Publishing high-quality Instagram content can be time-consuming and resource-intensive. But there’s a way to engage your audience without having to pump out a never-ending schedule of original posts.
Reposting stories, photos, and videos from your customers and other accounts is a great way to boost engagement and grow your following without creating fresh content every single time.
In fact, engagement increases by 28% when users can interact with a mixture of user-generated content (UGC) and brand messages.
However, reposting on the Instagram app has some limitations and rules. Getting it right is important so you don’t burn bridges or violate any legalities.
When reposting third-party content on your account, the biggest worry is knowing how to correctly get permission and credit the author.
To avoid falling foul of these rules and not being able to reach Instagram users, give proper credit with your caption and tag the original creator in the Instagram posts or Instagram Stories.
If you’re encouraging your audience to share their content under a branded hashtag, as Sta Travel does, it’s still good practice to ask permission before reposting the content to your own Instagram Story.
The best way to reach out to a creator is to direct message them (avoid leaving a generic comment on their post). Here’s an outreach template you can use:
When sharing content from influencers and its customers to Stories, Sephora clearly tags creators.
Timing is everything, and choosing the right posts to share is key in building a reposting strategy that gets results. Here are some occasions where you might consider sharing a feed post to your Instagram Story or reposting a story from another account:
Instagram makes it really easy to share stories you’ve been tagged in. You automatically get a direct message including the story you’ve been mentioned in, and then it’s simply a case of:
But what if you haven’t been tagged in a post that you’d like to share?
Under Instagram’s rules, getting written or verbal permission to share the post first is important. Use the sample message above to ensure you get all the right information from users. Once you’ve got permission, there are two ways you can repost a story:
When you’ve found a photo or Instagram video you think your audience would enjoy, take the following steps:
Instagram Reels are a hit with users, allowing them to discover new brands and accounts directly from the Explore page. If you’ve seen a Reel you love and want to share it with your audience, simply follow the steps above to share a feed post or video to your story.
Sharing your best performing Threads on Instagram Story is a great way to repurpose content, increase your reach, promote your new Threads profile, and even increase engagement if you include some of the interactive features.
Here's a step-by-step guide on how to share Threads on Instagram Story:
Ready to include Instagram Story reposts in your social media strategy? Here are some top tips to remember to ensure you’re getting the most out of resharing content.
Reposting content can often result in less-than-stellar image quality-especially if you’re screenshotting or screen recording the posts you want to reshare. If you find that the quality is suffering, try requesting the original files from the creator. This works particularly well if it’s someone you’ve worked with or collaborated with in the past.
There are so many masterful content creators out there that are probably posting about your brand. Most of the time their photos look professional, as they take them from incredible angles and retouch them with filters like Instagram Photoshop actions. This is why having a wealth of user-generated content to tap can help plug the gaps when your own production levels are low. Curate customer-created posts by:
“You rub my back and I’ll rub yours” has never been a truer statement when it comes to reposting on Instagram Story.
Ensure your followers and customers feel valued by acknowledging profiles that have mentioned you in their stories and sending a quick thank you - every little helps!
Instagram Stories has a bottomless library of fun GIFs, emojis, music, and additional features like polls, check-ins, and tags that can level up your reshares.
Try adding your own stamp to posts, videos, and Instagram stories you repost with text and visuals in your brand colours and voice
Here’s a tutorial for inspo:
The Instagram Highlights feature groups your stories and keeps them on your profile longer than the standard 24 hours.
If the stories, photos, and videos you’re reposting to your Instagram Story are particularly useful or follow a similar theme, why not group them into topics under their own Highlight?
This makes it easy for your followers to find relevant content and browse through curated content for a more engaging experience.
Why just share a Reel or Feed Post to your Story when you can spice it up with a relatable comment written by you or another follower?
Instagram's new feature lets you share any comment from a public account's Reel or Post directly to your Story. This can help boost engagement by encouraging more comments, sharing social proof more interactively, or re-promoting a post.
Follow these steps to share a comment and personalise your story:
This feature is similar to how TikTok and YouTube Shorts allow users to respond to comments with videos, encouraging more interaction and increasing reach. Now, when you find a comment you love, you can easily share it and add a personal touch to prolong the life of your Instagram content.
Reposting to Instagram Story is a great way to increase your following, share customer-created content, and boost your Instagram engagement.
But it’s important to get it right. Give credit where it’s due and make sure you ask for permission if you need it before you share to your Instagram Story.
Otherwise, get creative!
Curate user-generated content, add your own stamp to your reposts with a sticker, text, and GIF, and create Story Highlights to immortalise shared content on your profile.
Use our Instagram Audit Checklist to uncover optimisation opportunities on your profile and find the best ways to incorporate reposts in your social media strategy.
You can then use Sendible's analytics feature to see which posts are generating the most engagement, allowing you to put more effort into the strategies that are working best.