At the beginning of August, we briefly mentioned that Facebook had introduced a new feature, embeddable posts, in our Social Media News Round-Up. Though at the time these special posts were limited to select media outlets and individual users, they’ve now been opened up to all pages. Let’s review what the embed feature is, how to use it, and what types of posts you should be embedding.

What Is the Embed Feature?

The “Embed” feature allows you to take a post directly from Facebook and embed it in a blog post or page on your website, similar to the way you would embed a YouTube video. While you could simply take a screen shot, embedded Facebook posts allow you to foster more engagement, letting you tag other pages or people and allowing your site visitors to easily click on any links you’ve shared and like, comment or share directly from your blog post.

How to Use the Embed Feature

To embed a Facebook post, click the arrow on the top right hand side of your selected post in order to see the drop down menu and choose “Embed Post” at the bottom of the menu. Next, copy the code that Facebook provides you and paste that code within your blog post. Be sure that you are in the correct mode for entering code when you do so (if your site is built on WordPress this means being in Text rather than Visual mode). Once you’ve pasted your code, double check to make sure that all of the details are correct. For instance, is the width too big for your space? When you’re happy with this appearance of the code, update your post then view it on your blog to ensure that it looks how you expected. View our video above to see a step-by-step demonstration.

When to Embed Your Posts

Though you can embed any post, you should limit yourself to only those worthy of being called out on your blog. Below we’ve listed some of the types of posts that deserve being highlighted on your blog

• Posts with Videos or Photos announcing a contest winner
• Posts about special events your business is hosting or attending
• Photo albums from company events (as we have done on this post from our latest mud run)
• Videos taken of your customers in your store that you have posted with their consent
• Photos of your Daily specials (especially for restaurants)
• Posts containing interesting infographics or memes

Hopefully you’re noticing a pattern here: all of these posts involve visuals! This tool should be reserved for eye-catching pieces that will add value to your blog posts.

What are your thoughts about this new Facebook tool? Have you tried embedding a post on your blog? Please share your feedback in the comments below or on our Facebook page!