If you’ve previously added Facebook or Instagram content to WordPress using the default oEmbed or Embed block, then this feature no longer works. This can cause errors and missing content on your WordPress website.

In this guide, we’ll show you how to fix the Facebook and Instagram embed issue, so visitors can enjoy social content on your WordPress website.

What is the Facebook and Instagram oEmbed Issue in WordPress?

In the past, you could easily embed Instagram and Facebook posts in WordPress using a protocol known as oEmbed.

However, Facebook changed the way that oEmbed works so you can no longer easily embed videos, pictures, updates, and other content from Facebook or Instagram.

Instead, you now need to register an app and use a client token to get data from the Facebook Graph API, before you can embed Facebook or Instagram content on your WordPress blog.

This would take a lot of time and effort, especially if you want to show lots of different social posts across your website. With that in mind, the people behind WordPress decided to remove the Facebook and Instagram embed feature.

If you previously added any Facebook content to your website using oEmbed, it’ll now look something like the following image.

If you embedded any Instagram posts using oEmbed, then you’ll get a similar error.

This is a bad user experience, and some visitors may assume that your website is broken, no longer maintained, or that you’re not a trustworthy or reliable business.

There are ways to fix the problem manually. For example, you might go through each page and post and delete the embedded content. However, this would take a lot of time and effort, and there’s no guarantee you’ll manage to find every broken embed.

With that being said, let’s see how you can easily fix the Facebook and Instagram oEmbed issue on WordPress.

How to Fix the Facebook & Instagram oEmbed Issue

The easiest way to fix the oEmbed issue is by using one of the free Smash Balloon plugins.

If you want to embed Instagram posts in WordPress, then you’ll need the Smash Balloon Social Photo Feed plugin.

Want to embed a Facebook post in WordPress? Then you can use the free Smash Balloon Social Post Feed plugin instead.

First, you need to install and activate the plugin. For more details, see our step by step guide on how to install a WordPress plugin.

After installing either plugin, simply head over to Instagram Feed » oEmbeds or Facebook Feed » oEmbeds, depending on the plugin you’re using.

We’re using the Social Photo Feed plugin in all our images, but the steps will be exactly the same no matter what plugin you’re using.

On this screen, simply click on the ‘Enable’ button.

That’s it. You can now embed Facebook and Instagram posts on your WordPress website.

How to Embed Instagram or Facebook Posts in WordPress

Whether you’re using Facebook or Instagram, you can embed a specific post in any page, post, or widget-ready area, such as the sidebar.

One option is to open the page or post where you want to show the social content. Then, click on the ‘+’ icon and type in ‘Embed.’

When the right block appears, click to add it to the page or post.

In the ‘Embed’ field, simply paste the URL of the Instagram or Facebook post that you want to show on your website.

Then, click on ‘Embed.’

WordPress will now show that specific post. When you’re ready to make the post live, simply click on ‘Update’ or ‘Publish.’

Now when you visit the page, you’ll see the social media post live.

Another option is adding the Instagram or Facebook post to a widget-ready area such as the sidebar. That way, you can promote the same post across every page of your website.

For example, you might embed your most popular Instagram post or a post promoting a sale or social media contest you’re using to grow your site.

To add a Facebook or Instagram post to a widget-ready area, simply go to Appearance » Widgets and click on the blue ‘+’ button.

In the search bar, type in ‘Embed’ to find the right block.

When the ‘Embed’ block appears, drag it onto the area where you want to show the Facebook or Instagram post.

In the ‘Embed’ field, simply paste the URL of the Instagram or Facebook post that you want to show on your website. Then, click on ‘Embed.’

WordPress will now show that specific post.

If you’re happy with how it looks, then click on ‘Update’ to make it live.

Now, when you visit your website, you’ll see the Instagram or Facebook post live.

How to Add an Instagram or Facebook Feed to WordPress

With the free Smash Balloon plugins, it’s easy to fix the oEmbed issue so you can add Facebook and Instagram posts to your website.

This is great if you only want to embed a small number of posts or you want to control exactly where each social post appears on WordPress. However, you may also want to embed a Facebook or Instagram feed on your website.

By creating a feed, you can show all your latest posts in a nice layout. Even better, the feed will update automatically so visitors will always see the newest posts without you having to update your site manually.

This can keep your site fresh and interesting, even for regular visitors.

If you want to embed Instagram content in WordPress, then you can use the Smash Balloon Instagram Feed plugin.

Want to create a feed showing your latest Facebook status posts, videos, reviews, and more?

Then you can use the Smash Balloon Facebook Feed plugin.

Want to add both Facebook and Instagram feeds to your WordPress website? Then you may want to look at Smash Balloon Social Wall.

This powerful plugin lets you combine any feeds you’ve created using the Smash Balloon plugins, including Facebook, Twitter, YouTube feeds, and more.

For example, if you’ve set up the Facebook Feed and Instagram Feed plugins, then you can simply go to Social Feeds » Create a Social Wall in your WordPress dashboard.

Here, you’ll see all the different feeds you’ve created so far.

Simply select each feed that you want to add to the social wall.

For example, you can combine posts from your Instagram and Facebook accounts.

Small Balloon Social Wall will then create a shortcode that allows you to add the social wall to any page, post, or widget-ready area.

For more information about working with shortcodes, please see our guide on how to add a shortcode in WordPress.

After placing the shortcode, simply save or publish your changes to make them live.

Now, if you visit your website, you’ll see a social wall featuring all the latest posts from your different accounts and platforms.

We hope this article helped you learn how to fix the Facebook and Instagram oEmbed issue in WordPress. You may also want to see our expert pick of the best social media plugins for WordPress, and our guide on how to create an email newsletter.

If you liked this article, then please subscribe to our YouTube Channel for WordPress video tutorials. You can also find us on Twitter and Facebook.

The post How to Fix the Facebook and Instagram oEmbed Issue in WordPress first appeared on WPBeginner.

A contest can get more people to visit your Facebook page and interact with your content. If these people like what they see, they even decide to start following your page or group.

In this guide, we’ll show you how to easily add a Facebook giveaway in WordPress to boost engagement, and get some extra followers.

Why Run a Facebook Giveaway in WordPress?

Social media contests can help you reach a new audience and grow your following across different plaforms.

However, unlike some other platforms, Facebook doesn’t allow you to offer a prize for liking or following your page. This is a big problem if your goal is to get more Facebook followers.

The good news is that the guidelines don’t stop you from asking people to visit your Facebook page or interact with a particular post.

For example, visitors might enter a contest by liking your most recent Facebook post or commenting on a picture.

This can get more traffic to your group and will boost engagement for a particular post on your Facebook page. If your page has lots of great content then these people may even decide to follow your page.

In this way, you can grow your Facebook following without breaking any rules.

If you use a flexible giveaway plugin, then you can often add multiple entry methods to a single competition. For example, visitors may be able to enter your contest by liking your Facebook post or subscribing to your email newsletter.

This means you can still get the person’s contact information and do lead generation, even if they choose not to follow you on Facebook.

Running a Facebook Giveaway in WordPress

The easiest way to run a Facebook contest in WordPress is by using RafflePress. It’s the best WordPress giveaway plugin and lets you create all kinds of competitions using a simple drag-and-drop editor.

You can add a prize photo, schedule the start and end times, choose a winner at random, and use templates to quickly launch new giveaway campaigns.

RafflePress comes with social entry methods so you can direct users to your Facebook page. You can also have multiple entry methods and make certain methods mandatory so anyone who wants to join the contest must engage with your Facebook content in some way.

RafflePress also comes with social logins and integrates with the most popular email marketing platforms, so you can also use them to grow your email list faster.

With that said, let’s create your first Facebook giveaway campaign using RafflePress.

Step 1. Creating Your First Facebook Giveaway Campaign

The first thing you need to do is install and activate the RafflePress plugin. For more details, see our step-by-step guide on how to install a WordPress plugin.

Note: There is a free version of RafflePress that has everything you need to create a simple giveaway in WordPress. However, in this guide, we’ll be using the premium plugin since it has more features, templates, and giveaway actions including entry methods that allow you to create a photo contest in WordPress.

The first thing you need to do is install and activate the RafflePress plugin. For more details, see our step-by-step guide on how to install a WordPress plugin.

Upon activation, you’ll see the RafflePress welcome screen in the WordPress dashboard. You can now go ahead and enter your license key.

You’ll find this information in your account on the RafflePress website. After that, click on the ‘Verify Key’ button.

Now, you’re ready to create a Facebook giveaway in WordPress by going to RafflePress » Add New.

On the next screen, you’ll need to give your Facebook contest a name.

You can use anything you want, but it’s a good idea to choose a name that helps you identify the Facebook giveaway in the WordPress dashboard.

Next, choose the template that you want to use. RafflePress has ready-made templates for specific goals such as running a social media contest to grow your site.

You can select the template that best suits your goals, but for this guide, we’ll be using the ‘Classic Giveaway’ template as it lets us create a Facebook giveaway from scratch.

Simply hover your mouse over the ‘Classic Giveaway’ template and then click on the ‘Use this Template’ button when it appears.

This opens the template in RafflePress’ drag-and-drop builder.

We’re going to start by adding the prize to our Facebook contest. Simply click to select the headline area, which shows ‘My Awesome Prize’ by default.

You can now go ahead and type a title into the ‘Name’ field. To encourage visitors to enter the Facebook contest, you’ll typically want to talk about your prize in the headline.

After that, type in a description, which will appear below the headline. For example, you may want to add some more information about your competition, such as why visitors will want the prize, how much it’s worth, and why you’re running the Facebook giveaway.

It’s also smart to add a photo of the prize, so people can see what’s on offer just by glancing at the giveaway. If your prize is digital then you can easily create professional-looking images to promote your prize using web design software such as Canva.

To add a photo or graphic, simply click on ‘Select Image’ and then either choose a file from the WordPress media library or upload a new image from your computer.

Once you’ve done that, you can set the start and end date for the Facebook giveaway. If you plan to run lots of contests, then it’s a good idea to schedule them in advance as it guarantees that the competition will start and end on time, no matter how busy you get.

By scheduling your Facebook contest in advance, you’ll also have time to promote the giveaway properly. This helps you build a sense of excitement and anticipation before the contest goes live.

To schedule the Facebook giveaway, simply enter a date and time into the ‘Giveaway starts…’ and ‘Giveaway ends…’ sections.

When you’ve finished making changes to this section, click on the ‘Done Editing’ button.

Step 2. Adding More Actions to Your Facebook Giveaway

Now let’s add some actions, which are the ways that visitors can participate in the contest, such as subscribing to your podcast, joining your email newsletter, or visiting a WooCommerce product on your online store.

To see the different actions that you can add to your Facebook contest, click on ‘Actions.’

To add an action to your giveaway, simply give it a click.

Since we want to boost Facebook engagement, you’ll want to add actions such as Visit us on Facebook, Like our Page, View a Facebook Post / Video, or Share on Facebook.

Giving visitors multiple ways to participate can get you more entries, so you may want to add multiple actions.

There may also be some people who complete all the actions in order to give themselves the best possible chance of winning. In this way, you can get lots of Facebook engagement from a single participant.

Even though we want to boost engagement on Facebook, you may want to consider adding some entry methods that aren’t related to Facebook. This will allow more people to enter your contest, including people who don’t have a Facebook account.

After adding an action, click to select that action in the giveaway preview. You can now configure the action using the settings in the left-hand menu.

For example, if you’re adding the ‘Visit us on Facebook’ action, then you’ll need to enter your page’s URL into the ‘Facebook Page URL’ field.

Similarly, if you’re using ‘View Facebook Post / Video’ then you’ll need to enter the URL of the post or video that you want people to visit.

Each action also has some basic settings. You can type in a title, make an action mandatory, and even allow users to submit daily entries.

After that, you need to assign a value to the action, which is the number of entries users will earn for performing that action. By default, all actions are worth 1 entry.

If you have several entry methods, then you can use the value settings to make certain methods more attractive to visitors. For example, if your goal is to get more Facebook followers then you might make the ‘Like our Page’ action worth 2 entries.

Once you’ve filled in these settings, you can click on the ‘Add Actions’ tab and add more entry methods to your competition.

It’s also a good idea to arrange your actions based on your campaign goals. For example, if you want to get more shares, then we recommend placing the ‘Share on Facebook’ action at the very top of the ‘Entry Methods’ list.

Simply hover over the action in the editor and then grab the dotted button that appears to the left of the action. Then, move the entry method using drag and drop.

When you’re happy with how the Facebook giveaway is set up, don’t forget to click on ‘Save’ to store your changes.

Step 3: Design your Facebook Giveaway to Stand out

Now that your Facebook giveaway is set up, you can change how the contest looks.

Simply switch to the ‘Design’ tab, and you will see options to select a new button color, change the fonts, and more.

RafflePress lets you embed the Facebook contest in a page or post, or publish it as a separate landing page.

If you’re going to post your Facebook giveaway as a standalone page, then you can add a background image or change the background color.

To add an image, scroll to the ‘Background Image’ section and click on ‘Select Image.’ You can now either choose an image from the media library or upload a new file.

Another option is to change the background color by clicking on ‘Page Background Color.’

You can now make your selection from the popup that appears.

When you’re happy with how the giveaway looks, click on ‘Save’ to store your changes.

Step 4. Fine Tuning Your Giveaway Settings

Now that your giveaway looks great, let’s check its settings by switching to the ‘Settings’ tab.

Most of these settings are self-explanatory, but we’ll go through them one by one. First, we’ll look at the ‘General’ settings.

Here, you can set the basic options for your giveaway including whether you’ll show the giveaway winners and the total number of entries.

Next, you can create the rules for joining the Facebook giveaway by selecting the ‘Giveaway Rules’ tab.

RafflePress comes with a Rules Generator that will create rules for your campaign using a sample template. To get started, click on the ‘General Rules’ button.

This will open a form where you can type in some information about the Facebook contest.

In most cases, you or your company will be the contest’s sponsor. This means you’ll need to type in your company name and your business email address.

RafflePress will then use this information to create some basic rules for the giveaway.

Every area has its own rules about Facebook contests, so it’s a good idea to review these automatically generated rules and add any missing information.

If you’re using the contest to do lead generation or get more email subscribers, then it’s a good idea to only accept entries from people who verify their email addresses.

To do that, select the ‘Email Verification’ tab and then click on the ‘Contest must Confirm Their Email’ toggle to turn it from ‘No’ to ‘Yes.’

You can also use these settings to change the verification email that users will get when they enter your giveaway.

If you want to add Google Analytics or other tracking codes like Facebook pixel, then RafflePress allows you to track users who have successfully entered your giveaway.

To do this, click on the ‘Success Tracking’ tab and then add your Google Analytics script or Facebook retargeting pixel code.

When a visitor enters your Facebook contest, it’s not the end of the process. You may want to redirect the person to a thank you page, your top-performing blog, or some other page.

To create a redirect, select the ‘Success Redirect’ tab and then click the ‘Enable Success Redirect’ toggle.

In the ‘Redirect URL’ field, type in the URL where you want to send participants.

Since we’re creating a Facebook giveaway, you may want to give visitors the option to enter your contest using their Facebook accounts. This can be quicker and easier than asking them to type in their email address, so this may get you some more entries.

To enable Facebook login for your contest, simply select the ‘Social Logins’ tab and then click to enable the ‘Allow logging…’ toggle.

After that, click on the ‘GDPR’ tab. The General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR) is a European Union (EU) law that gives EU citizens more control over their personal data.

If you break GDPR then you could get a fine or even jail time. To help you comply with GDPR, RafflePress can ask for the visitor’s consent before they enter your giveaway.

To add this checkbox, simply click on the ‘GDPR Consent’ toggle to turn it from ‘No’ to ‘Yes.’

RafflePress has a default GDPR disclaimer that it will show to visitors, but you can edit the disclaimer to add any missing information. For more information on the topic, see our ultimate guide to WordPress and GDRP compliance.

Spammers and bots can make it harder to achieve your contest’s goals. With that in mind, you may want to protect your Facebook giveaway with an invisible recaptcha.

Regular captchas usually ask users to complete a puzzle, which makes it more difficult for visitors to enter your Facebook giveaway. The good news is that invisible recaptchas run in the background so you can block spammers without adding friction to the user experience.

To add an invisible recaptcha to your Facebook contest, click on the ‘Repatcha’ tab. After that, activate the ‘Enable Invisible Recaptcha’ toggle.

For more information, see our guide on how to add recaptcha to WordPress.

When you’re happy with how the Facebook contest is set up, click on the ‘Save’ button to store your changes.

Step 5. Add Your Facebook Giveaway to a WordPress Post or Page

There are a few different ways to add a RafflePress giveaway to your WordPress website.

You can add the contest to any page or post using the RafflePress block. This is a great choice if you want to embed the Facebook contest in a blog post or other page.

To start, simply open the page or post where you want to include the giveaway. Then, click on the ‘+’ button and type in ‘RafflePress.’ You can then select the right block when it appears.

After adding the block, open the dropdown and choose the Facebook giveaway you created earlier. The RafflePress block will now load a preview of your giveaway widget inside the WordPress block editor.

You can then either publish or update the page to make the contest live on your WordPress blog or website.

You can also add the giveaway to any page, post, or widget-ready area using the shortcode. This is particularly useful if you want to show the Facebook contest in a sidebar widget so that it appears across your website.

In the RafflePress giveaway editor, go ahead and click on the ‘Publish’ tab. From here, click on ‘WordPress Shortcode’ and RafflePress will show the shortcode you can use.

Simply copy the code and then add it to any page, post, or widget-ready area. For more details, please see our guide on how to add a shortcode in WordPress.

Another option is to create a giveaway landing page. This is a great option if you want a standalone page that you can easily share on social media or add to your email newsletter.

In the RafflePress editor, select the ‘Publish’ tab. Then, choose ‘Giveaway Landing Page’ and select the ‘Click here…’ link.

In ‘Page Permalink,’ type in the URL where you want to publish your giveaway landing page.

After that, simply click on the ‘View’ button.

RafflePress will now publish your giveaway as a landing page.

If you’re using the SeedProd page builder plugin, then you can design a landing page using ready-made templates, blocks, and a drag and drop editor. You can then add your giveaway using a special Giveaway block.

This block integrates with RafflePress, so you can simply drag and drop it onto the page.

Then, choose the RafflePress giveaway you created earlier.

SeedProd will now show the giveaway inside your beautifully designed landing page.

For more information on SeedProd, please see our step by step guide on how to create a landing page in WordPress.

Step 6. Promoting Your Facebook Giveaway

If your Facebook contest is going to be a big success, then it’s smart to start promoting the contest before publishing it. By putting in some hard work before publishing your giveaway you can increase the chances of your campaign going viral, which will help you get more entries and achieve your goals.

You can start by sending an email newsletter to your subscribers and announcing the Facebook competition on your other social media profiles.

Another option is creating a floating bar with a link to the giveaway using a plugin such as OptinMonster. You can even use FOMO on your WordPress site to get more entries, by adding a countdown timer to the floating bar.

You might even send web push notifications asking your subscribers to enter the competition or refer any friends or family members who might want to take part in the Facebook giveaway.

Step 7. Announcing The Giveaway Winners

Once your giveaway closes, you need to pick a lucky winner. RafflePress automates the whole process, so simply go to RafflePress » Giveaways.

If you scheduled the contest to end automatically, then you can simply find the giveaway and click on the ‘Need Winners’ link.

If you didn’t set an end date for the Facebook giveaway, then you can close it manually by hovering your mouse over the competition and selecting ‘End Now.’

After that, just click on the ‘Need Winners’ link that appears.

On the following page, RafflePress will show all the people who entered your Facebook contest. Just type in the number of winners you want to pick and choose whether you want to allow unverified emails to win.

If you plan to contact the winner via email, then you’ll typically want to make sure only people with verified emails can win.

After that, just click on ‘Choose Winners Now’ and RafflePress will show the winner highlighted at the top of the list.

We hope this article helped you learn how to easily add a Facebook giveaway in WordPress to boost engagement. You may also want to see our guide on how to get more traffic to your WordPress website or our pick of the best WordPress Facebook plugins.

If you liked this article, then please subscribe to our YouTube Channel for WordPress video tutorials. You can also find us on Twitter and Facebook.

The post How to Add a Facebook Giveaway in WordPress to Boost Engagement first appeared on WPBeginner.

The videos that you post to Facebook also make great content for your website. By embedding a Facebook video feed, you can keep your site fresh and interesting while also growing your Facebook following.

In this article, we’ll show you an easy way to embed Facebook videos in WordPress.

Why Add Facebook Videos in WordPress?

Videos are a great way to connect with your audience and keep them engaged. This is true no matter whether you’re running a personal blog or a business website.

However, videos are particularly powerful if you want to make money online blogging with WordPress. In fact, 88% of people have bought a product or service after watching a video according to the latest blogging statistics.

Creating engaging and entertaining videos takes time and effort so if you’re posting videos to Facebook, then it makes sense to re-use them on your WordPress website.

By linking your website to your Facebook account, any new videos that you post to Facebook will appear on your website automatically. In this way, you can keep your website fresh with very little day-to-day effort.

Embedded videos can even help grow your Facebook page. If website visitors see lots of interesting videos and playlists then they’ll want to follow you on Facebook. This can get you some extra followers and more engagement.

With that being said, let’s see how you can easily embed a Facebook video in WordPress.

Installing a Facebook Video Plugin in WordPress

The easiest way to embed a Facebook video in WordPress is by using the Custom Facebook Feed Pro plugin.

It’s the best social media feeds plugin and lets you easily embed Facebook albums, comments, reviews, community posts, videos, and more on your WordPress website.

In this guide, we’ll be using the pro version of Smash Balloon as it allows you to embed videos in WordPress including HD, 360^o, and Facebook Live videos.

Smash Balloon Pro also lets you show photos in a custom Facebook feed, and display the total number of likes, shares, comments, and reactions below each post. However, if you’re just starting out and have a limited budget, then there’s also a free version you can use.

First, install and activate the Custom Facebook Feed Pro plugin. For more details, see our step-by-step guide on how to install a WordPress plugin.

Upon activation, head over to Facebook Feed » Settings and enter your license key into the ‘License Key’ field.

You’ll find this information under your account on the Smash Balloon website.

After entering the key, click on the ‘Activate’ button.

Connect Your Facebook Page or Group to WordPress

Smash Balloon Custom Facebook Feed allows you to embed videos from Facebook pages and groups. You can even show the videos in a lightbox popup so people can watch the full video directly on your WordPress website.

The first step is connecting your Facebook page or group to WordPress, so go to Facebook Feed » All Feeds and then click on ‘Add New.’

Smash Balloon lets you show posts from your Facebook timeline, photo albums, Facebook statuses, events, and more.

Since we want to embed Facebook videos in WordPress, you’ll need to select ‘Videos’ and then click on ‘Next.’

Now, you need to select the Facebook page or group where you’ll get the videos from.

To do this, click on ‘Add New.’

Next, choose whether you want to show videos from a Facebook page or group.

Once you’ve done that, click on ‘Connect to Facebook.’

This opens a popup where you can log into your Facebook account and choose the pages or groups that you want to use with Smash Balloon.

After that, click on ‘Next.’

Now, Facebook will show all the information that Smash Balloon will have access to, and the actions it can perform.

To restrict Smash Balloon’s access to your Facebook account, simply click to disable any of the switches.

Just be aware that this may affect the videos that you can embed on your WordPress blog or website so we recommend leaving all the switches enabled.

When you’re happy with how the permissions are set up, click on ‘Done.’

After a few moments, you should see a message confirming that you’ve connected your WordPress website to Facebook.

With that done, you’re ready to click on ‘OK.’

Smash Balloon will now return you to the WordPress dashboard automatically.

How to Embed Facebook Videos in WordPress

At this point, you’ll see a popup with the Facebook group or page that you just linked to your website. Simply select the radio button next to the page or group you want to use and then click on the ‘Add’ button.

If you accidentally closed the popup, don’t worry. You can simply refresh the page to reopen the popup.

Once you’ve done that, WordPress will take you back to the Facebook Feed » All Feeds page automatically. Just like before, click on ‘Add New,’ select ‘Videos’ and then click on the ‘Next’ button.

Now, select your Facebook page or group, and click on ‘Next.’

On this screen, you can choose the template that you want to use for the video feed.

All of these templates are fully customizable so you can fine-tune the design depending on how you want to show the Facebook videos on your website.

We’re using the ‘Default’ template, but you can choose any template you want. After making your selection, click on ‘Next.’

After that, you can choose whether to show all the videos from your Facebook page or group or just the videos from a specific playlist.

If you choose ‘Show from a specific playlist,’ then you’ll need to enter that playlist’s URL.

Once you’ve made a decision, go ahead and click on the ‘Next’ button.

Smash Balloon will now create a feed based on your source and the template you’ve chosen. This is a good start, but you may want to fine-tune how the videos appear on your site.

How to Customize Your Embedded Facebook Videos

The Smash Balloon Custom Facebook Feed plugin gives you lots of ways to customize how the videos appear on your website. That being said, it’s worth taking a look at these settings.

In the WordPress dashboard, go to Facebook Feed » All Feeds. Here, find the video feed you just created and click on the ‘Edit’ button next to it, which looks like a small pencil.

This opens the Smash Balloon feed editor, which shows a preview of your Facebook video feed to the right.

On the left-hand side, you’ll see all the different settings you can use to customize how these videos appear on your WordPress website. Most of these settings are self-explanatory, but we’ll quickly cover the major areas.

If you want to change the template, then click on ‘Template.’

Then, select the ‘Change’ button.

This opens a popup showing all the different templates you can use for your video feed.

Simply select the design you want to use instead, and then click on ‘Update.’

The next setting is ‘Feed Type,’ which allows you to show different content in your feed. For example, you might decide to show photos, albums, or events instead of videos.

Since we want to embed Facebook videos, you’ll typically want to ignore this area.

Next, click on ‘Feed Layout.’

Here, you can choose between different layouts, such as masonry and grid, and change the feed height.

As you make changes, the preview will update automatically so you can try different settings to see what looks the best.

By default, Smash Balloon will show the same number of videos on desktop computers and mobile devices such as smartphones.

You can preview how your videos will look on desktop computers, tablets, and smartphones using the row of buttons in the upper-right corner.

Mobile devices usually have smaller screens and may struggle to process lots of large, high-resolution videos. Visitors may also be using their mobile data rather than free Wi-Fi.

With that being said, you may want to show fewer videos on smartphones and tablets. To do this, simply type a different number into the ‘Mobile’ field under ‘Number of Posts.’

By default, the Facebook feed shows fewer columns on smartphones and tablets, compared to desktop computers. This helps all your videos fit comfortably on smaller screens.

However, after testing the mobile version of your WordPress website, you may be unhappy with how the columns look on tablets and smartphones.

You can change the number of columns that Smash Balloon uses on tablets, mobiles, and desktop computers using the ‘Columns’ settings.

The next settings page is ‘Color Scheme.’

Smash Balloon uses the colors inherited from your WordPress theme by default, but on this screen, you can switch to a ‘Light’ or ‘Dark’ color scheme instead.

Another option is to create your own color scheme by selecting ‘Custom’ and then using the controls to change the background color, change the text color in WordPress, and more.

Smash Balloon can add a header to your feed, which is your Facebook profile picture and the name of the page or group. This lets visitors know where the embedded videos come from, and where they can find this content on Facebook.

To add this section, click on ‘Header’ in the left-hand menu.

You can then click on the ‘Enable’ toggle.

After adding a header you can change how this area looks, including hiding or adding your Facebook profile picture, changing the size of the bio text, and more.

If you want to remove the header completely, then click to turn off the ‘Enable’ toggle.

By default, Smash Balloon shows the title of each video. If you want to hide the title, then select ‘Posts’ from the main Smash Balloon editor menu.

Then, go ahead and click on ‘Post Style.’

On this screen, you can hide the video titles by clicking on the ‘Show Video Title’ slider.

This can be useful if you haven’t added titles to all your videos, or your titles don’t make sense outside of Facebook.

On this screen, you can also hide or show the video descriptions. For example, you may use these descriptions to provide extra information about the video.

To add the description, simply click to enable the ‘Show Video Description’ switch.

By default, Smash Balloon doesn’t add the Facebook ‘like’ button to your video feed. If visitors like your embedded videos then they may want to follow you on Facebook.

With that being said, you may want to add a ‘like’ button to the feed, by selecting ‘Like Box’ from the editor’s left-hand menu.

After that, simply click on the ‘Enable’ button so that it turns blue.

Smash Balloon adds this button below your video feed, but you can change this by opening the ‘Position’ dropdown and choosing ‘Top.’

On this screen, you can also change how the ‘like’ section looks including changing its width, showing how many people follow you on Facebook, adding a custom call to action, and more.

When you’re happy with how the button looks, you can move on to the next settings page by selecting ‘Load More Button.’

The Load More button encourages visitors to scroll through more of your video feed, so Smash Balloon adds it to your embedded Facebook feed by default.

Since it’s such an important button, you may want to customize this button by changing its background color, hover state, label, and more.

Another option is to remove the button completely, by clicking the ‘Enable’ toggle. For example, you might remove this button and then encourage visitors to check out your Facebook page in order to see more of your videos.

By default, Smash Balloon allows visitors to watch your Facebook videos without leaving your WordPress website.

They can simply click on any video thumbnail to open it in a lightbox, as you can see in the following image

Visitors can scroll through the videos in your feed using the arrows.

If they want to like a photo, leave a comment, or share the video to their page, then they can click on the ‘View on Facebook’ link.

There are a few different ways that you can customize Smash Balloon’s default lightbox.

To see your options, click on ‘Lightbox’ in the left-hand menu.

Here, you can change the color of the lightbox’s text, links, and background colors.

The lightbox feature allows visitors to watch your videos in a popup. If you prefer, then you can disable the lightbox so that all your videos play as small thumbnails, embedded inside the page content.

In this way, you can encourage people to visit your Facebook page, to see the full-size video. To disable the lightbox, simply click on the ‘Enable’ toggle to turn it from blue to grey.

When you’re happy with how the video feed looks, don’t forget to click on ‘Save.’

You’re now ready to embed the Smash Balloon feed in your website.

How to Add Facebook Videos to WordPress

With Smash Balloon, you can add the video feed to your WordPress website using a block, widget, or shortcode.

If you’ve created more than one feed using Smash Balloon, then you’ll need to know the feed’s code if you’re going to use a widget or block.

To get this code, go to Facebook Feed » All Feeds and then look at the feed="" part of the shortcode. You’ll need to add this code to the block or widget, so make a note of it.

In the following image, we’ll need to use feed="6"

If you want to embed your Facebook feed in a page or post, then we recommend using the Custom Facebook Feed block.

Just open the page or post where you want to embed your Facebook videos. Then, click on the ‘+’ icon to add a new block and start typing ‘Custom Facebook Feed.’

When the right block appears, click to add it to the page or post.

The block will show one of your Smash Balloon feeds by default. If you want to use a different video feed instead, then find ‘Shortcode Settings’ in the right-hand menu.

Here, simply add the feed="" code and then click on ‘Apply Changes.’

The block will now show the videos from your Facebook page or group. Just publish or update the page to make the video feed live on your website.

Another option is to add the feed to any widget-ready area, such as the sidebar or similar section. This allows visitors to watch your Facebook videos from any page of your site.

Simply go to Appearance » Widgets and then click on the blue ‘+’ button.

After that, find the ‘Custom Facebook Feed’ widget.

Then, just drag it onto the area where you want to show the video feed.

The widget will show one of your Smash Balloon feeds automatically.

To show a different feed instead, type or paste the feed’s code into the ‘Shortcode Settings’ box and then click ‘Apply Changes.’

You can now make the widget live by clicking on the ‘Update’ button. For more information, please see our step-by-step guide on how to add and use widgets in WordPress.

Finally, you can embed videos on any page, post, or widget-ready area using a shortcode.

Simply go to Facebook Feed » All Feeds and copy the code in the ‘Shortcode’ column. You can now add this code to any Shortcode block.

For help placing the shortcode, please see our guide on how to add a shortcode.

Add a Specific Facebook Video in WordPress

Sometimes you may want to embed a specific Facebook video in a page or post. For example, you might have a Facebook video that talks about the same topics as your latest blog, or a promotional video showing the product you’ve just launched on your online store.

To embed a specific video, you’ll need to buy and install the Featured Posts extension as it allows you to display a particular post or event using its ID.

To start, go to Facebook Feed » Extensions.

Here, find the ‘Featured Posts’ extension and click on its ‘Add’ button.

This will open the Smash Balloon website in a new tab, with instructions on how to purchase the extension.

Once you have the extension, you can install it in exactly the same way you install a plugin. If you need help, then please see our guide on how to install a WordPress plugin.

After activating the plugin, go to Facebook Feed » All Feeds and click on ‘Add New.’

Under ‘Advanced Feed Types,’ select ‘Single Featured Post’ and then click ‘Next.’

You can now choose the page or group that you want to use as your source by following the same process described above.

On the next page, you’ll need to enter the ID of the video that you want to embed.

To get this ID, visit Facebook in a new tab and then open the video that you want to embed.

You can now go ahead and copy the URL.

After that, just post the URL into your WordPress dashboard and click on ‘Next.’

Once you’ve done that, you can style the video and then add it to your site following the same process described above.

We hope this article showed you how to embed a Facebook video in WordPress. You may want to check out our guide on how to create an email newsletter and our expert pick of the best YouTube video gallery plugins.

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