Most social media platforms allow you to repost or share content from another account or page. Perhaps the most famous method of doing this is ‘retweeting’ on Twitter, which can be done with a single click.
Right off the bat, you can tell that reposting something is a great way to bring in more audiences to your account or channel. It is one of the reasons why people can generate a lot of buzz on Twitter.
But can you ‘regram’ on Instagram, and if so how?
This blog takes a closer look at regramming and how to do it right.
What does regram mean
Just like sharing a post on Facebook, to ‘regram’ is to share someone else’s photo or story on your Instagram page. Unlike on Facebook or Twitter, regramming on Instagram is not always a simple, straightforward one-step process.
Sharing others’ posts directly was not possible until last year when Instagram rolled out an update allowing users to share Feed posts to their stories.
If you have been tagged in someone’s post, you can then share that to your Instagram story. Or if the post you want to share is on a public account with this feature turned on, you can share it to your Instagram story as well.Now, if you’re a growing business, reposting on Instagram should be even more important to you.
After all, if you regram a customer’s post or positive reviews, you’re bound to draw more eyeballs to your page. It could even lead to increased sales since 93% of consumers agree reviews impact their purchase decisions.
Can you regram on Instagram without leaving the app
Unfortunately, there’s no direct way to do this as of now. With a little patience and basic photo cropping, you can manually share another person’s posts or stories to your feed.
But if you want to do this automatically, you need to use a third-party regram app such as Reposta, Regrann, etc. This entails leaving the app. Some third-party apps are also paid apps, meaning you’d be shelling down some money to enjoy this facility. But regramming definitely can be worth it for B2B companies and product or service owners, in terms of generating more engagement.
Continue reading to learn how to regram on Instagram — manually and with other apps.
How to regram on Instagram
As mentioned above, you can regram on Instagram either manually or by using third-party applications, or limited regram features are available using native app options.
How to regram posts on Instagram manually
To manually regram on Instagram, first, find out whether the account whose post you’re using is okay with you sharing their post (take a look at the best practices listed below to know more).
Assuming the person or account is okay with your sharing their content, follow these steps:
- Use a phone with a decent screen resolution to take a screenshot of the Instagram post you want to share.
- Go to your native photos application and crop out the date, time, status bar, and other irrelevant parts of the screenshot (to bring just the post into the frame).
- Now, you can create a fresh Instagram post and use this cropped screenshot. Be sure to add the necessary details of the original account and credits.
? Here’s a tip: Use appropriate hashtags when you post to generate more traffic to the shared post.
How to regram stories on Instagram
If you have been tagged in someone’s story, you can regram the story by going to your direct messages and tapping on the story. You will get an ‘Add this to your story’ option which will let you share it on your stories.
And if you want to regram Feed posts onto your stories, Instagram has a feature that lets you do just that.
- Locate the airplane button for any post or reel on Instagram. This is usually the third button on the bottom left, under each post.
- Click the button to open more Share options and select the ‘Add to Story’ button.
- You can now add tags or text or stickers before posting this onto your story (or sharing with close friends).
However, you cannot use these features if you have not been tagged in the story in the first place. Using Instagram repost apps for sharing others’ stories or posts can save you a lot of time and energy.
So, let’s also examine how these apps work.
Best regram apps for Instagram
Both iOS and Android third-party repost applications are available that help you repost and regram on Instagram. You’ll have to download the application first and enable permissions to allow the app access to Instagram.
Most of these apps give you a quick tutorial on how to use them to repost, once you open the app.
Here are some simple regram apps for Instagram:
- Reposta
- Regrann/Jared Co
- Repost for Instagram
- Reposter for Story and Video
Why reposting on Instagram needs to be a part of your marketing strategy
There is a lot of value in reposting another account’s story or post. For your social media strategy to be effective, you need high engagement and interaction with other users. Including user-generated content (UGC) in your account is a smart way to attract a wider audience.
Here is an example from Samsung’s community page where most posts are user-generated ones curated and shared by Instagram.
Apart from this, you can leverage social listening to identify trending topics and themes and curate content on your page accordingly. This will ensure your post has high visibility among trending content and will keep audiences returning to your feed.
Plus, to become a savvy brand that has a pulse on audience opinions, social listening should be your friend. This way, you’ll know better which posts to regram on Instagram.
For example, a Twitter user started the hashtag — want an R8. Audi jumped on the bandwagon and used it to promote their launch. This garnered significant attention with #wantanr8 gaining over 35,000 posts.
You can even create a campaign around it like Lulu Lemon did with #thesweatlife which has 1,547,944 posts as of today.
Next steps? Track your campaign hashtags with Keyhole and use our social listening feature to find top UGC and repost it on your Instagram to draw more attention and build a loyal following.
Best practices for regramming on Instagram
Since you’re sharing content created by someone else, the first and foremost rule is to get permission from the original poster. You can DM the person or account on Instagram and ask them if it’s okay to feature their post on your Feed.
Once they agree, you can then use any of the methods listed above, being careful to tag the original account in your regrammed post or story and attribute credit without fail.
This aside, here are a few best practices to regram on Instagram:
- Avoid adding too many edits or stickers to text bits on top of the shared post or story. After all, you want to be as true to the original post as possible.
- If you’re manually regramming, crop the post cleanly to remove distracting elements. Be careful to not crop out the poster’s name or handle.
- Choose the right content to repost to match your style and social media marketing needs. Just sharing any famous post won’t do — it should make sense to your audience and be relatable.
- Don’t fill up your Feed or Stories with regrams and reposts. Maintain a good balance of mostly posting original content with some reposts peppered in.
Examples of reposting done right
Big brands that capitalize on UGC usually do a great job with reposting in the right way. Let’s look at some well-received examples:
1. FedEx
FedEx is known for sharing real stories and snippets from their customers. They excel at picking the right heartwarming and entertaining user content to be shared on their Feed like the post above.
2. Burger King
With their many regional and country-specific accounts, Burger King is known for active audience interactions. They are pros at selecting highly amusing posts created by audiences and sharing them to their Feed, where thousands engage with them.
Here’s a collaborative post that was shared on Marlins’ and BK’s accounts-
3. Apple
Apple’s social media strategy is a joy to behold. The sheer artistry in each post keeps audiences hooked on the amazing stories and post narratives. And they take this further by making use of user-generated content.
Here’s a lovely post by Tiago S. Apple shared on their Instagram Feed.
Have you started reposting on Instagram yet?
Reposting on Instagram has been picking up momentum in the last few months. Audiences respond very positively to such content, particularly when it’s curated well.
If you’re wondering how you can identify and select the right content to repost, you just need to examine your Instagram profile analytics to see what works and what doesn’t.
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