How to Share a Reel on Facebook

Sharing your Instagram Reel to Facebook is a powerful way to double your reach with a single piece of content, but figuring out the best way to do it can be confusing. Whether you want to set up automatic sharing or manually control every post, this guide breaks down all the methods. We’ll show you step-by-step how to share new Reels, old Reels, and even fine-tune your cross-posting for the best results.

Why Share Your Instagram Reels on Facebook?

Before we get into the “how,” let’s quickly touch on the “why.” Cross-posting isn’t just about saving time, it’s a strategic move to maximize your content’s impact. The audiences on Instagram and Facebook, while often overlapping, have different behaviors and demographics. Sharing your Reel on both platforms gives you a shot at capturing a much wider audience.

Consider these points:

• Expanded Reach: You instantly expose your video to a new set of eyes. Your aunt who only uses Facebook might become your biggest fan, while a potential client who missed your Instagram post sees it in their Facebook feed.
• Content Re-purposing: You spent time creating that Reel - don’t let it live on only one platform. Sharing it to Facebook gives your hard work a second life and a greater return on your time investment.
• Audience Engagement: You can spark different conversations and get different feedback from each community. A comment on Facebook might provide a new perspective that you didn't see on Instagram.

Method 1: Connect Your Accounts for Automatic Sharing

The easiest way to share every new Reel is to link your Instagram and Facebook accounts through Meta’s Accounts Center. Once you set this up, you can choose to automatically share every Reel you post going forward. It’s a classic “set it and forget it” approach.

How to Set Up Automatic Sharing:

1. Open Instagram and go to your profile: Tap your profile picture in the bottom-right corner.
2. Access the Settings menu: Tap the three horizontal lines (the "hamburger menu") in the top-right corner, then select Settings and privacy.
3. Go to Accounts Center: At the very top of the menu, you'll see the Accounts Center. Meta has centralized all account connections here. Tap on it.
4. Add your Facebook account: If your accounts aren’t already linked, tap on Profiles, then Add accounts. Follow the prompts to log in to your Facebook profile or page and confirm the connection.
5. Enable cross-posting: Once your accounts are linked, go back to the main Accounts Center menu and tap on Sharing across profiles. Select your Instagram account.
6. Turn on automatic sharing for Reels: Here, you’ll see options for automatically sharing your Instagram content. Find the Your Instagram Reels section and toggle the switch on. You can choose to share to your dedicated Facebook profile or a Facebook Page you manage.

From now on, whenever you post a new Reel on Instagram, it will automatically be shared to the Facebook destination you selected.

Method 2: Share a New Reel to Facebook While Posting

What if you don’t want to share every single Reel automatically? Maybe some content is tailored just for Instagram. In that case, you can choose to share a Reel to Facebook on a case-by-case basis right from the upload screen.

This method requires your accounts to be linked in the Accounts Center (see Method 1), but with automatic sharing toggled off.

Here’s how it works:

1. Create your Reel in Instagram: Go ahead, add your video clips, music, text, and effects as you normally would.
2. Proceed to the final share screen: Just before you hit the "Share" button, you’ll see the screen where you write your caption, tag people, and add a location.
3. Find the Facebook sharing option: Scroll down a bit on this screen. You will see a section called Share to Facebook. Toggle the switch next to your Facebook profile or page to the "On" position.
4. Adjust Facebook-specific settings (optional): Tapping on the setting might reveal an option like Recommend on Facebook. Turning this on will allow Meta to show your Reel to people who don't follow you on Facebook, boosting its potential for discovery. This is almost always a good idea.
5. Publish your Reel: Tap "Share." Your Reel will now post to both Instagram and Facebook simultaneously.

Method 3: Share an Existing Instagram Reel to Facebook

Forgot to share a Reel you posted last week? No problem. You can easily share any of your past Instagram Reels to your Facebook feed.

1. Find the Reel on your Instagram profile: Go to your profile and navigate to your Reels tab.
2. Open the Reel and tap the share icon: Tap the paper airplane icon on the right-hand side of the screen.
3. Find the 'Share to...' option: At the bottom of the Share menu, you will see a list of actions like "Add to story" and "Copy link." Look for the Share to... button and tap it.
4. Select Facebook: Your phone's native share sheet will appear. Find the Facebook icon and tap it. Facebook will open, allowing you to finalize your post with a new caption before publishing it.

Pro Tip: Some versions of Instagram have made this even easier. You might see a Facebook-specific share button within the Reel's menu options (the three dots). This can change with app updates, so it's good to know both paths.

Method 4: Manually Download and Upload a Reel (The Quality Control Method)

While the automatic options are convenient, social media professionals often prefer to upload content natively to each platform. This manual method gives you full control over the caption, thumbnail, and performance and is often the best way to get around music licensing issues.

Step 1: Download Your Reel from Instagram

On the Reel you want to share, tap the Share icon (paper airplane). In the menu that appears, tap the Download button. This will save the video file directly to your phone’s camera roll.

Important Note on Music: If your Reel uses a licensed music clip from Instagram's library, the downloaded video will have its audio removed. This is to comply with music licensing agreements. If you used original audio, your audio will be included in the download. Also, the downloaded video will often include a small Instagram watermark with your username.

Step 2: Upload it as a Reel on Facebook

Now, treat it like brand new content for Facebook.

1. Open the Facebook app.
2. Tap "Reel" from the creator menu right below the "What's on your mind?" box.
3. Select the video you just downloaded from your phone's gallery.
4. Customize your post for a Facebook audience. This is where the manual method shines. You can:
   • Write a completely different caption that is tailored to your Facebook audience.
   • Use Facebook-specific hashtags.
   • Tag different people or Facebook pages.
   • If the audio was removed, you can now add a new track from Facebook's music library.
   • Choose a different cover image (thumbnail).
5. Publish your Reel on Facebook.

Best Practices for Sharing Your Reels on Facebook

Simply sharing your content isn't enough. To get the most out of your efforts, keep these tips in mind:

• Check Your Music. This is the biggest hurdle. If you use trendy, licensed audio on Instagram, be prepared for it to be muted or flagged on Facebook when shared. Using original audio or music from Facebook's own library during a manual upload is the safest bet.
• Tailor Your Caption. Even if you share automatically, you can always go onto Facebook and edit the post. Change the tone, ask a different question, or add a specific call-to-action that resonates better with your Facebook followers.
• Don’t Double-Tag. When you auto-share, Instagram user tags don't convert to Facebook user tags. If you tag a user in your Instagram caption, you'll need to edit the post on Facebook to properly tag their Facebook profile or page.
• Engage with Comments Separately. Once your Reel is on Facebook, treat it as a native post. Respond to comments there to encourage engagement on that platform. Don't assume your Instagram commenters will see your replies on Facebook.
• Analyze performance on both platforms: Look at the insights for your Reel on both Instagram and Facebook. You might be surprised by the results. A video that gets moderate views on Instagram could go viral on Facebook - and vice versa. Understanding this helps you tailor future content for each platform.

Final Thoughts

Learning how to share a Reel on Facebook opens up your content to a whole new audience and maximizes the effort you put into creating your videos. Whether you prefer the convenience of automatic sharing or the fine-tuned control of a manual upload, there is a method that fits your strategy perfectly.

At Postbase, we understand that managing different content for different platforms can feel overwhelming, especially with vertical video. We built our social media management tool to be video-first, because that's what drives engagement today. Instead of juggling downloads and re-uploads or wrestling with tools that weren't built for formats like Reels and Shorts, you can plan your video content in our visual calendar, customize it for each platform, and trust that it will publish reliably, every time.