How To Add Links To Your Instagram Stories

Instagram Stories.

Instagram stories are one of the most effective tools in a business’s arsenal. The feature allows users to share photos and videos in a slideshow format that disappears after 24 hours. With over 500 million people using Instagram Stories every day, posting an Instagram story from your page will help get your business out there.

Instagram stories are the bar that appears at the top of your newsfeed.

Previously, there was a feature that allowed businesses and influencers to add a ‘swipe up’ mechanic to their stories. This took the user directly to whatever the Instagram story was promoting. This feature has been retired now; however, you can still add links to stories (and customise them)

Benefits of using links.

Adding links to your Instagram stories is helpful for increasing your engagement and making it easy for your followers to access whatever content you want to share. It is as simple as clicking a link for them.

You can get even more use out of these links by adding the story post to a ‘highlight reel.’ Highlight reels appear at the top of the page whenever someone views your profile. They are a way for you to have your Instagram story posts available past the 24 hours. This makes them incredibly accessible for people looking at your profile. This also means that you should only fill your Instagram story with a small amount of information or a call to action. Too much information, and people will be overwhelmed and not engage with the post.

What’s best is that anyone can add links to their stories, not only accounts with over 10,000 followers, like with the ‘swipe up’ feature.

So it’s clear that if your business is not using Instagram Stories, you really should be. But how can you make the most out of this medium?

How to add links to your Instagram Story.

• Click the plus sign in the top right corner of your news feed and select story
• Then select the image you want to post by clicking on your camera roll in the bottom left
• When you have your story ready to go, click the sticker icon in the top right corner
• Then tap the ‘LINK’ sticker
• Type in the desired URL
• Place on the story
• Pinch and drag to resize and position
• Finally, make it live and post your Instagram story!

How to customise your links.

The link might not fit with your brand aesthetic and could make people less interested in clicking, as the sticker will look the same in every other business’s story. There is a very simple way of customising to make your stories look more aesthetically pleasing and boost clicks.

Follow all of the previous steps, but do not post.

• You want to create a graphic that is on brand with an easy-to-read call to action, e.g. “CLICK HERE!”
• Export it to your phone as a PNG file with a transparent background, or crop the image on your phone
• Tap the sticker icon in the top right again, but this time select the sticker that allows you to create photos from your camera roll into stickers
• Then select the image that you want to have cover the link
• Then pinch and drag to size and position the sticker over the link

Then post!

When you do this, be sure that the ‘LINK’ isn’t too small, or your sticker isn’t too big. This could lead to someone clicking the call to action sticker, but on a part that isn’t covered by the link below. This will mean that nothing happens and could potentially leave your audience very confused by the post.

How often should you post on your story?

Buffer found that you should try to aim for 1-7 posts per day. Any more and your customers are less likely to engage with you and view your content. Consistency is also very important in maintaining a gradual incline in the number of people engaging with your business.

Similar to regular posts, there are optimum times to post in order to get more viewers. This is usually the start, middle and end of the day.

If you’re planning on trying out using Instagram Stories for your business, you can get some practice by following and tagging our account @sokadauk, and let us know how you’re getting on!