that the sensitive data (i.e. Instagram access token and credentials) are never exposed to the browser, and encrypted using the TPM (on the Screenly Player Max).

Using the Instagram basic display API to get access token

In order to use our Instagram edge app, you’re going to need an access token for Instagram Basic Display API. It is used to authenticate against the Instagram account and fetch the user’s info and media.

To get this access token, log in to your Meta Developer account or create an account if you don’t have one. After logging in to your account, click on “My Apps” at the top-right of the page.

In the Apps page, click on “Create App”. After clicking on “Create App”, scroll down the list of app types provided, select “None”, then click “Next”.

Fill in the form provided with any app name you’d like to use, enter your email address, then click on “Create app” at the bottom right of the form. You may be asked to confirm your password before moving to the next step.

The next step is to add a product. You should already be on the products page but if not, click on “Add Product” from the left side-menu. Then scroll to “Instagram Basic Display” and click the “Set up” button below the icon. After clicking on “Set up”, you’ll see a bunch of permissions and use-cases, scroll down and click “Create New App”.

The next step is to add an Instagram Tester. To do this, click on “Basic Display” from the Products section in the left side-menu, scroll down to the “User Token Generator” section, and click on “Add or Remove Instagram Testers”.

From the pop-up modal on your screen, select “Instagram Tester” from the options provided, type in your Instagram username and click on “Add” at the bottom right of the pop-up modal.

An invite would be sent to your Instagram account. To activate it, log into your Instagram account, open “Settings”, click on “Apps and Websites”, then click on “Tester Invites”. Proceed to click the “Accept” button to activate the Instagram tester account.

Now that you’ve activated your Instagram tester account, you can now generate a user access token. From the left side-menu, click on “Basic Display” from the “Products” section in the left side-menu, scroll down to the “User Token Generator” section and click on “Generate Token” for the Instagram tester account you would like to use.

You’ll be prompted to log in to your Instagram account again, log in and select “Allow” when prompted to do so. A token will be generated for you. Copy the token to your clipboard and store it somewhere as you will need it to set up the Instagram edge app.

For more information on how to use the Instagram Basic Display API, read their docs here.

Configuring your Edge App

First, install the Screenly CLI. Then proceed to clone or download the Playground repository.

$ cd edge-apps/instagram
$ screenly edge-app create --name Instagram --in-place
$ screenly edge-app upload

With the Edge App uploaded, it’s time to configure it. This is where we need to use the token generated from the steps earlier in this article.

To set the token, we again use the CLI. The Instagram token is a “setting”, so we’ll be setting the secret:

$ screenly edge-app secret set instagram_api_token="<MY_META_TOKEN>"

When you are done, it’s time to promote this Edge App. We promote the revision so that we can schedule it in the web interface:

$ screenly edge-app version promote --latest

You should now have an asset named “Instagram (stable)” in your web console.

Setting up your digital sign with Screenly

To set up your digital sign with Screenly, first purchase a digital signage player. A digital signage player is a small physical device that renders content to your TV or monitor - Screenly offers the Screenly Player and Screenly Player Max. You can then pair your digital signage player and associated screen to your online Screenly account.

The next step is to log in to your Screenly account here. After logging in to your Screenly account, click the “Playlist” tab from the left side-menu. If you wish to add a new playlist, click the “+ New Playlist” button on the top right of the new screen that loads. To edit the new playlist or a previously existing playlist, click on the name of the playlist you wish to edit from the list of playlists.

Within the playlist, click the “+” icon in the Content section. From there, you will see a popup that will allow you to add the Instagram edge app to the playlist from your content collection.

In the new “Add Content to Playlist” popup, find your Instagram edge app content and click the “+” button next to the file. Then, click the “Done” button below.

You will then see your Instagram edge app in the playlist’s content section. Next to the content listing, change the duration to the amount of time you want the edge app to display on your screen. Be sure to click “Save” on the bottom right.

To assign the playlist containing the Instagram edge app content to a screen, click on the “Plays On” input field in the “Edit Playlist” section.

A dropdown menu will appear containing all your screens and group labels. Select the screen(s) or group(s) of screens you would like the playlist to show on. Make sure to click “Save” at the bottom of the dropdown after selecting the screen(s) or group(s) of screens you want.

Once you assign the playlist containing the Instagram edge app content to your screen(s) or group(s) of screens, your digital signage content will display on your digital sign in just minutes.

Getting started with Screenly

If you do not have a Screenly account already, you can get started with a 14-day free trial account. We do not require a credit card for a trial account. Take a look inside, add the Instagram edge app, and set up your first screen with a digital signage player.

If you have any trouble getting your Instagram posts to display on your screen, contact Screenly Support at any time. We are always happy to help!