Are you looking to embed an Instagram feed on your website?
If the answer's yes, you are in the right place.
You can use Instagram's embed function to add individual images on your website, but for most busy marketers, that's too time-consuming.
This blog post will guide you through a few simple steps to create an automatically-updating feed of Instagram images mentioning a hashtag - or posted by certain Instagram Business accounts. You can embed an Instagram feed on any website, and the setup doesn't require any technical skills.
Here's how to embed an Instagram feed on a website:
- Create a free trial account with Flockler
- Connect your Instagram account
- Create a feed based on hashtags or posts by specific Instagram Business accounts
- Add the embed code to your website
1. Create a free trial account with Flockler
Start by signing up for the 14-Day Free Trial with Flockler. You don't need a credit card to sign-up, and we provide you with access to the full product to test how to set up Instagram feeds and display them on your website. There's no Flockler branding displayed on your website, and the free trial account works just like the full product. We'll support you along the way too!
2. Connect your Instagram account
To gather content from Instagram by hashtag, or images and videos by any Instagram Business account, you will need a personal Facebook account. The Facebook account needs to be an admin of at least one Facebook Page, and that Page will need to have an Instagram Business account connected in the Facebook Page settings. Both Facebook Pages and Instagram Business accounts are free to set up, and you don't need to work for a specific company to do that. If you aren't an admin of any Page just yet, you can create a Facebook Page and an Instagram Business account for your project.
For example, I'm an admin of Flockler's Facebook Page and Instagram Business account:
After connecting your account, you can gather hashtag campaign feeds or display content by any Instagram Business account. You don't need to be an admin of any specific company to embed an Instagram feeds on a website.
We don't store any data or content from your personal Facebook account. Facebook simply wants to make sure that they can securely keep track of third-party applications like Flockler that access Facebook and Instagram content. Your Facebook account is only used as a key to open the access to public FB Pages and Instagram content, and you're in full control of what is displayed on your website.
3. Create a feed based on hashtags or posts by specific Instagram Business accounts
After connecting your account, it's time to select what your Instagram feed displays on a website.
With Flockler, you can let the automation do the work for you – especially if you are looking to gather and embed your company's Instagram posts. The feed will automatically refresh every 5-15 minutes - making sure your website visitors always see the latest content.
Flockler's bot will assist you in the process of setting up the automation. With Flockler, the Instagram feed on your website can include a mix of images and videos:
- Mentioning hashtags
- Published by individual Instagram Business accounts
- Mentioning or tagging your Business account (admin access required)
Also, you can embed Stories from your Instagram Business account.
You can add one or multiple content sources and display them in the Instagram feed embedded on your website. If you create hashtag feeds, we recommend you moderate the content before displaying on a public website. Even if you decide to display all the content without moderation, you can always hide unwanted posts from the feed. You can also set up blacklists to block certain users or keywords.
To complement the automated process, you can add any public Instagram image or video to your Instagram feed by adding a link to it on Flockler's Content tab.
4. Add the embed code to your website
Embedding an Instagram feed on your website doesn't require any technical skills. Flockler provides an embed code that you can add to your website through your content management system (e.g., WordPress, Squarespace, Wix, etc.). All modern content management systems allow embeds from third party services like Flockler - but if you aren't entirely sure how to embed Flockler's code to your platform, don't hesitate to get in touch with us.
The embed code automatically creates a layout for your feed. With Flockler, you can pick from three layout options to embed an Instagram feed on your website:
- Wall
- Grid
- Carousel
Additionally, Flockler's Slideshow view comes with a URL and is perfectly suited for large display screens at the office or events. For more inspiration, learn why every events needs a social wall.
Wall
The wall layout is perfect for organisations that would like to embed an Instagram feed and display content from other social media channels in the same place too. The wall layout works well with text content too.
If you are looking to use the wall layout for the Instagram feed, one of the key advantages is that the ratio of images, videos, and Stories can vary, and all the content is displayed in full.
One of the fantastic examples of this is the Instagram wall on GoPro's Awards page. The Instagram feed on their website highlights the best entries from their community of GoPro fans and influencers.
Grid
Grid layout supports all types of social media content, but it's the most natural choice for companies to create a similar look & feel to the Instagram profile view. All the images and videos are displayed in a square ratio.
For inspiration, take a look at the elegant Instagram grid on Hapag-Lloyd Cruises' homepage. The Instagram feed displays the entries by Hapag-Lloyd's account, alongside authentic images by their customers enjoying the unforgettable moments on cruise trips.
Carousel
The carousel layout for the Instagram feed is the perfect choice for the homepage and especially for the mobile view, where the vertical space is sometimes limited. The website visitors can flick through the images to left and right, and they can quickly move further down the page and skip the element if they are looking for something else.
On GoPro's Awards page, the mobile view shows the carousel layout instead of a wall.
With your Flockler subscription, you can use all of the layouts to embed an Instagram feed on your website. We don't limit the number of layouts you can create, URLs where Flockler can be embedded, or even your Instagram feed's page views. We believe it's a win-win for you and us if you embed Instagram feeds on every page and service relevant to you and your audience.
You can embed Instagram feeds to any website or digital service. Here are detailed tutorials for some of the most popular platforms:
- Instagram feed to WordPress
- Instagram feed to Shopify
- Instagram feed to Wix
- Instagram feed to Squarespace
- Instagram feed to Webflow
- Instagram feed to Drupal
- Instagram feed to TYPO3
If you are looking to add Flockler to any other platform and need help‚ don’t hesitate to contact the Flockler support team via live chat on our website.
Why brands embed an Instagram feed on a website
Based on my experience, there are three reasons why brands embed Instagram feeds on their websites:
- Boost engagement on your website
- Drive conversions and sales
- Increase the number of followers on Instagram
All of those goals should be in the heart of every marketing team's plans but let's take a closer look at how an embedded Instagram feed can help you achieve them.
1 Boost engagement on your website
Images and videos have always conveyed a story in a far more powerful way than written text. These days websites are visual but it's still often difficult to display a feed of fresh and authentic images.
That's where an Instagram feed embedded on a website can help - with the automation tools of Flockler to do the hard work. Whether you are displaying the latest images of your Business account, or a curated hashtag feed, the stream of fresh and automatically updated pictures and videos helps keep your website fresh. The latest marketing campaigns are immediately visible on your website, and there's no additional work in updating the content. The more relevant and timely the content on your website, the longer your customers will stay engaged.
Without exception, Instagram feeds increase time spent on your website.
2 Drive conversions and sales
Talking about fresh, relevant, and timely content – those are all critical ingredients of a well-designed sales page that converts visitors to buyers. With Flockler's automation, you can make sure that the right piece of Instagram content is displayed on your product page.
When the caption text of an image or a video mentions a product or a particular hashtag, you can filter Flockler to display those on a specific page. For example, if you are selling eyewear, the content that you've stored with Flockler that mentions Ray-Ban can be displayed on all the Ray-Ban brand product pages. For more inspiration, learn more about the power of hashtags and automated tagging of Instagram images.
Without exception, a fresh, relevant, and timely Instagram feed on the product page drives sales and increases conversions.
3 Increase the number of followers on Instagram
Last but not least, an Instagram feed on a website helps you to increase the number of Instagram followers. Anyone creating images and videos for a company Instagram account knows that it's not easy to grow the number of followers organically; you are competing with hundreds of millions of accounts.
Instagram feeds on websites help brands to reach an audience that isn't following you yet. Your website makes them aware of the high-quality content your marketing is producing and inspires them to follow you.
Even if they don't follow you straight away, getting more people to visit your Instagram profile will open up opportunities in targeted advertising. With Facebook's and Instagram's advertising tools, you can target those who've already visited your profile. Over time you'll be able to convert some of them to followers and drive sales with relevant advertising based on their interests.
Using your website to drive larger audiences to view Instagram images will naturally increase the number of likes and comments. The higher the engagement of each image and video, the more people will see them prioritised in their feeds. The algorithms of social media channels prioritise images and videos with high engagement - to keep us browsing through the feed longer.
Without exception, Instagram feeds on websites increase the number of followers on Instagram.
Examples of an Instagram feed embedded on a website
Let's take a look at some of the examples of Instagram feeds embedded on websites. Here are websites with a live Instagram feed:
Campari
Campari is one of the most well-known international liqueur brands, often used in cocktails. Campari Austria's social media page has an Instagram feed embedded – it resembles the live feed on their Instagram account.
An Instagram feed embedded on a brand's website increases the time spent on the service and increases engagement on social media channels.
New Zealand Golf
New Zealand Golf, a non-profit trust promoting the sports and the industry, uses Flockler's social media aggregator to gather Instagram images mentioning the hashtag #GolfNewZealand. A beautiful live feed of Instagram images is embedded on the homepage of the organisation. With Flockler's easy-to-use moderation tools, the marketing team is in full control of the content displayed.
An Instagram hashtag feed embedded on a website adds social proof to any website and digital service.
Subaru
Are you thinking of buying a new car anytime soon? In the past few years, social media has grown important in the car industry as well.
Subaru Stories is an excellent example of how car manufacturers can increase engagement and reach on social media channels by creating user-generated content campaigns. The Instagram feed on Subaru's website displays happy customers sharing their stories.
France.fr
Travel brands are likely the most active users of Instagram feeds for marketing.
France.fr, a marketing site promoting local travel destinations, has created an Instagram feed gathering images from hospitality services and tourism organisations. A stunning feed of travel images is embedded in marketing campaign pages.
