How to link Instagram and TikTok for brands and social teams

If your brand runs TikTok and Instagram, the two accounts should point at each other, and one video shouldn't be made twice. This guide covers both: linking the profiles in each direction, and getting a TikTok onto Instagram without wasting the edit. It's written for social media managers, agency teams, and marketers posting for several locations.

How to cross-post between TikTok and Instagram

Instagram and TikTok compete for short-form video, but there's no reason they can't work together for your business. If your brand has an account on both, your Instagram marketing strategy and your TikTok marketing strategy should be working in sync.

Linking your TikTok and Instagram accounts also puts your brand in front of people who follow you on one app but not the other. Each link is a small, permanent signpost from one audience to the next.

There's a risk case too. Platforms change their rules, their reach, and sometimes their availability in a country. If your audience can find you in two places, one platform's bad week doesn't cut you off from your customers.

Below, we cover linking Instagram to TikTok, adding TikTok to your Instagram bio, sharing and repurposing TikTok videos on Instagram, and how to run all of this for a brand or a list of clients.

Why you should be cross-posting your social media content

Short videos take real time to make. A 30-second TikTok can look simple and still need a script, a shoot, an edit, captions, and sign-off. For a brand, that's billable or salaried hours. Getting that video in front of more people is the easiest return on the work.

Cross-posting between platforms is also a good way to build awareness with your audience. It creates more touchpoints where potential customers can find you and learn what you're about. Pro tip: run one campaign or branded hashtag across every account, so the content reads as one story.

Cross-posting doesn't mean posting the exact same video and caption everywhere. Each platform has its own habits, and nobody wants to see the same clip on repeat. You can still reuse videos across platforms. You just have to be smart about it.

Here's how to link the two accounts and reuse your video without it looking recycled.

Linking your Instagram to TikTok

Adding your Instagram account to your TikTok profile takes a minute in the TikTok app. Do it on a phone that's logged in to the brand's TikTok account.

1. Open the TikTok app and tap Profile in the bottom right corner.
2. Tap Edit profile, scroll to the Social section, and tap Instagram.
3. Log in with the Instagram account you want to show, then tap Allow to approve the connection.
4. You'll land back on your TikTok profile. The Instagram icon now shows next to the Edit profile button.

Now when TikTok viewers tap that icon, they go straight to your Instagram profile. If you'd rather send them to a website or a link-in-bio page, TikTok's Edit profile screen also has a Links option where you can add one, if your account offers it.

Adding a link to your TikTok account in your Instagram bio

If your brand has a large Instagram following, it can pay to bring some of it over to TikTok. Ideally, both platforms are part of the plan. For example, you might use TikTok to build hype ahead of a product launch, then use Instagram to help those same customers buy it afterwards.

The most permanent place to share your TikTok on Instagram is your bio. Here's how to add it:

1. In TikTok, go to your profile, tap Share profile, and copy your profile link.
2. Open Instagram, go to your profile, and tap Edit profile.
3. Tap Links, then Add external link. Paste your TikTok profile link, give it a title such as "TikTok", and save.

If your bio already holds a website, a shop, and a booking page, a link-in-bio page keeps them together. Sked Link, Sked Social's link-in-bio page, puts all of them on one branded landing page and tracks the clicks.

How to share TikTok videos to Instagram: dos and don'ts

Reposting TikTok videos to Instagram feed or Stories

Once a video is live on TikTok, you can send it straight to Instagram. It's a quick way to give a product demo, a behind-the-scenes clip, or a store-opening video a second audience. Here's how:

1. Post your video on TikTok with Who can view this post set to Everyone.
2. Open the posted video and tap Share.
3. Choose the Instagram option you want, such as Stories or feed.
4. TikTok opens Instagram with the video loaded. Add your caption and tags as usual.
5. Tap Share.

A video shared or saved from TikTok carries TikTok's watermark. For a brand account, it's usually better to upload the original file from your editing app instead (see the next section).

If you post your TikTok to your Instagram feed, share it to your Story too, so more of your followers see it.

Repurposing TikTok videos as Reels

Reels are Instagram's format for short vertical video, so they're the natural home for TikTok content. You can record or upload Reels of up to 20 minutes in the Instagram app, but Reels over three minutes aren't recommended to new audiences. Both apps use 9:16 vertical video, so one master file can serve both. Our TikTok video size guide and Instagram size guide have the exact specs.

A word of caution: avoid posting videos that carry another app's watermark or logo. Reels competes directly with TikTok, and Instagram wants original content on its platform. Clean, high-quality video gives a Reel its best chance of reach.

Making video takes time, so reuse it the clean way:

1. Export a clean 9:16 master from your editing app, without any app watermark.
2. Post it to TikTok with TikTok's sounds, text, and effects as needed.
3. Upload the same master to Instagram as a Reel. Rewrite the caption and hashtags for Instagram instead of pasting TikTok's.
4. Pick a Reel cover that suits your Instagram grid.
5. Space the two posts out if you like, so each lands when that audience is active.

Linking TikTok and Instagram for a brand or for clients

Linking one personal account takes a minute. Linking and running accounts for a brand, a client list, or 20 locations needs a few ground rules:

• Let the account owner approve the connection. Linking Instagram to TikTok asks for an Instagram login. On a client account, have the client do that step, or use the access they've approved. Don't pass passwords around in chat threads.
• Match the handles. Use the same or a clearly related handle on both apps, so people know they've found the real brand.
• One bio link per brand. Point each brand's bio links at one maintained page, not a different landing page every week.
• Tag your bio links. Add UTM parameters to the website link on each profile, so your analytics show which app sent the visit.
• Decide what each location owns. For a multi-location business, agree whether each location runs its own accounts or posts through head office, and link the profiles to match.
• Check the links after any change. A renamed handle or a reconnected account can break a cross-profile link. Check both profiles each quarter, or whenever a client rebrands.

For example, an agency running social for four cafés might keep one Instagram and one TikTok per café, link each pair, and point every bio link at that café's own link-in-bio page.

Schedule TikTok and Instagram from one place with Sked Social

Linking the profiles is the easy part. Publishing to both, every week, for every brand you manage is the real job. In Sked Social, you pick your TikTok and Instagram accounts in one Create Post window, add the video once, and schedule it. Sked Social auto-publishes video to TikTok and feed posts, Reels, and Stories to Instagram, so nobody re-uploads the same clip into each app.

Both channels sit on one calendar, next to Facebook, LinkedIn, YouTube Shorts, Pinterest, X, Google Business Profile, and Threads. Account groups keep each brand, client, or region separate. The calendar's best-time-to-post highlights use Instagram and TikTok audience activity, so you can see when to post on the two channels this guide is about. Here's more on how to schedule and auto-publish TikTok videos.

Cross-posting for a whole roster of brands? See how agencies work in Sked Social. Posting the same video to more networks? Our social media image sizes guide covers every platform's specs.

Ready to stop uploading the same video twice? Start your 14-day free trial of Sked Social. Every feature, no card needed.