Reposting Instagram Stories and sharing user-generated content is a great way to fill your feed with beautiful content, but did you know that UGC is 50% more trustworthy than any other type of media, too?
User-generated content is the word-of-mouth equivalent on social media, meaning that every post or story about your brand that is created by your customers is UGC gold.
So why is UGC so valuable? 75% of consumers rely on social media to help them making buying decisions, so sharing real reviews and real content from your own customers can help you make sales and increase loyalty.
But simply re-posting every Instagram story you’re tagged in isn’t an effective strategy, especially when there are more creative ways to repost UGC on Instagram Stories and stand out!
Get inspired to take your UGC up a notch with these 7 tips for reposting Instagram Stories:
How to Repost User-Generated Content to Instagram Stories:
Before you can share UGC on Instagram Stories, it’s important that you know how to do it! Whether you’re reposting user-generated content from another profile’s Instagram Stories or feed, there are two different ways to do it.
#1: Repost A User’s Instagram Post to Your Instagram Stories
When you see a post in your feed from another profile that you’d like to share on your account (like someone using your brand hashtag or tagging you in a post), it’s super simple to share that post with your audience on Instagram Stories.
Just tap the paper airplane button below the post, it’s the same button that you would use if you wanted to send a direct message to that profile.
You’ll then see an option to “Add post to your Story” — tap this to see the feed post become a sticker with a customizable background in your Instagram Stories editor.
You can tap to drag to a new position or pinch the screen to resize. Plus, you can then add stickers, GIFs, text, hashtags, and mentions to your Instagram Stories post.
When you’re happy with your Instagram Stories post design, just tap “Your story” or your profile icon in the bottom left corner to share with your followers.
#2: Repost A User’s Instagram Story to Your Instagram Stories
This one’s important to note: if you want to repost a user’s Instagram story to your story, you need to be tagged or mentioned in that user’s post.
There are a few ways to get around this, which we’ll cover later in the post, but you’ll only be able to repost Instagram Stories natively if you are tagged in them.
If you have been mentioned in an Instagram Stories post, you should receive a notification in your Direct Messages inbox.
From here, you’ll see the option to “Add this to your Story”. Just like step 1 above, the post will then become a sticker in your Instagram Stories editor and you can add any design elements or text before sharing to your stories feed.
Now that you know how reposting to Instagram Stories works, let’s dive into the strategy behind it:
Tip #1: Bundle UGC Into Instagram Stories Themes
Like we said, you don’t want to just randomly be reposting Instagram Stories as they come in, as this will mess with your planned stories content and isn’t always the most engaging story to watch.
Instead, think about how you can cluster your UGC together into different themes.
For example, Fella Swim groups UGC together in an “As Seen On” series, using their own branded Instagram Stories template.
This type of content really honors the brand’s aesthetic, seamlessly fits in with their feed, and it’s a lot more interesting to watch. Plus, they can add swipe-up links to shop the products!
“Theming” your UGC is a great way to not only make sales and deepen the connection with your customers, but it’s also an easy way to fill your Instagram content calendar.
For example, you could create a specific day of the week where you share recent reviews or UGC, like Flytographer’s “Wedding Wednesday” where they showcase a different proposal using their global photography services.
An easy way to theme your UGC is to save your content and post it all together, instead of posting as you’re tagged in it. You can see how Ritual introduces the theme of the story in the title slide saying they’re about to showcase their favorite Ritual fam footage from the week, and then reposts Instagram Stories from there:
Tip: we recommend screen recording any awesome UGC you get tagged in, so you’ll always have it on hand even if the story is deleted or expired! This makes it easier to create branded, themed stories around UGC. You can easily screen record videos (with sound) from your phone, here’s how to do it on iPhone.
Tip #2: Maintain Your Brand Aesthetic While Reposting Instagram Stories
The key to strategically using and reposting UGC to your Instagram Stories is to always maintain your overall brand aesthetic.
When it comes to designing UGC Instagram Stories, you’ll want to incorporate your branded color palette, logo, templates or other aesthetic elements that represent you and your brand.
Brands like Frank Bod do this seamlessly by maintaining their brand colors and fonts throughout.
Summer Fridays and Blue Bottle even go as far as to include their own branded GIFs and create trendy Instagram Stories collages for their UGC Instagram Stories:
Memo Bottle highly curates what user-generated content they share on their feed — while these photos look like they could be from a lookbook or photoshoot, they’re all photos shared by their customers and fans!
Instead of sharing the original Instagram post, they are uploading the original photo from the post to stories and then tagging the photographer.
You can create a similar look by either taking a screenshot or asking the creator to share the original Instagram story with you. You could also zoom in on the native story when reposting, but this can create some friction for those wanting to “tap through” your story, so it may not be the best option (but it is Ariana Grande’s favorite).
If you still want to repost Instagram Stories natively, there are a couple Instagram Stories hacks you can use to share the original story, but in your own brand style.
Later recently teamed up with HubSpot to create a free guide to creating engaging video content for your Instagram feed, and we wanted to share Hubspot’s story with our own audience, too.
But since we have different branding and style guides, we wanted to make sure that re-sharing their story fit the Instagram aesthetic that our followers are used to.
Using a simple copy and paste hack, we were able to create a highly designed and on-brand frame for the Instagram story to live in:
Using an app like Over, we created a template that would “house” the shared post — leaving a space or window that the HubSpot Instagram story would sit into.
Once the image is saved to your camera roll, all you have to do is copy the image from your camera roll and then paste it onto your story using the text tool!
You can create a similar on-brand image or background to use when reposting UGC on Instagram Stories. To do this, start by tapping the “Share to your Instagram Stories” button in Instagram Direct when you have been mentioned in a story.
This will then open your Instagram Stories editor, and the post you want to share will become a moveable sticker in the post. You can tap to drag to a new position or pinch the screen to resize.
Go to your background image, copy the image, then paste it in Instagram Stories, and you can move the story until it fits into your frame. Voila!
Tip #3: How to Sell on Instagram Stories Using UGC
41% of consumers only need to see between 1 and 4 UGC reviews in order to be influenced to purchase, so the more regularly you are integrating UGC into your Instagram strategy, the more likely it is that you’ll convert a follower into a customer.
We love how Glossier uses UGC on Instagram Stories to help educate and sell their products. They start with branded content, explaining what the product is, how it works, and the various benefits.
Then, they rely on UGC to supplement the story and convince their followers that this product is for them! It’s a more indirect way of selling that is perfect for Instagram as it doesn’t come across as too inauthentic or “salesy.”
Here is a foolproof formula you can follow for creating an Instagram story that sells:
Introduce your product
Break down the benefits
Show UGC of a customer/influencer using the product
Add in a customer review about the product
Add a CTA to swipe up to shop
Save the story to your highlights on your profile
Adding real-life UGC and reviews to your branded content is a great way to convince your followers to take that final step and make a purchase!
How to Repost UGC to Create a Buzz About a New Product Launch:
Don’t forget to incorporate UGC into your social media product launch!
The cult skincare brand Summer Fridays is known for going all out for their new product launches — and one thing they do exceptionally well is including UGC into their pre-launch Instagram Stories strategy.
By repurposing user-generated content, Summer Fridays was able to create hype about their new product before it even hit shelves:
Repost Your Customers’ Reactions to Your New Products:
It’s important to keep the conversation going about your new product after the excitement of the initial launch has died down, which is where UGC comes in!
Not only will reposting UGC on Instagram Stories keep your new product front of mind with your followers, but it’s also an opportunity to share real-life reactions and opinions on your product too!
Take a look at how lifestyle brand Well+Good did this after they launched their new cookbook:
When Later launched Instagram Stories scheduling, we made sure to capture all the great reaction we got from our followers and customers from on Instagram.
We reposted Instagram Stories from our followers to our own Instagram Stories posts, and even added in a few screenshots of DMs we’d received about the launch!
It was a simple and quick way to create new content around our big launch, without promoting a sale. Our community really loved hearing from their peers, and it ended up being a popular Instagram Stories post for us!
Tip #4: Highlight Customer Reviews on Your Instagram Profile with UGC
Did you know that 88% of consumers trust online reviews written by other customers as much as they trust recommendations from their personal contacts?
This is an excellent reason why you should be sharing customer reviews on your Instagram Stories!
Skincare brand Frank Bod regularly reposts reviews on Instagram Stories — it’s a great way to show off which of their products their customers love most and how they use them.
Plus, don’t forget you can always save your user-generated Instagram Stories reviews to your Instagram Stories highlights! That way new and potential customers can always check out what other customers and users have said about your products.
We highly recommend creating an Instagram Stories highlight just for your reviews, which makes it easy for anyone visiting your profile to instantly know how great your products are.
Tip #5: Repost Press Coverage to Instagram Stories
You’ve made it into the press — congratulations!
For many brands, this is a huge milestone, and probably something you’ve been working towards for a long time. So it’s time to sing your own praises.
Just like posting your reviews and UGC together, it can help to post multiple press articles together at once.
Sharing screenshots of big blocks of text could make for boring content, but we love how Go-To skincare has made their stories bright, fun, and enticing with consistent colors and fun Instagram Stories GIFs.
Reposting press coverage is a little different to simply reposting an existing Instagram story or post. You’ll need to screenshot or screen record your press coverage, and design an Instagram story for it — just remember to credit the original source!
Check out how Summer Fridays does this really well on their Instagram Stories posts — not only is it in line with their overall aesthetic, but they give thanks back to the publishers, brands, and companies who have given them positive reviews.
And when it comes to building strong press relationships, a post like this can go a long way for your brand!
Tip #6: Repost UGC Stories to Build & Grow Your Instagram Community
Reposting user-generated content to your Instagram Stories is a great way to grow your community and include your followers in your content strategy.
By including a followers’ Instagram story into your own posts, you’re essentially acknowledging their support, and saying thank you for being there to support your brand mission.
Just take a cue from the most-followed woman on Instagram, Ariana Grande, who regularly reposts Instagram Stories to show fan love. This also encourages her fans to post content of her and tag her in it for the chance at being reposted, which helps both her music and her follower count go viral.
Similarly, Instagram influencers regularly shoutout to their followers who tagged them in a post or story, or took inspiration from something they posted or shared on their feed:
It’s also worth thinking about integrating user-generated content when you’re working and promoting a collaboration project.
Collaboration marketing — where two or more brands team up to host an event or launch a product — is a growing trend, and no more so than on Instagram!
We’re seeing tons of great content on Instagram where one brand will repost the other to share awareness of their collaboration project.
It’s so important that you treat your Instagram following as a community — your followers choose to follow and support your brand journey on Instagram.
So spending some time to show thanks and appreciation can really go a long way in building a stronger connection with your audience.
Looking for more Instagram Stories tips? Check out our Instagram Stories hacks blog post for 16 design tricks that will blow your mind!
Tip #7: Repost UGC to Reveal More About Your Brand, Business and Events
Nothing gives an Instagram Stories viewer more insight into your brand than some behind-the-scenes action, especially if it comes from their peers!
Whether it’s a store opening, product launch event, influencer brunch, or full-on festival, you definitely want to share your events with your followers.
But sometimes, the best content comes from your customers and attendees! The spontaneous and less-curated event content captured by the people that took part is often the most engaging for a follower as they can really get a feel for what happened!
Take Neon Carnival for example — the sister event to Coachella, the festival organizer made sure to post a ton of user-generated content from the event!
On a slightly smaller scale, mobile photography brand Moment hosted a film festival for its fans and customers. Again, they used lots of behind-the-scenes video and photos from their attendees in their Instagram Stories to help show off the event!
It’s a far cry from the ultra-polished and curated content we’re used to seeing on our Instagram Stories from brands, but this type of candid content really helps a viewer feel immersed in the event.
Similarly, WeWork regular reposts user-generated content to their Instagram Stories feed to give their followers more insights into their office spaces and exclusive member events. It’s a great way to walk your followers through the day-to-day goings on of your brand or business, through the eyes of their fellow followers!
So next time you’re hosting an event or want to share more about the inner workings of your brand, make sure to share the action from your followers’ camera lens too!
Your Instagram Stories strategy should always be growing, evolving and changing as your business expands and new Instagram trends arise. But one thing you can always look to incorporate into your strategy is user-generated content.
By reposting UGC on your Instagram Stories feed, you’ll be able to reach a wider audience, give back to your engaged social community, and showcase your content and products your followers!
If you’re looking for more inspiration for Instagram Stories and want to strategize for success, check our free Instagram Stories for Business course!
