TikTok and Instagram are two of the most popular social media platforms, with over 1 billion monthly active users each. While they started out as separate platforms, in recent years TikTok has added the ability to directly integrate with Instagram. This allows TikTok creators to easily share their content across both platforms, expanding their reach and audience.
By linking your TikTok and Instagram accounts, you can automatically post your TikTok videos to your Instagram feed. You can share your full length TikTok videos on Instagram without having to manually download, edit or repost them. This saves a lot of time and effort.
In this guide, we’ll walk through the steps to link your TikTok and Instagram accounts, as well as how to configure your settings to automatically cross-post TikToks to Instagram. We’ll also provide tips on how to optimize these posts for both platforms.
Why Post TikToks on Instagram
Posting TikTok videos on Instagram can help expand your reach and find new audiences. According to Entrepreneur, Instagram Reels provide “5 Key Benefits” including reaching new demographics and expanding your follower base (source). TikTok and Instagram algorithms work differently, so posting a TikTok video natively on Instagram exposes it to a new set of users.
Repurposing TikTok content on Instagram Reels also maximizes your creative efforts. As Status explains, creating unique content for each platform is time-consuming, so reusing TikTok videos makes the process more efficient (source). The same high-quality content can reach wider audiences across platforms.
Requirements
To be able to post full-size TikTok videos on Instagram, you’ll need to have both a TikTok account and an Instagram account. Here are the key requirements:
TikTok Account
– You’ll need an active TikTok account to access the videos you want to cross-post.
– Your account must be public in order to share TikToks outside of the app.
– If your account is private, you can change your settings to make it public temporarily just for sharing.
Instagram Account
– You’ll need an active Instagram account to share the TikTok videos.
– Your account must be public or have the “Allow Sharing” setting enabled.
– Business and creator accounts have more options for cross-posting TikToks.
As long as you meet these requirements with public accounts, you should be ready to share full TikTok videos on Instagram without any issues.
Trim TikTok Video
TikTok videos can be up to 10 minutes long, but Instagram Reels are limited to 60 seconds maximum. So in order to post a full length TikTok video on Instagram, you’ll likely need to trim it down to under 1 minute. TikTok has built-in editing tools that make it easy to trim your video length.
When editing your TikTok video, use the trim tool to shorten your clip. Drag the handles on either end of the timeline inward to reduce the length. TikTok’s editing allows precision down to individual frames, so you can trim your video to exactly the right spot. Get it as close to 60 seconds as possible for Instagram.
According to Android Authority, the maximum video length on TikTok is 10 minutes. But trimming down to 60 seconds or less will allow you to repost that content natively on Instagram. Taking the time to tailor and optimize your video for each platform is worth the extra effort.
Download TikTok Video
The easiest way to download a TikTok video is directly through the TikTok app using TikTok’s built-in downloading feature. To download a video on TikTok:
- Open the TikTok app and navigate to the video you want to save.
- Tap the “Share” button located on the right side of the video.
- A sharing menu will open – tap “Save video” to download the video to your device’s camera roll.
Downloading videos directly through the TikTok app is the best way to get a copy of the video without any watermarks. According to TikTok’s help center, downloading videos this way will save a copy of the video to your device in its original quality [1].
Upload Video to Instagram
Once you have trimmed and downloaded the TikTok video, you can upload it directly to your Instagram feed. To do this:
- Open the Instagram app and tap the + icon in the top right corner to create a new post.
- Select the video from your camera roll that you want to upload.
- You can edit the video further on Instagram using tools like trimming, filters, and text overlays.
- Write a caption and add any relevant hashtags or location tags.
- Under advanced settings, you can toggle options like tagging people, disabling comments, and turning off likes.
- Tap ‘Share’ when you’re ready to publish the video to your Instagram feed.
The full-length TikTok video will now be live on your Instagram account for your followers to view and engage with. Just be sure to give credit to the original TikTok creator either in your caption or with a tag.
Add Captions and Tags
After uploading your TikTok video to Instagram, adding relevant captions and hashtags will help users find and engage with your post. The caption should provide context, highlight key information from the video, ask a question, or include a call-to-action. Use relevant hashtags to help the right audience discover the post. According to Hubspot, captions should be front-loaded with the most important information first since Instagram hides the caption after a couple lines.
See How to Write Good Instagram Captions: 9 Bookmarkable Tips.
When writing the caption, be creative and authentic. Shopify recommends using the first sentence to hook followers and encourage engagement. Tell a story or share an experience related to the video. Use humor when appropriate. Include emojis for visual interest. Ask followers questions to spark conversation. Make sure captions are optimized for mobile reading by using line breaks and shorter sentences.
See How To Write Instagram Captions for Likes & Comments.
Relevant hashtags will also help the right audience find your post. Later’s Ultimate Guide to Writing Good Instagram Captions suggests using a mix of popular and niche hashtags. Do keyword research to find hashtags related to your content. Include a few high-volume hashtags with millions of posts along with several niche hashtags under 1 million posts. Limit hashtags to around 10-15 per post to avoid looking spammy.
Credit the Creator
It’s important to give proper credit to the original TikTok creator if you are reposting their content. The easiest way to do this is by mentioning them in your Instagram caption. When crediting a TikTok creator on Instagram, make sure to:
- Mention the creator’s TikTok handle in the caption so users can find their profile.
- Include “@” before their handle so it’s clickable.
- Ask for permission before reposting a TikTok if it’s not your own.
- Use phrases like “Via @creator” or “Original video by @creator” to make it clear it’s not your content.
- Add hashtags like #TikTok and #TikTokMadeMeDoIt to indicate it originated there.
- If you edit or alter the original TikTok, disclose that in the caption.
Properly crediting creators follows best practices on social media and shows respect for the original poster. It also helps direct traffic back to the originator which can help their growth on TikTok.
Configure Post Settings
Once your TikTok video is uploaded to Instagram, it’s important to configure the post settings to control the privacy and interactions. Instagram provides granular controls over who can see, comment on, and interact with your posts.
To configure the settings, open the post after uploading and tap the three dots in the top right. Go to ‘Settings’ to configure the following:
- Set the privacy – choose from public, friends, close friends etc. Refer to Instagram’s privacy controls to select the right option.
- Turn off commenting if desired. You can limit or disable comments on the post.
- Turn off story sharing if you only want the video shared as a feed post.
- Enable or disable tagging to control tagging abilities.
Properly setting the privacy and settings gives you control over who can interact with the video. Limit comments and story sharing if needed. Instagram’s granular controls allow you to share TikToks with the right audience.
Analyze Performance
One of the benefits of uploading TikTok videos to Instagram is the ability to utilize Instagram’s built-in analytics. Instagram offers Insights for business profiles that allow you to view key metrics on your posts. With Insights, you can see the total reach of your post, number of likes, comments, saves and more. This allows you to gauge engagement and determine which types of TikTok videos resonate most with your Instagram followers.
To access Insights for a specific post, go to your profile and tap on the post. Below the photo/video there will be a “View Insights” button – tap this to see the metrics. Instagram provides graphs showing how engagement changes over time after posting, allowing you to see when your followers are most actively engaging with the content. Use these analytics to learn what content works best and aim to create more of that high-performing content in the future.
While basic Insights are available for free accounts, businesses unlock more data by upgrading to an Instagram business profile. This provides info like demographic data on your followers, website clicks and more. But even without a business profile, the standard Insights will help you better understand your audience.
