How to Automatically Publish from WordPress to Instagram

Last Updated on May 29, 2023 by 11 Comments

Editorial Note: We may earn a commission when you visit links on our website.
How to Automatically Publish from WordPress to Instagram
Blog / WordPress / How to Automatically Publish from WordPress to Instagram
Play Button

There are lots of people who post their Instagram pictures on WordPress. And there are a lot of WordPress Instagram plugins that let you incorporate your feed into your blog. But what if you want to go the other way? Publishing content from WordPress to Instagram might be something you want to do, not only to increase your blog’s reach and get more life out of your content, but also to expand your social radius and the content you provide your followers on a totally different platform.

Subscribe To Our Youtube Channel

WordPress to Instagram? Really?

Yes, really. You might be thinking this is an odd move because WordPress is a blogging platform and Instagram is a photo sharing social network. However, over the past while, people have begun to post longer and longer content on Instagram. It has very much turned into a true microblogging platform in addition to the social network it began as.

And when they opened up the Instagram API to allow external services to post to user accounts, things really opened up.

And given that you are already creating content on your blog, you can absolutely have it perform double duty on Instagram. Best of all, it’s not hard to do. You just need a plugin for social media that specializes in automation.  We happen to know of some. How about that?

Blog2Social

blog2social

First off, Blog2Social (as you may be able to tell by its name) is not an Instagram-specific plugin. There are many plugins out there that focus on connecting Instagram to your website, but Blog2Social doesn’t just stop at one social network. You can use the plugin to post from WordPress to Instagram or any of 16 social media platforms. For this, however, we’re going to focus on Instagram.

The plugin itself is free. You can 100% post to Instagram and the other networks from WordPress using the basic version. The Premium version, however, is where you get access to automation. For $79 USD, you can automatically post to Instagram from WordPress. With  the ease of the plugin and the other premium features you get,  we feel that it’s worth it. But if you don’t want to pay, you can manually share from the plugin, too.

If you’re iffy on whether you want the premium upgrade, you can get a free 30-day trial of Premium. That way you can check to see which one is the better fit for you.

Going from WordPress to Instagram

First, you’re going to need to install and activate Blog2Social. It’s in the WordPress repository, so it’s easy to install. Once activated, you will have a new Blog2Social option in your WP dashboard near the bottom.

wordpress to instagram

When you hover over the new item, you should see the Settings page in the menu. Select it and check out the few things you might want to set up first.

wp to insta

In general, free users won’t haves a lot to tinker with here. However, we do urge you to set your time zone correctly since it ties to your social networks, too, and to add a URL shortener service if you use one. Since you’re sharing to Instagram from WordPress rather than a hub like Buffer or HootSuite, you will need to track your own URL analytics. That said, Instagram doesn’t allow live links in the body of a post, so this is less important for you than if you take advantage of other networks, too.

In the Auto-Post tab of the settings page, you can adjust the specifics of how the plugin handles pushing to Instagram on its own. Again, for free users, you won’t have access to this feature, but Premium users do. (And remember the free trial to give it a shot.)

autopost

Most sites will only want the Post option selected under New Posts, meaning that only newly published posts will get shared to Instagram. However, some might want to include Updated Posts, too, in order to get more eyes on a newly fixed or more relevant content. If you don’t update very often, this could be a nice way to re-share your content without much (or any) extra work.

Connecting to Instagram & Sharing

wp to insta

Connecting your blog to Instagram is no trouble at all. The Networks page under Blog2Social in your WordPress admin panel gives you a full list of the 16 supported social networks. Instagram is near the top, and you will just need to sign in and verify your account credentials.

When you do sign in, you will be given a warning modal that looks like the image below. It warns that you may receive an email or message saying your account is being accessed from the Cologne area of Germany, and that it’s okay. Their server is located there, so you don’t have to worry about an account intrusion.

warning from blog2social

Also, Blog2Social will tell you they will contact you via your account for a verification code. This code will be sent to the account email by Instagram. You just need to enter the code into the box Blog2Social shows.

When you’re verified, it’s good to go, and you can start sharing from WordPress to Instagram immediately.

Setting Up The Posts

When you start a new post in WordPress now, you will see the Blog2Social Custom Sharing & Scheduling metabox in the right sidebar of the editor. It gives you overall sharing stats for the post (from re-sharing and so on, too), but also tells you whether auto-sharing is on. This will say either deactivated in red if you’re a free member or activated in green if you’re a subscriber.

blod2social wp to instagram box

Even though your posts will automatically be shared to your Instagram account, you may want to post something about them more than just that once.

Sharing Posts Manually from WordPress to Instagram

Navigate to the Site & Blog Content menu item. You should see a list of all posts on your blog. You can filter and search by title, author, what’s already been shared, and so on.

wordpress to instagram

Click on the Share on Social Media button to be taken to the setup page for a new social post.

social sharing page

The page here is straightforward. You can adjust the body and image of the post to be shared, both of which are pulled from the Featured Image and the post text. Decide when to post it, immediately or at a set time. You may also add other social profiles to cross-post with, too.

If you click the Show Calendar button in the lower-right of the pane. The content calendar appears, and you can schedule the post out for whenever it suits your marketing needs the best. Or save it as a draft for later.

instagram calendar

Bear in mind that scheduling is also a Premium feature for Blog2Social. But if you’re using this as an automation tool for when you post, the automation of scheduling out Instagram posts from WordPress makes the upgrade doubly worth it.

Wrapping Up with WordPress to Instagram

We feel that the best option for WordPress users to get their content easily and quickly to Instagram is the Blog2Social plugin. It’s simple to use, quick and lightweight, and it offers both free and premium users a host of options. While it does take the Premium upgrade to get the automation, which is where a lot of the power comes, even free users can post from WordPress to Instagram in just a couple of clicks.

What uses do you see for posting content from WordPress to Instagram?

Article featured image by wild0wild / shutterstock.com

Divi

Want To Build Better WordPress Websites? Start Here! 👇

Take the first step towards a better website.

Get Started
Divi
Premade Layouts

Check Out These Related Posts

How To Streamline Your WordPress Site Management Tasks

How To Streamline Your WordPress Site Management Tasks

Updated on October 4, 2024 in WordPress

Managing WordPress sites can be quite a challenge. You might not know what tasks it may include and the best way to handle them. Luckily, there are simplified options available for managing your WordPress site management tasks. Whether you’re a website owner or designer, new to this, or have...

View Full Post
How Long Does it Take to Build a Website?

How Long Does it Take to Build a Website?

Posted on September 19, 2024 in WordPress

Want to build a website but worried about time and complexity? Whether you choose hardcoding, a website builder, or a flexible platform like Divi, choosing the right tool can save you weeks of work. Making a website is a big commitment, especially considering the time and effort involved. You want...

View Full Post
How Much Does It Cost To Maintain A WordPress Website?

How Much Does It Cost To Maintain A WordPress Website?

Updated on September 26, 2024 in WordPress

Creating a WordPress website can be very rewarding. It offers a way to share content, sell products, or promote yourself online. That said, it also comes with a lot of maintenance costs. To ensure that it is secure, performs well, and provides a great user experience, you’ll need to invest in...

View Full Post

11 Comments

  1. The plugin is not free to post to instagram from wordpress.

    • Yep ! It’s true !

  2. Just an update. You can no longer post to Instagram for free using this plugin.

  3. Thank you so much for the straightforward direction and friendly assistance. I was able to add my Instagram Feed to my website quickly and easily with your step by step instruction.

  4. Hi! Nice article, but I have one question. Why not to use online services for uploading pics from PC on insta? I upload and schedule photos thanks to push photo . And without downloading any app (really hate having millions of apps). And it’s more convenient for me, because my laptop is on limit memory

  5. Great idea, saves a lot of time and work! But how will the shared post look like as Instagram doesn’t allow links in it? Will the featured image fetched for the Instagram Post?

  6. Just right when I needed this info for my new website. Thanks for this

  7. I think this could be a useful tool for me… I am good with snapping a photo on my phone and posting it to my Instagram account and auto-posting from there to Facebook, but I’m really lazy about following up and putting it on my blog. I think I’ll try this plugin out and go in the opposite direction.

    Thanks for sharing this plugin with us!

    • And I am just the opposite! I can post from my computer to my website all the time, but always forget to throw it on Instagram. I’m hoping to find a way to incorporate this myself on some projects!

  8. Great Info… Nice information.. Does this plugin is free..?

    • Yes, the plugin itself is free. You can manually publish to Instagram through it, and the Premium upgrade lets you set automations.

Leave A Reply

Comments are reviewed and must adhere to our comments policy.

Get Started With Divi