How to Get Facebook Posts to Show on Instagram

Posting the same content to Facebook and Instagram automatically saves a lot of time, but setting it up can feel a little confusing. If you want to streamline your workflow and keep your content consistent, you're in the right place. This guide will walk you through the exact steps to connect your accounts and share your Facebook posts directly to your Instagram profile, along with some pro tips to ensure your content looks great on both platforms.

Why Share Facebook Posts to Instagram in the First Place?

Before diving into the technical steps, it helps to understand why this is a smart move for many creators, brands, and marketers. What’s the advantage of linking these two social media giants?

• It Saves You a Ton of Time: This is the main benefit. Instead of creating and uploading content separately to Facebook and then Instagram, you can do it all at once. For busy social media managers or small business owners, those saved minutes quickly add up, allowing you to focus on strategy and engaging with your community instead of repetitive posting tasks.
• Maintains Brand Consistency: Posting the same core message, promotions, or announcements simultaneously across platforms helps ensure your brand voice and visual identity stay consistent. When followers see your brand across different channels, a unified look fosters recognition and trust.
• Maximizes Your Content's Reach: Your audience on Facebook might not fully overlap with your audience on Instagram. By sharing a post on both platforms, you immediately double its potential reach. You’re getting your content in front of more eyes without extra effort, which is a big win for organic visibility.
• Streamlines Campaign Launches: When launching a new product, running a sale, or kicking off a major campaign, timing is everything. Linking your accounts allows you to publish your content on both Facebook and Instagram simultaneously, ensuring a synchronized and impactful start.

While the benefits are clear, it’s not a "set it and forget it" strategy. As we’ll cover later, a little customization can go a long way. But first, let’s connect your accounts.

How to Connect Your Facebook Page and Instagram Account

The magic happens within Meta’s ecosystem. To get Facebook posts to appear on Instagram, you first need to properly link your accounts. This process is managed through the Meta Business Suite or the Accounts Center for simpler setups.

A Quick Prerequisite: This process requires an Instagram Professional Account (either a "Creator" or "Business" account). You cannot connect a personal Instagram profile this way. If your account is still set to Personal, switching is easy and free:

1. On your Instagram profile, tap the three lines in the top-right corner.
2. Go to Settings and privacy.
3. Scroll down and tap on Account type and tools.
4. Tap Switch to professional account and follow the on-screen prompts.

Once you’ve confirmed you have a Professional account, you’re ready to link it to your Facebook Page.

Step-by-Step Guide to Connecting Accounts in Meta Business Suite

The Meta Business Suite is the central hub for managing your professional Facebook and Instagram presence. It’s the most reliable place to create this connection.

1. Navigate to Meta Business Suite: Open a web browser on your desktop and go to business.facebook.com. Log in to the Facebook account that has admin access to your Facebook Page. To learn more about using this tool, read our guide on how to use Facebook Business Suite.
2. Go to Settings: Look for the "All tools" icon (three horizontal lines) in the left-hand navigation menu. Click on it, then select "Page settings." This may also appear as just a "Settings" gear icon at the bottom of the left menu.
3. Find Linked Accounts: In the settings menu, locate and click on "Linked Accounts." Here, you will see options for Instagram and WhatsApp.
4. Connect Your Instagram Account: Click the "Connect account" button next to Instagram. A pop-up window will appear asking you to confirm some permissions. Click "Connect" again.
5. Log In to Instagram: A new login window will appear. Enter the username and password for the Instagram account you want to connect and click "Log In." If you have two-factor authentication enabled, you’ll need to enter your security code.

That’s it! Once you’ve successfully logged in, your Instagram account will be linked to your Facebook Page through the Meta Business Suite. You should now see your Instagram profile information on the "Linked Accounts" page.

How to Actually Share a Facebook Post to Instagram

Now that your accounts are connected, you can post to both platforms simultaneously. This is done through the content creator tool inside the Meta Business Suite.

1. Open the Creator Tool: In the Meta Business Suite, click the big blue "Create post" button on the home dashboard. This opens the content composer.
2. Select Your Platforms: At the top of the composer window, under "Post to," you’ll see icons for your Facebook Page and your connected Instagram account. Make sure both are checked. You can choose to post to the Feed for each or customize further (e.g., Facebook Feed and Instagram Feed).
3. Add Your Media: Click "Add photo" or "Add video" to upload your visual content. Remember, Instagram requires visuals - you can't crosspost a text-only status from Facebook.
4. Craft Your Caption: Here’s where a little extra effort makes a big difference. You’ll see a text box to write your caption. To the right, you’ll see a live preview of how your post will appear on both Facebook and Instagram. Notice the tab that says "Customize post for Facebook and Instagram." This is the most important step for making your post effective on both platforms.
5. Customize for Each Platform: Click the customize button. Now you can edit the text specifically for Facebook and for Instagram. Perhaps you want to add more hashtags for Instagram or rephrase a call-to-action since clickable links don’t work in Instagram captions. This allows you to tailor the message while using the same media.
6. Schedule or Publish: Once you’re happy with how your post looks on both platforms, you can click "Publish" to post immediately or click the dropdown arrow to "Schedule" it for a future date and time.

The Pro Move: Smart Customization, Not Blind Crossposting

Just because you can post the same thing to Facebook and Instagram doesn’t mean you should. The platforms have different cultures, audience expectations, and technical features. A strategy that works well on one might fall flat on the other. Blindly syncing posts can look lazy and result in lower engagement.

Here’s how to crosspost intelligently using the customization features:

1. Tailor Your Captions

The tone on Instagram is often more personal and conversational, while Facebook can be slightly more formal or informational. Your character limits are also different. More importantly, links in Instagram captions are not clickable. A Facebook post asking users to "Click the link below!" will be a dead end on Instagram. Customize your Instagram caption to something like, "Check the link in our bio for more info!"

2. Adjust Your Hashtag Strategy

Hashtags are essential for discovery on Instagram but are less impactful on Facebook. It's common (and effective) to use 10–20 relevant hashtags on an Instagram post to boost its reach. On Facebook, however, a post filled with many hashtags can look cluttered and spammy. Best practice is to use just 1–3 highly relevant hashtags on Facebook.

• For Instagram: Use a mix of broad, niche, and branded hashtags. For more detailed guidance, see our article on how to add hashtags to Instagram Reels.
• For Facebook: Keep it minimal and focused on the main topic.

3. Optimize Your Visuals

While a square (1:1 aspect ratio) image works well on both platforms, Instagram favors vertical images (4:5 ratio) in the feed, as they take up more screen space. If your main goal is engagement on Instagram, sizing your images and videos for vertical viewing can give you a significant advantage. When creating your post, double-check the preview in the Meta Business Suite to ensure nothing important gets cropped out on either platform.

4. Respect Video Format Differences

Short-form vertical videos are preferred, but the specifics matter.

• Instagram Reels: Favors trendy audio, quick cuts, and entertaining or educational content. Needs to be vertical (9:16). If you want to improve your video quality, check out our guide on how to upload high-quality videos to Instagram.
• Facebook Video: Still prefers landscape (16:9) videos more than Instagram, especially for longer content. While Reels are now widely used on Facebook too, the feed is more forgiving of different formats.

If you’re crossposting a video, consider whether the same editing style works for both audiences or if it’s better to post a native video on Facebook and a dynamic Reel on Instagram.

Troubleshooting Common Crossposting Issues

Even with everything set up correctly, you might encounter some problems. Here are common issues and how to fix them:

• "I can't select my Instagram account to post." The most common cause is that your Instagram account isn’t a Professional (Business or Creator) account. Check your settings in the Instagram app. Another reason could be permission issues. Make sure an admin of the Facebook Page is the one connecting the accounts.
• "My post failed to publish on Instagram." This often happens due to formatting issues. For example, you tried to share a text-only post from Facebook (Instagram requires a photo or video) or the video was too long for the Instagram feed. Review Meta’s media specifications and try again.
• "The accounts keep disconnecting." Sometimes, Meta requires users to re-authenticate their accounts for security reasons. This can be frustrating but is normal. Go back into your "Linked Accounts" settings and follow the prompts to re-authorize the connection. Often, this occurs after a password change.

Final Thoughts

Connecting your Facebook and Instagram accounts is a simple way to enhance your efficiency as a social media manager. It helps streamline your workflow, maintain brand consistency, and reach a larger audience without extra effort. The key is using the tools available to customize content for each platform’s unique audience and style.

We built Postbase to address this differently. We discovered that the biggest challenge wasn’t just connecting accounts but easily planning and visualizing how content appears across various platforms - especially for video strategies on Reels, TikTok, and Shorts. Instead of struggling with clunky legacy tools, we designed a visual calendar where you can drag and drop posts, write your content once, and then easily customize captions and formatting for each social network without leaving the screen. It keeps your accounts reliably connected and ensures what you schedule gets published correctly, every time.