How to Share Someone Else's Video on Instagram

Ever found an Instagram Reel so good you just had to share it on your own profile? Sharing someone else's video is a great way to highlight amazing content, build community, and keep your feed fresh. This guide will walk you through exactly how to share videos to both your Instagram Story and your main feed, focusing on the best practices that respect creators and build your brand.

Why Share Someone Else's Video? It's Smart Strategy

Reposting isn't just about filling a gap in your content calendar - it's a powerful and genuine marketing tactic. When done right, it can be a cornerstone of your organic social media strategy. Here’s why it works so well:

• Builds Community & Relationships: When you highlight another creator's work, you're giving them a shout-out and showing appreciation. This simple act can spark new relationships, collaborations, and a sense of community around your brand. It tells your audience that you're not just broadcasting, you're participating in the conversation.
• Provides Social Proof: Sharing user-generated content (UGC) - videos created by your customers or fans - is one of the most powerful forms of marketing. It’s an authentic testimonial that shows real people loving and using your product or service, which is far more convincing than any ad.
• Establishes Your Authority: By curating and sharing high-quality, relevant content from others, you position yourself as a go-to source in your niche. You become a tastemaker, the account people follow to stay in the loop, even when you're not the one creating every single piece of content.
• Saves Time and Resources: Let's be real: creating original video content every single day is a grind. Curating excellent videos from others helps you maintain a consistent posting schedule without burning out, freeing you up to focus on creating that one epic piece of original content instead of three mediocre ones.

The Golden Rule: Always Ask Permission & Give Credit

Before we get into the "how," let's cover the single most important rule of sharing content: always give proper credit to the original creator. On social media, your reputation is everything. Taking someone's work without crediting them is a fast track to losing trust with your audience and the creative community. Even worse, it could be a copyright violation.

Here’s how to do it right:

1. Ask for Permission First: This is non-negotiable, especially for posting to your feed. Sending a quick, friendly DM is all it takes. Say something like, "Hey! We absolutely love your Reel about [topic]. Would you mind if we shared it on our feed? We'll be sure to give you full credit in the caption and tag." Most creators are happy to have their work shared, but asking is a sign of respect.
2. Give Clear Credit in the Caption: Don't bury the credit at the bottom of a sea of hashtags. Mention the creator clearly and early in your caption. The best practice is to start with it, for example: "Incredible video by @username! We couldn't agree more..."
3. Tag Them in the Post: In addition to the caption, tap "Tag People" before you publish and tag the creator’s account directly on the video or photo. This sends them a notification and connects the post back to their profile.

Following this rule isn't just about avoiding problems, it's about being a good digital citizen. It shows you value other creators' work and are invested in building a positive, collaborative community.

Method 1: How to Share an Instagram Video to Your Story

This is the simplest and most common way to share a video on Instagram, as the platform has a built-in feature for it. It's perfect for quickly sharing a Reel or video post that you love without it becoming a permanent part of your feed.

Here’s the step-by-step process:

• Step 1: Find the video you want to share. This can be a Reel or a video posted to the main feed.
• Step 2: Tap the paper airplane icon. You'll find this icon just below the video, next to the comment and like buttons.
• Step 3: Select "Add to story." This will open the Instagram Story editor with the video you've selected automatically embedded.
• Step 4: Customize your Story. You have a few options here. You can tap the video to switch between a small preview that shows the creator's username and a full-screen preview. From there, you can add your own commentary using text, mention the original creator again with the @mention sticker, add GIFs, polls, or anything else to make it your own.
• Step 5: Post your Story. Once you're happy with it, tap "Your Story" to publish it.

A Few Things to Keep in Mind:

You can only share posts from public accounts. If the paper airplane icon is missing or the "Add to story" option is grayed out, it typically means the account is private. Also, users on public accounts can disable resharing of their posts in their privacy settings, so if you don't see the option, that's likely why.

Method 2: How to Share an Instagram Video to Your Feed

This is where things get a bit more manual, as Instagram doesn’t have a native “repost” button for the feed like Twitter’s retweet or Facebook's share function. Reposting to your feed makes the content a permanent part of your profile grid, so this is where getting explicit permission is absolutely mandatory.

Here are the two most common workarounds.

The Screen Recording Method

This method doesn't require any third-party apps and relies on the built-in screen recording functionality of your smartphone.

How to do it:

1. Get Permission: Seriously, get permission first.
2. Open the Reel or video on Instagram. Let it play so you can see the whole thing.
3. Turn on your phone's screen recorder. On an iPhone, you can do this by swiping down from the top-right corner to open the Control Center and tapping the record button. On Android, it's usually in the Quick Settings menu when you swipe down from the top.
4. Record the video. Play the video from the beginning and let your phone's screen recorder capture it. Try to tap the screen once to hide the UI elements (like the username, caption, etc.) for a cleaner recording.
5. Trim and Crop the video. Once you stop recording, the video will save to your phone's camera roll. Open it in your photo editor and trim the beginning and end to remove any footage of you starting or stopping the recording. Then, use the crop tool to fit the video to a 9:16 aspect ratio, removing any remaining parts of the Instagram interface.
6. Upload it as a new Reel. Now you can upload this clipped video to Instagram just like you would with your own content.
7. Give Prominent Credit! In your caption, celebrate the original creator. Tag their account directly in the video and in the caption for maximum visibility.

Pros: No need to download extra apps.
Cons: Can result in slightly lower video quality, and it takes a few steps to get a clean final product.

Using a Third-Party Repost App

There are many apps designed specifically for reposting Instagram content. They streamline the process by downloading the video directly for you, often keeping the original quality intact and sometimes adding a credit watermark automatically.

How a typical repost app works:

1. Get Permission from the creator. Still the first and most important step.
2. Find a reputable repost app. Search on the App Store or Google Play Store for "repost for Instagram" and look for an app with recent updates and good reviews to avoid spammy or insecure options.
3. Copy the video link from Instagram. Go to the video you want to share, tap the three dots (...) icon, and select "Link."
4. Paste the link into the repost app. Open the app and it will often automatically detect the link you copied. If not, paste it in the provided field.
5. Download and Share. The app will process the video and give you the option to download it to your phone. Many of these apps also copy the original caption and hashtags for you.
6. Upload to Instagram. Now you have the video file on your phone. Upload it to Instagram as a Reel or feed post. Make sure the automatic credit watermark (if any) is visible and still give manual credit in your caption and tag the original creator.

Pros: Maintains original video quality and is generally faster than screen recording.
Cons: Introduces another app into your workflow, some of which may have intrusive ads, watermarks, or security risks.

Final Thoughts

Incorporating curated videos into your Instagram strategy is a brilliant way to build community, showcase incredible work, and keep your content calendar full and engaging. Whether you're sharing to your Story for a fleeting shout-out or to your feed as a piece of curated content, the key is always to lead with respect by asking permission and giving clear, prominent credit to the original creator.

We know that juggling original content creation alongside curated posts can quickly make a content calendar feel chaotic. That's why we built Postbase with a visual calendar that allows you to see everything at a glance. You can easily drag and drop your own scheduled Reels and add notes or placeholders for the user-generated content you plan to share, ensuring your feed always feels balanced and intentionally planned, not just filled with random posts.