With more than a billion monthly active users, Instagram is one of the big boys of social media. Because Instagram users can upload a large number of posts on the move using their smartphones, the Instagram accounts of businesses tend to be more vibrant and happening. On the other hand, their websites normally tend to be updated less frequently due to the hassles of reposting all the Instagram posts in an aesthetic manner.
Fortunately, for businesses that have WordPress websites, the process is actually very easy as WordPress is extremely flexible and there are quite a few ways of integrating Instagram with it. This means that sharing Instagram content with your website does not have to be a manual process of copying content every time there is a new post, which is generally all the time.
Good Reasons for Integrating Instagram with WordPress
Depending on what you want to achieve, there are a number of ways in which, you could integrate your WordPress website with your Instagram account. One of the most popular ways is to incorporate your Instagram feed on your website while another option is to publish your Instagram photos as posts automatically on your website. The advantage of the integration of this kind is very simple to understand. The two platforms are no longer separate islands of information but are more connected so that visitors to one can be encouraged to visit the other thereby increasing the traffic on both. The other big benefit of integration is that the reach of the brand can be automatically expanded; your current website visitors may not be following you on your Instagram account while your Instagram followers have not visited your website.
Further, because Instagram photos are typically more informal, they tend to be more vibrant, and exciting and the integration with the website can carry these attributes forward to its visitors too. If you have engaged Instagram marketing companies to get more followers and likes, Instagram integration with your site will also serve to drive traffic from your site to your Instagram account.
Methods of Integrating Instagram with WordPress
Since WordPress is extremely flexible, you can integrate your Instagram for business 2018 account with your WordPress website quite easily even if you do not know any coding. Primarily, there are two ways of integrating; one method involves using a plug-in while the other uses an external tool.
Adding Instagram feed: Displaying your Instagram account feed on your website is a very effective way of showcasing your posts. Now there is no need to maintain separate product portfolios on Instagram and the website. According to https://www.awardspace.com, the addition of the Instagram feed makes your website look more alive and up-to-date. With the addition of the feed, any post that you include on your Instagram account will automatically be displayed on the website as well. To accomplish this, all you need to do is to install an Instagram WordPress plug-in; there are plenty of them freely available, but the Instagram Feed WD plug-in is really one of the best. It is not only very easy to link but also you get the benefit of having multiple layouts for the feed on your website so that you can choose one that is to your liking.
You can familiarize yourself with the various features of the WB Instagram plug-in by viewing a very informative video that is provided with the plug-in. Installing and activating the plug-in gets you a welcome screen. To get started, you need to click on ‘Start Using’ button located at the top of the screen. You get a welcome message informing you of the successful installation of the WD plug-in. You should log in with your Instagram credentials and after the forms are auto-filled, you should click on the ‘Save Changes’ button. Now go to Feed WD > Feed tab displayed on the plug-in dashboard. You can now select a layout for your feed and also configure the settings of the lightbox. To publish the feed on your website, you can open the WordPress editor for any page of your choice and click on ‘Add Instagram Feed’ button. You are also able to choose the feed to be added so that the plug-in can generate the shortcodes required. The alternative method involves using a widget to add the feed. You should invoke the Widgets tab and then drag the widget to the place you want it to appear on the website. This option also allows you to select the feed to be displayed on the website, and also specify the number of images and the columns it should have as well as set its title. The settings allow plenty of customization so you can freely experiment till you get what you want.
Automatically post Instagram photos to the website: This method of integration enables new Instagram pictures to be posted automatically and immediately when you publish new photos on your Instagram account. In this method, no plugins are used but instead, an IFTTT (If This Then That) ‘applet’ is employed. With the IFTTT service that can link together platforms, you can configure certain actions on Instagram that act to trigger other actions on the WordPress website.
You need to create an IFTTT account and connect it to both Instagram and the website after which, you can take the path My Applets > Services > Instagram to be able to peruse all the applets contained there. Select the applet that can turn Instagram photos to posts on your website and then choose the hashtags that will trigger the posting. You can also specify the category in which the posts will be automatically published as well as include any tags. You can also specify whether the photos should be published automatically, set to private, or saved as drafts. After you are done, you should save and exit. All the photos that have the specified hashtags will now be automatically published to your website if you have chosen it that way.
Conclusion
The benefits of integrating Instagram with your business WordPress website are manifold and indisputable. While there are plenty of ways in which the integration can be performed, the method of using plugins and IFTTT are the easiest.
Author Bio: Karen is a Business Tech Analyst. She is very responsible towards her job. She loves to share her knowledge and experience with her friends and colleagues.