How to Enable Resharing on Instagram

Want your followers to share your Instagram posts, supercharging your reach organically? It all starts with a simple toggle in your settings. This guide will show you exactly how to enable resharing, how to share other people's content to your own Story, and what to do if the share button seems to have gone missing.

Turn On Story Resharing for Your Own Posts

The single most important step you can take to get more shares is enabling the feature in your account settings. When this is active, anyone can take a public post or Reel from your feed and share it directly to their Instagram Story. This shared Story will show a preview of your post, link back to the original, and feature your username prominently. It's essentially free advertising powered by your fans.

Here's how to make sure it's turned on:

1. Navigate to your Instagram profile page.
2. Tap the menu icon (the three horizontal lines) in the top-right corner.
3. Select Settings and privacy from the menu.
4. Scroll down to the "How others can interact with you" section and tap on Sharing and remixes.
5. Under the "Story sharing" heading, make sure the toggle for Allow sharing to story is switched on.

That's it. Once this is enabled, the paper airplane icon under your feed posts will include the option for other users to "Add to their story." Leaving this setting turned off is a common mistake that severely limits your content's potential to travel beyond your immediate followers.

Why Enabling Resharing is a No-Brainer

Turning on resharing acts as rocket fuel for your organic marketing efforts. Every time a follower shares your post, they are endorsing your content to their audience. This not only puts more eyes on your content but also acts as powerful social proof. People are far more likely to trust content recommended by a friend than an ad they stumble upon. By enabling this simple feature, you weaponize high-quality content, empowering your audience to become your brand's biggest marketers.

How to Reshare Content to Your Instagram Story

Once you've enabled resharing on your own account, it's also good practice to understand how to share others' content. Engaging with accounts in your niche or sharing user-generated content (UGC) is a great way to build community. The process is simple and works for both permanent feed posts and Reels.

Resharing a Feed Post to Your Story

Found a great post from another creator that you want to share? As long as they have resharing enabled, you can add it to your Story in a few quick taps.

• Find the feed post you want to share.
• Tap the paper airplane icon below the post (the same icon you'd use to send it as a DM).
• In the menu that appears, tap the Add to your story option.
• This will open the Instagram Story editor with the post embedded as a sticker.

Tips for Creative Resharing:

Don't just hit "post"! This is your chance to add your own spin. You can resize, rotate, and reposition the post sticker. Add your own thoughts with the text tool, run a poll asking your audience what they think, or use a GIF to add some personality. One popular strategy is to expand the shared post sticker so it mostly fills the screen, then use a big GIF or sticker to cover a part of it, encouraging people to tap through to your profile to see the full post.

Resharing a Reel to Your Story

The process for sharing a Reel is identical to sharing a post. Tap the paper airplane icon on the Reel you want to share, and select "Add to your story". The main difference is that the Reel will auto-play as a video within your Story, making it instantly more dynamic and engaging. It’s a fantastic way to highlight a great Reel without having to create a new video from scratch.

Resharing a Story Where You've Been Tagged

This is one of the easiest and most effective ways to show your community you're listening. When someone tags your account in their Story, you receive a notification right in your Direct Messages (DMs).

When you open the DM, you'll see a preview of their Story with a button that says Add to your story. Tapping this takes you straight to the Story editor with their Story pre-loaded as a sticker. From there, you can add your own touches before publishing. This is a must-do for any brand or creator who receives user-generated content or shout-outs. It acknowledges the person who tagged you, provides social proof, and gives you easy content to fill out your Story schedule.

Troubleshooting: Why Can't I Reshare a Post?

It's frustrating when you find a great post you want to share, but the "Add to story" option is nowhere to be found. There are usually a few simple reasons why this happens.

• The user has resharing disabled. This is the most common reason. If the user has turned off the toggle we discussed in the first section, Instagram will not give anyone the option to share their content to a Story.
• The account is private. You cannot share feed posts or Reels from a private account to your Story, even if you follow them. Instagram inherently protects the privacy of these accounts, so content is locked within their approved follower list.
• The content is a "Branded Content Ad." Some advertisements, especially those with specific call-to-action buttons like "Shop Now," may have sharing permissions restricted by the advertiser.
• It's an Instagram glitch. Though less common, sometimes technology just doesn't cooperate. If you believe you should be able to share a post (it's from a public account that normally allows sharing), try these quick fixes:
  • Close and restart the Instagram app.
  • Check the App Store or Google Play Store for an app update.
  • Log out and log back into your account.

Creative Strategies to Encourage More Reshares

Simply enabling the feature is step one. To truly maximize your reach, you need to create content that people are excited to share. Think about what makes you want to reshare something to your Story. It's usually content that is useful, entertaining, beautiful, or strongly aligns with your identity.

1. Create "Made-to-Share" Content

Design content with sharing in mind. This could be:

• Infographics: Bite-sized, useful visuals that provide value (e.g., "5 Ways to Improve Your Sleep").
• Quote Graphics: Aesthetically pleasing graphics with inspiring, relatable, or funny quotes.
• Checklists and Templates: Simple, screen-shottable content that people can use and mark up.
• Hilarious Memes: If it fits your brand, creating relatable memes in your niche is a fast track to shares.

2. Ask for the Share with a Call-to-Action

Sometimes, the easiest way to get something is to just ask for it. Don't be afraid to add a clear call-to-action in your caption or directly on your graphic. Phrases like "Share this to your story if you agree!" or "Tag a friend who needs to see this and share it!" are surprisingly effective. They plant the seed and remove any guesswork for your audience about what to do next.

3. Host a Giveaway or Contest

Contests can trigger a flood of shares. A common entry mechanic is to require participants to follow your account, like the post, and share the post to their Story (often asking them to tag you in the Story so you can see it). This guarantees your giveaway post is exposed to a much wider audience, exponentially increasing its reach for every person who enters.

4. Showcase User-Generated Content (UGC)

Create a culture of sharing by rewarding your audience for it. Encourage followers to post photos with your product or tag you in relevant content. When they do, reshare their posts or Stories to your own account. This has a dual effect: it gives you authentic content to post, and it motivates others to tag you in the future, hoping for their own moment in the spotlight. This positive feedback loop is one of the most powerful organic growth engines on the platform.

Final Thoughts

Enabling resharing is one of the simplest yet most impactful settings you can adjust on your Instagram profile. It turns your audience into an active part of your marketing, leveraging social proof and word-of-mouth to grow your account far beyond what you could achieve on your own.

Of course, motivating people to share starts with creating interesting, valuable, or entertaining content on a regular basis. Having helped many brands do just that, we built Postbase to make the consistency part feel less like a chore. Our visual calendar helps you plan your posts and Reels ahead of time, ensuring you never have gaps in your schedule. With reliable, video-first scheduling, you can focus on making amazing stuff that your followers can't wait to share, rather than just worrying about getting something posted.