How to regram on Instagram

Incorporating others’ content into your Instagram feed is a common and effective element of any Instagram marketing strategy.

User-generated content (UGC) is often used by brands to showcase their customers and influencers, and if you’re wondering where to find it, check out how to listen and monitor on Instagram.

But to actually bring others’ content in your feed, you need to know how to repost on Instagram–typically known as a regram.

What is a regram?

A regram is when you share another account’s Instagram post to your own feed. It’s a way to repost content similar to Twitter’s Retweet feature, but while Retweets can be done with a single button, regramming a standard feed post takes a few more steps.

As a quick but important aside before planning to regram Instagram posts: make sure you’re up on the best practices for user-generated content, including getting permission from the original poster and avoiding significantly altering the original image.

Can I regram without leaving Instagram?

For feed posts, Instagram does not have a repost or regram button. The rise of Instagram Stories has provided some news ways to share posts in that specific format, which we’ll review below.

When it comes to reposting standard feed content, the lack of a one-click feature hasn’t stopped users from finding creative ways to regram.

As you can see above, sharing to other networks like Twitter, Pinterest, Snapchat, LinkedIn or messaging apps like Slack is easy, but it is not possible to regram without the help of another app or program.

When it comes to directly publishing to Instagram with an app, it’s important to note that it’s offered for business accounts and official Instagram Partners. Be wary of apps that are not part of the official program but still offer the service.

So to accomplish a true regram, you’ll have to employ one of the following methods below or try out a reliable third-party app.

How to regram on Instagram

How to regram manually with a screenshot

A screenshot is one of the simplest ways to regram, although it takes a few manual steps:

1. Find the post that you want to regram.
2. Take a screenshot on your phone.
3. Crop the screenshot down to the photo, taking out unnecessary elements like the rest of the app or your phone’s status bar.
4. Create a new Instagram post with the fresh photo, and as always, be sure to appropriately credit and seek permission to repost.

Note: this method is limited by your phone model’s resolution. If you have an older model, your photo may display blurrier to someone using a newer model.

How to regram with Sprout Social

Because Sprout Social is an official Instagram Partner, we offer both the repost function and auto-publishing via our mobile app.

1. Find the post you want to repost.
2. Tap the three dots in the upper right corner of the post.
3. Tap Copy Link.
4. Open the Sprout Social app.
5. Tap the in-app notification If you’ve copied an Instagram link, tap here to repost! It’ll open up a prompt.
6. Tap Got it.
7. Tap Schedule or Queue or Repost Now. The account’s name, username and first few caption lines are copied over.
8. Edit to suit your brand’s voice. The Instagram post is automatically published.

You can also repost Instagram content from Sprout’s Smart Inbox for posts you are mentioned or tagged in. Click the overflow menu on the post you’re tagged in, and then click Repost from the available message actions.

The beauty of using Sprout for your regramming efforts is that you can save posts as drafts. There’s no need for you immediately repost the photo. Secondly, the photo that’s reposted won’t have a watermark. This is important if you want to keep your feed looking seamless.

In addition to this method of regramming through Sprout, you can also republish posts found with your monitored hashtags through the Feeds tab on our iOS app.

Track regrams, UGC and all your social media efforts easily with Sprout 

Create custom tags in Sprout Social’s Smart Inbox to keep all your messages organized.

You can track tagged groups to hone in on the performance of regrammed posts and other content tactics.

Learn more and test out tagging your messages with a free trial today.

How to repost on Instagram Stories

Now you know how to regram on your Instagram feed, but what about Stories?

When it comes to your Stories strategy, resharing posts that are interesting but don’t quite match your visuals, or highlighting someone else’s Story that mentions you are great ways to fill up your content calendar and increase engagement.

Fortunately, regramming Stories is a little more effortless than feed posts–here’s how to repost with Stories.

Regram from Instagram feed to Instagram Story

It’s easy to repost an in-feed post to your Story. Keep in mind that if you are sharing from a private account and you have a public one, you will only be able to share the post in DMs and not in your Story. If you’re unsure if the account is private, a warning will appear when you try and reshare.

1. Find the post you want to share.
2. Click the airplane share icon.
3. Tap Add post to story. The Instagram Story will appear in edit mode with the post’s photo embedded in the center. If you tap the post, it will change the design and offer the first few words from the caption.
4. Add what you’d like to the Story and then tap Your Story to post it.

When someone sees your Story, they can click the embedded item and it’ll take them directly to the original post.

One fun twist on this is to place the UGC in the Story itself. Converse created a roundup of posts that mentioned them and the result is an entertaining recap.

Repost from Story to Story

Maybe someone’s Story is so good that you want to repost it into your own. Or maybe they mentioned you and you’d like to repost that. For the former, we recommend asking permission to repost and then taking a screenshot. For the latter, Instagram makes it easy to do from within the app.

1. If they mention you, the Story will appear in your DMs.
2. Tap the Add this to Your Story prompt that appears on Stories that can be shared. It’ll take you to the Story creation screen.
3. Resize the Story and add items to the background.

A good example of this tactic in use is Whole Foods’ recap of the best Story mentions they’ve had. Watch the video above to see how this was put into action.

Repost from Instagram Story to feed

Maybe your Instagram Story had a lot of traction and you think it’d do well in your feed. It’s possible to repurpose your Instagram Story into a feed post.

• Open up the Instagram Story you want to post. It can be a current Story or one in your Archive
• Select “Share as Post…”
• This will take you to the screen where you can start a new post

Best practices for regramming

Now that you know how to regram, we’ll cover some best practices. We do not recommend reposting whatever you want without obtaining permission and providing credit. Be thoughtful and be kind.

1. Ask for permission and give credit

Instagram policy states that the original photographer owns the rights to the photo. Using their photo without permission is a violation of this policy. Original photographers can file an intellectual property violation against you, which may lead to post deletion or account disablement with repeat offenses. For more information on what copyright on Instagram means, review their help page.

There are a couple of ways to ask for permission:

• In a comment: post under the photo and ask if you can repost with credit
• Send the post as a DM to the account and ask for permission
• Go a step further and add a link to your terms of use like Airbnb does

2. Keep true to the original photographer

This means you should keep edits at a minimum. Try not to crop or add filters in a way that would take from the original work. Additionally, pay attention to the original caption. If there’s a caption that was written to emotionally match the photo, don’t just take the photo and write about your upcoming sale.

A simple credit line like Girlboss does above is a great way to give credit to the original post.

3. Mix up original and regrammed content

A feed that features only regrammed content is really just a repost account. If you’re a brand with services and products, original content should still be the cornerstone of your approach to Instagram. Using UGC in your strategy should be more about highlighting your customers’ feedback and uses of your product.

4. Keep it on brand

You want the items you repost to still be relatively on brand. For example, if you have a brand color of green and it shows up throughout your account’s feed, then you wouldn’t want to repost something that is mostly bright pink.

For captions, if you’re quoting the original post, you’ll want to make sure that it still positively reflects your brand and the brand voice. Check out the user profile to ensure that they’re also a good account to repost from. While it’s not a formal endorsement, reposts still work as a boost for the creator.

Topshop uses a mix of original and regrammed content. You’ll notice that the visual feel of their feed is still relatively the same, though.

Stay on top of Instagram best practices

Instagram is an incredibly fast moving network that adds new features and options for marketers all the time. Read these guides for more tips on the must-know best practices:

• Get more authentic Instagram followers with these 10 tips
• How to promote your Instagram: 13 ways that actually work
• 9 Instagram post ideas to spice up your account
• How to get more Instagram Likes
• How to craft an impactful Instagram bio for business

Ready to regram?

Regramming on Instagram may take a couple of steps on your part, but it’s increasingly easy with the addition of Stories reposting and apps like Sprout Social. If you want to learn more about how to create a high-impact strategy overall on the network, check out our guide for brands on Instagram.