How to share Reels on your Instagram Story in 2023

You must create high-quality and engaging content to gain followers, but that alone doesn’t guarantee a like, share or follow. You also need to get your content in front of the right audience.

Creating Reels is an excellent way to boost your discoverability and maximize your chances of going viral. These short videos offer a quick way to show people what you’re all about and entice them to follow your social media journey.

Knowing how to share Reels on your Instagram Story can be the difference between your content reaching a wider audience and remaining hidden on your profile, waiting to be discovered.

Luckily, it only takes a few clicks to get your Reels where they need to be. Continue reading to learn how to add a Reel to your Story (and connect Facebook Stories) to expand your reach and help your content receive the recognition it deserves.

How to share a Reel to your Instagram Story

If your content remains unseen, people can’t appreciate it. And when you’ve already invested hours into crafting the ultimate Reel, you likely want to maximize the attention it receives.

Sharing your Reels to your Instagram Story alerts your followers to your latest content and encourages them to watch, even if they don’t scroll all the way through their feeds. And with more engagement, you have a greater chance of making it onto the Explore page.

Here’s a step-by-step guide on how to share a Reel on Instagram:

Open the Instagram app and log in.
Visit your profile by tapping your icon at the bottom right of the screen.
Click on the Reels icon located below your bio and between the posts and tagged posts icons.
Find the Reel you want to share to your Story and click on it.
Tap the “Share” button (which looks like a paper airplane).
Select “Add to Story.”
Preview the Story, adjust the background color and add text or stickers.
Tap “Your Story” to post the Reel to your Story.

How to repost a Reel on Instagram

Sharing another user’s Reel to your Instagram Story is a great way to show your audience what you’re interested in and boost a friend or mutual’s content. Repost videos that align with your niche or share posts that offer your followers a glimpse into your unique personality and interests.

Here’s how to share someone’s full Reel on your Instagram Story:

Open the Instagram app and log in.
Navigate to the person’s profile or locate the Reel in your feed.
Click on the Reel you want to share.
Tap the “Share” button (paper airplane).
Select “Add to Story.”
Preview the Story, adjust the background color and add text or stickers.
Tap “Your Story” to post the Reel to your Story.

Remember to tag the original creator when you share their Reel on your Story. This will notify them that you’ve shared their content, allowing them to re-share your Story and possibly expose your content and profile to their followers, too.

How to share a full Reel on your Instagram Story

Reels exceeding 15 seconds are cut off after the initial 15-second mark in the Story view, offering your viewers a brief snapshot of the entire video. Although this can spark your followers’ interest and encourage them to click the “Watch Full Reel” button or tap on the Reel to watch the rest, they may not always go the extra mile.

To share a complete 60-second Reel on your Instagram Story, you’ll need to switch up your strategy.

Although you can’t modify your Story settings to accommodate Reels over 15 seconds, you can download the Reel with audio and re-upload it to your Story as a video. While this workaround won’t direct your followers to the original Reel, it ensures they’ll see the complete content without interruptions.

Follow these steps to share full Reels to your Instagram story:

Open the Instagram app and log in.
Visit your profile by tapping your icon at the bottom right of the screen.
Click on the Reels icon located below your bio and between the posts and tagged posts icons.
Find the Reel you want to share to your Story and click on it.
Tap the three dots in the right corner and select “Download” from the subsequent menu.

After following these steps, you will have successfully saved the Instagram Reel to your camera roll. It will bear a watermark with your username. If you want to prevent the watermark in the future, consider saving a copy of the Reel to your camera roll before publishing it.

How to schedule a Reel to your Instagram Story

The times when you have the idea to share a Story and when you should share it don’t always align. Scheduling your Stories is a time-efficient way to plan your content for when your followers are most active to maximize the reach and engagement of your posts.

Here’s how to schedule a Reel to your Instagram Story using Hootsuite:

Open Hootsuite (or another scheduling app of your choosing) and log in.
Save a copy of your finished Reel to your phone.
Tap “Create post” in the left-hand menu on the Hootsuite dashboard.
Choose the account you want to post the Story to.
Select “Story” under the “Content” section.
Tap the “Upload” icon to upload your Reel to the platform.
Preview the Story and select “Schedule for later.”
Choose a time for your Story to go live.
Press “Schedule.”

You can also use Canva to add enticing text and images to spice up your Story before uploading it and scheduling it in the dashboard.

How to share a Reel to your Facebook Story

While using Instagram Stories is second nature to some people, taking advantage of the same feature on Facebook is something many overlook.

Having your Instagram Stories post automatically to your Facebook Stories is a great way to share your top-quality content with both audiences efficiently. And because Instagram and Facebook both fall under the Meta umbrella, enabling automatic Facebook posting through the Instagram app is straightforward.

Here’s a step-by-step process on how to connect your Facebook Stories to your Instagram so your published Stories simultaneously go live on both platforms:

Open the Instagram app and log in.
Visit your profile by tapping your icon at the bottom right of the screen.
Tap the hamburger icon (three horizontal lines) in the top right corner.
Click on “Settings and privacy.”
Under “Your account,” select “Accounts Center.”
Tap “Sharing across profiles.”
Click on your Instagram username under “Share from.”
Toggle the “Your Instagram Story” switch under “Automatically share.”

Your Instagram Stories will now effortlessly cross-post to your Facebook. Within the “Sharing across profiles” settings, you can also enable automatic postings of your Instagram posts and Reels to bolster your social media presence further.

Frequently asked questions about Reels

Fine-tuning your social media settings is key to unlocking your account’s potential. However, mastering in-app preferences can feel as intricate and complex as completing a puzzle without a reference.

Here are the answers to a few common frequently asked questions to help you become a Reel expert:

Why can’t I share a Reel on Instagram?

Here are a few reasons why you may not be able to share your Instagram Reel to your Story:

Your Instagram app needs an update
Instagram is experiencing a technical issue
You need to update your device software

Why can’t I share another creator’s Reel to my Story?

If you cannot share another creator’s Instagram Reel to your Story, it could be because the user has turned off their sharing options, or a technical issue or poor internet connection may be getting in your way.

How do I post an Instagram Reel without posting to my feed?

Before pressing “Share” on your newly created Reel, you’ll land on a page prompting you to create a caption and adjust your settings. Under the “Share to Reels” tab, you’ll see a toggle option to also “Share to feed.” Swipe the toggle to the left to disable automatically sharing Reels to your feed.

Give your Reels the attention they deserve

Creating high-quality Reels takes dedication, patience and a creative flair. So once you’ve crafted a masterpiece, it’s natural to want to get as many eyes on it as possible.

But even after pressing the “Share” button, your Reel may not immediately appear in your followers’ feeds. Learning how to share Reels on your Instagram Story is an excellent way to ensure your latest content lands in front of your audience and garners the engagement it deserves. And if your audience loves it, there’s a chance they’ll share it on their own Stories, amplifying your content’s visibility.

Don’t forget to leverage the rest of your profile for more engagement. Adding a Yambo Link to your Instagram bio allows you to direct your followers to other platforms like Twitter, TikTok and a personal website in just a few characters.

Yambo Link