A few weeks ago, Instagram announced that it has created an embed widget for photos taken with its popular photo app. I had a chance to play around with this the other day and am finding its functionality to be quite nice.
While BrandQuery doesn’t have an Instagram account, I have taken a few images for BrandQuery’s Facebook and Twitter accounts using my personal one. Below is a shot I just snapped of our inspiration wall.
I love the new functionality. However, Instagram has failed to abide by one simple usability factor: adjustable size.
Luckily, there’s an easy workaround for this. It’s a simple math equation, and I’m actually quite pleased it worked.
Instagram’s fixed width and height are 612 and 710 respectively. We know our blog’s fixed width is 500 and the corresponding proportionate height is the x for which we must solve:
original width / original height = new width / new height, or:
612/710 = 500/x
Just solve for x:
x = approx. 580
Once you know the proportionate width and height, replacing the original “612” and “710” with these digits will size your embed accordingly.
Three Benefits of Embedding:
1. Sharable
First and foremost is that embeds allow for easy sharing. They can be used by brands who want to highlight their Instagram accounts on their websites and blogs, and they can be used by fans who like the images the brand captures.
2. Grow Your Fan Base
If it’s sharable, there’s greater potential to grow your fan base. As you can see in the image above, the embed links directly to my Instagram account, which can generate new followers.
3. Increase Engagement
In addition to gaining new followers, it can also boost engagement for the embedded photo. Take a peek at the comments on the photo Instagram highlights in their post announcing embeds. The quote from @distortedphotog1 proves this point: I found your page on the ig (sic) blog. This photo was posted on it & I thought it was so incredible.
With Instagram Embeds, you can make the social image platform work in the favor of your business.
