How to Share an Instagram Reel to TikTok

So you’ve created an amazing Instagram Reel and now you want to share it on TikTok to maximize its reach. That’s not just a good idea, it’s one of the smartest things you can do to get more mileage out of your hard work. This guide walks you through the step-by-step process of sharing your Instagram Reels to TikTok, covering how to get rid of that pesky watermark and optimize your content so it performs like a native video on both platforms.

Why Repurposing Your Instagram Reels on TikTok is a Smart Move

Creating compelling short-form video takes time, creativity, and effort. The last thing you want is for your masterpiece to live and die on a single platform. Repurposing isn’t about being lazy, it's about being efficient and strategic. By cross-posting from Instagram to TikTok, you unlock several key advantages for your brand or personal account.

1. Maximize Your Reach and Discoverability

The audiences on Instagram and TikTok, while overlapping, are not identical. There's a significant slice of users who predominantly use one platform over the other. By sharing your Reel on TikTok, you’re instantly tapping into a new pool of potential followers, customers, and fans who might have never discovered your content on Instagram. Think of it as opening a second storefront on a different busy street - you’re increasing your chances of being seen.

2. Save an Immense Amount of Time and Energy

This is the most obvious benefit. Brainstorming, filming, and editing a single 30-second video can take hours. Instead of starting from scratch to create unique content for every platform, you can focus on creating one high-quality video and adapting it for different channels. This frees up your time to engage with your community, analyze performance, and brainstorm your next big content idea rather than being stuck on a content creation treadmill.

3. Test Content Across Different Algorithms

Ever had a Reel that you were sure would go viral on Instagram, only for it to fall flat? Or had a video that performed better than you ever expected? The algorithms on Instagram and TikTok work in different ways and favor different signals. A video that doesn’t quite hit on Reels might be exactly what the TikTok "For You" Page algorithm is looking for. Reposting allows you to double-dip and give your content a second chance to find its audience. It’s valuable market research to see what resonates where.

4. Maintain Brand Consistency

Maintaining a consistent look, tone, and message across all your social channels is fundamental for building brand recognition. By using the same core video content, you ensure your brand's story is the same everywhere. Your audience will instantly recognize your style, whether they discover you on TikTok or Instagram, creating a stronger and more cohesive brand presence.

How to Share an Instagram Reel on TikTok: The Step-by-Step Guide

Getting your video from Instagram to TikTok is simple, but doing it the right way requires a few key steps to avoid common pitfalls - namely, the dreaded watermark. TikTok’s algorithm is known to deprioritize content with a competing platform’s logo, so removing it is your top priority. Here are the two best methods.

Method 1: The Best Practice (Saving Before You Publish)

This is the cleanest and most recommended method because it saves a high-quality, watermark-free version of your video directly to your phone. The trick is to do it before you post the Reel to Instagram.

• Step 1: Create and Edit Your Reel. Open Instagram and create your Reel just as you normally would. Add your clips, trim them, apply filters, and add any text overlays or stickers you want. Do all your creative editing within the Instagram editor.
• Step 2: Save the Video. Once you're finished editing but before you hit the "Share" button, look for a download icon (it usually looks like a downward-facing arrow). Tapping this will save the full video - with all your edits and without any music you've added from Instagram’s library - directly to your phone's camera roll. Important: If you added music from Instagram's licensed audio library, it will not be included in the downloaded video to comply with copyright laws. This is actually a good thing, as we’ll discuss later.
• Step 3: Publish on Instagram. Now, go back and finish the publishing process on Instagram. Add your audio choice from their library, write your caption, and share it.
• Step 4: Upload the Clean Video to TikTok. Open TikTok, tap the "+" icon, and upload the watermark-free video you just saved to your phone.
• Step 5: Optimize for TikTok. This is where you make the content feel native. Add a trending sound from TikTok's audio library, write a new caption tailored to the TikTok audience, and add relevant TikTok hashtags.

Method 2: Handling Reels That Are Already Published

What if you forgot to save your video or want to repurpose an older Reel that’s already live? When you download a published Reel from Instagram, it will automatically have a watermark. Here’s how to work around that.

• Step 1: Screen Record the Video. Find the published Reel on your Instagram profile and tap to play it in full-screen mode. Start your phone's built-in screen recording function and let the entire video play through without interruption. Once it's finished, stop the recording. Finally, open the new video in your phone's editor to trim the beginning and end where you started and stopped the recording. You can also crop the video to remove any distracting onscreen text or buttons.
• Step 2: Use a Third-Party Downloader. There are many free online tools and apps designed to download Instagram Reels without the watermark. You typically just need to copy the link of your Instagram Reel, paste it into the tool’s website or app, and it will generate a watermark-free video for you to download.
  A note of caution: Be mindful when using third-party services. Stick to well-known websites, and be aware of their terms of service and privacy policies. Never give them your Instagram password.

Best Practices for Making Your Content Shine on TikTok

Simply re-uploading your video isn’t enough. To give your content the best chance of succeeding on TikTok’s "For You" page, you need to adapt it to the platform's culture and algorithm.

1. Always Use Native TikTok Audio

This is arguably the most important step. Audio trends drive discovery on TikTok. Even if your Instagram Reel used a trending sound, that trend might be old news on TikTok. It’s always best to upload your video with no sound and then browse TikTok’s audio library for a currently trending song or sound. Using trending audio is a powerful signal to the algorithm that your content is relevant and timely.

2. Adapt Your Captions and Hashtags

What works on Instagram might not feel right on TikTok.

• Captions: TikTok captions are often shorter, more direct, and use a more casual or humorous tone than Instagram captions. They're part of the viewing experience, not something to be read after the fact. Ask a question or lead with a bold statement.
• Hashtags: While you might use a broad range of niche hashtags on Instagram, TikTok strategy is different. Use a mix of broad hashtags (like #fyp, #foryou), niche hashtags relevant to your content, and a trending challenge hashtag if applicable. Research what’s trending on TikTok, don’t just copy and paste from Instagram.

3. Leverage Native TikTok Features

Even a small tweak using TikTok's features can make your re-uploaded content feel more authentic. Consider adding a single, well-placed text overlay using a native TikTok font or using the popular text-to-speech feature. This tells the algorithm - and users - that this content was tailored for TikTok, not just passively dumped there.

4. Check Your Framing and Text Placement

Remember that the TikTok user interface (captions, like button, share button) is laid out slightly differently than Instagram's. When you create your Reel, try to keep important text or visuals away from the very bottom and right side of the screen, as they may get covered by TikTok’s UI elements.

Final Thoughts

Repurposing your Instagram Reels on TikTok is an incredibly effective strategy for growing your audience and making the most of your creative efforts. By following a smart workflow to download your videos without a watermark and making a few simple tweaks to optimize for TikTok's unique culture, you can seamlessly expand your content’s impact across both platforms.

When you're trying to keep a consistent content calendar across Instagram, TikTok, YouTube Shorts, and beyond, all of this can still feel overwhelming. That’s actually a big reason why we built Postbase. We wanted one simple, visual calendar to plan all of our short-form video in one place and a reliable scheduler built to handle it. Being able to upload a high-quality, watermark-free video just once and then customize and schedule it for multiple platforms without the headache of downloading and re-uploading all the time has been a real game-changer for our workflow.