WordPress does not support Instagram feeds by default. There is no official meta integration or built-in block to connect your Instagram account directly.
As a result, many WordPress sites tend to look outdated, even if their owners post exciting business content on Instagram every day. The activity takes place, but not on the website.
Adding an Instagram feed to a WordPress site solves this problem, and there are essentially two ways to do it.
What you actually add
An Instagram feed is not just a group of Instagram posts on a page. It is a live updating part of your website that displays the content of your Instagram account as it currently is. When you post on Instagram, it also appears on your website.
This automatic, ongoing content synchronization is what makes a feed valuable. Without it, you’re just adding static posts to a page, which becomes more of a maintenance task than a real feature of your site.
Two ways to add an Instagram feed
The integrated embedding of Instagram
Instagram’s embed feature allows you to add individual posts to your WordPress site using HTML.
To do this, open the post you want to embed in a desktop browser, click the three-dot icon and select “ Embedand paste the code into a custom HTML block in the WordPress editor.
This places an Instagram post on your page, but doesn’t add a feed. Each embed is a static link to a post.
To create an Instagram feed this way, you’ll need to repeat the process for each post you want to display on your website and repeat it every time you add something new to your account.
There’s no automation or layout control, and each post appears as its own Instagram card rather than being part of a designed feed that matches your site’s design.
To point to specific posts in specific content on your site, individual embeds work well. However, if you want to add a real feed, they are not the right tool.
A dedicated Instagram feed plugin
The best way to add an Instagram feed to your WordPress site is to use a plugin. It connects to your Instagram account via API, imports your content into WordPress and displays it in an automatically updated layout.
The Increased Instagram feed The plugin does this with a guided setup that walks you through authorizing your account and configuring your feed.
You have many options when it comes to setting it up. You can:
- Choose between grid, slider or mosaic layouts
- Add filters to customize which posts appear in your feed
- Control which feed items are included
- Set display parameters such as number of columns and image size
- Use a shortcode to place the feed anywhere on your website.
Once you set it up, the feed will automatically update. Every new post you add on Instagram will appear in the feed without you having to do anything. You can place it on your homepage, a social page, a sidebar, or anywhere else and it will always stay up to date.
What a working feed does for your website
A functioning Instagram feed doesn’t just keep your website looking fresh.
When visitors see a current, active feed, they get a different impression than when they see a static or outdated page. The Instagram feed shows that your business is active now, not just the last website update.
For businesses in visual fields such as restaurants, design studios, retail, real estate or fitness, this impression can have a significant impact on your business. A current Instagram feed is an easy way to show social proof to everyone who visits your website.
Bringing everything together
WordPress doesn’t have built-in tools for adding Instagram feeds, so you’ll need a plugin. The other option, creating an Instagram feed from individual embeds, isn’t practical for anyone who posts frequently on Instagram.
Increased Instagram feed is an easy way to add an Instagram feed that works out of the box and stays up to date without any additional effort.
For more plugins to add an Instagram feed to your website, check out Best Instagram Feed Plugins for WordPress.
