Social media platforms are powerful and businesses know it.

They are using them for posting business updates, boosting brand awareness, and increasing sales for their online stores. As of Shopify's 2024 data, 77% of businesses have a social media presence, and among Shopify Plus stores, 78.6% use Instagram.

Instagram is indeed a popular platform especially among shoppers and a large chunk of daily active users follow or research brands and products on it. However, the idea of speaking to potential customers separately on Instagram and websites is outdated. This is the era of integration, where information and marketing flows contextually into multiple touchpoints.

We see businesses promoting their websites on their Instagram profile and alternatively plug their quality Instagram feeds on the Shopify website for added impact.
In this blog, we’ll talk about Shopify Instagram integration and will show you explicitly how to add Instagram feeds on Shopify with a few easy steps.

Why Shopify Instagram integration is important for e-commerce brands?

E-commerce is an ever-growing industry. Its global revenue is expected to surpass $5.5 trillion by 2027 which directly tells you about the industry’s high sales potential. Yet, approximately 80%-90% of e-commerce businesses fail and it can be chalked up to a few common reasons:

• Growing competition

• Low-quality products

• Lack of customer engagement

• Shopping cart abandonment

• Inadequate website design

Shopify Instagram integration can help ease some of these pain points for businesses. Here’s what it does.

1. Establish a point of differentiation

To know how it will create a point of differentiation, first understand what a social wall is. Social wall is a widget that collects posts, images, and reels from your Instagram account and helps you to show them on your Shopify store.

A Shopify store with an Instagram social wall looks different from one without. The reasons are no-brainer- the former appears more rich, appealing, and dynamic. With it, you can

• Showcase your strong social media presence.

• Display social proof to add to your credibility.

• Integrate products into the posts for more conversions

This social wall acts as a digital window into the real world that engages your website visitors and keeps them on your site for a longer time.

2. Enhanced visual marketing

Visual marketing is the most relevant and impactful form of marketing than others. It is because we are visual creatures and we naturally retain more information from images than text. You must know that 67% of consumers consider product image quality a “very important” factor in selecting/purchasing the product.

When you showcase visually stunning marketing campaigns from your Instagram business profile, it does increase your website's impact. It will directly enhance the attractiveness of your products and increase the likelihood of conversions.

Also, the product-tagged posts and stories allow potential customers to see and buy products with a visually rich context.

4. Social proof and trust

Integrating Instagram feeds on your Shopify stores is the smartest way to establish the authenticity of your brand. It can be generated using the following strategies.

• Influencer posts

• Reviews and unboxing-style content from customers

• User-generated content

• BTS posts from the team

Imagine a potential customer visiting your store for the first time, they like your product and also see products being used and endorsed by others on Instagram, what will they do?

First, it gives them the social validation critical to their decision-making as seeing real people using and enjoying products reassures customers of their quality, increasing their confidence in your brand. Second, there is a point of reference on what the product’s utility is by looking at a live customer example. All these help push a buyer ahead in their decision-making journey.

4. Increased customer engagement

Instagram is used by 2 billion monthly users, meaning your potential store visitors are most likely on it. Instagram feeds on a Shopify store can instantly capture attention and increase engagement. People love to see the real-life application of your products, and adding Instagram posts will cater to their curiosity.

Shopify Instagram integration will also help increase the organic reach and following on your Instagram account as well.

5. Promote user-generated content

User-generated content (UGC) is a powerful marketing tool. Brands that show UGC on their websites have experienced almost 29% more website conversions.

With Shopify Instagram integration, businesses can easily share and promote content created by their customers. UGC provides authentic and relatable content that can resonate more with potential buyers than traditional advertising.

Encouraging customers to share their experiences with products on Instagram not only creates a sense of community but also provides fresh, organic content that can be used to attract new customers, retain existing ones, and highlight product use cases.

6. Make the store more relevant

Integrating Instagram feeds into a Shopify store breathes life into the shopping experience. Picture a vibrant online athleisure store where customers not only browse products but also see them in action, styled and showcased by real users. This dynamic display enhances the brand's narrative transforming casual browsers into loyal customers.

What kind of posts help boost your Shopify Instagram integration?

Some of the effective types of posts that can be curated using a Shopify Instagram integration are

1. Hashtag campaigns

In hashtag campaigns, brands use specific hashtags to create buzz around their product as even one hashtag in your Instagram post increases engagement by up to 12.9%.

For example, Coca-Cola asked people to share photos of their personalized bottles on social media using the hashtag #ShareaCoke. This campaign was a success.

These types of campaigns instantly aid in the following goals:

• Grow the number of followers

• Drive traffic to your website

• Build a community of brand advocates

💡Pro tip: To increase the effectiveness of your hashtag campaigns, we recommend you not solely rely on Instagram insights as it only offers basic insights, instead use a hashtag analytics tool.

When you add hashtag campaign posts on your Shopify, you are directly engaging your store visitors with user-centric posts. Also, when users post using these hashtags, their content can be automatically pulled for Shopify integration with Instagram.

2. Influencer campaigns

Influencer campaigns are very effective as 69% of consumers trust influencers, over information coming directly from a brand.

When influencers post content featuring your products, you can integrate these posts into your Shopify store's Instagram feed. This strategy helps reach a wider audience, build credibility, and drive sales through influencer endorsements.

When surveyed customers prefer 3 types of content,

• How-to content (42%),

• Stories with short chunks of information (35%)

• Image posts with information in the caption (33%)

You can select your Instagram posts accordingly.

3. UGC campaigns

UGC in e-commerce marketing works wonders as UGC campaigns influence 79% of people's buying decisions. The reason it adds a personal touch to your store marketing as the content is directly created by your customers and users.

Integrating UGC into your Shopify store's Instagram feed showcases real-life product experiences, fosters a sense of community among your customers, and encourages potential buyers to make a purchase.

4. Shoppable tagged products

Displaying shoppable tagged products in Instagram posts helps

• Boost sales and average order value

• Increases product visibility

• Direct users to the product page

• Quicken conversion cycle

With Flocker, you do not need any developer or marketing agency ((for product tagging) for the Google Merchant URL. You can easily tag products in the social wall Instagram posts in just a few minutes.

5. Reviews and testimonials posts

Such posts highlight positive feedback, customer experiences, and product recommendations. They are of impact because 49% of consumers trust reviews as much as personal recommendations from their loved ones.

34% of consumers look on Instagram for business reviews, so make a wise choice and give them what they want, but actively. Integrate reviews and testimonials Instagram posts into your Shopify store. It will build trust and influence purchasing decisions by showcasing the satisfaction of existing customers.

Requirements for Shopify Instagram integration

For Shopify Instagram integration, you need:

1. Active Shopify store

Before Shopify Instagram integration, ensure that your Shopify account & store are live and fully operational. This means your store should be set up with products listed, payment gateways configured, and all essential settings in place.

2. Instagram business account

You must be using an Instagram business account to access all of the features designed for businesses. Unlike personal accounts, business accounts will offer features like

• Shoppable posts

• Automated replies

• Creator studio access

• Swipe-up feature

• API access

• Instagram shop

Setting up a business account involves converting an existing personal account or creating a new one directly as a business account.

3. Eligibility for Instagram sales channel

Before you set up the Shopify Instagram integration, ensure that your store meets the eligibility criteria for the Instagram Sales Channel. These criteria include: having a product catalog, adhering to Instagram’s merchant guidelines, and ensuring that your store complies with Instagram’s terms of service.

4. Location eligibility

Instagram's shopping functionality is not available worldwide, so it's important to verify that your country is on the supported list. Check it by yourself with the list below:

5. Compliance requirements

Compliance with Facebook's Commerce Policies and Merchant Agreement is crucial, as Instagram is owned by Facebook. These policies dictate what can be sold and how transactions are managed on their platform. Ensure that your products and business practices comply with these Facebook Community Standards to avoid any disruptions or issues during the integration process.

How to add your Instagram feed to Shopify

Flockler helps marketers embed unlimited Instagram layouts on websites in less than 120 seconds. The best part? It requires zero tech skills. You will not need any developer or engineer to do it for you. Flocker offers four different layouts for your Instagram feed: Social Wall, Grid, Carousel, and Slideshow.

1. Social Walls display visual content of varying sizes to create a dynamic view It is the go-to option for live social walls for displaying curated content from event feeds, for showing off hashtag campaigns, and review posts.

2. Grids a squared and uniform layout view of content and is a layout that offers uniformity in view and aligns best with a modern, corporate website.

3. Carousel displays content un a linear view with a navigagtion button to view the 'next' post in a sequence. It is a popular choice for Shopify sites where space is at a premium and the priority is to show off more products.

4. Slideshow is an ideal choice for large screens, jumbotrons, and digital signages at expos and events or on-premise communication channels. The goal of this layout is to make the content really pop and make it noticeable in an arena with high footfall.

Flocker also provides custom design features to make sure your Instagram layouts are dynamic and engaging. Well, not just this, it also offers additional tools for:

• Collecting customer reviews

• UGC rights management

• Social media analytics

• Shopify shoppable feeds

Here is a step-by-step guide for embedding an Instagram feed on the Shopify homepage

Follow these steps:

Step 1: Go to Themes, click “Actions,” and select “Edit code.”

Step 2: Go to “Sections” and click “Add a new section.”

Step 3: Give it a name, for example- Flockler, and after an editor opens up.

Step 4: In the editor, replace the section name with 'Flockler.' After 'end schema,' replace everything with Flockler’s embed code, which you can find in the Display tab of Flockler.

Step 5: Save changes. Next, scroll up the list to “Templates” and click “index.json.”

Step 6: An editor opens, and you need to add the following section at the top.

"flockler": {

"type": "flockler"

},

Step 7: Scroll down in the code editor to locate the order of homepage elements. Find the right spot for Flockler and add it to the list. You’re in full control, making it easy to change the position of the Instagram feed later.

Step 8: Finally, save the changes. The preview of your template shows Flockler on the Shopify homepage.

Instagram Shopify integration: Embed an Instagram feed on all Shopify products and collection pages

With Flockler, you can also display your Instagram feed on any of your Shopify pages. This could be for the homepage, about us page, or product pages. The process for this is the same as mentioned above. Only now, either edit "collection.json" or "product.json" to define the layouts of your Shopify product pages or collections.

Instagram Shopify integration: Embed an Instagram feed on any individual Shopify Page

You can embed an Instagram feed on any individual Shopify page (including the checkout page), too. From the text editor, click the "HTML button."

Then, embed Flockler’s Instagram feed and embed code anywhere in the text.

Flocker also enables businesses to

• Add auto-updating feeds to your website

• Switch off auto-update to maintain a static feed

• Embed unlimited layouts

• Showcase the same feed in different places in different designs

Instagram Shopify integration: Embed Shoppable Instagram Feeds to Shopify

Below are the steps you can follow to add shoppable Instagram feeds to Shopify.

Step 1: Add your Shopify store details in Flockler

You'll need two simple details from your Shopify setup: your Shopify store URL and your access token. Use these guides to quickly find them."

Step 2: Choose where and what to show

Once you have added your store details, choose where to show the feed and what products you want to show within it. You can show all of your products or filter by a collection. Finally, give your feed a good, memorable name.

Step 3: Select "Tag Products"

In this step, click on the "Tag Products" options from the panel that is present on the left.

Step 4: Choose the Instagram post you want to tag with a product

Now, select the Instagram post you want to tag a product in by simply clicking on it.

Step 5: Tag products to your post. That's it. You're done. 🎉

At last, you need to select the products to tag in your Instagram post. The selection is easy thanks to a search bar that helps you find the right product in seconds. Click "Add," and you have successfully added your first product.

Shopify Instagram integration examples

Here are some real-life examples of Shopify Instagram integration for inspiration:

1. Gymshark

Gymshark is a fitness apparel, manufacturer & online retailer based in the United Kingdom and is a successful Shopify store. Gymshark strategy of growth is primarily based on influencer marketing, social media, and customer focus.

Gymshark has a very active following on Instagram of 7 million and they showcase Shopify's Instagram feed for added impact.

2. UNDRDOG ATHLETIX

UNDRDOG ATHLETIX is an e-commerce brand for athletes with a wide range of sportswear and gear to enhance their performance.

UNDRDOG ATHLETIX looked for a unique edge over its competitors and realized to play a strong authenticity game. To create a genuine connection with their audience, they were looking to present real-world athletes, workouts, and reviews on their Shopify store.

Their Instagram presence was already solid, with around 200K followers. With Flocker, they embedded dynamic Instagram feeds on their website to establish authenticity.

Visitors love this Shopify Instagram plugin as the widget loads fast, is aligned with the brand theme, and makes the website more engaging.

3. Somerset Grill Company

Somerset Grill Company serves as a culinary community that celebrates barbecue craftsmanship and fosters connections in the competitive grill market. By promoting a lifestyle rather than just a product, they integrate dynamic social media reels into their website.

Their carousel-style social wall presents the grill action in the real-life world. These posts highlight the quality of their products with authentic convincing.

If you are impressed with the upper hand business gain by Shopify Instagram integration and need the right tool for it- Start your 14-day free trial to find out if Flocker serves the purpose!

FAQs

• How to connect Shopify to my Instagram?

You can perform Instagram Shopify integration by adding Instagram feeds using tools like Flockler, embedding Instagram posts on your Shopify store, and connecting your Instagram business account through Shopify's settings.

• How to add Instagram to Shopify?

Instagram Shopify integration is straightforward with Flockler. First, add your Shopify store details in Flockler, choose the layout for your Instagram feed (like Social Wall, Grid, Carousel, or Slideshow), and embed the Flockler code into your Shopify website. It's a quick and easy process.

• Is there an Instagram app for Shopify?

While there isn't an Instagram-specific Shopify app, it's easy to do Instagram Shopify integration with the help of Flockler. With Flocker, you'll get tools to embed unlimited layouts in your Shopify store, furthering visual commerce, social proof, and engaging customers.

• Can I connect my Shopify store to multiple Instagram accounts?

Shopify allows you to connect only one Instagram account per store. When you are running multiple Shopify stores, you can easily add multiple Instagram accounts for each store. However, Flocker allows you to add different Instagram posts from multiple customer accounts to your feed.