How to Allow Story Sharing on Instagram

Ever create an amazing Instagram Story and wish your viewers could share it directly with their followers? You're not alone. Allowing others to share your Story is one of the most effective and simplest ways to boost your organic reach. This guide will walk you through exactly how to enable story sharing, troubleshoot common problems, and give you actionable tips to create content people can't help but share.

Why Enabling Story Sharing is a Game-Changer

Before jumping into the settings, it helps to understand why this feature is so powerful for brands, creators, and anyone trying to grow on Instagram. It’s more than just a setting, it's a strategic lever for organic marketing. A simple toggle can unlock a new level of audience growth and engagement without you having to spend a dollar on ads.

Amplify Your Reach Organically

Think of every share as a personal recommendation. When someone shares your Story, they aren't just sending a piece of content, they're vouching for it. This exposes your brand to their entire network of friends, family, and followers - people you might not have reached otherwise. This is word-of-mouth marketing in its purest digital form.

Imagine you're a local coffee shop and you post a mesmerizing video of a barista crafting some beautiful latte art. A customer sees it, loves it, and shares it via direct message with a group of friends who are all looking for a new cafe to try. Just like that, one Story has turned into a warm lead for five new potential customers. Your reach multiplies with every single share, creating a ripple effect that builds momentum for your account.

Boost Engagement and Real Connection

Sharing is one of the highest forms of engagement on Instagram. A "like" is passive. A comment is active. But a "share" shows someone connected with your content so much that they wanted to make it part of their own conversation. It's a signal to you - and to the Instagram algorithm - that your content resonates deeply.

When someone you've tagged reshares your Story to their own, it creates a powerful conversational loop. They become a part of your narrative, and their audience gets introduced to you in a very authentic way. This builds community and makes your followers feel seen and involved, turning passive viewers into active brand advocates.

Build Powerful Social Proof and Trust

Nothing builds trust faster than a recommendation from a friend. When people share your content, it acts as instant social proof. It says, "This is cool," "This is valuable," or "This is funny," and that endorsement comes from a trusted source, not a branded advertisement. For anyone looking to build a brand, this is invaluable.

Seeing real people share your product, your service, or your message is far more convincing than seeing a polished ad. It shows that your content isn't just marketing material, it's part of the fabric of your audience's daily conversations and interests. This kind of authentic validation builds a strong foundation of trust and loyalty with your community.

How to Allow Others to Share Your Instagram Story

Ready to turn this feature on? The good news is, it only takes a few taps. Instagram places the setting in a logical place, but it's easy to miss if you don't know where to look. Follow these simple steps to make sure your content is ready to be shared with the world.

Finding the Right Settings Menu

First, you need to navigate to the correct privacy menu. Here’s the step-by-step path:

1. Open the Instagram app and navigate to your profile by tapping your profile picture in the bottom-right corner.
2. Tap the menu icon (three horizontal lines) in the top-right corner.
3. From the pop-up menu, select "Settings and Privacy."
4. Scroll down the list until you find the section titled "How others can interact with you."
5. Tap on "Sharing and remixes." This is where all the controls for sharing content live.

Toggling On the Correct Sharing Options

Once you're on the "Sharing and remixes" screen, you'll see a few different toggles. It's important to understand what each one does, as they control different types of sharing.

• Allow story sharing in messages: This is the big one. When this toggle is enabled (turned blue), anyone viewing your Story will see a paper airplane icon at the bottom. Tapping this allows them to share a direct link to your Story with any other user via direct message. This is the primary function people mean when they talk about "sharing stories." For maximum reach, you absolutely want this turned on.
• Allow people you tag to share to their stories: This controls a different, but equally powerful, type of sharing. When this is on, anyone you explicitly @mention in your Story gets a notification and an option to add that Story post to *their own* Story. It's an excellent way to collaborate with others and cross-promote. The reshared story will appear on their profile with a tappable link back to your original account.

Make sure both of these toggles are switched to the "on" position to get the full benefits of story sharing on the platform.

Important Things to Know About Story Sharing

While the feature is straightforward, there are a few important rules and limitations to keep in mind. Understanding these nuances will help you troubleshoot potential issues and set the right expectations for how your content can travel across the platform.

Private vs. Public Accounts: The Golden Rule

This is the most common reason people run into sharing problems. If your Instagram account is set to Private, no one outside of your approved follower list can see your content, period. This means that even if a follower shares your Story via DM with someone who doesn't follow you, that person won't be able to view it. The "Allow sharing" toggles only affect what followers can do with the content they already have access to. If you want your Stories to be shareable with the wider world, your account must be set to Public.

To check this, go to "Settings and Privacy" and look for "Account privacy." If the "Private account" toggle is on, your content is not publicly shareable.

The 24-Hour Lifespan

Just like the original posts, reshared stories adhere to the 24-hour rule. When your original Story expires and disappears from your profile, it also becomes unviewable in any direct messages where it was shared. Similarly, if someone reshared your tagged Story to their own, it will also vanish from their profile after 24 hours. The content lives and dies with the original post's timer.

The Tagging Requirement for Reshares

Let's make this crystal clear: for someone to be able to use the "Add this to your story" feature, you must tag or @mention their account in your original Story. General viewers can only share your story via direct messages (if you've enabled that setting). The ability to repost your content onto their public profile is an exclusive privilege for those you tag.

How to Create Stories People *Actually Want* to Share

Flipping the switch is the easy part. The real challenge - and fun - is creating content that inspires people to hit that share button. Here are four strategies to make your Stories more share-worthy.

1. Tap into Relatable Humor and Memes

People share content that reflects their personality, makes them laugh, or perfectly captures a universal experience. Think about creating Stories that are meme-worthy or highly relatable. It could be a funny observation about working from home, a relatable poll about choosing between staying in and going out, or a cute animal video with a witty caption. This kind of content makes viewers think, "That's so me," or "My friend would love this," which is the primary driver for sharing.

2. Ask Directly with a Clear Call-to-Action

Sometimes, the most effective strategy is the simplest one: just ask. Don't be shy about encouraging people to spread the word. A simple text overlay saying "Share this with a friend who needs a laugh today!" or "Help us spread the word by sharing this to your story!" can work wonders. This removes any guesswork and gives your audience a clear directive. You can also leverage the "Add Yours" sticker to create community-driven content chains that naturally encourage participation and sharing.

3. Tag Your Community and Partners

Make tagging a regular part of your Story strategy. Are you featuring a customer's review? Tag them (with permission)! Collaborating with another brand? Tag them! Visiting a local spot? Tag them! Every tag is an open invitation for that account to reshare your content to their audience. This builds goodwill and turns a single piece of content into a cross-promotional opportunity that expands your visibility exponentially.

4. Provide Exclusive Value

People love being the person who is "in the know." Give them something useful or exclusive to share with their network. This could be a limited-time discount code, a sneak peek of an upcoming product, a helpful how-to tip, or a downloadable resource. When you create content that makes your followers look smart, helpful, or savvy for sharing it, you provide a clear incentive for them to pass it along.

Troubleshooting: Why is Story Sharing Not Working?

If you've enabled the settings but are still hearing from followers that they can't share your content, run through this quick checklist to diagnose the problem.

• Is your account Public? We have to say it again because this is the number one reason. If your account is set to Private, sharing is disabled by default to protect your privacy.
• Did you check the *right* setting? Go back to "Settings and Privacy" > "Sharing and remixes" and confirm that "Allow story sharing in messages" is switched on. It's easy to get the different toggles confused.
• Is your Instagram app updated? An outdated app can sometimes lead to glitches and bugs. Head to your device's app store and check if there's an update available for Instagram.
• Is the user you tagged aware of how to reshare? If someone you tagged can't figure out how to reshare, let them know they should receive a direct message from you with a clear "Add to your story" button right in the chat.
• Could it just be an Instagram glitch? Sometimes, the platform just has a bad day. If you've checked everything else, try logging out of your account, restarting the app, and logging back in. This simple step can resolve a lot of temporary issues.

Final Thoughts

Enabling story sharing on Instagram is a simple technical step that unlocks a massive potential for organic growth. By turning on a few settings and focusing on creating share-worthy content, you empower your audience to become your most enthusiastic marketers, amplifying your reach and building powerful social proof without any extra effort.

Of course, once you start getting more shares, you'll want a steady stream of great content ready to go. Keeping up with Stories, not to mention Reels, TikToks, and other platforms, can feel overwhelming. This is exactly why we built Postbase. With our visual content calendar, we make it easy to plan and schedule all your content, including video-first formats, from one clean dashboard. We designed it to be simple, reliable, and perfectly suited for the way social media actually works today, so you can focus on building your community instead of fighting with your software.