The Credentials tab with the Platform Admin contains location level authorizations with third-party sites that are necessary for managed business listings, responding to review sites, and/or posting to social media accounts.
Connection vs. Credential
The platform offers two authentication types for most sources: Connection and Credentials.
- Credentials – Credentials refer to the username and password used to authenticate to a third-party site. If no API connection is available, the platform relies on credentials to perform various posting tasks. Because those authentication requests must secure the credentials, the task may take additional time.
- Connection – A connection uses a secure access method via OAuth, so that the credentials themselves are not relied upon for each request. After a connection is established, posting tasks from the platform result in a faster response time. Not all source sites are available for a connection.
You may find it easiest to provide all of your credentials to your Customer Success Manager, who can then either save them within the platform on your behalf or use them to set up connections where available. Because some business pages are often set up to be managed with personal user credentials (such as Facebook), your CSM can share workarounds with you.
If you don’t have the credentials for a page, you may need to claim the page. Your CSM can help you verify and claim locations. The claiming process varies by listing site. For Google My Business (GMB), we can bulk verify for businesses with 10+ locations or claim pages through our GMB Agency Account. Alternatively, if you do not know the email address associated with a location’s GMB page, we may be required to request a post card via postal service as a last resort. The post card contains a code that allows us to manually claim individual pages.
The preferred method of establishing a connection with GMB is through the Reputation.com Agency Account. This document contains instructions and FAQs around the process.
Credential Sources
Best practice is to add connections for all available sources at each location, as well as credentials. Connections are always preferred whenever possible.
To add a connection:
Instagram requires a different setup process. For all other applications, use the steps below.
- From the top right corner of the platform, click Settings
.
- From the left navigation, click Credentials.
- Click Add Data > Connection > [available source].
A new browser window opens with the authentication steps required by the source site. Select the profile to use (may require entering credentials) and agree to terms and services for using the API.
The connection is added under the selected source site. Any locations under your platform account are automatically matched with the locations associated with the selected source profile.
If no locations are associated with the profile, you may need to add them to the source profile. (This example uses Google. The process for each source site vary.)
To add credentials:
- From the top right corner of the platform, click Settings
.
- From the left navigation, click Credentials.
- Click Add Data > Credential.
- Click Add > Credential.
- Modify the following settings:
- Source: Choose the source for which you want to add credentials. Once you choose the source, that option is removed from the screen.
- Username: Enter the username to log into the selected source site.
- Password: Enter the password to log into the selected source site.
- Status: – Default is “Valid.” Choose “Invalid” to manually flag the credentials as invalid if they require your further attention, perhaps if these were your last known credentials.
- Location: Select the location to associate with these credentials.
- Verification Details: Click to add additional verification details that may be required for first-time login, such as phone number, email address, or security questions that are associated with the selected profile.
- Click Save.
The credential is added under the selected source site. To edit the credentials, click into the source site, and then click within the Valid credentials column. Filter the list by the associated location, and click Edit.
Credential Health
The Credential Health grid lists all sources that are available for connection (columns) and the status for each location (rows). Use this grid to quickly identify which location(s) need attention.