If you have been on Facebook over the past few months, you have probably noticed their new Instant Articles feature.
Facebook Instant Articles are articles that load within Facebook when they are clicked. Facebook says they load up to 10x faster than normal articles (links) and because of that they get more engagement.
I am always interested in trying the latest trends and getting more engagement on my content, so I decided to create Instant Articles for this blog on my Facebook Page. The setup process is fairly easy, but there are a few things required so I decided to create a guide to help.
Here is a quick guide on how you can do it for your WordPress blog too.
Create Instant Articles For Your Blog
First, you will need to install the official WordPress plugin for Instant Articles created by Facebook.
Click Add New Plugin in your WordPress Admin
Search for Instant Articles for WP
Click on the Install button for Instant Articles for WP
Activate the Plugin
Click on Instant Articles in your WordPress Admin sidebar and configure the Facebook Instant Articles Settings.
Next, you will need to go to your Facebook Page for your blog (don’t have one? Create a Facebook Page), click Settings, and open up the Instant Articles settings option.
You should see the Instant Articles Configuration page shown above. Read through the Initial Setup and then follow the directions in the first two options of the Tools section to Claim Your URL and submit your Production RSS Feed.
Your RSS Feed URL is setup through the WordPress plugin you installed in step 1. The URL by default is:
http://www.yourdomain.com/feed/instant-articles
Once you have completed the steps above, you can submit your feed for review. Facebook manually reviews Instant Article RSS feeds and once approved, your blog will be setup for Instant Articles!
If you have an iPhone or Android phone, you can install the Facebook Pages Manager app and actually test out your Instant Articles before they are approved. This is also the best place to test out a custom style for your Instant Articles.
Once Facebook has approved your RSS feed, you are able to publish your links as Instant Articles rather than traditional post links. You can do this under Instant Articles, Production in your Facebook Page Publishing Tools section.
I have not had Instant Articles setup for this blog long enough yet to tell you whether or not I am seeing more engagement using them, but I am optimistic I will.
Let me know if you have any questions or issues setting up Instant Articles for your own WordPress blog.
Good luck!
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