How to add a youtube video to instagram story

If you have a YouTube channel, it’s easy to share videos on the Instagram app. 

When scrolling through your Instagram feed or the explore page on your mobile device (iPhone, Android, whichever), Instagram videos can catch and keep attention in a way other social media platforms can’t. It’s about seeing a video come to life amidst Insta’s static grid, like eyes moving in a painting. Here are some of the advantages of cross-platform promotion:

• Transform your videos: Adapting your content for your Instagram profile lets you distill and disseminate your video’s most meme-able moments.
• Create compilations: You can share multiple videos in a single Instagram post or story, along with images and a call-to-action (CTA). Swiping through compilations is more engaging than clicking on a single YouTube video link.
• Cross-promote your channel: A great video teaser will entice and earn subscribers for both your YouTube channel and Instagram account.

If you’re ready to learn how to post a YouTube video on Instagram.

How do I link Instagram to YouTube?

Most social media platforms support video uploads. YouTube, Instagram, and TikTok all work with MP4 video formats, meaning you can share the same video file on all three. 

But Instagram allows different lengths and uses different aspect ratios, depending on how you’re posting the video. Instagram will crop your video automatically to make it fit their aspect ratio, which can negatively impact the quality of your video. The platform does this with photos, too. 

Before you hit Share, you may have to do some video editing to optimize your video for an Instagram video, reel, or story.

Check out the step-by-step guides to posting YouTube content to Instagram below.

How to post published YouTube videos to Instagram

With some help from some excellent online apps, you can post YouTube videos on Instagram, even if you don’t have it on your hard drive. (This guide only tells you how to do this. You’ll have to sort out permissions with the content’s owners on your own.) 

Step 1: Download from YouTube

You can download YouTube videos free with online apps like YT5s.com, simply by pasting the YouTube video URL into the text field.

Step 2: Optimize for Instagram

Because Instagram uses portrait-oriented aspect ratios, you’ll want to shrink or crop your video to fit. Instagram will do this automatically, but the results are rarely good. It usually harms the quality. Most video editors from the app store will help you resize while preserving the quality. 

A great online tool is InVideo Editor, with which you can upload, reorient, crop, and share in as many clicks. You can add elements like text, transitions, or sound effects to your content.

Step 3: Upload to Instagram

Open the Instagram app, then hit the plus symbol on the top right and select either Post or Story from the pop-up menu. From there, choose the camera icon and hit the bottom square to open your camera roll to upload your video.

You can also upload videos to Instagram posts (but not stories) from your desktop. Again, hit the plus symbol. Drag your video into the pop-up window.

If you don’t want to cut your video and want to know how to post long videos on Instagram, it’s now possible to share content up to 10 minutes long on Instagram Video (formerly IGTV). You should still reformat the file before uploading.

How to post a YouTube video on Instagram reels: 

Reels are videos you can post to your feed with your Instagram’s additional in-app editing and networking features. They’re eye-catching, and hilarious when they work, and short. Recently, they increased their max-length from 60 seconds. So how long can Instagram videos be for reels? Still 90 seconds or less, so not as long as Instagram Video. But that’s an extra 30 seconds to use. 

If you have a segment of your YouTube video that would be a good fit, you might as well post it there to see how it resonates with your followers. Here’s our guide:

Step 1: Start your reel

Once you’ve opened the Instagram app, tap the plus symbol on the top right and select Reels.

Step 2: Choose your video

You can add your video to the reel by selecting the “camera roll” button at the bottom of the screen.

Step 3: Edit your reel

You can isolate the section of your video you want to make into a reel with the in-app editing suite. Should you choose, you can add music, shoot reactions, and even change the playback speed. After you’ve had enough fun, press Next.

Step 5: Enhance your creation

You can keep the creativity going by adding music, text, drawings, and filters to your video.

Step 6: Share with the world

Finally, you can tag people and press the Share button or Save as Draft if you’d like to edit it further later.

How to share YouTube links on Instagram stories

You can also post a YouTube video link on stories that followers can navigate by swiping up on Android or iOS phones. This allows you to directly grow your YouTube subscriber base. For creators looking for another link-sharing method, follow these steps for how to share a YouTube video on an Instagram story:

Step 1: Copy your link

To paste  video content to Instagram, open the YouTube video you’d like to link. Click the Share button to copy the video URL.

Step 2: Begin your story

Once you open Instagram, tap the “Your story” button at the top left.

Step 3: Add an image

Now, add an image to post along with your URL.  You can take a photo with your camera, or you could also use the thumbnail for your YouTube video, a still from it, or a short clip.

Step 4: Paste your link

You can select the link sticker from a wide menu when you tap the icon with the peeling smile. You can paste the URL in the appropriate field and customize the link’s text afterwards with your own call to action.

Step 6: Share your link

Press the arrow button and you’ll share your story with your Instagram followers. For extra fun, tap the link to cycle through your link’s color scheme.

For everyone: Share links everywhere

For new content creators and online businesses, driving traffic across social media platforms is key to growing your profile. Linktree is a great way to manage and promote your whole brand cohesively. 

While you’re waiting for followers to see the link in your story, you can use the trusty “Link in bio” CTA in stories to direct new subscribers to your other social content, articles, podcasts, stories, and more. Your Linktree page can express your brand with beautiful templates, embedded videos, and easy formatting. Sign up for free now.