For gas to show numbers from Facebook, Instagram, YouTube or from ad accounts, it first has to get access to them. Access is set up in two steps, and mixing those steps up is the most common reason why someone still sees empty pages after signing in to the platform. This article explains how the whole linking process works. Detailed guides for individual platforms are in the other articles in this category.
Linking has two steps
1. Linking the service. You log in to your account on the platform (Meta, Google, Pinterest, TikTok or Sklik) and allow gas access. That way gas finds out which pages, profiles, channels and ad accounts you manage under that login. A linked service belongs to your user account.
2. Connecting specific profiles. From the list that was found, you pick the items to be tracked and assign them to a customer account. Only this step decides whose data appears in that customer account.
Anyone who does only the first step is looking at an empty application. Logging in to the platform on its own tracks nothing until you select a specific page, profile or ad account and assign it to a customer account.
Which services can be linked
One login usually covers several networks at once:
- Meta: Facebook pages, Instagram profiles and Meta Ads ad accounts.
- Google: YouTube channels, Google Ads accounts and Google Analytics properties. Before logging in you tick which of them you use on the account, and you then confirm the same services on the Google consent screen.
- Pinterest: the profile and the ad accounts within a single link.
- TikTok: the profile.
- Sklik: ad accounts. Sklik is the only one that is not linked through a redirect; instead you paste a token into gas that you generate in the Sklik administration.
Security of linking
gas never asks you for your platform password. You log in directly on the login screen of that service and gas only receives permission to read the data you agreed to. No password is stored anywhere in gas.
You can withdraw access at any time in two ways: in gas by choosing Unlink account next to the relevant link, or directly in the settings of that platform, where you manage allowed applications. Unlinking in gas leaves the data on the platform servers untouched.
Before you start
- On the platform you must have your own access to the page, profile or ad account. gas will not open up more than you are entitled to.
- In the customer account you want to assign the profile to, you need the Administrator or User role. The Viewer role cannot connect profiles. Only an Administrator may unlink a profile that is already connected.
- Ad platforms (Meta Ads, Google Ads, Sklik, Pinterest Ads) have to be part of the customer account subscription. The number of tracked profiles per network is limited by the plan.
When a customer account cannot be selected in the picker, gas states the reason right next to it: No permission, Limit reached, Feature not in plan or Invalid license.
Steps
- Open Settings → Connected services. On the Dashboard page there is a tile for each platform, with the number of already linked accounts under its name.
- Click the platform tile and start linking the account. If you have no service linked yet, gas shows the text "You have no linked accounts." above the tiles, together with the Connect first account option with icons of all platforms, which starts the linking straight away.
- Log in on the screen of that platform and confirm the requested permissions. When you are done, the platform returns you to gas.
- In the list, select the specific page, profile, channel or ad account. You can leave the name field empty; otherwise the item will appear in gas under the name you enter.
- In the Customer account field, select the accounts the profile should be made available to and confirm your selection with the Connect page button (for other types Connect profile or Connect account).
- Repeat steps 4 and 5 for every further profile or ad account.
What happens next
After you confirm, gas saves the connection and sends you a confirmation notification, for example "The page My Brand was successfully linked." For a newly connected profile it also offers to add it to your scheduled reports. The count on the tile in the Dashboard goes up immediately.
Data, however, is not downloaded immediately. Downloading runs in the background several times a day, so you will see the first numbers only after the next download, and the history is filled in gradually.
An overview of all profiles a customer account tracks is in Settings → Customer account → Linked accounts (this section is available to the Administrator role). The table is grouped by network and for each item shows Account name, Who links the account (the e-mail of the user whose link supplies the data) and the Default column. Use the star to mark the default profile of a network, which the application offers first; drag a row to change the order of profiles within one network.
Connected profiles are visible to all users of the customer account. The link to the service itself stays tied to the user account of the person who logged in to the platform.
Common problems
The application is still empty even though I linked the service
The second step is missing. Open the platform in Settings → Connected services and connect the specific profiles. Then in Settings → Customer account → Linked accounts check that they are assigned to exactly the customer account you are looking at.
An orange warning "One account requires attention" appears on the tile
Access to the platform stopped being valid, typically after a password change or after permissions were withdrawn. The affected account has the Paused label, and clicking it offers Reconnect. Just log in again and the profiles are relinked automatically.
A profile has the Missing permission label
The link itself works, but gas lost the permission for this particular profile. Use Reconnect and allow the profile again in the platform dialogue.
The Who links the account column shows Nobody
The profile is assigned to the customer account, but there is no live service link behind it, so no data is downloaded. Someone on the team who has access on the platform has to link the service again.
Detailed guides for Meta, Google, Pinterest, TikTok and Sklik, as well as how to renew expired access and unlink a service, are in separate articles in this category.