How to Share from Facebook to Instagram

Trying to share your content from Facebook to Instagram often feels like it should be simple, but it can be surprisingly complicated. While Meta owns both platforms, getting your posts to move seamlessly between them isn't always as easy as hitting a single button. This guide breaks down exactly how to connect your accounts and share different types of content, including the workarounds you need for posts that are already live.

First Things First: Connect Your Facebook and Instagram Accounts

Before you can share anything, you need to tell Facebook and Instagram that they’re connected. This is done through the Meta Accounts Center, a central hub for managing your settings across both platforms. Linking them enables cross-posting and shared login information, making your life much easier.

How to Connect Your Accounts on Mobile (iOS & Android)

Most people manage social media from their phones, so let’s start there. The process is identical whether you’re using an iPhone or Android device.

• Open the Instagram app and tap on your profile picture in the bottom-right corner.
• Tap the hamburger menu (three horizontal lines) in the top-right corner, then select Settings and privacy.
• Tap Accounts Center at the top of the menu.
• Under "Accounts Center settings," tap on Accounts.
• Tap Add accounts and log in to the Facebook account you want to connect.
• Follow the on-screen prompts to confirm. Once you’re done, you'll see both your Instagram and Facebook profiles listed in the Accounts Center.

How to Connect Your Accounts on a Desktop

If you're managing a Business Page, you might prefer doing this on a computer. The steps are just as straightforward.

• Navigate to Facebook in your web browser.
• Click on your profile picture in the top-right corner and select Settings & Privacy, then Settings.
• In the left-hand menu, look for the Accounts Center meta box and click it.
• Click on Accounts from the left menu in the Accounts Center.
• Click the Add accounts button, then follow the prompts to log into your Instagram account and finalize the connection.

Once your accounts are linked, you've laid the groundwork for sharing content. Now, let’s get into the specifics of what you can - and can't - share automatically.

How to Automatically Share New Content from Facebook to Instagram

Meta makes it fairly easy to "cross-post," which means automatically sharing content to both platforms at the time of creation. It's a huge time-saver for busy creators and social media managers. However, the options are slightly different depending on the content format (Stories, Reels, or regular posts).

This method only works for new content you are actively publishing. We’ll cover how to handle older, already-published posts later.

Sharing Your Facebook Stories to Instagram

If Stories are a big part of your strategy, this is a must-use feature. When you create a Story on Facebook, you can have it instantly post to your Instagram Story as well.

1. On the Facebook mobile app, tap "Create story."
2. Build your Story with your photo, video, text, stickers, and music.
3. Before posting, tap the gear icon for Privacy in the lower-right corner.
4. You’ll see a section called "Story Controls." Look for the option that says Always Share to Instagram and toggle it on.
5. Tap Save. From now on, whenever you post a Facebook Story, it will also appear on Instagram automatically.

Sharing Your Facebook Feed Posts to Instagram

This is arguably the most requested feature. The ability to automatically share a new Facebook feed post (photo or video) directly to your Instagram grid is a huge efficiency boost, especially for brand accounts. This setting is typically managed from your Facebook Business Page.

Here's how to turn it on:

1. Navigate to your Facebook Business Page.
2. On the left-hand side menu, go to Settings.
3. Select Linked Accounts.
4. Here, you'll see Instagram. If you haven't already connected it via the Accounts Center, do so now.
5. Once connected, you’ll often find options for sharing and managing content. The option to cross-post should be here. If you’re using Meta Business Suite, the process is even simpler.

In Meta Business Suite, when you compose a new post, you simply check a box under "Post to" to select both your Facebook Page and your Instagram account. This is the most reliable way to manage this and allows you to even tweak the caption for each platform before publishing.

Sharing Your Facebook Reels to Instagram

Given the push for short-form video, Meta makes sharing Reels between platforms incredibly easy. If your accounts are connected through the Accounts Center, you’ll typically be prompted to enable this when creating a Reel.

While creating a Reel in the Facebook app, you'll see a section titled "Share to Instagram." Just make sure your Instagram account is selected. You can set it to automatically share all future Reels or decide on a per-Reel basis.

The Big Question: Can You Share an Existing Facebook Post to Instagram?

Here’s where things get a bit tricky and where most people get stuck. The short answer is no, you cannot take a post that is already live on your Facebook feed and hit a button to republish it on your Instagram grid.

Why not? The two platforms have different user expectations and content formats. A lengthy Facebook post with multiple links won't translate well to Instagram's visual-first, single-link-in-bio environment. Instagram also has different aspect ratios (emphasizing vertical 4:5 or 9:16 content) and relies heavily on hashtags for discovery, which function differently on Facebook. Instead of a direct "share" feature, you need to use a simple manual workaround.

The Right Way to Repurpose an Old Facebook Post on Instagram

Just because you can't hit a one-click "share" button on an old post doesn't mean your content is stuck on Facebook. The professional method is to repurpose it, not just share it. This involves a few quick steps and ensures your content is optimized to perform well on Instagram.

Step 1: Save Your Media

Find the Facebook post you want to share. If it's a photo, click on it, then find the options (usually a three-dot menu) and choose "Download" to save the high-quality version to your computer or phone. Do the same for a video.

Step 2: Copy Your Caption Text

Highlight the caption from your Facebook post and copy it. This will save you from having to re-type everything.

Step 3: Create a New Instagram Post

Open Instagram and tap the "+" icon to start a new post. Select the photo or video you just saved. You'll now be in Instagram's editor.

Step 4: Optimize The Content for Instagram

This is the most important step! Don't just paste and post. Adapt your content to fit the Instagram environment for better engagement and reach.

• Adjust the Crop: Is your image a wide landscape photo? It might look better cropped to a 4:5 vertical portrait or a 1:1 square. Instagram's editor lets you easily adjust the aspect ratio. Don't let awkward black bars appear around your photo.
• Edit Your Caption: Paste your copied text. Now, edit it for Instagram's audience. Remove any URLs, as they won't be clickable in an Instagram caption. Make sure the first line is attention-grabbing, as users will only see that before deciding to tap "...more."
• Add Relevant Hashtags: Hashtags on Instagram are for discovery, not just commentary. Add a block of relevant, researched hashtags to help new people find your post. Aim for a mix of popular and niche hashtags.
• Tag Accounts and Locations: Tag any relevant accounts (e.g., brand partners, a person in the photo) directly in the image and add a location tag. Both of these actions can dramatically increase your post's visibility.

By manually recreating the post, you control how it looks and ensure it follows the best practices for the platform it’s being published on. This thoughtful approach almost always yields better results than a generic, one-size-fits-all cross-post.

Beyond Simple Sharing: Create a Unified Content Strategy

Managing multiple social platforms effectively isn't just about sharing the exact same thing everywhere. A smarter approach is to think of your platforms as part of one larger marketing conversation, where the message is adapted slightly for each environment.

Think about your content creation this way:

• Create Your Core Asset: Produce one great piece of content - a high-quality video, a set of beautiful photos, a well-written idea.
• Adapt it Natively: Instead of asking "How do I share this from A to B?" ask "What's the best way to present this on Instagram? On Facebook? On TikTok?" You might post a gallery of polished photos to your Instagram feed, but use a behind-the-scenes video from that photoshoot to make an engaging Facebook Reel.

This method maintains brand consistency while respecting each platform's unique culture and algorithms. A content calendar and a good workflow are essential here, as it can get complicated to track which asset is being adapted for which channel and when it's scheduled to go live.

Final Thoughts

Connecting your Facebook and Instagram accounts is a powerful first step to creating a more efficient workflow. For new content like Stories and Reels, taking advantage of automatic cross-posting saves a ton of time. But for sharing existing posts, the best practice is to manually repurpose the content, a process that ensures it’s perfectly tailored for the Instagram audience.

Manually adapting captions, resizing images for different platforms, and juggling posting times can feel daunting, especially when working with video-first formats like Reels and TikTok. That's why we've focused on making cross-platform scheduling incredibly simple and intuitive. With Postbase, you can upload your media once, customize the caption, hashtags, and format for each platform in a single composer, and then schedule them all to post at the perfect time. Our planning calendar gives you a bird's-eye view, so you can stop wrestling with logistics and get back to creating great content.