How to Collaborate on Instagram Reels

Collaborating on an Instagram Reel is one of the most effective ways to reach new audiences and grow your account right now. It puts your content directly in front of another creator's followers, giving you a boost that's hard to achieve on your own. This guide breaks down exactly how to use the Instagram Collab feature, offers strategies for planning a successful partnership, and answers the common questions that pop up along the way.

Why Team Up on Instagram Reels?

Beyond the simple appeal of creating something new with another person, collab posts on Instagram deliver some serious strategic advantages. When you invite a collaborator to a Reel, the post appears on both of your profiles, shares the same comment thread, and combines the like and view counts. This opens up some powerful opportunities.

• Expanded Reach: This is the biggest benefit. Your Reel isn't just shown to your followers, it's fed directly to your collaborator's audience, too. It's like getting a direct introduction to a new, highly relevant community that's likely to be interested in your content.
• Higher Engagement: With two sets of followers liking, commenting, and sharing, the initial engagement velocity on your Reel is much higher. This signals to the Instagram algorithm that the content is valuable, increasing its chances of being pushed to the Explore page and shown to even more non-followers.
• Authentic Endorsements: A collaboration acts as an authentic "stamp of approval." When someone your audience trusts teams up with another brand or creator, that trust transfers over. It's far more genuine than a standard ad and feels like a recommendation from a friend.
• Fresh and Creative Content: Working with someone else gets you out of your creative comfort zone. You get to mix your style, humor, and expertise with theirs, resulting in a unique final product that neither of you could have created alone. Think of a local coffee shop collaborating with a bakery on a "perfect pairing" Reel or a fitness influencer teaming up with a nutritionist for a "what I eat in a day" clip.

The Two Main Ways to Collaborate on Reels

Instagram gives you a couple of different ways to partner up on video content. Understanding the difference helps you choose the right approach for your goal.

1. The Official "Invite Collaborator" Feature

This is the "true" collaboration tool. When you use this feature, you give another account co-authorship of your Reel. As mentioned, the finished Reel appears on both of your profiles natively, sharing all its metrics (likes, views, comments, and saves). This is the gold standard for partnerships where both creators are equally involved and have a shared goal of maximizing reach.

Use this when: You've planned a piece of content together, are cross-promoting a product or service, or are in a formal partnership.

2. Featuring, Remixing, and Stitching

These are more informal or responsive ways to collaborate. Instead of pre-planned co-authorship, you're using another creator's video as a jumping-off point for your own content. It's a great way to engage with trends or provide commentary.

• Featuring: This simply means mentioning or tagging another creator in your Reel's caption or visuals, giving them credit without making them a co-author. It's a nice way to give a shout-out but offers minimal reach benefits compared to the official feature.
• Remixing: This lets you create a side-by-side or green-screen style video reacting to or building upon someone else's Reel. The original creator gets a notification and their original Reel is linked automatically.
• Stitching: This allows you to "stitch" the first few seconds of someone else's Reel onto the beginning of your own, as if to say, "Here's this thing, now here's my response." Again, the original gets credited.

For this guide, we're focusing on the official "Invite Collaborator" feature, as it delivers the greatest strategic upside for growth.

How to Use the Instagram Collab Feature: A Step-by-Step Guide

Setting up a collab post is built right into the regular Reels creation process. It's simple, but you have to do it before you hit publish. Follow these steps exactly.

Step 1: Create Your Reel

Start by recording and editing your video just like you would for any other Reel. Add your audio, text overlays, clips, music, and any filters. Get it completely polished and ready to go before moving on.

Step 2: Go to the Final Share Screen

Once your edits are done, tap "Next." You'll land on the final screen where you write your caption, add hashtags, choose a cover image, and more. Don't hit "Share" just yet!

Step 3: Tag Your Partner

On this screen, tap the option that says "Tag People." This is the same menu you'd use to tag a friend in a photo. You'll see two options at the bottom of the screen: "Add Tag" and "Invite Collaborator."

Step 4: Invite Your Collaborator

Tap "Invite Collaborator." A search bar will appear, allowing you to find the Instagram handle of the account you're partnering with. Type in their username and select them from the list. The collaborator you invited will now appear under the "Tag People" section. You can only invite one collaborator per Reel.

Important Note: You can only collaborate with public, professional (Creator or Business) accounts. If you can't find the user or the option to invite them is grayed out, it's likely because their account is private or they have a Personal profile.

Step 5: Write Your Caption and Share

With your collaborator invited, finalize the rest of your post. Write a killer caption, add relevant hashtags, select your cover image, and then hit the "Share" button. The Reel will now be published to your grid and the Reels feed.

Step 6: Your Collaborator Must Accept the Invite

Just because you've posted doesn't mean the work is done. Your part is finished, but now the person you invited has to accept the request.

• The collaborator will receive a notification and a direct message with the collaboration request.
• Inside the DM, they'll see a button to "Review" the request.
• Once they tap it, they can either "Accept" or "Decline."
• As soon as they hit "Accept," the Reel will immediately appear on their profile grid and in the Reels feed for their followers. The post will also display both of your usernames at the top and the stats will start combining.

Until your partner accepts, the Reel will only appear on your profile, and their handle will just be a regular tag.

Best Practices for a Successful Collab

The technical steps are easy. The real magic happens in the strategy you build around the collaboration. A little planning goes a long way toward making sure your post actually resonates with both audiences.

Find the Right Partner

Don't just chase follower counts. The best collaborations are between creators whose brands, values, and audiences are aligned. Ask yourself:

• Does their audience overlap with mine in a meaningful way?
• Do their brand values and aesthetics complement my own?
• Is their engagement rate healthy? (An account with 10k engaged followers is better than one with 100k who don't care).

Reach out with a clear, specific idea. Instead of "Let's collaborate!", try, "I love your series on local restaurants! I run a food photography page, and I'd love to partner on a Reel showcasing the best secret menu items at [Local Burger Joint]. Let me know what you think!"

Plan Your Content as a Team

The most engaging collabs are a true blend of both creators' styles. Don't just delegate the idea to one person. Hop on a quick call or brainstorm in your DMs. Figure out the concept, the key talking points or visual moments, and the final call-to-action (CTA). What do you want people to do after watching? Visit a link? Follow both accounts? Answer a question in the comments?

Set Clear Expectations From the Start

Avoid awkward misunderstandings by clarifying everything upfront:

• Who is filming what? Is one person responsible for all the footage, or are you both contributing clips?
• Who is doing the final edit? The editing style sets the tone, so decide this early.
• Who will press the "Share" button? Only one of you can technically be the original poster who invites the other.
• What will the caption say? Writing a draft together is a great idea to make sure the tone works for both brands.

Promote and Engage Together

The work doesn't stop once the Reel is live. Treat it like a mini-launch.

• Tease it beforehand: Use your Instagram Stories to build anticipation a day or two before the Reel goes live. Post behind-the-scenes clips or a "guess who I am working with" poll.
• Share it everywhere: Once the Reel is published, both of you should share it to your Stories immediately for an initial boost of visibility.
• Engage with comments: Both partners should make a point to be active in the comment section for the first few hours. Reply to comments, answer questions, and build a conversation. This shows your new, combined community that you're both engaged and present, and is a great way to welcome everyone.

Final Thoughts

Used correctly, Instagram's Collab feature is an incredibly powerful tool for organic growth. It helps you tap into new communities, create fresh content, and build valuable relationships with other creators in your niche, turning social media into a truly collaborative experience.

Executing a great collaboration strategy requires careful planning, from finding the right partner to scheduling the content and its promotions. With so many moving parts, this is exactly where we built Postbase to help. We designed our visual calendar so you can plan out campaigns and view your entire content schedule at a glance, making it simple to map out your Reels, Stories, and supporting posts across all platforms. Because our tool was built from day one for short-form video, you can schedule everything reliably and know for sure it will publish right when you - and your collaborator - expect it to.