How to Embed a Facebook Feed in WordPress

With over 2.93 billion monthly active users on Facebook, it’s certainly become a place for bloggers and business owners to establish their presence on the social network too. There’s profiles, pages, and even more than 10 million groups! So, when you use WordPress, how can you bridge the gap between your site and Facebook? It might just take having to embed a Facebook feed in WordPress.

In this article, you’ll learn how to embed a Facebook feed in WordPress, as well as why it’s a good idea to.

Here are a few reasons why you could benefit from embedding your Facebook feed in WordPress:

• Boost engagement amongst users.
• Establish authority with customers.
• Establish trust with customers.

Boost engagement amongst users.

Embedding a feed allows your users the choice of where they can interact with your brand, whether your website, Facebook, or even another social network.

Establish authority with customers.

When you have a presence and make it easy to connect with you, on both a website and on a social network with a lot of people, that include your readers, customers, and fans, you can establish authority with them.

Establish trust with customers.

Some brands post to Facebook around 2.37 posts per day. This allows people to see that they are an active entity and won’t disappear on them.

In this tutorial, you’ll learn how to do this using a plugin called Smashing Balloon Social Post Feed. This plugin essentially allows you to embed your Facebook feed in WordPress, from both Facebook groups, profiles, and pages, and even display it quite nicely. Please note that this is the free version of the plugin that you’re using for this tutorial, so if you wish to take advantage of the plugin’s add-on features, like photos, reactions, and more, you’ll need to pay to upgrade to the pro version. Also, you must have admin access to the pages or groups you wish to add.

Here are the steps you’ll need to take in order to embed Facebook feed in WordPress:

1. Install and activate the Smash Balloon Social Post Feed plugin.
2. Click on Facebook Feed in your WordPress admin menu.
3. Click on Timeline to select feed type.
4. Click on Add New to add a new Facebook resource.
5. Give Smash Balloon Permission.
6. Select your Facebook source.
7. Customize your Facebook feed’s look.
8. Embed your Facebook feed.

1. Install and activate the Smash Balloon Social Post Feed plugin.

In your WordPress admin area, under Plugins, go to Add New and search for “Smash Balloon Social Post Feed”. Click the button labeled Install Now, and then once again with it says Activate Now.

2. Click on Facebook Feed in your WordPress admin menu and click Add New

To find the Smash Balloon Social Post feed plugin, look for the menu item Facebook Feed in your WordPress admin. Click on the menu item. Once you have, it will lead you to the onboarding wizard to help you embed a Facebook feed in WordPress.

3. Click on Timeline to select feed type.

In the free version of Smash Balloon Social Post feed, the only option available to you is the Timeline feed. This will display a heading, a little bio section, and posts. All of this can be configured once you’ve gone through the process of creating a Facebook feed with the plugin.

Select Timelines, and then click on the Next button.

4. Click on Add New to select a Facebook source.

You will need to tell the plugin what source you wish to embed. Click the Add New button.

5. Give Smash Balloon Permission.

This step is a few screens, as it’s important that Smash Balloon asks you for permission on what they can access. Each screen will tell you exactly what’s going on.

In this screen, Smash Balloon is asking for permission to continue, while receiving your picture and profile info. As the screenshot says, this step won’t result in the plugin to post anything to Facebook.

Once you’ve clicked to continue, you will be selecting your profile or a page that you have admin access to. In this case, since your resource you selected as a feed type is a Page, you’ll only see pages. If you had selected Groups, you would see a list of the Facebook groups that you are an admin of.

Once you’ve selected the Facebook profile or page that you wish to embed in WordPress, you will need to give specific permission to the Smash Balloon Social Post Feed plugin. In the case of this plugin, all 3 selections must be toggled on (blue), in order for the plugin to work as expected. Click the Done button.

Once you’ve given permission, the plugin lets you know that Facebook is connected to your site, and ready for you to add it to the front of your website. Click ok, and you’ll be sent back to your WordPress website.

6. Select your Facebook source.

Now that the Smashing Balloon permissions are done, you can now select your Facebook source. Once you’ve selected the source, you can click on the Next button.

7. Customize your Facebook feed’s look.

It’s time to customize the look of your Facebook feed. Smash Balloon Social Post Feed includes a few areas to customize:

• Template
• Feed Type
• Feed Layout
• Color Scheme
• Header
• Posts
• Like Box
• Load More
• Lightbox

Template

In the template settings, the free version of the plugin only gives a default template as a choice. If you wish to get more templates, like Simple Masonry, Widget, Simple Cards, Latest Post, Showcase Carousel, and Simple Carousel, you’ll need to upgrade the plugin.

Feed Type

This area only allows you to select Timeline as an option. However, with the pro version of the plugin, you get other feed types like Photos, Videos, Albums, Events, Reviews, Single Featured Post, Single Album, and Social Wall.

Feed Layout

The Feed Layout option allows you to select your timeline posts to either display in the default list style, or masonry style. You can also decide how many posts you wish to display in your feed.

Color Scheme

The color scheme settings of the plugin allow you to select a dark theme, light theme, or customize the background, text, and link colors. You can also just select “inherent” and your feed will fall back on working with what the plugin and your theme’s styling has by default.

Header

The header option of the plugin’s customizer allows you to choose to display your Facebook header image, or just a plain text header. You can also choose the text size, text color, whether or not to display the bio text. All of these options you can toggle off and on.

Posts

The post feed customizer allows you to display posts regular or within a box. Both options have a couple simple style options.

Like Box

If you wish to use a Like box, the plugin’s customizer has an option for you to either enable or disable it. You can opt to display your Like box at the top or bottom of your feed. You can even add a call-to-action, display followers, adjust size, and choose to display your cover photo.

Load More

Unfortunately, this option is only available in the pro version of the plugin. This will allow your user’s to choose if they want to see more posts than what you chose to display on your page.

Lightbox

The Lightbox option, like the Load More option, is also for Smash Balloon Social Post Feed pro. This option allows the posts to pop up in a light box window when a user clicks on it.

Once you’ve done adjusting the look of your Facebook feed, and the preview looks good, make sure to save it.

8. Embed your Facebook feed.

Once you’ve saved your custom Facebook feed, it’s time to embed it. Click on the Embed button. In doing so, you’ll see a window pop up that will give you a few options. You can use the shortcode and paste it on a page, post, or widget. The plugin provides a widget option too.

Additionally, the plugin is compatible with the Gutenberg content block editor, and has a content block named Custom Facebook Feed.

Does embedding your Facebook feed on your site sound like something for you? If so, try out this tutorial on how to embed a Facebook feed in WordPress. Hopefully it brings you in more engagement, and even makes you money!

In conclusion, integrating a Facebook feed into your WordPress site can certainly enhance its appeal and functionality, but the foundation of any successful website lies in the hands of a reliable WordPress hosting provider. Invest in a dependable host to ensure a seamless and enjoyable user experience.