A wholesome content strategy for Instagram should contain a balanced ratio of feed posts and Stories, well-seasoned with some reposts and resharing. No, this is not for the lazy Instagrammers who don’t have time to create their own content. On the contrary! It’s for those who have the wide-view and broad-mindedness to diversify their tactics.

While other social media platforms have native reposting features, Instagram only recently introduced an update that allows to reshare a post as an Instagram Story.

However, there are other tactics that can be used to reach the same results. But first things first! We’re going to walk you through the benefits, the must-dos and the gimmicks that you need to know to repost like a pro and increase your Instagram engagement.

Why you should repost content on Instagram

Reposting or resharing content from other accounts is a great strategy for your Instagram account. Of course, as long as the content you plan to repost is related to your business or is in-line with your brand philosophy. But what exactly does this strategy bring you? And why is it so great? Here’s our top 3 reasons:

1. Gain more visibility and increase your reach

Reposting content will help you reach a broader audience by having a new channel opened to the followers of the Instagrammer you’re reposting. And since a recommendation from a friend is always more credible than a promo from a brand, you’ve hit jackpot!

2. Nurture the sense of a community

Acknowledging content from your followers is the easiest way of nurturing a community. Not to mention that it’s a real conversation starter! You’ll come across as more authentic and approachable, opening up new communication channels. You’ll also encourage (without words) other Instagrammers to create content related to your brand.

3. Show real-life use of your product/service

You can talk all you want about how great your service or product is. But without consumer proof, you’ll get nowhere. Thus, if you stumble upon quality user-generated content, reshare, reshare without hesitation!

What types of content to reshare, repost

As you might have guessed, sharing content must follow a strategy. And it must fit with the values and mission of your brand. Here are a few ideas about what type of content you could reshare on Instagram:

  • Posts that are directly related to your products/services
  • Photos from events you’re hosting
  • Posts that are in-line with your brand philosophy
  • Breaking news that makes sense for your brand
  • Productivity/motivation posts

Of course, we recommend that you only select posts that are consistent with the aesthetics of your feed. So pay attention to the color palette in the posts, but also to the captions, if you plan on including these as well. If you’re going to go for a reposting in your Instagram Stories, you can loosen the restrictions a tiny bit. But just a bit!

Now, if you’re still feeling unsure about what to repost, just have a look at some famous brands and what they’re doing. Take, for example, GoPro. They are simply killing it by reposting awesome content created by their clients with the GoPro!

Another ‘way to go!’ example comes from Momondo, who are using user-generated content on a constant basis!

What steps to take before you reshare content on Instagram

No matter how big your brand is, there’s one step you should never, ever miss before reposting content that’s not your: asking for permission. Sure, you might think that the Instagrammer in case will feel flattered that you want to reshare content from their profile (maybe they truly will), but you still need to ask. There’s no way around it.

Now that we’ve made that perfectly clear, here’s how you can get around to ask for permission:

1. The best way to do it is to send a direct message to the Instagrammer. Make sure to be cordial and include the exact reasons why you want to reshare their content. They’ll sure love to hear them. Also, you can increase your chances of getting a “yes” by stating one of two benefits. However, don’t overdo it! The last thing you want is to seem as if you’re boasting.

2. Another great (and more formal) way of asking for permission is to connect with the Instagrammer via e-mail. Here you’ll be able to go into more detail and layout a formal request that will make you seem as professional as you want to be.

3. Break the ice by commenting on the post you want to share. You can use this occasion to also ask for permission or just as a nice way to start the conversation. Totally up to you! However, we recommend that you better take things privately to discuss all the details.

No matter which way you chose to contact the Instagrammer, be quick to ensure them that you’ll give full credits for the post.

How to repost content on Instagram

Use An External Reposting App

You can choose one of the many 3rd party apps to help you repost content. Most of them work by copying the post link and introducing it into the app.

One such app is Repost. Once you’ve opened the Repost app, it will note the URL in your clipboard and prompt you to repost the content with your own caption.

Download & Share 

There are other platforms that work in a similar way to Repost, except they allow you to download the content to your device. With DownloadGram, you copy the link and paste it into the search box and download. 

InstaRepost allows you to search for the user handle whose post you want to share and select the content right from their feed. Click ‘Repost’ twice and the app will save the video or image onto your device. 

Once the content is in your gallery, you can share it directly onto Instagram as you would if you were posting your own stuff. Remember to still give credit to the original poster, though, to show that it’s a repost. 

Screenshot

Screenshotting is the old-school way of sharing Instagram content. Capture the image, crop, and reshare on your feed or story. The only problem with this… you can’t screenshot videos or GIFs. But now, you can screen record them!

Again, when sharing other user’s content, it’s very important to credit them and ask for permission to repost their content.

Repost On Your Instagram Story

The easiest way to reshare Instagram content is through your Instagram story. There are two ways to do this. Let’s see the options you have for how to repost on your Instagram story. 

How To Repost A Feed Post To Your Instagram Story

You can share a post from any of your followers’ feeds to your story. Just click on the paper airplane icon below the post you want to use. Select the “Add post to your Story” option.

If you don’t see this option, the original poster may have a private account. They also might have disabled the resharing of their content. 

Everybody has to ability to turn on the option “allow resharing to stories” from Settings.

Otherwise, you should see the feed post as an image in your story. You can make all the usual edits– stickers, emojis, GIFs – and publish!

How to Repost An Instagram Story To Your Story

Sharing a story to your story (wow, what a mouthful) is not as easy as the feed post and there are a few requirements that you need to meet. The user must have a public account with resharing enabled. Most importantly, though, they must tag you in their story. 

You should get a DM notification announcing your story mention. In your DM, click on “Add This to your Story.” Just like that, you’ll be back at the story-editing screen and good to go crazy with the IG filters!

What’s great about reposting to your Instagram story is that it automatically shows the original poster’s handle so that credit is given.

Are you ready to repost?

We hope you’ve found the inspiration (and the posts) you needed to tone up your content strategy on Instagram. And, don’t forget, even reposts can be scheduled with Preppr! Enjoy and have fun!

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Author

Ilona Iftode is a copywriter with a taste for adventure. She lives to write, travel and explore new concepts in the realms of advertising, marketing, SEO and beyond.

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