How to See Who Shared Your Instagram Post - Debunked Myths & Tips
It’s no lie that Instagram is one of the most popular platforms today, with over 2 billion monthly active users. Users share photos and videos to people across the world via posts, reels, and stories on the app. Over time, Instagram has become an important digital marketing platform for businesses among other social media. New and established businesses turn to Instagram to reach their target audience. Among numerous metrics that help brands grow and be discovered by other people, ‘shares’ are an important mention. Often new marketers, creators, or even personal account users wonder, “Can you see who shared your Instagram post?”
The straightforward answer to this question is “No, you cannot see who shared your Instagram post.” However, you can see how many people have shared your posts and stories. Ready to find out “How to see who reposted your Instagram post?”
Read this article till the end to learn how you can see post sharing metrics on your account and why it is important.
Part 1. Why Knowing Who Shared Your Instagram Post Matters
In today’s digital world, digital marketing is a cornerstone for marketing and reaching more people. Gone are the times when businesses put up billboards with Brad Pitt’s picture on them to tell people about their newly launched perfume or boots. Now, businesses have moved to the place where they can easily identify their potential customers and market to them – social media.
Social media, especially Instagram, has become essential to modern-day marketing. From running campaigns and ads to engaging influencers, Instagram marketing has taken the traditional marketing by storm. Now, marketers are more concerned about “Will it look good on Instagram?” and “Will our target audience like it on Insta?” instead of editors chopping down everything that sounded slightly informal.
A lot of metrics, such as likes, comments, story/reel views, and saves have been considered important for marketing on Instagram. Businesses and digital marketing experts believe that shares also play an important role in boosting your profile and bringing in more new visitors.
Here are the top reasons why businesses and creators want to know “Who shared my Instagram post?”
- Increases engagement: Shares on a particular post may or may not get a boost by Instagram, but people to whom the content has been shared, might like or comment on the post. Eventually, it increases engagement and their followers may also come across the post or reel.
- Helps improve strategy: Digital marketing majorly thrives on analytics to find out what works better than the other. Instagram insights shares can help you identify trending posts and help you create similar content that performs well among your target audience.
- Build relationships: When you focus on what your potential customers like, they are more likely to convert into a loyal customer base. They will engage with your posts regularly when they see what they like, increasing the visibility of your brand.
Part 2. How to See Who Shared Your Instagram Post
Now that you know the answer to “Can you see who shared your Instagram post,” you might be interested in finding out “Why can’t I see who shared my post on Instagram?”
Instagram does not show you who has shared your Instagram post because it considers it a part of user privacy and protects the user’s data. So, you will not be able to view usernames of people who view your Instagram post. However, it allows users with business or creator accounts to access Instagram Insights that offer details of all metrics. But, this option is not available for personal Instagram accounts.
How to switch to business account on Instagram
So, if you want to see who shared your Instagram post, you first need to create a business account or switch your existing account into business or creator. Here’s how you can do that:
Step 1. Open Instagram and click your profile icon in the bottom right corner.
Step 2. Tap the three lines in the top right corner.
Step 3. Select Account type and tools from the options.
Step 4. Click Switch to professional account and select from the options. You will need to turn your profile public if it is private.
Step 5. Select Creator or Business and tap next.
Step 6. Add your contact details and log into Facebook (you can skip if you want).
Step 7. Follow the next steps or close the pop-up, and finish the setup.
Once you have switched your account to business or creator account, you’ll get an ‘insights’ feature that tells you engagement metrics on your posts and reels. The process varies for reel and post insights on your smartphones and computers.
How to see who shared your Instagram post (On mobile)
Step 1. Open your profile.
Step 2. Tap any of the photos.
Step 3. Select View Insights under them on the left.
Step 4. Click on the button to see all the metrics, including shares (denoted by a paper airplane icon).
How to see who shared your reel post (On mobile)
Step 1. Open your profile.
Step 2. Go to the Reels section (next to the grid).
Step 3. Open a reel you want to know insights of.
Step 4. Select the three dots on the bottom right to see the menu.
Step 5. Tap View Insights and you’ll find a paper airplane icon showing the number of shares
How to see who shared your Instagram post (On computer)
Step 1. Go to Instagram and log into your profile.
Step 2. Click a photo or reel.
Step 3. Look for View Insights at the bottom of the page where the reel/photo is open.
Step 4. Tap View Insights to see how many views, likes, and shares are on that particular post.
How to see who reposted your Instagram post on their story
Step 1. Go to your Instagram profile on your phone.
Step 2. Click the post someone has shared to their story.
Step 3. Tap three dots in the top right corner of the post.
Step 4. You might see View Story Reshares among the options.
Step 5. Click it and you can see the post on their stories if they have a public account or if you’re following them.
This feature may work sometimes, but it may not be available for some accounts. Instagram has not launched it officially, and is in the testing phase.
Part 3. Tips to Increase Shares & Track Engagement
Instagram is a treasure chest with multiple layers. You can keep exploring one after the other and still you might think of something that you might have missed earlier. There are numerous ways to increase shares on your posts, including the following:
Create interesting content: “Hi. My product is the best. Buy it now” is a thing of the past. People scrolling on social media would not share a post mentioning how a certain product is better than others. Instead, trends and content that engages customers (read: memes) is more likely to get shared.
Use storytelling: Did you know you can make Insta users share your ads? Sounds tough, but it is super-easy. Instead of creating videos that scream ‘AD!!!’ opt for storytelling to share about your product and your brand. This helps create a particular image within the viewers’ mind, and they associate those posts and reels with stories instead of advertisements.
Encourage engagement: If you have been posting and no one is sharing your posts on Insta, why not ask them to? At the end of a reel or a carousel post, add a CTA asking them to share it with a specific friend. For example, a water bottle brand can say, “Know a friend who’s always dehydrated? Send it to them and remind them to drink water!”
Collaborate: If you’re not a big brand who does not get collaborations with the big names, you can start small. Collaborate with other small businesses or get in touch with niche influencers who’d like to work with your brand. These collaborations bring in the other user’s follower base as well, increasing your chances of shares and saves.
Create polls: People love polls. Add fun, quirky polls to your posts, asking your followers to share it with their friends and ask for their opinion as well. This creates an interesting chain of shares, also enabling you to track metrics.
Part 4. The Truth About Instagram Share Tracking: Debunking 5 Popular Myths
Myth #1: Shares will instantly boost your engagement
Truth: Shares do help your Instagram post’s visibility like other metrics, but they do not promise overnight virality. To get viral, you need to focus on your content strategy, post at the right time, and create a community that loves to engage without being asked.
Myth #2: Shares are more important than other metrics
Truth: As they say, “So many mouths, as many opinions,” and one of the opinions among digital marketers is the superiority of shares over other engagement metrics. While they might be important, post saves and reel viewing duration have been seen to impact engagement more than shares.
Myth #3: You can see who shared your post
Truth: Unfortunately, it is one of the most common myths, but entirely untrue. Instagram tells business accounts about the number of shares on their posts, but it protects user privacy by hiding usernames of people who have shared that post.
Myth #4: Business accounts get lesser shares
Truth: Ironically, business accounts get more shares, especially when they have a significant number of followers. Today, the kind of content shared by brands and businesses makes a huge difference in the number of saves and shares. Relatable, engaging content gets shared more than boring posts and videos.
Myth #5: You can track shares with a third-party app
Truth: Instagram does not allow you to use apps to see who shared your Instagram post. If an app claims to show who has shared your posts, they cannot fetch the data from Instagram’s official API. Any other metrics, such as likes, comments, saves, views, etc., can be analyzed by Instagram metrics.
Part 5. Conclusion
While you cannot see who shared your Instagram post, you can get insights into how many people have viewed or shared your Instagram post. However, this feature is available only for business and creator accounts. So, if you want to track these metrics, switch your personal account to a business account or create a new one. Instagram also does not allow any apps to see who shared your Instagram post to maintain users’ privacy. So, if you want to increase shares and track engagement, you can monitor accounts that comment on your posts to get a rough idea of what interests your target audience. Engage users through stories, create polls, collaborate with creators, and add strong CTAs to improve your business’s Instagram posts’ engagement and shares.
Part 6. FAQs
Q1. Does Instagram tell you when your post is shared?
No. Instagram does not notify users when their post is shared. Whether you share it in your story, send it to someone via direct messages, copy the link, or send it out of Instagram, the user is not particularly notified of the share.
Q2. Can you see if someone shares an Instagram profile?
Users do not get notified when someone shares their Instagram profile. You can share their profile to anyone, within or outside Instagram without worrying about them knowing it.
Q3. Why can't I see who shared my post on Instagram?
Instagram takes user privacy very seriously and does not provide information regarding users who have shared your post to avoid privacy concerns, such as stalking. However, you can see how many people have shared your post.
Q4. Can someone see if I screenshot their Instagram post?
Unlike Snapchat, Instagram does not inform users of any screenshots taken on the platform. You can screenshot Instagram stories, posts, and reels without notifying the user.
Q5. Does Instagram tell you who viewed your post?
No, Instagram does not tell you who viewed your post or reel. You can only get usernames of people who have viewed your story. Instagram only shows you the number of views on reels, but does not show the usernames.