Visual brands live and die by consistency, and nowhere is consistency more visible than on Instagram. If you are managing your Instagram presence through a scheduling tool like Later or Planoly, connecting that workflow to your Showit website creates a seamless content ecosystem where your social content and web presence reinforce each other. This guide covers how to display your Instagram feed from Later or Planoly on your Showit site, how to set up link-in-bio functionality, and how to streamline your social-to-website content strategy.
Understanding What Later and Planoly Offer Beyond Scheduling
Later and Planoly are known as Instagram scheduling platforms, but both have evolved into broader social media and marketing tools with website-relevant features.
Both platforms offer embeddable Instagram feeds, link-in-bio pages, and content planning tools that extend beyond just scheduling posts in advance.
Later’s Website and Feed Features
Later’s visual planner lets you drag and drop content into your feed preview before publishing. Beyond scheduling, Later offers a feature called Linkin.bio, which creates a dedicated mini-site tied to your Instagram bio link.
Later’s Linkin.bio can host a grid of clickable images that link to specific pages on your Showit site. This is the feature most Showit users connect to Later for practical traffic routing from Instagram.
Later’s feature overview outlines the full range of tools available across their subscription tiers.
Planoly’s Features for Showit Websites
Planoly similarly offers visual planning, scheduling, and a Linkin.bio-style feature called Planoly Bio. In addition, Planoly has an embeddable Instagram feed widget that can be placed directly on external websites.
For Showit users, Planoly’s embed widget is a useful tool for displaying a live Instagram feed without requiring a separate third-party tool. The feed updates automatically as you post new content.
Planoly’s website features section covers the Linkin.bio and embed options in their documentation.
Displaying Your Instagram Feed From Later on Your Showit Website
Later’s embed feed feature allows you to place a live Instagram grid on any web page using an embed code. Here is how to set it up.
Generating Your Later Embed Code
Log into your Later account and navigate to the “Embed Widget” section, found under the Instagram settings or the Publishing menu depending on your account tier.
Later generates an embed code that displays your recent Instagram posts in a grid format. You can typically configure the number of rows, the number of columns, and whether clicking a post opens the Instagram post directly or a Later-hosted link page.
Copy the generated embed code completely.
Adding the Later Feed to Your Showit Page
Open your Showit editor and navigate to the page where you want the Instagram feed to appear. Add an embed block by clicking the plus icon and selecting the “Embed Code” widget.
Paste your Later embed code into the embed field. Set the block dimensions to match the feed’s expected rendered size. A common approach is to display a three-column grid with two rows of posts, creating a balanced visual block.
Adjust the block height in both desktop and mobile canvas views. Later’s embed is generally responsive but benefits from explicit height settings in Showit to prevent layout issues.
Styling the Feed Section Around the Later Embed
Add a heading above the feed that includes a call to action, such as “Follow Along on Instagram” or “Behind the Scenes from Our Studio.” This contextualizes the feed for visitors who might not immediately recognize it as a social feed.
Include your Instagram handle as a clickable link below the feed. This makes it easy for visitors to follow you directly from your Showit site without searching for your account manually.
Displaying Your Instagram Feed From Planoly on Your Showit Website
Planoly’s embed approach is similar to Later’s but operates through Planoly’s own embed widget system.
Accessing Planoly’s Embed Widget
In your Planoly account, navigate to the “Website” or “Embed” section of the dashboard. Planoly generates an embed code that displays your Instagram feed in a customizable grid.
You can configure the number of posts displayed, the grid columns, and whether the feed includes hover effects or click-through functionality.
Copy the embed code and follow the same process as described for Later: add an embed block to your Showit page, paste the code, and configure the block dimensions.
Planoly Versus Later: Which Feed Embed Looks Better on Showit
Both tools produce clean, functional Instagram feed embeds. The visual difference between them is minimal. The more relevant consideration is which platform you already use for scheduling, since using a feed widget from your scheduling platform eliminates the need for a separate tool.
If you use Neither and are specifically looking for an Instagram feed embed, third-party tools like Smash Balloon or Elfsight may offer more design customization than either Later or Planoly.
Setting Up a Link-in-Bio Page Through Later or Planoly
Both tools offer link-in-bio solutions that can serve as a complement to your Showit website’s navigation, directing Instagram visitors to the right pages on your site.
How Later’s Linkin.bio Connects to Showit
Later’s Linkin.bio creates a mobile-optimized page at a Later-hosted URL, such as later.com/linkin.bio/yourusername. This page displays a clickable grid of your Instagram posts, each linked to a page you specify.
For Showit users, this means you can configure each post in Later to link directly to a specific blog post, service page, or offer page on your Showit site. When a follower taps a post in your Instagram feed and is taken to your Linkin.bio, they can click through to exactly the relevant Showit page.
This creates a direct traffic pipeline from Instagram content to specific conversion pages on your site, something a generic bio link to your homepage cannot achieve.
Building a Custom Link-in-Bio Directly on Showit
An alternative to using Later or Planoly’s hosted link-in-bio is building your own link-in-bio page directly in Showit. This approach gives you full design control and keeps visitors on your domain rather than a third-party platform.
A custom Showit link-in-bio page typically includes your profile image, a brief tagline, and a stack of button links pointing to your most important pages. For a complete guide on building this type of page, the dedicated article on adding a link-in-bio page to your Showit website covers every design and technical consideration.
Integrating Your Content Calendar With Your Showit Blog
One of the most underused synergies between Later/Planoly and Showit is aligning your social content calendar with your blog publishing schedule.
Planning Blog Posts and Social Content Together
When you plan a blog post in Showit’s WordPress backend, schedule corresponding Instagram posts in Later or Planoly for the same day and the days following. Use the Instagram posts to tease the blog content, share a quote or insight from the post, and drive followers to read the full article.
This content amplification approach multiplies the reach of each blog post without requiring additional content creation. The same core idea drives both the blog post and several Instagram posts, each formatted for its specific platform.
For guidance on running an effective blog through Showit and WordPress, the Showit and WordPress blogging guide covers content management, SEO setup, and integration best practices for the blogging layer of your Showit site.
Using Later’s Best Time to Post Data
Later provides data on when your specific audience is most active. Scheduling blog promotion posts during these peak engagement windows increases the likelihood of traffic spikes from Instagram to your Showit site.
Review your Later analytics monthly to identify patterns. Morning versus evening, weekdays versus weekends, and even specific content types all have different peak engagement windows for different audiences.
This data-driven scheduling, combined with a well-designed Showit site optimized to convert Instagram visitors, creates a sustainable organic traffic and conversion cycle.
Technical Considerations for Later and Planoly Embeds on Showit
Like any third-party embed, Instagram feed widgets from Later and Planoly have technical implications worth understanding.
API Limitations and Instagram Policy
Both Later and Planoly use Instagram’s official API to pull feed data. Instagram’s API has usage limits and policy restrictions that occasionally affect how embed widgets function.
If your Instagram feed embed stops displaying or shows an error, the issue is typically related to API permissions or a token expiration rather than a Showit configuration problem. Re-authenticating your Later or Planoly account with Instagram usually resolves feed display issues.
Performance Impact of Instagram Feed Embeds
Instagram feed embeds load external content and are JavaScript-dependent. They add to your page’s overall load time, particularly on mobile connections.
Place Instagram feed sections below the fold whenever possible to prevent them from affecting your above-the-fold performance metrics. Use Showit’s lazy loading settings where available to delay the embed’s initialization until the visitor scrolls near it.
Test your page using Google PageSpeed Insights before and after adding the feed widget to quantify the performance impact and address any critical issues before publishing.
SEO Value of Instagram Feed Embeds
Instagram feed content loaded via JavaScript does not contribute to your page’s SEO. Search engines do not index the image content or captions from embedded feeds.
To ensure the page section containing the feed has SEO value, include native text describing your Instagram content themes. A heading like “Our Latest Creative Work on Instagram” combined with a paragraph describing what visitors will find creates SEO-readable content that accompanies the visual feed.
Connecting Later or Planoly to your Showit website transforms your social media activity from a platform-confined effort into a site-wide brand reinforcement system. When your feed is visible on your website, your content calendar feeds your blog strategy, and your link-in-bio routes followers to the right conversion pages, the gap between your Instagram presence and your website starts to close in genuinely productive ways.
FAQ
Does Later or Planoly have a free plan that supports website embedding?
Later offers limited embedding functionality on some of its paid plans, with the Linkin.bio feature requiring a specific tier. Planoly’s embed widget availability also varies by plan. Check each platform’s current pricing page for the most up-to-date feature availability by tier, as these offerings change with plan updates. Both platforms offer free trials or basic free plans that may include limited embed access.
Can I use Later’s Linkin.bio instead of building a separate page on Showit?
Yes, but with trade-offs. Later’s Linkin.bio is hosted on Later’s domain, which means the page does not contribute SEO value to your Showit website. It also cannot be fully branded to match your Showit design. For maximum brand consistency and SEO benefit, building a custom link-in-bio page directly on your Showit domain is typically the better long-term approach for established businesses.
My Later Instagram feed embed is not displaying on my Showit site. What should I do?
First, check that your Later account is still connected to your Instagram account with valid API permissions. Token expiration is the most common cause of feed embed failures. Re-authorize the Instagram connection inside Later’s account settings. Also verify that your Showit embed block contains the complete embed code and that no characters were accidentally removed during the paste process.
Can I display posts from multiple Instagram accounts in one Showit feed?
Not through Later or Planoly directly, as each account’s embed shows content from a single connected Instagram profile. If you manage multiple accounts and want a combined feed display, tools like Juicer or Curator.io support multi-account aggregation and embed that combined feed on Showit through their standard embed code.
Does scheduling Instagram posts through Later or Planoly affect my Showit website in any way?
No. Scheduling, publishing, and managing Instagram content through Later or Planoly does not directly interact with your Showit website’s files or settings. The connection between the platforms is one-directional for scheduling purposes: your social posts publish to Instagram independently of your website. The website connection only activates when you set up a feed embed or configure Linkin.bio links to point to specific Showit pages.
