While many people continue to migrate from Facebook to Instagram, others haven’t ditched Facebook yet. And several folks continue to use Facebook and Instagram. If you too are also among those, I’m sure the thought of cross-posting from Facebook to Instagram must have crossed your mind at least once.
Cross-posting is useful when you want to post the same content on both the platforms regularly. Imagine the trouble of opening each app, searching the photo, and uploading it. Ugh! Fortunately, Facebook does let you post to Instagram directly, albeit with a few restrictions.
What are they? And how to post from Facebook to Instagram? Let’s find the answers here.
Can You Really Publish from Facebook to Instagram
Yes. You can. However, the feature is available for Facebook business pages only. You cannot post from your personal Facebook profile to Instagram.
Further, the feature is currently limited to the Facebook website only. You cannot cross-post from the Facebook mobile apps.
Can We Cross-Post Stories and Posts
No. Stories aren’t supported yet. As of now, only posts can be directly published from Facebook to Instagram. And that too, only the posts having a single picture. Multiple photos cannot be cross-posted.
Publish from Facebook to Instagram
To post content from Facebook to Instagram, you have to link your Instagram account to your Facebook page. Only after successfully doing that you can cross-post. Kindly note, by doing so, you will not be able to post from Instagram to Facebook. For that, you will have to link them in the Instagram app.
After linking, you need to select Instagram every time you post. Don’t get confused. Here are the steps in detail.
Here is How to Link Instagram to Facebook Page
Here’s what you need to do:
Step 1: Launch the Facebook website and open the Facebook page on your computer with which you want to link your Instagram.
Step 2: On the page, click on the Settings at the best.
Step 3: From the left sidebar, click on Instagram.
Step 4: Hit the Login button next to ‘Add your Instagram’ and sign in with your Instagram credentials.
Post to Instagram
Once you have successfully linked your Instagram account on Facebook, follow these steps:
Step 1: Click on the Page option at the best to go to the main section of your Facebook page.
Step 2: Click on the Write a post box. Hopefully, you will see the option to post on Instagram.
Step 3: Add a single photo and check the box next to Instagram. If you upload multiple pictures, the Instagram option will be grayed out. Finally, hit the Share now button.
That’s how you can cross-post from Facebook to Instagram.
Share Facebook Posts to Instagram on Mobile
Since the Facebook mobile apps do not support the above method, you can try an alternative way or a hack to cross-post.
Open any published photo on Facebook by tapping on it. That will open the image in the full-screen mode. Then tap on the three-dot icon at the best-right corner and hit Share external.
From the menu, select Feed. That will open the photo in the Instagram app. You can even choose Stories to post it on Instagram stories. Finally, publish it on Instagram.
Even though the above method isn’t a proper way to cross-post, it has its benefits. For instance, it works for both personal profiles and business pages. Further, you don’t even need to log in to Instagram on the Facebook app to use this method.
Use Third-Party Sites
If the above methods don’t suit your needs, you can try the third-party service such as Hootsuite. It offers a free plan where you can add up to three social networks including Facebook and Instagram. You can even cross post on other social networks, but that would require the premium version.
Things to Keep in Mind
To reiterate, here’s what you need to be aware of while using the built-in cross-posting feature on Facebook.
- You can use the built-in cross-posting feature for single posts only.
- The feature is restricted to Facebook pages.
- You cannot publish an old Facebook post to Instagram.
- Stories cannot be cross-posted from Facebook to Instagram.
Is There Any Worthy Alternative
As you have seen above, the feature to cross-post from Facebook to Instagram is currently limited in many ways. However, things are incredibly different for cross-posting from Instagram to Facebook.
So, basically, instead of using Facebook as your primary medium to post, you should start with Instagram and use its capabilities to publish on Facebook. By doing so, you get the ability to cross-post from mobile apps. And not only can you publish posts but the feature is available for stories too.
Further, you can use it for personal Facebook profiles also. That is, you can publish from your Instagram profile to Facebook profile. However, the only area where the feature lacks is for multiple photos. Meaning, Instagram posts with multiple pictures cannot be cross-posted on Facebook.
The Bad Side
While cross-posting is quite helpful, it has its drawbacks. For starters, the audience is different on Instagram and Facebook. You should only use it when the post caters to both the audiences. Secondly, sometimes, cross-posting fails. While you may see a confirmation message, it’s not posted. To avoid that, you should always check Instagram after cross-posting from Facebook or vice versa.