As a WordPress expert with over 15 years of experience, I‘ve seen firsthand how valuable Instagram can be for driving traffic and engagement. But I know manually sharing posts on Instagram takes a frustrating amount of time.
The good news is, you can save hours each week by setting up automation to publish from WordPress to Instagram instantly.
In this detailed guide, I‘ll share my best tips to help you get more traction on Instagram without the manual effort.
Contents
Why You Should Be Auto-Posting to Instagram
Here are the top reasons automating your Instagram strategy is worth the effort:
Expand Your Reach to Over 1 Billion Active Users
With over 1 billion monthly active users, Instagram presents a massive opportunity to get your content in front of more people.
Unless your website already gets incredible amounts of traffic, there are likely many potential readers and customers you‘re missing out on.
Publishing to Instagram expands the discoverability of your posts beyond just current website visitors. You can tap into Instagram‘s huge built-in audience.
Save Hours of Time Each Week
Let‘s crunch some numbers.
If you post just once per day, that‘s 7 new Instagram posts per week you‘d need to share manually.
Let‘s say conservatively it takes just 5 minutes to create and share each post.
That‘s 35 minutes per week spent on just posting – and that‘s the bare minimum posting frequency and time estimate.
For sites publishing multiple times per day, you could easily spend over 2 hours per week manually sharing on Instagram.
Those couple hours add up, week after week. Automation lets you get back that time to focus on higher value tasks.
Increase Website Traffic from Instagram
One of the best parts about promoting your content on Instagram is that it can drive visitors back to your website.
Instagram posts should contain intriguing captions and imagery that entice viewers to click the link in your bio to read more.
According to Buffer, 60% of people say they discover new products on Instagram. Your website and posts could be one of those discoveries!
Driving even a small amount of Instagram traffic to your website over time can have a noticeable impact. Those visitors would have likely never found your site otherwise.
Analyze What Content Resonates
You can glean useful insights by monitoring your Instagram account analytics. These include:
- Which posts get the most Likes and comments
- Your followers‘ demographics
- When your followers are most active
- Your best performing post types and captions
These insights should directly inform your content creation strategy. Tailor future posts based on what your Instagram audience clearly responds to best.
But to benefit from these analytics, you need a steady stream of Instagram posts populated with hashtags – which automation provides.
Maintain Brand Consistency
Posting to Instagram manually means you‘ll likely have gaps in your posting schedule. You may forget to post when you‘re busy or traveling.
This inconsistency makes your brand seem less active. Automated posting maintains a steady stream of content no matter what, keeping your brand top of mind.
Now that you know the main benefits, let‘s look at how to configure WordPress to auto-publish to Instagram.
Step-by-Step Guide to Automatically Post from WordPress to Instagram
The easiest way to set up auto-posting to Instagram is using a free WordPress plugin called Uncanny Automator.
With over 100,000 active installs, it‘s a trusted automation tool. Here are the steps to get it set up:
1. Install and Activate Uncanny Automator
First, install and activate Uncanny Automator using my plugin installation guide.
Upon activating, you‘ll be prompted to connect your account. This allows you to build automated workflows.
Click "Connect your free account" to get started.
2. Connect Your Instagram Account
Since Instagram is owned by Facebook, you‘ll connect using a Facebook page associated with your Instagram business account.
Under Automator > Settings > Premium Integrations, click on Instagram. Then click Connect Facebook Pages and follow the steps to connect your page.
Finally, select the Instagram account you want to use for auto-posting. Make sure to give Uncanny Automator permission to post on your behalf.
3. Create an Automated Recipe to Auto-Post
In Uncanny Automator, automated workflows are called "recipes". Let‘s create one now:
- Go to Automator > Add New
- Name your recipe something like "Auto Post to Instagram"
- Set the Trigger to be when a new WordPress post is published
- Add an Action to automatically publish the post‘s featured image and content to your connected Instagram account
Here are more details on how to configure the trigger and action:
Set the Trigger for New Posts
Click the WordPress trigger A user publishes a… and select Post as the post type. You can even limit it to certain categories or tags only.
This tells Uncanny Automator to check for new posts.
Configure the Auto-Post Action
Click Add action > Instagram > Publish a photo…
You can post a fixed image, or use the post‘s featured image for a dynamic auto-published photo.
For the caption, mix fixed text with dynamic post tokens like the {Post Title} to customize it.
Activate and Test Your Recipe
Once configured, flip your recipe from Draft to Live. It will now automatically publish new posts to Instagram.
Be sure to test it out by publishing a new post to confirm it works as expected before relying on it long term.
And that‘s really all there is to it! The free Uncanny Automator makes cross-posting to Instagram a breeze.
Pro Tip: Schedule Instagram Posts in Advance
To queue up your Instagram posts in advance, use a social media scheduling app like Buffer along with your Uncanny Automator automated workflow.
When you publish a new blog post, Uncanny Automator will automatically add it to your Buffer queue. Then Buffer will post it to Instagram according to the schedule you set.
This lets you keep a consistent posting cadence without daily effort.
How to Create Captivating Instagram Posts
Now that you know how to automatically publish WordPress posts to Instagram, let‘s discuss some pro tips for creating compelling Instagram content:
High-Quality Photos Are a Must
Crisp, eye-catching images tend to perform best on Instagram‘s visual platform.
Always upload the highest resolution version possible – 1080 x 1080 pixels is optimal. Images less than 640 pixels wide will get cropped and look distorted.
Using professional tools like Adobe Lightroom or background removers like remove.bg can instantly elevate the quality of your photos.
Posting teaser photos and captions in your Instagram Stories is a great way to generate interest and buzz leading up to your main post.
You can even cross-promote your Instagram Stories in your actual feed post caption.
Instagram Stories have a link sticker that lets you drive traffic to your site too.
Write Engaging Captions
Well-written captions keep people interested and engaged with your posts. Some best practices:
- Ask thought-provoking questions to spark conversation
- Include emojis to add personality
- Use line breaks to improve readability
- Give people incentive to visit your site
Spend time crafting captions as engaging as your visuals. This keeps people invested in your posts.
Hashtags help people discover your posts. Include a targeted mix of both popular and niche hashtags.
According to ContentCal, posts with 11+ hashtags get the highest engagement. But don‘t go overboard.
Pro tip: You can save sets of hashtags in your Notes app to easily copy/paste them into captions later.
Tag Relevant Accounts
When relevant, tag any influencers, brands, or partners connected to your post.
Not only is it a nice gesture, but it exposes your content to their followers when tagged – expanding your potential reach.
Post Consistently
While high-quality, compelling content is key – consistency is also critical.
Use automation to maintain a steady posting cadence. Posting 1-2 times per day is ideal for most business accounts.
Consistency keeps your brand top of mind. Followers come to rely on and expect your posts at certain times.
Analyze Performance
Finally, be sure to regularly check your Instagram analytics. Identify:
- Post types that perform well (video, carousel, etc)
- Best times/days for engagement
- Top hashtags and captions
- Most popular posts types and topics
Use these insights to create even better-performing posts tailored to your audience‘s preferences.
The beauty of using WordPress automation is that it handles posting for you – allowing you to spend time creating the most engaging, high-converting Instagram content possible.
Display Your Instagram Posts on Your Website
Now that you‘ve got a steady stream of Instagram content from automating your WordPress workflow, why not display your Instagram feed on your website too?
Embedding Instagram posts or galleries on your site provides:
- Social proof – Shows people actively engage with your brand on Instagram
- Visual appeal – Displays eye-catching images to break up blocks of text
- User-generated content – Highlights real customers using your products or service
The best way to embed Instagram on WordPress sites is using Smash Balloon‘s Instagram Feed plugin.
It‘s 100% free to start. Simply install, connect your Instagram account, and copy/paste the shortcode or use the Instagram block to embed your feed anywhere.
Customize options like number of posts, layout, images per row, and more. Displaying your Instagram activity keeps your site looking fresh.
Get More Mileage From Your Content
As you can see, setting up automation to publish from WordPress to Instagram is easy and incredibly beneficial.
You‘ll save hours of time each week on manual posting. Plus you‘ll expand your reach to Instagram‘s 1 billion+ active users.
The set-it-and-forget-it nature of automation allows you to focus on creating awesome content – rather than getting bogged down scheduling social posts.
Use the tips in this guide to start auto-posting WordPress content to Instagram and watch your brand grow. Feel free to reach out if you have any other questions!
