Instagram posts in Klaviyo/Mailchimp without Zapier tax
You want the latest Instagram posts in a welcome series or a weekly brand email. The “easy” path is usually a Zap: new Instagram post → somehow → Mailchimp / Klaviyo. It works until the task meter spikes, the Zap breaks on a Meta permission change, or someone asks why the images in last month’s send are blank. There is a quieter option most email tools already support: a feed URL. Paste it into a…
If you want to include Instagram posts in your welcome series or weekly brand emails, Zapier is typically the go-to tool. However, relying on a Zap can lead to issues such as the task meter spiking, Zaps breaking due to Meta permission changes, or blank images in past emails. A more reliable alternative is to use a feed URL directly within your email tool.
Mailchimp and Klaviyo both support RSS-to-email automations. You simply need to paste the RSS URL into a native RSS block or web feed section. This allows Mailchimp and Klaviyo to pull the latest posts without the need for a Zap or any third-party widget.
Feedframer simplifies this process by connecting your Instagram account and exposing RSS and JSON feeds for use in email tools. The process involves three main steps:
1. Connect your Instagram account (Business or Creator only) once through Feedframer, which will handle token refreshes and media CDN copies.
2. Expose RSS and JSON feeds for the email tool to consume.
3. Use the provided feed URLs in the email tool's RSS or web feed automation settings.
Feedframer offers a free plan with six posts per account and unlimited API calls, and a premium plan at $6/month or $60/year for more posts, hourly Instagram checks, and responsive image sizes. The service caps posts, not views, so big sends won't pause the feed.
To include Instagram posts in Mailchimp, you can follow these steps:
1. Open the RSS Feed section in Feedframer, pick your Instagram account, and copy the URL.
2. In Mailchimp, go to Automations → flow templates → Share blog updates via RSS.
3. Paste the Feedframer URL, choose your preferred send frequency, and optionally enable image resizing.
4. Use the *|RSSITEMS:|* and *|RSSITEM:CONTENT|* merge tags in your email body to display the posts.
For Klaviyo, follow these steps:
1. Go to Settings → Other → Web feeds → Add Web Feed in Klaviyo.
2. Name the feed, set the URL to https://feedframer.com/api/v1/me?api_key=YOUR_API_KEY, and choose GET as the method and JSON as the content type.
3. In your email template, use a table layout with rows for each post, displaying images, captions, and links to the Instagram post.
Both Mailchimp and Klaviyo require a stable HTTPS URL that returns posts in a format they can understand, and Feedframer provides that solution. With Feedframer, you can avoid the tax of using Zapier and enjoy a more reliable and cost-effective solution for incorporating Instagram posts into your email campaigns.
Written by urgent.news from Dev.to's reporting — not their text. Machine-written — may contain errors; check the original before relying on it.
