How to Boost a Collab Post on Instagram

Sharing an Instagram post with another creator through the Collab feature is one of the fastest ways to double your organic reach, but hitting Publish is only the beginning. If you want to get your shared content in front of tens of thousands of new eyes, you'll need a boosting strategy. This guide breaks down exactly how to boost a Collab post, from the technical setup that trips most people up to the simple promotional tactics that turn good results into great ones.

First Things First: A Super-Quick Intro to Instagram Collab Posts

Before we get into boosting, let's quickly define what we're talking about. Instagram's Collab feature lets two separate accounts co-author a single Feed post or Reel. When the post goes live, it appears on both creators' profiles, shares a single set of comments and likes, and reaches both sets of followers.

The benefits are immediate:

• Combined Reach: You instantly tap into another creator's audience.
• Shared Engagement: All likes and comments are pooled together, which creates powerful social proof and good signals for the algorithm.
• Brand Alignment: A Collab is a public endorsement that builds trust and authority within your niche.

In short, it's a brilliant tool for organic growth. But when you add a paid boost on top, that's when the real momentum happens.

Permission Granted: The Most Important Step Before You Boost

Here's the single biggest point of confusion when it comes to boosting Collab posts: not everyone has permission to do it. The rules are specific, and getting them wrong will stop you before you even start.

Who Can Boost the Post?

Only the person who created and initially posted the content can boost a Collab post. Instagram refers to this person as the original creator. The account invited to collaborate cannot initiate the boost.

However, the original creator still needs explicit permission from their collaborator to run the post as an ad. This is a safety feature to prevent people from using someone else's account or image in advertising without their consent. The collaborator must proactively enable this permission in their settings.

How the Collaborator Grants Boosting Permission

If you're the one being invited to a Collab, you need to turn this setting on so your partner can boost the content. Make sure to do this before the post goes live to avoid any delays.

Here's the step-by-step process:

1. Go to your Instagram profile and tap the three lines in the top right to open the menu.
2. Tap on Settings and Privacy.
3. Scroll down and select Branded content.
4. Tap on Branded content ads.
5. You might see an introductory screen explaining what branded content ads are. Tap Get Started.
6. Finally, you'll see a setting that says Allow brand partners to boost. Make sure this is toggled on.

Once this is enabled, brand partners you're collaborating with can boost your joint posts without any extra steps needed from you. It's a "set it and forget it" kind of thing, but it's absolutely necessary.

How to Boost a Collab Post: A Step-by-Step Guide

With permissions squared away, the rest of the process is straightforward for the original creator. Here's your checklist to make sure everything runs smoothly before, during, and after you boost.

Pre-Flight Check: What You Need First

• Both Accounts Must Be Professional: Both you and your collaborator need to have an Instagram Creator or Business account. Personal accounts can't participate in Collabs or boost posts.
• Permissions Enabled: Your collaborator must have followed the steps above to permit boosting. If you hit the "Boost Post" button and get an error message about permissions, this is almost always the cause.

The Boosting Process

As the original creator, all you have to do is navigate to the shared post on your profile's grid.

1. Start the Boost: Tap the blue "Boost post" button below the image or Reel. If you don't see this button, your account is likely not a professional account or there is copyrighted music in your Reel.
2. Choose Your Goal: Instagram will ask you what you want to achieve with your ad. The three main options are:
   • More Profile Visits: Best for growing your following and brand awareness.
   • More Website Visits: Ideal for driving traffic to a product page, blog post, or landing page. You'll add a URL and a call-to-action button (like "Shop Now" or "Learn More").
   • More Messages: Good for starting conversations, generating leads, or providing customer support.
   Choose the goal that best aligns with the overall purpose of your collaboration.
3. Define Your Audience: You have two choices here. You can select "Automatic," and Instagram will target people similar to your existing followers. Or, you can Create your own, which is usually the more powerful option. Creating your own audience lets you target by location, interests, age, and gender, letting you focus your ad spend on the people most likely to matter to your brand.
4. Set Your Budget and Duration: Decide how much you want to spend per day and for how many days the ad will run. Instagram will give you an estimated reach based on your budget. You can start small - even $5 to $10 a day can make a significant difference.
5. Review and Launch: Give everything a final look to make sure your audience, budget, and goal are correct. When you're ready, tap "Boost post now". The ad will be sent to Instagram for review, which typically takes a few hours.

Once approved, the boosted post will start appearing in the feeds, Stories, and Explore pages of the new audience you targeted. The sponsored post will be labeled "Sponsored" and will show that it's coming from your account (the original author), but the post itself will still prominently display both collaborators at the top as co-authors.

Beyond the Boost Button: Smart Strategies to Maximize Your Results

Hitting "Boost Post" guarantees more distribution, but it doesn't guarantee great results. The biggest brand-building success comes from combining a paid strategy with some smart, organic actions. Here are a few things both collaborators should do.

1. Coordinate Your Campaign

Your promotion should be a team effort. Before the post goes live, agree on the key details. Who is running the boost? How much is being spent? Are you splitting the cost? Having this conversation upfront prevents confusion later.

You should also plan to be online and available when the post first goes live and when the boost begins. Early engagement is a strong positive signal to the algorithm, so being present to respond to comments makes a real difference.

2. Amplify Organically in Stories

As soon as the Collab post is live, both partners should share it to their Instagram Stories. But don't just tap "share." Add extra context that draws people in.

• Use the "Add Yours" sticker with a prompt related to the post.
• Run a poll or quiz about the topic.
• Add a text overlay explaining why the post is so valuable or sharing a behind-the-scenes detail.

These interactive elements increase engagement on the Story, which drives more clicks through to the actual post.

3. Cross-Promote Everywhere

Your collaboration shouldn't just live on Instagram. Tell your audience on other platforms all about it. Post a link to it on X, mention it in a TikTok video, or include it in your email newsletter. This creates an ecosystem of promotion where each channel funnels attention toward your high-investment, boosted content.

4. Engage with Every Single Comment

This is non-negotiable. When your post is boosted, comments will start rolling in from people who have never seen your account before. This is your first impression. Both collaborators should commit to replying to as many comments as possible, and not with a generic "Thanks!" Reply with a question, offer a helpful tip, or write something that shows you're paying attention. Meaningful conversations don't just impress new potential followers, they also tell the algorithm that your content is valuable and worth showing to even more people.

Common Challenges & Questions

Boosting Collab posts can sometimes bring up a few bumps in the road. Here are some of the most common issues and how to solve them.

• Why is the "Boost post" button greyed out or missing?
  This usually comes down to one of three things: 1) You are the invited collaborator, not the original poster. 2) You are using copyrighted music in your Reel, which Instagram won't allow in ads. 3) You or your partner's account is set to private. Make sure the music is licensing-free (from Instagram's audio library) and that both accounts are public professional profiles.
• My collaborator won't enable boosting permissions. What should I do?
  This is why discussing your promotional plans before creating the post is so important. Make "boosting permissions" part of your collaboration agreement checklist. If a partner is unwilling to enable it, you can't force them. Your only option would be to post it as a regular (non-Collab) post, but you would lose the benefit of appearing on their profile.
• How should we handle splitting the ad cost?
  Transparency is everything. The original creator who runs the ad will get an "Ad Receipt" in their billing settings. They can share this with their partner as proof of cost. One easy way to handle payment is for one partner to send the other partner half the ad spend via PayPal, Venmo, or another payment service. Agree on the budget and payment method beforehand.

Final Thoughts

Instagram Collabs are a fantastic organic growth tool, but they truly shine when you put a promotion strategy behind them. By setting permissions correctly, defining a clear goal, and pairing a paid boost with strong organic engagement from both partners, you can turn a simple collaboration into a powerful driver for brand awareness, traffic, and follower growth.

We know that managing all the moving parts of social media - from planning joint posts to replying to comments across multiple accounts - can get messy. As social media managers, we designed a tool to simplify exactly this kind of workflow. For coordinating complex campaigns, Postbase offers a visual calendar to map out your content ahead of time. And once a boosted post goes live, all the comments and DMs flow into a single unified inbox, so you can manage engagement without hopping between apps and stay on top of those crucial first impressions.