How to Add a Story from Facebook to Instagram

Trying to get your Facebook Story over to Instagram? It's a smart move for saving precious time and reaching both audiences with a single piece of content. This guide will walk you through the official way to set up automatic cross-posting and provide a simple workaround for sharing a story that's already live.

The Best Method: Set Up Automatic Story Sharing

The most hands-off way to share your Facebook Stories to Instagram is by linking your accounts and enabling cross-posting before you post. This tells Meta to automatically push your story to both platforms the moment you hit publish. It's a set-it-and-forget-it solution that streamlines your content workflow.

Here's how to get it connected through the Meta Accounts Center.

Step-by-Step Guide to Linking Your Accounts

The Meta Accounts Center is the central hub for managing your connected experiences across Facebook, Instagram, and Messenger. Setting this up once will save you countless headaches later.

On the Facebook Mobile App:

1. Open the Facebook app and tap the Menu icon (your profile picture and three horizontal lines) in the bottom-right corner.
2. Scroll down and tap on Settings & Privacy, then select Settings.
3. Look for the Meta Accounts Center box at the top of the screen. Tap anywhere inside this box to open it. It will usually say "See more in Accounts Center."
4. Under Account Settings, tap on Accounts. If your Instagram account isn't already listed, tap Add accounts and follow the prompts to log in and link your Instagram profile.
5. Once your accounts are linked, go back to the main Accounts Center screen. Tap on Connected experiences.
6. Select Sharing across profiles.
7. Tap on your Facebook account under the "Share from" section.
8. You'll see options to automatically share your Facebook story and/or Facebook posts. Toggle the switch next to Your Facebook story to the "On" position. You'll be asked to confirm which Instagram account you want to share to.

That's it! From now on, whenever you create and publish a story on Facebook, it will automatically be shared to your linked Instagram account's story.

On the Instagram Mobile App:

The process is similar if you prefer to start from Instagram.

1. Open the Instagram app and go to your profile by tapping your picture in the bottom-right corner.
2. Tap the Menu icon (three horizontal lines) in the top-right corner.
3. Select Settings and privacy.
4. Tap on Accounts Center at the very top.
5. Follow steps 4-8 from the Facebook instructions above, as the Accounts Center interface is identical from this point on.

The Workaround: How to Manually Post an Existing Facebook Story to Instagram

Did you forget to set up cross-posting and already have a story live on Facebook that you want on Instagram? Don't worry, you don't have to remake it from scratch. While you can't "send" it directly from one app to the other after the fact, you can save it and re-upload it manually.

This method is simple, but it comes with one big catch: interactive stickers won't work. Any polls, quizzes, question boxes, or music stickers you added on Facebook will be "flattened" into the image or video. Your audience on Instagram won't be able to tap them. You'll need to re-add those elements using Instagram's native story editor if you want engagement.

Here's the manual process:

Step 1: Save Your Facebook Story to Your Phone

• Open the Facebook app and navigate to your current story by tapping your profile picture at the top of the news feed.
• While viewing the story you want to save, tap the three dots (...) in the top-right corner of the screen.
• From the menu that appears, select Save photo or Save video. This will download the story media directly to your phone's camera roll or gallery.

Step 2: Upload the Saved Media to Your Instagram Story

• Open the Instagram app.
• From the home feed, swipe right or tap the plus icon (+) at the top and select Story to open the story editor.
• In the bottom-left corner, tap the small square that shows a preview of your camera roll.
• Select the photo or video you just saved from Facebook.
• Now, you can customize it for your Instagram audience. This is your chance to re-add any interactive stickers, tag different people, add music from Instagram's library, or write a new caption.
• Once you're happy with it, tap Your Story in the bottom-left to publish it.

Why Bother Sharing Stories Across Platforms?

Syncing your stories isn't just about being lazy - it's about being strategic. For content creators, marketers, and business owners, spreading your content thoughtfully can significantly impact your growth without doubling your workload.

Maximize Your Reach and Efficiency

The most obvious benefit is an instant boost in reach. You create one piece of content and get it in front of two distinct - though likely overlapping - audiences. For a solo entrepreneur or a small marketing team where time is the most valuable resource, this efficiency is a game-changer. Stop making content twice, make it once and distribute it widely.

Maintain a Cohesive Brand Presence

Consistency builds brand recognition and trust. When your audience sees similar messaging, visuals, and updates across your platforms, it reinforces your brand identity. Syncing stories helps you maintain a consistent narrative, whether you're launching a new product, announcing an event, or sharing behind-the-scenes moments.

Test and Learn from Different Audiences

Even though your Facebook and Instagram followers might overlap, their behavior can differ from platform to platform. Sharing the same story on both apps gives you a great opportunity for an A/B test. Does a question sticker get more responses on Instagram? Does a specific link get more taps on Facebook? This valuable data can help you fine-tune your content strategy for each platform over time.

Best Practices for Cross-Posting Effectively

Automating your content is great, but a "set it and forget it" mindset can sometimes fall flat. To get the most out of sharing stories, keep these best practices in mind.

1. Check for Platform-Specific References

Does your Story prompt users to "Swipe up to shop" or use a "Link sticker"? That works perfectly on Instagram. On Facebook, however, user behavior is different, and links might be better placed elsewhere. Be mindful of calls-to-action that only make sense on one platform. If you're creating a story specifically to drive high Facebook engagement, it might be better to post it there natively and create a separate, tailored version for Instagram.

2. Know When to Customize

Just because you can share everything automatically doesn't mean you always should. Your audiences may have slightly different personalities. Perhaps your Instagram followers love stylized, aesthetic content, while your Facebook community engages more with raw, behind-the-scenes clips. Don't be afraid to break the automation cycle when you have a piece of content that feels uniquely suited for one audience over the other. Genuine connection often comes from that small, extra bit of customization.

3. Re-engage with Native Features When Manually Posting

If you're using the manual save-and-upload method, never just post the flat image of a poll or quiz. It looks broken and creates a dead-end for users who try to interact with it. Always take the extra 30 seconds to add a fresh, functioning sticker from the Instagram editor. Engagement is the name of the game with stories, and functional stickers are your best tool for starting conversations.

4. Audit Your Account Connections Periodically

Social media platforms are constantly updating, and sometimes these updates can cause account links to disconnect without warning. Once a quarter, spend two minutes going through your Meta Accounts Center to make certain that your accounts are still properly linked and that your sharing permissions are set correctly. It's a simple check that can prevent you from missing a week of cross-posts because of a random update of some platforms.

Final Thoughts

Sharing your Facebook Story to Instagram is an efficient way to keep both your audiences engaged without extra effort. The best method is to link your profiles in the Meta Accounts Center for seamless, automatic cross-posting. When you need to share a story that's already live, the save-and-upload workaround is a solid backup plan.

Juggling different content formats and platforms like Stories and Reels is exactly why we built Postbase. Older tools often treat video and Stories as an afterthought, leading to glitches and clunky workflows. We designed our platform for the way social media actually works today, with a visual calendar that helps you plan all your content, including Stories, across platforms and a rock-solid scheduler that ensures your posts go live every single time. It keeps things simple so you can focus on creating great content, not fighting your software.