How to Share Someone Else's Instagram Post

You’ve stumbled upon the perfect Instagram post. It’s a stunning photo from a customer using your product, a glowing review, or a piece of content that perfectly aligns with your brand’s message. Your first instinct is to share it with your own audience, but how do you do it the right way? This guide will walk you through the different methods for sharing someone else’s Instagram post to your Story and your Feed, focusing on the step-by-step process and the best practices for giving proper credit.

First, Why Share Someone Else's Content?

Before getting into the "how," it’s important to understand the strategic "why." Reposting content on Instagram isn't just about filling your content calendar. When done thoughtfully, it’s a powerful strategy for building a stronger, more engaged community and a more authentic brand presence.

There are three main benefits to sharing other people's posts:

• It Builds Social Proof: Sharing content from happy customers or clients is one of the most effective forms of marketing. This is called User-Generated Content (UGC), and it shows potential new followers that real people love and trust your brand. It’s an authentic endorsement that you simply can't create yourself.
• It Strengthens Your Community: When you feature a follower’s content, you make them feel seen, valued, and appreciated. This fosters a sense of community around your brand, transforming passive followers into active advocates. It’s a simple act that can build immense loyalty.
• It Diversifies Your Content: Consistently creating high-quality, original content is challenging. Curating exceptional content from others provides value to your audience and diversifies your feed. It positions your brand as a helpful curator in your niche, not just a broadcaster of its own messages.

The Golden Rule of Reposting: Always Ask and Give Credit

We can’t go any further without stressing this point: sharing someone's content without their permission and proper attribution is a major social media foul. Not only is it poor etiquette, but it can also land you in hot water for copyright infringement. Always treat the original creator with respect.

How to Give Proper Credit

Proper credit isn't just a tiny tag buried at the bottom of a long caption. It should be clear and immediate. Here’s how to do it right:

• Tag the Creator in the Photo/Video: Use Instagram's tagging feature to tag the original creator’s handle directly on the visual content. This links back to their profile and sends them a notification.
• Mention the Creator in the Caption: Mention their handle (e.g., @username) at the very beginning of your caption. A great way to phrase it is with an emoji or simple intro like, “📸: @username” or “Amazing shot by @username!” This makes it obvious from the start that the content is curated.

How to Ask for Permission

For sharing a post to your Feed, it's always best practice to ask for permission first. The creator put time and effort into their work, and they deserve the courtesy of a request. It’s simple and shows respect.

Send a direct message or leave a comment on their original post. Something like this works great:

“Hi! We absolutely love this photo/video. Would you mind if we shared it on our feed? We’ll be sure to give you full credit in the image and caption!”

Most creators will be thrilled at the opportunity for more exposure. Once you get their approval, you’re good to go.

How to Share an Instagram Post to Your Story

Instagram makes it incredibly easy to share a public feed post to your own Story. This is the most common and accepted way to share content on the platform, and you don’t typically need to ask for permission since the original post is embedded and links directly back to the creator.

Here’s the step-by-step process:

1. Find the Instagram post you want to share. It must be from a public account.
2. Tap the paper airplane icon below the post (the same icon you use to send a DM).
3. In the menu that appears, tap “Add post to your story.”
4. This will take you to the Story editor, where the post appears as a sticker on a generated background.
5. Customize your Story. You can tap the post sticker to toggle between two display styles: one clean view and one that shows part of the original caption. You can also pinch to resize it, drag to move it, and tilt it.
6. Add your own touch. This is your chance to add context! Use the text tool to explain why you’re sharing the post, mention the original creator again with an @-mention sticker, add relevant hashtags, or include a poll or quiz sticker to engage your audience.
7. When you're happy with how it looks, tap “Your Story” in the bottom left corner to post it.

When someone views your Story, they can tap on the post sticker, and they'll be taken directly to the original post, ensuring the creator gets the traffic and engagement.

How to Share an Instagram Post to Your Feed

Unlike Stories, Instagram doesn't have a native, built-in "repost" or "regram" button for sharing someone else’s post to your own feed. This requires a manual approach. Remember to always get permission first!

There are two primary methods for reposting to your feed: the screenshot method and using a repost app.

Method 1: The Screenshot or Screen Record Method

This is the quickest and simplest way to regram content without a third-party app. It works for both photos and videos (with your phone's screen recording feature).

For Photos:

1. Open the Instagram post you have permission to share.
2. Take a clean screenshot of the image. On most phones, you can zoom in slightly to remove the surrounding interface elements from your screen for a cleaner capture.
3. Crop the screenshot carefully in your phone's photo editor to remove everything except the image itself. You want it to look as clean and high-quality as possible.
4. Open Instagram and create a new post by tapping the “+” icon.
5. Select your cropped screenshot from your camera roll.
6. Proceed to the editor. It's best not to add your own filters or edits that alter the original creator’s work.
7. Write your caption. This is the most important step. Don't just copy the original caption! Add your own perspective. Explain why you're sharing this content, and most importantly, give clear credit by tagging the creator in the photo and mentioning them at the top of the caption (e.g., “Check out this fantastic work from @originalcreator!”).
8. Post it to your feed.

For Videos:

The process is similar, but instead of a screenshot, you use your phone's built-in screen recording function.

1. Navigate to the video post.
2. Start the screen recording feature on your phone.
3. Play the video in full-screen mode so it's as clean as possible.
4. Stop the recording once the video finishes.
5. Open the recorded video in your phone's photo gallery and trim the beginning and end to remove any app interface elements or fumbling around.
6. Upload the trimmed video to Instagram and follow the same steps for writing your caption and giving credit as you would for a photo.

Pros of this method: It’s fast, free, and doesn't require any other apps.
Cons of this method: It can slightly reduce the image or video quality. You have to be careful with cropping and trimming.

Method 2: Using a Third-Party Repost App

Several third-party apps are designed specifically to make reposting on Instagram seamless. These apps connect to your Instagram account and streamline the saving and attribution process.

While the exact interface varies between apps (search for "repost for Instagram" in your app store), the general workflow is usually the same:

1. Download your chosen repost app and follow its instructions to connect to your Instagram account.
2. In the official Instagram app, navigate to the post you have permission to share.
3. Tap the three dots (...) in the top right corner of the post and select “Link.” This copies the post’s URL to your clipboard.
4. Open the repost app. Most apps will automatically detect the link in your clipboard and pull in the photo or video.
5. The app will typically give you options to add an attribution mark. This is usually a small overlay on the corner of the image that includes the original creator’s username. You can often choose the color (light or dark) and position (e.g., bottom left, top right).
6. The app may also automatically copy the original creator's caption to your clipboard, which can be a helpful starting point.
7. Once you've configured the attribution mark, the app will have an option like “Share” or “Repost to Instagram.” Tap that.
8. You’ll be directed back to your Instagram app with the new image ready to go.
9. As always, write a thoughtful caption that adds your own commentary and gives prominent credit with an @-mention, and tag them in the photo directly.

Pros of this method: It maintains the original quality of the photo/video and makes attribution look clean and professional.
Cons of this method: It requires downloading and granting access to a third-party app. Some apps may have ads or paid features.

Final Thoughts

Sharing content from others is a fantastic way to engage your audience, build community, and highlight the people who support your brand. Whether you’re sharing to your Story for a fleeting shout-out or to your Feed for a more permanent feature, the most important thing is to always do it respectfully by asking for permission and giving clear, unambiguous credit.

Juggling original content, curated posts, and valuable user-generated content in your calendar can get complicated quickly. At Postbase, we believe that simple things shouldn't feel complex. Our visual calendar was designed to give you a clear, bird's-eye view of your entire content strategy, helping you plan and schedule all your posts - original or curated - in one unified place so you can stay consistent without ever feeling overwhelmed.