Instagram has over 140 million users in the US alone. The ever-growing platform is famous for its vibrant, compelling imagery and relatively simple, streamlined format that is so effective for sales. No wonder there's a growing trend toward integrating Instagram with Shopify and alternatively, integrating Shopify with Instagram.
Featuring an Instagram feed for Shopify on your website is a fresh and exciting way to add a dazzling point of interest and form connections with your audience. Meanwhile, adding a Shopify feed to Instagram can increase traffic to your store and boost conversions.
Let's look at integrating the two software technologies and how to connect Instagram to Shopify – or vice versa.
Shopify for Instagram Feed vs Instagram for Shopify Feed
It can be easy to conflate the terms involved in integrations between the social and e-commerce platforms. However, they mean very different things.
What is a Shopify Feed for Instagram?
A Shopify feed for Instagram is a collection of your store’s products, embedded into the Instagram website. It’s a product feed that you can see on social networks and marketplaces, featuring the links and inventory of your Shopify store’s items. Whatever your Shopify store sells, you’re now actively promoting it on Instagram too.
What is an Instagram Feed for Shopify?
Shopify Instagram feed is the digital display of aggregated content from the Instagram social platform on a Shopify e-commerce website. Coding per se is unnecessary to integrate the Instagram gallery publishing technology with Shopify web architecture.
Be careful to select the integration tools you need to bring your Instagram feed onto your Shopify site and to add Shopify elements to your Instagram account. These are, of course, two completely different tasks with entirely different processes.
What are the Benefits of Shopify and Instagram Integration?
There are many good reasons for adding an Instagram feed to a Shopify website or vice versa. Let’s look at the benefits that the two distinct integration types offer to Shopify site owners:
Benefits of Shopify Feed for Instagram
- Simplified Product Tagging – By integrating Shopify with Instagram, you can tag your products directly in your Instagram posts and stories. This allows you to showcase your products to your Instagram followers and provide direct links to purchase them.
- Increased Sales Opportunities – When followers see products they like on your Instagram posts, they can simply tap the tags to view product details and make purchases, leading to increased sales opportunities.
- Enhanced Brand Visibility: Integrating Shopify with Instagram enables you to reach a broader audience on one of the world's most popular social media platforms. When you leverage Instagram's visual nature and extensive user base, you can increase brand visibility and attract potential customers to your Shopify store.
- Inventory Management – Shopify's integration with Instagram ensures that your product catalog remains synchronized across both platforms. This means that changes to product availability, pricing, or descriptions made on Shopify will automatically update on Instagram, saving you time and effort in managing your inventory.
Benefits of Instagram Feed for Shopify
- Increased Site Appeal: Adding Instagram content elevates a website and helps create an altogether irresistible array of imagery that is sure to draw more interest. It allows visitors to see real-time updates from your Instagram account, showcasing your brand's aesthetic and lifestyle.
- Boosted Engagement: Adding the dynamic of an interactive Instagram feed gives shoppers one more great reason to spend more time exploring your online store. Visitors can like, comment on, and share your Instagram posts directly from your website, fostering a sense of community and encouraging user-generated content.
- Enhanced Customer Confidence in Purchases: New content helps shoppers make better-informed buying decisions and be more confident in their choices. Your customers can see how others are interacting with your brand, including testimonials, product reviews, and photos of satisfied customers using your products.
- Boosted Conversion Rate: Helping people buy with greater confidence improves the customer experience, which can translate into increased shopping traffic and revenues.
How to Add a Shopify Product Feed to Instagram
It can pay well to know how to connect Shopify to Instagram too. There are over a billion Instagram users worldwide, of which over 500,000 are active daily on the social platform. That makes product feed management and selling on Instagram an important extension of your Shopify store activities.
To add your Shopify product feeds to Instagram, here is the general step-by-step process:
- Set up an Instagram business account and a Facebook business page.
- Link your Instagram account to your Facebook business page.
- Link your Facebook business page and Instagram Business Account to Shopify.
- Then, select Enable Instagram Shopping.
You can also rely on Shopify add-ons like FeedFusion to quickly export your products for the Instagram feed.
3 Ways to Add Instagram Feed on Your Shopify Website
You do not need web programming skills to render a compelling Instagram feed for your Shopify store. There are several easy options for accomplishing this integration. The most popular ways to publish an Instagram feed on a Shopify website are:
Option 1: Add an Instagram feed to Shopify without using an App
This is the simplest and quickest approach to displaying some Instagram posts on your Shopify store as quickly as possible. It requires no special tools or technical knowledge since you can simply copy and paste posts into your Shopify site pages.
- Log into your Instagram account from any computer or mobile device.
- Open the desired post to embed it in your Shopify site.
- Click on the three dots to access the More Options menu.
- Click Embed from the menu.
- Copy the embed code to the designated spot on the server side of your Shopify website.
- Perform this process to embed each post you want to add to your Shopify site.
However, it is time-consuming to repeat this manual process for every post you want to bring over from Instagram to display on your Shopify site. For better long-term Instagram feed management, consider taking the time upfront to execute the process in Method Option 2.
Option 2: Add the Instagram feed to Shopify by using Tagshop
Intuitive Shopify Instagram app options are available for site owners to use in performing the integration, including Embed Instagram, Flockler, Taggbox, or a plugin like Elfsight. But the easiest and most advanced option to embed Instagram data feed functionality into the desired page of your Shopify site is to use Tagshop.
- Select an integration tool – Choose Tagshop or another software option. Log in or select a plan and create a new account. (You can use the Tagshop app’s free 14-day trial.)
- Gather content for the feed – Open Instagram and connect your account to Tagshop. Choose a source and start collecting content. Now you can turn the new cross-platform content shoppable.
- Sync your product list file – Select the command to connect to your Shopify site and import your list of products. Upload your catalog file in the required format.
- Add tags to your listed products – Click the Tag Products command button. From the pop-up options, select Enable Hotspot. Add tags to the products listed.
- Customize and personalize your feed – From the Apps & More menu, select your preferred filters to streamline your feed to bypass irrelevant items and just publish your preferred content.
- Make your new Instagram feed shoppable – Select the shoppable gallery option from the options of Home & Landing Page, Galleries, Product Page, Tag-Based Shoppable Gallery, etc.
- Publish your new Instagram feed in Shopify – Select the command to initiate integration and publish your shoppable Instagram feed on Shopify website pages.
This method offers you the endless advantage of perpetual auto-feed loading Instagram content onto your Shopify site. Ultimately, it’s a big time and work saver.
Option 3: Request Custom Shopify Development and Integration
You may have specific design requirements or want full control over the Instagram feed integration with your store. In this case, it’s best to hire Shopify developers who will create a custom solution for embedding your Instagram feed into your website.
Which Instagram Feed Should You Use for Your Shopify Store?
Instagram templates for general e-commerce purposes are all pre-designed layouts that are editable to the extent of complete customization to suit your needs and preferences. Browse the many alternatives and enjoy the process of picking one that you find most fitting to upgrade your Shopify store brand image and the customer experience you deliver.
Embedding Instagram content into Shopify sites helps attract and engage more visitors. But, which Instagram feed template should you add to your Shopify site? A few examples of Instagram theme types for integration with Shopify include:
- Sale
- App Download
- New Product
- Friendly Reminder
- Last Chance
- Wisdom Wednesday
- Pic of the Week
- Sunday Fun Day
- Thank You
Whichever Instagram theme you decide to integrate with your Shopify site, it will enhance your store’s professional appeal and information value to your shoppers.
Best Places for an Instagram Feed on Your Shopify Web Pages
There are various locations on a Shopify site that work especially well as spaces for explainer videos for various products, showcases of a product’s selling features, testimonials, benefits, as well as safety or care instructions. Where to display them is the question here.
To determine the best location for your Instagram feed on your Shopify site, decide what will be the best kind of additional text and photo feed to offer on your site. Then, decide on the best placement of the feed display based on those factors. Here are some popular location ideas:
- Homepage – Feature your Instagram feed on your homepage to allow visitors to quickly see your latest posts and get a glimpse of your brand's personality and aesthetic. Consider placing it near the bottom of the page or in a sidebar.
- Footer – Include your Instagram feed in the footer of your website to provide a consistent presence across all pages. Visitors can scroll through your feed while navigating your site, encouraging them to stay connected with your brand.
- Product Pages – Incorporate your Instagram feed on product pages to showcase how customers are using your products in real life. This can help build trust and inspire potential customers to make a purchase.
- About Us Page – Add your Instagram feed to your "About Us" page to give visitors a deeper look into your brand's story, values, and behind-the-scenes moments. This helps humanize your brand and foster a stronger connection with your audience.
- Contact Page – Enhance your contact page by including your Instagram feed to showcase customer testimonials, user-generated content, or highlights from events or collaborations. This adds credibility and authenticity to your brand.
- Checkout Page (Post-Purchase) – After customers complete a purchase, redirect them to a thank you page that includes your Instagram feed. This keeps them engaged with your brand and encourages them to follow you for future updates and promotions.
Get the Benefits of Shopify Instagram Integration
Successful Shopify stores prove every day that virtually any online retail site can become a strong revenue generator if a diligent site owner chooses to cultivate it as such. Embedding a shoppable Instagram feed at your Shopify store or maintaining a bold cross-platform marketing effort by adding a Shopify feed to Instagram are both smart and exciting strategies for any Shopify-based retailer.
The benefits discussed above and the arguable absence of a significant downside make Shopify x Instagram integration a valuable digital asset for your brand. Adding a Shopify or Instagram feed offers your shoppers an exciting and highly engaging new feature with fresh, appealing, authentic content that increases engagement, traffic, and sales.
