Available on the Free plan
The UGC Media Grid (or UGC Instagram Shopping) lets you display Instagram photos and videos directly on your store in a responsive, customizable grid. Whether it’s content you’ve posted or posts you’ve been tagged in, this widget brings real customer experiences to life.
How it looks
The UGC Media Grid typically includes these elements by default:
A "Made by us, Shared by you" header
A "Tag us to see your picture featured in our page" sub-title
9 published posts fetched from your Instagram account
A Load more button at the bottom
How the UGC Media Grid works
Once you've connected your Instagram account and installed the UGC Media Grid:
We automatically fetch 100 of your most recent Instagram posts including:
Posts you publish
The grid updates daily to pull in new posts.
You can choose which posts to publish.
The UGC Media Grid displays the first 9 approved posts by default, with a Load more button for customers to explore additional content.
Customers can click on a post to read the related reviews or buy the featured product — turning social proof into shoppable moments.
Considerations
Your Facebook and Instagram connection will expire automatically after 2 months due to Facebook’s access token policy. To keep using the UGC Media Grid without interruption, reconnect your Facebook and Instagram accounts in Judge.me at least once every 2 months.
Connect your Instagram account
To start fetching Instagram posts, first connect your Instagram account to Judge.me through your Facebook login.
Step 1: Link your Instagram account and Facebook page
Before you begin:
To link an Instagram account to your Facebook page, you must have a professional account on Instagram and Facebook access to a Page to manage linked accounts.
If you manage multiple Instagram accounts, log in to the one you want to connect before continuing. This ensures you link the correct account.
To link a business Instagram account to your Facebook page:
Log into Facebook, then click your profile photo in the top right.
Click See all profiles, then select the Page you want to switch into.
Click your profile photo in the top right again.
Click Settings & privacy > Settings.
In the menu on the left, scroll down to Linked accounts.
Click the > icon next to Instagram.
Click Connect account and follow the steps to connect your Facebook Page and Instagram account.
Step 2: Connect your Instagram account to Judge.me
To connect your Instagram account to Judge.me:
From your Judge.me admin, go to Settings > Social sharing.
In the Authentication section, under Facebook and Instagram login, click Manage.
Click Continue with Facebook then follow the steps to connect your Facebook Page and Instagram account.
Click Activate next to the Instagram account you want to connect.
Step 3: Publish your posts
Once you've connected your Instagram account to Judge.me:
We will automatically fetch up to 100 of your most recent Instagram posts, including posts you've published and posts where you're tagged.
New posts will be fetched daily.
To fetch new posts manually:
Go to your UGC Media Grid settings:
From your Judge.me admin, go to Settings > Widgets.
Scroll down to find the UGC Instagram Shopping card near the bottom.
Click Manage.
Click Refresh posts.
To publish a post:
Go to your UGC Media Grid settings:
From your Judge.me admin, go to Settings > Widgets.
Scroll down to find the UGC Instagram Shopping card near the bottom.
Click Manage.
Find the post you want to show on the UGC Media Grid.
Click the Hidden dropdown next to the post and select Publish post.
To link the post to a specific product:
Go to your UGC Media Grid settings:
From your Judge.me admin, go to Settings > Widgets.
Scroll down to find the UGC Instagram Shopping card near the bottom.
Click Manage.
Find the post you want to link and click Link store product.
Search for and select the relevant product.
Click Save to apply the link.
Add the UGC Media Grid
Once you’ve published at least 1 post, you can install the UGC Media Grid to show these posts on your store front.
To add the UGC Media Grid on your store front:
Step 1: Enable Judge.me app embed
To enable Judge.me app embed:
Go to your Shopify theme editor:
From your Shopify admin, go to Online Store > Themes.
Find the theme you want to edit and click Customize.
Click the App embeds icon (third icon on the left menu).
Enable the "Judge.me" app embed.
Click Save on the top right.
Step 2: Add the "UGC Media Grid" block
To install the UGC Media Grid in Shopify theme editor:
Go to Shopify theme editor:
From your Shopify admin, go to Online Store > Themes.
Find the theme you want to edit and click Customize.
From the dropdown menu at the top, select the template you want to show the UGC Media Grid.
Add the UGC block:
On the left panel, find the section where you want to add the UGC Media Grid and click (+) Add section.
Go to the Apps tab and select UGC Media Grid.
Hover over the block, hold the 6-dot icon (⋮⋮), and drag it up or down to change its position.
Click Save on the top right.
Note:
The UGC Media Grid will only show when at least 1 post is published.
Customize the UGC Media Grid
1. Title and subtitle
To adjust the title and subtitle in the UGC Media Grid:
From your Judge.me admin, go to Settings > Widgets.
Scroll down to the UGC Instagram Shopping card and click Manage.
Click the Widget settings button.
Scroll down to the Design section.
Adjust the texts in the fields below to your likings and click Save:
Field | Default texts |
Title | Made by us, Shared by you |
Subtitle | Tag us to see your picture featured in our page |
2. Post timestamp
To show the date of the post in the UGC Media Grid:
From your Judge.me admin, go to Settings > Widgets.
Scroll down to the UGC Instagram Shopping card and click Manage.
Click the Widget settings button.
Scroll down to the Design section.
Enable "Show Instagram post timestamp".
Click Save.
3. The width of the widget
To adjust the width of the UGC Media Grid:
From your Judge.me admin, go to Settings > Widgets.
Scroll down to the UGC Instagram Shopping card and click Manage.
Click the Widget settings button.
Scroll down to the Design section.
Enable "Show Instagram post timestamp".
Click Save.
3. The "Buy now" button
To adjust the text, color, and style of the Buy now button in the UGC Media Grid:
From your Judge.me admin, go to Settings > Widgets.
Scroll down to the UGC Instagram Shopping card and click Manage.
Click the Widget settings button.
Scroll down to the Product Image Button section.
Customize the button using the following fields:
Button text – Change the default "Buy Now" label to match your store’s voice.
Button color – Choose the background color of the button.
Text color – Set the color of the button text.
Button border style – Select a border style (e.g., solid, dashed, none).
Button border – Set the thickness of the border (in pixels).
Button border radius – Adjust the roundness of the button corners.
Border color – Choose the color of the button border if one is applied.
Click Save.
4. The "Load more" button
To adjust the text, color, and style of the Load more button in the UGC Media Grid:
From your Judge.me admin, go to Settings > Widgets.
Scroll down to the UGC Instagram Shopping card and click Manage.
Click the Widget settings button.
Scroll down to the Loading button section.
Customize the button using the following fields:
Button text – Change the default "Load more" label to match your store’s voice.
Button color – Choose the background color of the button.
Text color – Set the color of the button text.
Button border style – Select a border style (e.g., solid, dashed, none).
Button border – Set the thickness of the border (in pixels).
Button border radius – Adjust the roundness of the button corners.
Border color – Choose the color of the button border if one is applied.
Click Save.
5. The "View reviews" button
To adjust the text, color, and style of the View reviews button in the UGC Media Grid:
From your Judge.me admin, go to Settings > Widgets.
Scroll down to the UGC Instagram Shopping card and click Manage.
Click the Widget settings button.
Scroll down to the Reviews button section.
Customize the button using the following fields:
Button text – Change the default "View reviews" label to match your store’s voice.
Button color – Choose the background color of the button.
Text color – Set the color of the button text.
Button border style – Select a border style (e.g., solid, dashed, none).
Button border – Set the thickness of the border (in pixels).
Button border radius – Adjust the roundness of the button corners.
Border color – Choose the color of the button border if one is applied.
Click Save.
Troubleshoot
Authentication section stuck on loading
Authentication section stuck on loading
When connecting your Instagram account to Judge.me, if you see a loading icon instead of the Continue with Facebook button, you can access the setting via this link instead https://app.judge.me/settings/integration_settings?app=facebook-and-instagram&redesign=1.
Some posts in the UGC Media Grid shows "User picture" error
Some posts in the UGC Media Grid shows "User picture" error
Issue:
You have added the UGC Media Grid and some posts show the correct content. However, for some other posts, instead of the actual image or video, a broken image icon and the alt text "User picture" appear.
Why it happens:
The User picture error might show on some posts in your UGC Media Grid if we don't have access to the original media—either because:
The image or video was deleted or removed from Instagram.
The content was made private, restricted, or is no longer available via API.
How to fix:
To remove posts with the User picture error from your UGC Media Grid:
In your Judge.me admin, go to Settings > Widgets.
Scroll down to the UGC Instagram Shopping card and click Manage.
Hide the affected posts, usually the ones without media.
Publish other posts if necessary.
All posts in the UGC Media Grid shows "User picture" error
All posts in the UGC Media Grid shows "User picture" error
Issue:
You have added the UGC Media Grid and all posts show a broken image icon and the alt text "User picture" instead of the actual image or video.
Why it happens:
The User picture error might show on all of your posts in the UGC Media Grid if your Instagram account was previously connected, but the connection has now been lost (e.g. access revoked, expired, or disconnected from Facebook). As a result, we can no longer access the media.
How to fix:
To make sure we can fetch the right content, you can go back to Step 1 to reconnect your Instagram account to Judge.me.
Once reconnected, we will resume pulling media for your posts.
"ugc_media_grid" not added. Liquid templates don’t support sections and blocks
"ugc_media_grid" not added. Liquid templates don’t support sections and blocks
If you click the Install button inside the Judge.me app to add the UGC Media Grid, then see this error message: "ugc_media_grid" not added. Liquid templates don’t support sections and blocks, you're likely using a Vintage theme, since blocks are only available in Online Store 2.0 themes.
Follow the steps in the Adding Judge.me widgets in Vintage themes article to confirm your theme version and install the UGC Media Grid manually using Liquid code instead.