#Regram. Your business's guide to reposting on Instagram

Image courtesy of PetaPixel

So when you want to share other people’s content with your own business’s followers on Facebook and Google Plus you share, on Twitter you retweet, but what do you do on Instagram?

Let me introduce you to regramming (or reposting).  Hootsuite defines a regram as: “when an Instagram user posts a photo from someone else’s account to their own”. As well as being able to share fantastic content with your followers there are numerous other benefits to your business if you use regramming correctly; it has the potential to supply an endless amount of fresh content for your page, it can increase your brand awareness, encourage more engagement with your brand and improve your social proof.

In this article I will tell you exactly how to regram as well as show you how to unlock all of these benefits and more for your business.

How to regram

There are several different ways you can share other people’s content on your Instagram page. We will look at two in particular; manually posting the content and using one of the numerous apps that offer the service. The former option is a little stone age however it is a useful technique to know and will enable you to post content without having the app’s brand name overlaid on top of your images.

Manual regramming

Manually reposting content on Instagram is easy, however it is worth bearing in mind that this only works on photographs and will not work for video. Simply follow the steps below: 

1. Open Instagram on a mobile device
2. Navigate to the post you would like to regram
3. Take a screenshot or save the image to your device
4. Press the + button in the centre of the bottom navigation row on Instagram
5. Select the screenshot you have just taken
6. Crop the image so that only the picture you want to repost is in the frame (if required you can edit the image with your devices native editing suite)
7. Proceed to the caption page and write your caption, remember to give credit to the original owner of the image (more on this later)
8. Hit share

Easy, however for better quality reposting and the ability to repost videos the next option is the one you want.

Regramming tools

There are a whole host of tools and applications out there designed for specifically regramming content. Head over to your device’s application service and search for “repost Instagram”, choose an app that has good reviews and for-fills your requirements. A great tool that I have had success with in the past is Repost for Instagram from the guys over at Red Cactus.

Although the process differs a little from app to app the basics are the same:

1. Install your choice of application
2. Open Instagram on a mobile device
3. Navigate to the post you would like to regram
4. Tap the three dots on the top right of the post
5. Press “Copy Share URL”
6. Open your regramming application
7. Edit the post as required
8. Share the post

Boom, 2 minutes of work and you have some fantastic content to share with your followers.

Regram like a professional

Get noticed

So earlier I said that regramming content can be a great way to increase your brand awareness, here is a great trick to get potential customers noticing your brand.

When you are looking for content to regram, focus on people that have a use for your product or service. If you regram someone’s content and notify them like I will outline below, I guarantee they will take an interest in your brand and head over to your business’s Instagram page.This is fantastic free way to get your business noticed by, and give value to new potential customers. If you have chosen correctly, (someone that resonates with your brand and requires your product or service) this potential customer will likely become an actual customer later down the line.

#Hashtag

Another simple, but great hack is to make sure you use the hashtag “#regram” when you repost someone else’s content. Using this hashtag shows people that your business is both ethical and genuine, showing that you are more than happy to highlight that this post uses someone else’s content.

Secondly, when posting one of your happy customer’s posts about your product, using this hashtag shows that someone loved your product/service so much that they posted about it. Let your customers show people why they should buy your product, social proof beats your own advertising every day of the week.

Responsible regramming

If I were cynical, I would perhaps think that some of you would read this blog and go about reposting other people’s content without asking permission and claiming it as your own. However, let me highlight a few important things here. Not only would that be showing a complete lack of respect for the person who created the great shareable content, but you would also be shooting yourself in the foot, here is why:

Asking before you use

Asking permission to use someone else’s content before regramming is a must. Simply drop the user a message and ask if you can use their post on your page, 9 times out of 10 they will say yes. The best way we have found of doing this is by simply commenting on the user’s post with a kind message or remark about the photo or video followed by the request for permission to use the post.

Do not just go ahead and use the image or video once you have requested permission, wait for the user to reply and say it is ok before regramming their content. This is not only a nice thing to do but it also has a lot of benefits for your business. For example, the content creator will likely be thrilled that a business thinks their image or video is good enough for them to re-use it and as a result is likely to think of your brand more favourably in the future.

Crediting the creator

In addition to asking permission to use people images and videos it is imperative that you give credit where credit is due. This is easy; simply include the users name in your caption prefixed with something like; Photo by (@username), Image Credit (@username) or Captured by (@username). What comment you use is not as important as making sure you make it clear who provided the original image or video, so feel free to get creative.

By tagging the content creator in your post you ensure that your regram will show up in the news feeds of all of their followers. So not only is this good practise, you will instantly increase your post’s reach!

If the above benefits are still not enough to stop you ripping off other people’s content, remember that if the original content creator finds out and wishes to do so they can justifiably report you to Instagram and your account will be suspended or removed. It is also worth noting that in this situation Instagram will not see it as sufficient if you have just tagged the user in the image, make sure you mention them in the caption.

So there you have it, regramming can be exactly what your business needs to take it to the next level on Instagram. Follow all of the best practises I have outlined above and you will be well on your way to Instagram success. I would love to know how you currently, or plan to use regramming as part of your Instagram strategy, let me know in the comments!

George Rudge - Social 365