How to Display Instagram Feed on a Website

Showing your live Instagram feed directly on your website is one of the fastest ways to add dynamic social proof and keep your site's content from going stale. It connects your online home base with your buzzing social community, creating a more cohesive brand experience. This guide will walk you through why it’s a smart move, the different ways you can get it done, and some best practices to make your feed look fantastic.

Why You Should Display Your Instagram Feed on Your Website

Before we get into the "how," let's quickly cover the "why." Putting your Instagram gallery on your site isn't just about aesthetics, it's a strategic move with real benefits. Displaying your feed can do more for your brand than you might think.

Builds Trust and Adds Social Proof

An active, engaging Instagram feed shows that there's a real, vibrant community behind your brand. When visitors see real-time content, posts from a recent event, or user-generated content (UGC) you've shared, it makes your business feel more authentic and trustworthy. An empty, static website can feel sterile, but a live feed is a constant stream of proof that you're active and engaged with your audience.

Keeps Your Website Content Fresh and Dynamic

Updating website content can be a time-consuming chore. An embedded Instagram feed solves that problem automatically. Every time you post a new Reel, photo, or carousel to Instagram, your website updates too. This constant flow of fresh content gives repeat visitors something new to see and signals to search engines that your site is active and relevant.

Increases Engagement and Grows Your Followers

Your website might attract a different audience than your social media. By displaying your feed, you create a direct bridge between these two worlds. Visitors who discover your website first can easily see your beautiful Instagram content and are just one click away from following you. This synergy helps grow your social audience organically by capturing a new segment of fans who found you through your site.

Strengthens Your Visual Brand Identity

You've likely spent countless hours perfecting your Instagram aesthetic - your colors, your filters, your content pillars. Embedding that feed puts all that hard work right onto your website, strengthening your visual branding. It ensures a consistent look and feel across platforms, which is essential for creating a memorable and recognizable brand.

Three Ways to Add Your Instagram Feed to Your Website

Now that you're sold on the benefits, let's look at the actual methods for getting your feed onto your site. They range from super simple to highly technical, so you can choose the one that best fits your skill level and needs.

Method 1: Instagram's Native Embed Feature (The Quick & Simple Fix)

If you just want to feature a single, specific Instagram post on a blog page or sidebar, Instagram’s built-in embed tool is the easiest way to do it. This method doesn't create a dynamic, updating grid, but it’s perfect for highlighting one piece of content.

Here’s how it works:

• Step 1: On a desktop web browser, navigate to the specific Instagram post you want to feature. It cannot be done from the mobile app.
• Step 2: Click the three dots (...) in the top-right corner of the post.
• Step 3: In the menu that appears, click "Embed."
• Step 4: You'll see a small pop-up with a snippet of HTML code. You can choose whether to include the caption or not. Click "Copy Embed Code."
• Step 5: Go to the backend of your website and open the page or post where you want the Instagram content to appear. Paste the code into the HTML or code editor section of your content management system (CMS).

Pros: Absolutely free, officially supported by Instagram, and takes less than a minute to do.

Cons: It only works for a single post at a time. It will not create a live, updating gallery of your latest posts. It also offers zero customization options beyond hiding the caption.

Method 2: Using a Third-Party Plugin or App (The Gold Standard)

For most people, a third-party tool is the best option. These are services and plugins designed specifically to create beautiful, customizable, and responsive Instagram feeds on websites. If you've seen a slick, updating grid of Instagram posts on a brand's website, they're almost certainly using one of these tools.

Platforms like Lightricks, Smash Balloon, and Taggbox offer powerful solutions that handle all the tricky API connections for you. While each tool has a slightly different interface, the general process is remarkably similar.

Here’s the general step-by-step process:

• Step 1: Create an Account. Sign up for the third-party service of your choice. Many offer a free trial or a limited free plan.
• Step 2: Connect Your Instagram Account. You'll be prompted to link and authenticate your Instagram Business or Creator account. This gives the app permission to pull in your media.
• Step 3: Customize Your Feed. This is where these tools shine. You can choose from various layouts (grid, carousel, masonry, collage), set the number of columns and rows, adjust spacing, and change colors to match your branding. Many tools also let you create feeds based on specific hashtags or accounts you're mentioned in - perfect for showcasing UGC.
• Step 4: Moderate Your Content. Most plugins let you manually approve or hide specific posts from appearing in your website feed. This gives you full control over exactly what content shows up on your site, even if it stays on your Instagram profile.
• Step 5: Copy and Paste the Snippet. Once you're happy with your feed's design, the tool will generate a single line of code (usually JavaScript or an iFrame). Copy this code.
• Step 6: Add it to Your Website. Just like the native embed method, paste this code snippet into the HTML editor of your desired page. Your beautiful, dynamic feed will appear and will automatically update as you post new content to Instagram.

Pros: Highly customizable, automatically updates, allows for feeds based on hashtags or user mentions, provides reliable performance and customer support.

Cons: The best features are usually part of a paid subscription, and it means relying on another third-party service.

Method 3: A Custom Solution with the Instagram API (Not for the Faint of Heart)

This path is for businesses with access to a web developer or for individuals who are comfortable with coding. Building your own integration using the Instagram API gives you absolute control over the look and functionality of your feed.

This is a high-level overview of what's involved, rather than a full-fledged coding tutorial:

You'll primarily be using the Instagram Basic Display API (for personal profiles) or the more powerful Instagram Graph API (for Business and Creator accounts). The Graph API is usually the better choice as it offers more data and functionality.

The process generally looks like this:

1. Set up a Facebook Developer App: Since Meta owns Instagram, all API access is managed through the Facebook for Developers platform.
2. Configure API Permissions: You'll need to configure your app to get the necessary permissions (like instagram_basic and pages_show_list) to read your profile data and media.
3. Handle User Authentication: You must implement an OAuth 2.0 flow to get permission from an Instagram user to access their data. This generates an access token.
4. Fetch Media from the API: Using your access token, you can make calls to the API endpoints to retrieve your media - image URLs, captions, timestamps, comment counts, etc. An example endpoint might look like:
   GET https://graph.instagram.com/me/media?fields=id,caption,media_url,timestamp&,access_token={your-access-token}
5. Display the Content: With the data in hand, you’ll write the HTML, CSS, and JavaScript needed to render the feed stylistically on your website.
6. Manage Access Tokens: The access tokens you receive are not permanent. They expire. You’ll need to set up a server-side process to periodically refresh these tokens to keep your feed working.

Pros: Complete and total creative control over the design, function, and behavior of the feed. No monthly subscription fees or third-party branding.

Cons: Highly complex and time-consuming. Requires expert knowledge of APIs, authentication, and front-end development. You are also responsible for all maintenance, including adapting to any future changes Instagram makes to its API.

Pro Tips for an Amazing Embedded Feed

Just because you can embed your feed doesn't mean you should just drop it anywhere. Here are a few tips to make sure it integrates beautifully and effectively.

Match Your Brand Vibe

A good plugin will let you customize colors, fonts, and layouts. Use these settings to make the feed feel like a natural part of your website, not a tacked-on widget. Adjust the background color, the font of the captions, and the color of the hover effects to match your site's style guide.

Pick the Perfect Location

Where you place your feed matters. Some great spots include:

• Your footer: A great, standard location that adds a bit of dynamic content to the bottom of every page without being intrusive.
• Your 'About' or 'Community' page: Perfect for giving visitors a behind-the-scenes look at your brand culture.
• On product pages: This is a fantastic place to feature user-generated content from customers using your product. Just create a feed based on your brand's hashtag.
• A sidebar on your blog: Helps keep your blog feeling fresh and promotes your Instagram to every article reader.

Curate Ruthlessly

More is not always better. Use your plugin's moderation tools to hide any posts that don't look right on your site conceptually. What works on the fast-scrolling Instagram app might look out of place in the design of your "Services" page. For product pages featuring UGC, only show the best of the best posts from your customers.

Watch Your Page Speed

A media-heavy feed can, if not implemented well, slow down your site. Before committing to a plugin, test its impact on your page load times. Choose a lightweight tool, enable lazy loading if possible (so images only load when they're visible on the screen), and optimize the number of posts you show by default.

Final Thoughts

Displaying your Instagram feed on your website is one of the most effective ways to leverage the content you're already creating. It reinforces your brand, builds trust with new visitors, and creates a more engaging experience by keeping your site content lively and current.

Of course, curating a feed that's compelling enough to show off on your website starts with a great content strategy. That’s where we come in. At Postbase, we built a social media management platform focused on what actually drives engagement today: a visual content calendar designed for planning, a reliable scheduler that's built first for video like Reels and TikToks, and analytics that are clear and accessible. With solid planning, you create a better Instagram presence, and in turn, give your website a powerful asset that will win over your visitors.