Do you want to add an instagram widget to your WordPress?
When you embed Instagram to WordPress, you make it easier to turn your website visitors into Instagram followers. Plus, it’s an elegant visual element that can improve the experience of your site and take your social media marketing to the next level.
In this article, we’re giving you a step-by-step guide on how to embed an Instagram widget to your WordPress site so you can convert visitors into loyal fans and followers.
Here are the steps for adding an Instagram widget to WordPress to help you navigate:
- Install the Instagram Feed plugin by Smash Balloon
- Connect your Instagram account
- Choose which Instagram content to display
- Select your Instagram widget layout
- Add your Instagram widget to WordPress
Why Add an Instagram Widget to WordPress?
Embedding Instagram in WordPress and showing it on your website has several advantages:
- Building trust: Your social feed makes your site looks fresh and up to date, even when you haven’t updated it in a while. This helps clients understand that your business is active and thriving.
- Better engagement: It’s a simple way to increase social engagement and get new followers so you can promote your business on Instagram better.
- Consistent branding: Your Instagram photos can act as a branding element reinforcing your company’s image — and if you display user-generated Instagram images on your website, it’s a great way to use social proof to boost brand awareness.
- Boosting SEO: Your captions are embedded on your website, making search engines understand what your site is about and helping you appear higher in search results.
- More sales: If you display shoppable Instagram posts on your website, you make it easier for your site visitors to discover your products and buy from you.
Even better, when visitors enjoy your images, they’ll spend more time on your site. And the longer people stay on your site, the more it sends valuable ranking signals to search engines, which can boost your rankings more.
Easiest Way to Add an Instagram Widget to WordPress
The easiest way to add an Instagram widget to WordPress is to use a WordPress plugin. The best WordPress plugins enhance the functionality of your website and let you add new features without needing to hire a developer.
A plugin that comes in handy and makes the task (and your life) easier is the Instagram Feed plugin by Smash Balloon.
Smash Balloon’s Instagram Feed Pro is the best Instagram widget plugin for WordPress. It can be embedded directly in the new WordPress block editor, added as an Instagram widget for WordPress, or pasted as a shortcode right where you need the feed.
What’s more, you can filter your feeds to show Instagram hashtag feeds and content from multiple Instagram accounts.
The plugin also doesn’t require any coding background or knowledge in CSS, JavaScript or HMTL. Also, you can use it even if you don’t have an Instagram Developer account, so it’s suitable for complete beginners.
Plus, since the plugin’s designed with its users in mind, it’s built to be ultra fast. And with an average rating of 4.9/5 stars, it’s happily recommended by over 1 million users all over the world.
With a few clicks, you can use the plugin to access its powerful Instagram features:
- Customizable layout: Choose between a classical grid format mimicking the look of Instagram, adding an Instagram slideshow widget, or highlight specific photos
- Responsive design: Your feeds are mobile-friendly and responsive, automatically adapting to different screen sizes
- Follow buttons: Make it easy for your visitors to follow you in a simple click
- Social engagement: You can show stories and display Instagram photo thumbnails with comments and likes in your feed
- Instagram shopping: Using the plugin, you can add shoppable Instagram posts and display its feed as an Instagram widget on your WordPress website’s sidebar.
- Reduced load time: Thanks to reliable data caching, you don’t have to worry about the plugin slowing down your website. Plus, it can still display photos from Instagram even if the social media platform is down.
- Multi-display: Add different multiple Instagram feeds to different areas of your site showing specific types of content
How to Add an Instagram Widget to WordPress
Ready to add an Instagram widget to your WordPress site? Dive in by following the steps below.
Step 1: Install the Instagram Feed Plugin
To begin, click here to get started with Instagram Feeds. Then download the plugin to your computer.
After that, you need to upload it to your WordPress website and activate it. If you need a refresher on how to install a WordPress plugin, check out this step-by-step guide.
Step 2: Connect Your Instagram Account
The next step is to link your Instagram account to WordPress. So click on Instagram Feed in the WordPress sidebar to access the dashboard for your newly installed plugin.
This brings you to the Instagram Feed dashboard, where you can click the blue Connect an Instagram Account button to get connected. After clicking this, the plugin will automatically get an access token linked with the Instagram account you’re using.
A popup will ask if you want to connect your personal or business account. For some types of feeds, such as hashtag feeds, a business account is required.
If you don’t have a business account, but want to use these features, we have a handy guide teaching you how to change a private Instagram account into a business profile.
After that, click Connect to confirm your choice. Your Instagram account is now connected! This is great, especially if you’re not familiar with WordPress. Why? Because the plugin will connect to Instagram’s API for you, you don’t need to manually connect to it anymore.
You’ll see your account name and the buttons Remove from primary feed and Add to another feed. This allows you to have several customized feeds displayed on your site at once.
Now you’re ready to customize your feed and decide which content to display, which we’ll cover next.
Step 3: Choose Which Instagram Content to Show
As you configure the plugin, you can choose the type of content you want to display in your Instagram widget on WordPress in the same page.
The many filtering functions help you create the following types of feeds:
- Feeds filtered on specific hashtags
- Photo feed of Instagram posts that you’re tagged in
- A video feed
- Shoppable feeds where you can link image captions to product pages
Maybe you want your standard Instagram feed in your site’s footer on all pages and a shopping carousel on your e-commerce page?
How about a slideshow with branded photos of you on your About page?
Or an Instagram feed showing your branded hashtag posts so you can use it to display testimonials on your website?
Once you’ve chosen your preferred feed type, click Save Changes.
Step 4: Select Your Instagram Widget Layout
The great thing about this plugin is it offers you tons of customization choices you can easily set up with just a few clicks — no technical skills needed!
To start customizing your Instagram widget’s design, from the Instagram Feed settings page, click the Customize tab at the top.
Here, you can set parameters such as:
- Dimensions of your feed
- Background color
- Show/hide your Instagram bio
- Display a follow button
- Layout type
- Number of photos to show
More importantly, this is where you can choose the layout template for your Instagram widget. With 4 different layout types, you can create beautiful Instagram galleries that showcase your photos in the best way.
The different layout types include:
- A standard grid with fixed square image sizes
- Scrolling carousels with rows, pagination, and navigation arrows to show.a horizontal Instagram feed
- Masonry galleries showing photos in their original horizontal or vertical format
- A highlight gallery showing specific photos larger in the grid
To choose a layout type, simply click the radio button and click Save Changes to preserve your settings.
Step 5: Add Your Instagram Widget to WordPress
Now you’re ready to add your Instagram widget to your WordPress site. The Instagram Feed plugin offers 3 different ways to embed your feed, including:
- WordPress Block: Use the new WordPress block editor to add an Instagram widget to posts or pages easily.
- Shortcode: You can use the simple shortcode to display your feed in the classic WordPress editor, or elsewhere within your WordPress theme.
- Instagram Feed WordPress Widget: Display your feed in a WordPress sidebar area using the built-in widget.
Don’t worry if you’re not sure which option to choose. We’ll show you how to do each method.
Add an Instagram Widget With the Instagram Feed Block
Instagram Feed Pro makes it super easy to add your Instagram widget to your WordPress site.
To add your Instagram feed to a new page using the WordPress block editor, navigate to Pages » Add New.
Then in the block editor, click the Plus (+) icon to search for a WordPress block. In the search bar type “Instagram” to reveal the Instagram Feed WordPress block. You can then click it to add the block to your page.
This gives you a preview of how your feed will look so you can tweak your settings to get things looking right.
Then you can go ahead and publish your page. When you preview your published page, your feed will look similar to the example below.
Add an Instagram Widget to WordPress with a Shortcode
To add your feed in the classic WordPress editor, simply paste your Instagram Feed shortcode directly into your post or page editor.
You can find different variations of the shortcode by clicking the Display Your Feed tab on the feed settings page.
Add an Instagram Widget to Your WordPress Sidebar
To show your Instagram widget in a sidebar area like your footer or primary sidebar, you can use the built-in Instagram Feed widget.
First, navigate to Appearance » Widgets. Then find the Instagram Feed widget and drag it over to your chosen widget-ready sidebar.
Remember to click Save to preserve your settings.
Then when you preview your website, you’ll see your feed in your sidebar area.
Or if you’d like, you can also embed your Instagram widget on your WordPress footer area. Simply go to Appearance » Widgets. Find the Instagram Feed widget and drag it over to your footer area.
Once you click Save, you can now see your Instagram footer widget added to your WordPress, like this:
There you have it!
You’ve just added an Instagram widget to your WordPress site. Now you can engage your visitors with relevant visual content, transforming them into loyal Instagram followers.
Get started with Instagram Feed Pro by Smash Balloon today.
Want to add more widgets from different social networks connected to your business? Great! Check out this post on how to add a Facebook widget to WordPress.
And if you enjoyed this article, feel free to follow us on Twitter and Facebook for more helpful tutorials.
Thanks for this post. It’s so detailed and informative.
interesting read. Lots of stuff I didn’t know
Exactly the information I needed in and easy to use format. Thank you.
Interesting!
Thanks for the post. Very interesting
Thanks! For the read
Thanks for sharing!
Thank you for all the information.
It this plugin well integrated with Elementor? Because I use Elementor extensively and will love to work seamlessly with it.
That’s a lot of important information. Thanks
Very informative thank you .
Great idea for Instagram!
Nice and straightforward, simple widget solution!
Thanks for the detailed info.
Great info. Thanks!
I’ve been using the free version and I’m very happy with it! Thanks!
thanks for the chance
Las redes sociales son muy utiles en ellas encontramos variedad de contenido,Instagram es una de ellas..gracias
Lots of great information. Will refer back to the article to read in depth.
Thanks for sharing!
A very detailed and informative read. Thanks!
thanks for the info.
Thanks for the info. Very well explained
This is amazing I for. I didn’t realize there was a plug-in for Instagram. I’m going to have to try it! Thanks 🤩
Interesting, but not for me!
Lots of useful information. Thanks for the post!!
Thanks for the blog! Very informative!
Vey informative. Thank you for enlightening us.
Super helpful info!
Thanks for the great information. It could come in handy someday.
Thank you for all of the great information and also thank you for the opportunity!!
Thanks for the very informative post. This will definitely come in handy for me.
Very informative and interesting! I found this article enlightening and useful.
Thanks for sharing
love it thanks for the info
Thanks. Will try this!
COOOL!!
Good to know! Thanks!
REALLY VERY HELPFUL PLUGINS FOR WORDPRESS
nice
Great info.
Thanks for sharing! I barely know how to do anything online unless I look it up!
Thank you for the chance to win a MacBook and for information I need.
good information to know, very helpful !!!!
Thank you for all the information.
This is going to look great on my clients site. Thanks for the info.
Thank you for the informative article. I love step-by-step guides. Thank you!
I did not know about that. Thanks.
Thanks for the super info!
thanks for sharing
I like that the filter can show content from multiple Instagram accounts
Thanks for another big bunch of information with graphics.
I never knew how to do this before reading this. Thank you Smash Balloon.
Love it
Great information if you can use it
Sweet!
Pretty neat. I love the filter option.
Be sure to bookmark this page!
A lot of great information.
A very good information, thanks.
Thank you for including all of the necessary links on your page!
I could definitely use this!