How to Repost on Instagram

Thinking about sharing another creator's awesome photo, Reel, or Story on your own Instagram profile? It's one of the best ways to celebrate your community, feature user-generated content, and keep your feed fresh. This guide will walk you through exactly how to repost content on Instagram - covering Stories, the main feed, and Reels - while following the right etiquette to keep everyone happy.

Why Repost Content on Instagram?

Before getting into the "how," let's quickly touch on the "why." Far from being a lazy content strategy, reposting is a powerful way to build your brand. When done thoughtfully, it can:

• Build Community: Featuring your followers' content makes them feel seen and valued. It turns a one-way communication channel into a two-way conversation, strengthening the bond between you and your audience.
• Provide Social Proof: When you share a glowing review or a customer showing off your product (also known as user-generated content or UGC), it acts as a powerful, authentic testimonial. People trust recommendations from their peers far more than they trust branded ads.
• Fill Your Content Calendar: Let's be real - creating original content day after day is a grind. Sprinkling in high-quality UGC from your community helps you post consistently without burning out.
• Curate Value for Your Audience: You don't just have to repost content about your brand. Sharing valuable, entertaining, or inspiring content from other creators in your niche positions you as a trusted expert and resource, giving your followers more reasons to stick around.

The Golden Rule: Get Permission and Give Credit

This is the most important part of the entire process. Reposting someone's content without their consent isn't just bad manners, it's also a violation of Instagram's terms of service and can create copyright issues. Treat every piece of content as a creative work owned by the person who made it.

How to Ask for Permission

Getting permission is simple and shows respect for the original creator. There are two easy ways to do it:

1. Send a friendly Direct Message (DM): This is the most direct and personal approach.
2. Leave a public comment: If their DMs are closed, a comment on the post you want to share works just as well.

Not sure what to say? Keep it simple and clear. Here's a quick template you can adapt:

"Hey [Creator's Name]! I absolutely love this [photo/video]. Our audience would really appreciate it. Would you be open to me sharing it on our feed? Of course, we'll give you full credit in the post and tag your account."

Wait for a clear "yes" before you proceed. Most creators are thrilled to be featured and will happily agree.

How to Give Proper Credit (It's More Than Just a Tag)

Once you have permission, giving proper credit is non-negotiable. Don't bury the credit at the bottom of a long list of hashtags. Make it clear and prominent so everyone knows who created the amazing content. Effective crediting involves two steps:

• 1. Tag the creator in the media itself. When uploading a photo or video, use the "Tag People" option to tag their account directly in the image or video. This makes sure the post appears in the "Tagged" section of their profile and sends them a notification.
• 2. Mention their handle in the caption. Right at the start of your caption, include @username so their handle is clickable. This makes it instantly obvious who deserves the credit. For video, many brands also add a small visual credit in the corner, often saying "Credit: @username".

Why do both? The tag populates their profile's tagged tab, while the mention in the caption provides a direct link for your followers and is often the first thing people see.

How to Repost to Your Instagram Story

Sharing content to your Story is the easiest and most common way to repost, as Instagram has built-in features for it. This method works for feed posts, Reels, and Stories where you've been mentioned.

Reposting a Feed Post or Reel to Your Story

If you see a post in your feed that you want to share with your Story audience, the process takes about 10 seconds.

1. Navigate to the post or Reel you want to share.
2. Tap the paper airplane icon (the Share button) located underneath the post.
3. A menu will slide up from the bottom. Select "Add to story."
4. This will open the Instagram Story editor with the post embedded as a sticker.
5. You can pinch to resize it, drag to reposition it, and add your own text, GIFs, or other stickers to provide context.
6. When you're happy with it, tap "Your Story" to publish it.

Important Note: This option is only available if the creator's account is public and they've enabled sharing in their privacy settings. If you don't see the "Add to story" option, it means they've disabled it.

Reposting a Story Where You Were Tagged

When someone mentions (@tags) you in their Story, Instagram makes it incredibly easy to share that content to your own Story.

1. You'll receive a notification and a DM from the creator that says "mentioned you in their story."
2. Open the DM and you'll see a button that says "Add to your story."
3. Tap it, and the Story editor will open with their Story embedded as a sticker.
4. Just like before, you can resize, reposition, and add your own context.
5. Tap "Your Story" to share it with your followers. It will even include a tappable link back to the original creator's profile, handling the credit automatically.

How to Repost to Your Instagram Feed

Unlike Stories, Instagram doesn't offer a native, one-click "repost" button for the main grid. This is intentional to encourage the creation of original content. However, with permission from the creator, there are two primary methods to share their content on your feed.

Method 1: The Screenshot or Screen Recording Method

This is the most straightforward manual method that doesn't require any third-party apps. It works for both photos and videos.

For a Photo:

1. After getting permission, open the Instagram post on your phone.
2. Take a screenshot of the photo. Try to tap the photo once to hide some of the interface elements before you screenshot.
3. Open your phone's photo editor and crop the screenshot to remove the app's interface (like the username at the top and the like/comment buttons at the bottom), so only the image remains.
4. Start a new post on Instagram by tapping the `+` icon.
5. Select your cropped screenshot from your camera roll.
6. Write a compelling caption. This is your chance to add your own perspective. Explain why you're sharing the post and be sure to tag (@username) the original creator.
7. Before publishing, tap "Tag People" and add the creator's tag to the photo itself.
8. Share your post.

For a Video or Reel:

1. Once you have permission, use your phone's built-in screen recording feature.
2. Start recording, then play the video on full screen on Instagram.
3. Stop the recording once the video is finished.
4. Open the screen recording in your photo editor and trim the beginning and end to remove any interface taps. Crop the video if needed to achieve the right aspect ratio.
5. Upload this trimmed video to your feed or as a Reel.
6. Craft your caption, tag the user in the video, and give them a prominent mention (@username).

The upside? This method is completely free. The downside? Screenshots can sometimes result in a slight loss of image quality, and screen recording can be a bit clumsy.

Method 2: Using a Third-Party Reposting App

If you plan on reposting content frequently, a third-party app can streamline the process. Dozens of these apps (often called "regram" or "repost" apps) exist on both the Apple App Store and Google Play Store.

While each app's interface is slightly different, they generally follow the same workflow:

1. Find a post you want to share (and get permission for it!).
2. Tap the three dots (...) icon at the top right of the Instagram post.
3. Select "Link" to copy the post's URL to your clipboard.
4. Open your chosen reposting app. Most will automatically detect the link you copied.
5. The app will prepare the post for you. It typically gives you options to choose the position and color (light or dark) of the attribution mark, which is a small overlay with the original creator's username.
6. Tap the button to share. The app will open Instagram and often automatically paste the original caption (with credit) for you. It's best practice to write your own unique caption but ensure the credit remains.
7. As a final step, make sure to manually tag the creator in the photo or video itself before publishing.

The upside? These apps are quick, preserve the original quality, and handle the basic attribution for you. The downside? The free versions often include ads. Some creators also dislike the automatic watermark, so always consider that before using one.

Final Thoughts

Reposting content on Instagram is an excellent strategy for community building, providing social proof, and diversifying your content strategy. Whether you're sharing to your Story, manually taking a screenshot for your feed, or using a third-party app, the foundational rules never change: always ask for permission first and always give clear, prominent credit to the original creator.

Remembering to plan for user-generated content, schedule community features, and keep track of permissions can quickly become overwhelming. At Postbase, we built our platform with a visual calendar at its core for this very reason. It allows us to plan and see our entire content strategy - from our own videos to scheduled reposts - all in one clean, unified view. This way, incorporating awesome content from our community feels like a seamless part of our strategy, not a last-minute scramble to fill a gap.