[Social media tip] Is it possible to post text on Instagram without having a photo to post?


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Technically no, but practically yes.

Let me explain how to post a text-only message directly in the Instagram app but it’s ultimately still a picture. Here’s how to do it.

Start by creating a new Story. Once in there, scroll over to the left, swipe left to TYPE.

That function allows you to now type in an update. I just went to Twitter and grabbed copy from an existing Tweet of mine. (I just know noticed it has a typo. Whoops.) So you can easily make this part of your content strategy:

  • Write blog post of over 500 words.
  • Hack it up into tweets, Instagram posts – even when you don’t have images
  • Other distribution and promotion

Then simply click the arrow button to start posting:

Once it’s posted you can now share it also as a post:

I have my Instagram linked to Twitter via If This Then That which pushes the images from Instagram to Twitter correctly.

As you can see the text Instagram post pushes to Twitter but of course it’s technically a picture, but Instagram added the text that you typed on it on the image.


So long story short: Posting a text-only update to Instagram is doable by using the Instagram Stories function and then sharing it as a post as well. Technically, it’s still posting as a photo though. 

[Tweet “Posting a text-only update to Instagram is doable. @ctrappe explains how:”]



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