How to Share a Post on Instagram

Sharing content on Instagram is one of the most effective ways to build community, highlight creators you admire, and keep your audience engaged even when you're short on new material. This guide breaks down every method for sharing content on the platform, from sending a quick post to a friend to the proper way to repost someone’s work on your feed.

The Basics: Sharing to Your Instagram Story

Your Instagram Story is the most common and versatile place to share content. It’s temporary, informal, and perfect for giving a quick shout-out or cross-promoting a new post without cluttering your main feed. The process is slightly different depending on whether you’re sharing your own content or someone else’s.

Sharing Someone Else’s Post or Reel to Your Story

When you find a feed post or Reel from another public account that resonates with you, sharing it to your Story is simple. This works wonders for featuring user-generated content (UGC), collaborating with other brands, or just sharing something you find funny or inspiring.

Here’s how to do it:

• Find the post or Reel you want to share.
• Tap the paper airplane icon located below the post (next to the comment bubble).
• On the pop-up menu, select “Add to story.”
• This will open the Instagram Story editor with the post embedded as a sticker.
• Pro Tip: Tapping on the post sticker itself will toggle between two styles: a clean post display and one that shows the beginning of the original caption and the creator’s username.
• Customize your Story! Add text, GIFs, polls, or a tag for the original creator (even though their handle is already visible, an extra tag sends them a direct notification).
• Once you’re happy with it, tap “Your Story” at the bottom to publish.

Important Note: You can only share posts from public accounts. If the paper airplane icon is missing or the "Add to story" option isn't there, it means the user has a private account or has disabled resharing in their settings.

Sharing Your Own Post or Reel to Your Story

Sharing your freshly published content to your Story is an essential part of any Instagram strategy. It acts as a powerful signal boost, alerting your followers that you have new content on your feed, especially since the algorithm doesn't show your posts to everyone. You can do this immediately after posting or with any past content.

• Navigate to the post or Reel on your own feed that you want to share.
• Tap the paper airplane icon.
• Select “Add to story.”
• From here, level up your share by adding engaging elements like a “New Post” GIF, a teaser question using the text tool (“Caption this!”), or a poll sticker to quickly gather feedback.
• Tap “Your Story” to share it with your followers. A clever trick is to use a sticker or GIF to strategically cover part of the image, intriguing users to click through to your feed to see the full post.

How to Share a Post via Direct Message (DM)

Sometimes you don’t want to broadcast a post to everyone, you just want to share it directly with a friend, client, or group. Sharing via Direct Message is the perfect way to start a private conversation around a piece of content.

1. Just like sharing to your Story, find the post or Reel you want to send.
2. Tap the paper airplane icon beneath it.
3. Instead of tapping "Add to Story," you'll see a list of your recent contacts and a search bar.
4. You can tap the “Send” button next to one or more accounts, or use the search bar to find a specific person or group.
5. Optionally, add a message to go along with the post.
6. Hit “Send,” and the post will appear directly in their inbox.

The Big One: How to Repost to Your Instagram Feed (Regramming)

Unlike sharing to your ephemeral Story, reposting user-generated content directly to your own permanent feed is a bigger commitment that requires a few more steps. Instagram doesn’t have a built-in “repost” or “retweet” button for the feed, because the platform highly prioritizes original content. But that doesn’t mean it’s impossible - it just needs to be done thoughtfully and respectfully.

The Golden Rule of Reposting: Get Permission and Give Credit

Before you even think about reposting, this is the most important step. Legally and ethically, you should always get explicit permission from the original creator before using their photo or video on your feed. A quick DM asking, “This is an amazing photo! Would you mind if we shared it on our feed with full credit to you?” goes a long way.

Once you have permission, providing clear and prominent credit is non-negotiable. Subpar credit is a huge social media faux pas. Here's how to do it right:

• Tag them in the photo/video. Use the "Tag People" function so the post shows up in the “Tagged Photos” section of their profile.
• Mention them at the very top of your caption. Don't bury the credit at the bottom of a long caption or hide it in a block of hashtags. Start your caption with something like, “📸: Beautiful shot by @username” or “Featured creator: @username.”

How to Manually Repost Content to Your Feed

While third-party reposting apps exist, the most straightforward method is to do it manually. This gives you complete control over the quality.

For Photos:

1. Ask for Permission: Send that respectful DM and wait for a "yes."
2. Screenshot the Photo: Open the photo on Instagram and take a high-quality screenshot.
3. Crop the Image: Go to your phone’s photo editor and crop the screenshot to remove the app’s surrounding interface, leaving only the original image.
4. Create a New Post: Open Instagram and start a new post as you normally would, selecting your cropped screenshot.
5. Write Your Caption & Give Credit: This is where you follow the golden rule. Write your caption, making sure to credit the creator at the very top. Remember to also tag their account in the photo itself.
6. Publish the Post: That’s it! You’ve successfully and respectfully reposted content.

A better alternative to screenshots, if the creator agrees, is to ask them to send you the original high-resolution file. This ensures the best possible quality for your feed.

For Reels & Videos:

Reposting video content is similar but uses your phone’s screen recording function.

1. Ask for Permission: Same rule, different content type.
2. Screen Record the Video: Open the Reel or video, mute your phone to avoid capturing your environment's sounds, and start your phone’s built-in screen recording feature. Let the entire video play a couple of times to be safe.
3. Trim the Recording: Stop the recording and open it in your phone’s photo app. Use the trim tool to cut out the beginning and end, so only the video content remains.
4. Create a New Post: Open Instagram, select the "Reel" tab, and upload your trimmed screen recording.
5. Write a Caption & Give Credit: Add your value or commentary in the caption and, most importantly, provide tags and mentions for the original creator.

This process of asking, crediting, and manually reposting shows respect for the Instagram community and helps you build a feed filled with authentic, valuable content that your audience will love.

Final Thoughts

Mastering the art of sharing on Instagram - whether to your Story, DMs, or feed - is a powerful skill for growing your presence and connecting with others. The most important thing is to always share with intention, respect other creators by providing clear and enthusiastic credit, and use the feature as an authentic tool for community building.

When you're building a content strategy that relies on both your original creations and curated shares from the community, things can get disorganized fast. We designed Postbase to solve this very problem. Our visual calendar lets you see all your scheduled content in one place, making it easy to plan original posts while slotting in user-generated content, keeping your entire strategy balanced and consistent without any of the chaos.