What is a collab post on Instagram?

1. While creating a feed post, carousel or Reel, the author invites one or more accounts as collaborators.
2. Each invited account gets an invite and has to accept it. Until then, the post shows only on the author’s profile.
3. After accepting, the post also appears on the collaborator’s profile grid and can be shown to their followers.
4. The post’s header names the accounts behind it, and likes, comments and views are counted once, on the shared post.

Collabs are a feed and Reels feature. Meta’s publishing API, which scheduling tools use, supports collaborators on feed photos, carousels and Reels, but not on Stories. It’s still one post with one caption, written by the account that creates it, so agree on the wording before the invite goes out.

The three can overlap. A creator paid by a brand can publish a collab with that brand and still needs to disclose the deal, because a collab only says who made the post, not whether money or free products changed hands.

• Two local businesses that share customers, such as a café and the bakery that supplies it, announcing something they both sell.
• A brand and a creator publishing one product video together, so it lands on both grids and in front of both audiences.
• Joint giveaways, where entries and comments land in one thread instead of two.
• Event partners: the venue, the organiser and a speaker each get the post on their own profile.

If the post asks people to comment a keyword for a link or a freebie, agree beforehand which account answers. The comment thread is shared, and commenters should get one clear reply, not two different ones.