How to Cross-Post the Same Post to Facebook and Instagram

Step by step

1. 1

   Verify both accounts are connected in SocialKit

   Open your SocialKit workspace and confirm your Facebook Page and Instagram account both appear as connected in the accounts area. As of June 2026, Instagram scheduling connects through the same Facebook authorization flow — if Instagram is missing, check that your Instagram account is linked to your Facebook Page inside Meta Accounts Center, then reconnect the Facebook account in SocialKit and you should see both.

   Tip: If you recently changed your Facebook password or Page admin roles, those connections often drop silently. Reconnect now rather than discover it after you schedule.

2. 2

   Open the cross-post composer

   From your SocialKit dashboard, navigate to Create or the cross-post feature. Choose to start a new post and select both your Facebook Page and your Instagram account as the target destinations. SocialKit will open a single composer showing the post alongside per-platform panels for each selected network.

3. 3

   Upload your media once

   Attach your image or video to the shared media slot. The same asset is used for both platforms, so it saves you from uploading twice. As of June 2026, Facebook and Instagram share broadly compatible image formats and many video formats — check the Facebook post size guide and Instagram post size guide (linked below) for current dimension and file-size specs, since Meta does periodically adjust them.

   Tip: For photos, a 4:5 portrait crop (1080 × 1350 px) tends to perform well on Instagram, while Facebook feeds render square or landscape images comfortably. If the aspect ratios matter for your creative, upload two versions and assign the best fit to each platform panel.

4. 4

   Write the shared base caption, then customize per platform

   Type your main caption in the shared field and let it carry across to both platforms as a starting point. Then switch to Instagram’s platform panel and add your hashtags — Instagram hashtags in captions or scheduled first comments are standard practice. Switch to the Facebook panel and trim or reframe the caption: Facebook readers often engage with slightly longer, more conversational copy and tolerate fewer hashtags than Instagram audiences typically expect.

   Tip: Keep Instagram hashtags inside the post if you want them indexed quickly, or move them to a first comment (SocialKit supports scheduled first comments) to keep the caption visually clean — either approach works as of June 2026.

5. 5

   Choose a schedule time for each platform

   Facebook and Instagram audiences often peak at different hours even for the same account. Use the best-time guidance from the SocialKit best-time-to-post pages (Facebook and Instagram links below) as a starting point, then adjust based on your own analytics. You can schedule both platforms for the same moment, or stagger them — Instagram first if the content is time-sensitive, or Facebook first if your Page audience tends to be in an earlier timezone.

   Tip: Best-time data is a starting point, not a guarantee. Your own account analytics should override any general benchmark once you have a few weeks of history to work from.

6. 6

   Preview each platform before you schedule

   Use the per-platform preview in SocialKit to confirm how the caption, image crop, and any link appear on each network before anything goes live. The Facebook post preview tool (linked below) is also useful for checking link card rendering when your caption includes a URL, since link cards pull Open Graph tags from the destination page and those can be cached or missing.

7. 7

   Schedule both posts and confirm the queue

   Hit the schedule action. SocialKit queues both the Facebook and Instagram posts for their respective times. Back in the calendar view, confirm both appear with the right accounts and timestamps so you know the publishing run is set. As of June 2026, Facebook Page posts auto-publish at the scheduled time; Instagram Business and Creator posts also auto-publish via the Content Publishing API — check the confirmation screen to verify which method SocialKit is using for each, since delivery can differ by account type.

   Tip: If you see 'notification' rather than 'auto-publish' for Instagram, your account may still be a personal profile or the API connection may need refreshing. Auto-publish is available for Instagram Business and Creator accounts connected via the official API as of June 2026.

Best practices

• Never rely on Meta's native "share to Instagram" toggle for branded content — it carries the Facebook caption verbatim, including formatting characters that can look odd on Instagram, and gives you no timing control.
• Assign platform-specific hashtags only in the Instagram panel; Facebook posts with heavy hashtag use are widely reported by practitioners to see lower reach, though Meta has not officially confirmed this behavior.
• Stagger your Facebook and Instagram publish times by 30-60 minutes if the content is engagement-dependent — this avoids both audiences competing for your attention in the same notification window and can help you respond to early comments.
• Always verify image dimensions against the current Facebook post size and Instagram post size specs before scheduling, since Meta adjusts recommended aspect ratios periodically and a wrong crop can result in unexpected cropping in feeds.
• Use UTM parameters on any link you place in a Facebook caption (Instagram does not render clickable URLs in post captions, but Facebook does) so you can attribute traffic from each platform separately in your analytics tool.
• If you manage multiple Facebook Pages or Instagram accounts, connect each separately in SocialKit and use the account selector in the composer to pick the right pair — avoid scheduling to the wrong Page by confirming the handle in the preview step.

Good to know

Do it in SocialKit