A Guide to Cross Posting on Facebook and Instagram
Published on 14.04.2026 by Chizoba T
As of early 2026, Facebook remains the largest social media platform with over 3 billion MAUs (Monthly Active Users). On the other hand, Instagram has over 2 billion MAUs. This means that these two platforms have a combined audience of over 5 billion users.
What is even better is that, since they are owned by the same parent company, they make it easy to cross-post content between platforms. Therefore, they can be a good addition to your social media cross-posting strategy. In this article, we take you through the process of cross-posting on Facebook and Instagram.
Cross-Posting on Instagram From Facebook
When posting content on Instagram, you will realize that you are also allowed to share the content on Facebook. This option is available at the final stage of post editing, where you can share on Facebook. This is a simple way to add your post to both Facebook and Instagram at once. It can be a good strategy for increasing visibility and conversion with Instagram shoppable stories.
If you don't see the option to share the same post on Facebook and Instagram, you may need to update your settings and ensure your Facebook account is linked to your Instagram account. You can do that by going to the Instagram profile, tapping Edit Profile, and then clicking the section labeled Public Business Information. Here, you should tap on Connect and Create. Follow the steps to connect a Facebook account.
To activate the cross-posting option, go to Settings & Privacy and click on the option “Who sees your content”. This will take you to the cross-posting option. If you have any Facebook accounts connected, you will view them here. You will also have access to the Meta Account Center, where you can manage your cross-posting content on both platforms.
Instagram has expanded cross-posting, allowing users to share their posts on Facebook as posts, stories, or Reels. If your Instagram account is connected to a Facebook account, the stats for the Facebook post will be visible on Instagram, including comments and reactions. However, as noted earlier, you will need to have connected your Instagram and Facebook accounts for this to work.
Cross-Posting from Facebook to Instagram
You can also share your Facebook posts on Instagram directly from the Meta Business Suite, the comprehensive social media management tool from Meta. The suite lets you create content on both Facebook and Instagram and even schedule posts for later dates.
The good news is that there is a preview option that shows how your content will look in the feed. You can also give the post an extra boost by leveraging the boost post option.
Best Practices on Cross-Posting on Instagram and Facebook
While cross-posting on Facebook and Instagram is a great idea, it only works when done well. Here are some best practices to follow for the best results:
Understand Which Content Type is Best for Posting
The truth is, not all content is suitable for cross-posting. The best content is universal and doesn’t use platform-specific formats, such as long-form text on Facebook. Here are a few scenarios when this strategy will work well:
- Brand announcements. If you are announcing your brand-new or recent awards or milestones, cross-posting can be a good strategy.
- Simple and strong visuals. Whether it’s an outstanding graphic or photo that tells your story with minimal context, cross-posting is definitely a great strategy.
- Events announcements. Perhaps you have a live event or webinar you want to share; cross-posting can work well.
- New content promotion. Cross-posting will also work well when you want to drive traffic to your blog posts, especially when you include an outstanding image and a clear CTA.
However, you should remember that the goal shouldn’t be to get your content onto both platforms. There are fundamental differences between the two platforms, which is why you need a strong cross-posting strategy. Remember that your Instagram audience is different from your Facebook audience. Therefore, even as you cross-promote, you need to take time to ensure that the content feels native to the target audience on each platform.
Creating and Customizing Posts
The post composer feature in Business Suite is a great tool for cross-posting to Facebook and Instagram. After creating your post’s captions, use the customize feature to split the composer into two different tabs, for Instagram and Facebook, enabling you to tailor the content for each platform. For instance:
- On Facebook, you can make the captions longer and more detailed, and even add a link to your website.
- On Instagram, you can make the version shorter and punchier, and add relevant hashtags to increase the post’s discoverability.
- You can tag any influencers and partners for different platforms, depending on your collaboration.
This customization strategy is what sets a good cross-posting strategy apart from others. You save the time and resources you would have spent creating content for different platforms, while ensuring each piece works across all of them. Therefore, you avoid using a one-size-fits-all approach across both platforms, which can affect engagement rates.
Otherwise, if you cross-post a Facebook post to Instagram without adding hashtags, you will miss out on much of the reach and discoverability. Similarly, if you overload a Facebook post from Instagram with too many hashtags, it will look spammy.
Schedule Your Cross-Posting Content
Scheduling content in advance can be a good strategy for both Facebook and Instagram. The good news is that this feature is already available on Business Suite, allowing you to schedule your content calendar for weeks or months. Such a high-level view can help you build a more cohesive cross-posting strategy.
One of the top tools you should leverage is the planner. This puts everything on the calendar, making it easier for you to see content gaps and ensure a consistent posting schedule. The tool will even let you set the exact day and time when the post goes live. It can, therefore, be a more effective tool for aligning your content with the times when your audience is most online.
For instance, you might discover that your Instagram audience is mostly online on Friday evening, while your Facebook audience is mostly online on weekdays during lunch. You can schedule your content on both platforms to go live when your audience is mostly online.
Drawbacks of Cross-Posting
While cross-posting from Facebook to Instagram in one click saves you a lot of time, this convenience also has a drawback. When you serve the same content to different audiences on different platforms, you might end up boring them.
This is especially for people already following you on both platforms. Therefore, you need to bear this in mind and determine the right content to cross-promote. A good idea would be to combine original posts with cross-posted content.
In Conclusion
Cross-posting content on Facebook and Instagram can be a great time- and resource-saver. This is especially true when you take the time to customize the content to each platform’s needs. Therefore, if you are a beginner in cross-posting content on Facebook and Instagram, our detailed guide will prove helpful. We recommend you also read our guide on the best type of Instagram content for maximum engagement.