4 Steps To Add A Link To Your Instagram Story [Expert Advice]

Don’t know how to add a link to an Instagram Story?

If you don’t, it’s ok – you’re not alone. I understand how frustrating it is to be right on the verge of launching a social media marketing campaign only to be stalled by not knowing how a function on a website works.

Instagram is no different. As a marketing manager who uses Instagram to grow companies’ brands, I know just how important it is to understand Instagram’s features.

Instagram is one of the greatest gifts to a social media marketer. Fact.

According to 2019 Instagram stats, the platform has over 1 billion monthly active users, 60% of which discover products through the network.

Of those, 75% actually take action on an advertised product by visiting a business’ website and even buying it.

These stats mean a lot, especially when you take into account the reach that Instagram has.

As a business looking to expand your digital footprint, using  Instagram to build your brand can bring you massive gains.

That’s why for a marketer, confidently navigating the complexities of social media platforms is one of the many skills that will come in handy when you’re on the job.

So too is knowing how to add a clickable link in your Instagram stories.

That’s why I created this step-by-step guide – so that you get a comprehensive understanding of how exactly you can make use of this cool marketing tool.

After reading this, you won’t ever have to Google “how to add link to Instagram story.” I’m going to break down how to do so in four, clear steps that will settle any doubts that you have.

Before we start, remember that posting high-quality contect on your Instagram story is a must. If you need some help creating aweseome videos to post on your stories, you can use the Instagram story creator by Lumen5.

It is free and you can create multi-scene stories by selecting videos and images from a huge gallery.

Ready? Let’s get right into it!

How To Add Link To Instagram Story (With & Without Swipe Up Feature) – Summary

1. Click on the Instagram Stories icon located to the top left corner of your Instagram home page.
2. Include a filter, text, or sticker to the story.
3. Insert the link by tapping on the ‘Insert Link’ icon.
4. Create call-to-action inviting viewers to ‘swipe up’ to get to your clickable link.
5. If you don’t have the swipe up feature, promote your Instagram Stories either via the Instagram app or through paid Instagram Ads.

How To Add A Link To An Instagram Story – The Swipe Up Feature

The answer to how to add a link to an Instagram story all lays in one of Instagram’s nifty features called the ‘swipe up’ feature.

When this feature was released, it took Instagram marketing to a whole new level.

For the first time, Instagrammers could have included another link that their followers could have clicked on and be led to another page.

In the past, Instagram only allowed you to add a clickable link in your bio.

You could have added a link to an Instagram caption, but those links didn’t bring you to another page.

This was one of the major problems with Instagram as a marketing tool – customers just couldn’t click on a link to view a product.

That meant that you as a business owner would have had to hope that a potential customer would go through the hassle of leaving Instagram, opening a browser, and manually searching the link you had.

Having to go through all those steps is a huge turn-off for a customer.

Stats say 49% of consumers believe that easy access to a product was the most important factor when it came to great online customer service.

Then, of course, there was the other problem with figuring out how to use the one clickable link in your bio:

1. When should you change the link? Every time a new product comes out, or …?
2. How will you draw people to that link?
3. How do you drive traffic from an Instagram post or story to the clickable link on your bio?

This one clickable link was being overworked and overstretched, causing businesses to lose out on possible sales on their products.

That’s why Instagram decided to create the swipe up feature for Instagram stories – to fill that void that so many marketers were having with the platform.

Instagram Swipe Up Feature – Benefits

Let’s say that you’ve just launched a product and you’re using Instagram to market it.

All it takes is for you to make an Instagram Story, link that story to your website, and voilá – you’re on your way to marketing success.

Here’s why the Instagram swipe up feature is God’s gift to Instagram marketing.

1. Increases traffic to your website  
2. Increases potential for your product sales 

Don’t Underestimate the Value of Adding Clickable Links to Your Videos

At times, people might know the value of adding a clickable link but second-guess it. Don’t.

I can’t stress the importance of clickable links, especially those with call-to-actions (CTAs). Link CTAs are important in the sense that they tell your viewers to take a specific action.

I know I’ve said it before, but I’ll say it again.

Clickable links make the path to conversion much easier for your viewers. Clicking a button to make a purchase or to learn more is much easier than telling someone to go to a different page to do what you want them to do.

Don’t fall into the trap of convincing yourself that you don’t need to include clickable links to your Instagram Story marketing campaign – I assure you, you’ll be selling yourself short.

How to Add Link To Instagram Story With Swipe Up Feature

Now, it’s time to show you just how to add a link to an Instagram Story.

There are two ways, the first of which is the easiest – it’s with the Instagram swipe up feature.

The only catch is that in order to access this feature, you need to have a business account which has more than 10K followers.

Don’t sweat if you don’t have one though – there’s another way to get the same feature. That said, it will come at a small cost.

But more on that later. Right now, I’m going to give you a step-by-step guide on how to add a link to an Instagram story using the swipe up feature.

Let’s get right into it.

1. Click The Instagram Stories Icon On Your Instagram Home Page

On the top left of your screen, you’ll find the camera icon. Click on it to start taking a photo or video that you can add to your story.

There are many options at the bottom of your screen that enable you to take different types of videos. Play around with them and choose the one that will convey your story in the most effective way.

You can also add a video directly from your camera roll. To add a video from your camera roll, you simply click on the camera icon; then click the icon on the bottom far left of your screen, or just swipe up.

2. Add Filters, Stickers, or Text to Your Story

Once you have added your video, you can click on the text, filter or sticker icons at the top of your screen to customize your story.

3. Add a Link to Your Story

If linking is enabled for your Instagram account, you should see a link icon at the top of your screen (next to the text, filter and sticker icons: it looks like a clip).

Click on it and you will be directed to a screen where you can type in your link.

You’ll have the chance to preview what your link will look like when people click on it.

Once your link is added, the link icon on your screen will have a white circle around it. Users will see a “See More” button at the bottom of their screen when they view your story. They can either click on the button or swipe up after which they will be taken to the specified URL.

4. Add A “Call To Action”  

Before you post your story, be sure to remind people to swipe up to get the clickable link.

Although it might seem like a no-brainer, some businesses take for granted that all Instagrammers know that they need to swipe up in order to access a clickable link in your Instagram stories.

I wouldn’t advise that you leave any room open for doubt in a potential customer’s mind. Sometimes, you need to overexplain and oversimplify things for your customers.

You can choose any of the call-to-action phrases:

• want to know more? swipe up!
• swipe up for more!
• swipe up to see our product!
• swipe up to learn more!
• want more? swipe up!
• check out this product – just swipe up!

Feel free to make up your own call-to-action phase and incorporate it into your Instagram Story. The important thing is that you remind viewers to swipe up.

And there you have it – simple, easy, and concise instructions on how to add a link to an Instagram story with the Swipe-up feature.

How To Add Link To Instagram Story When There Isn’t A Swipe Up Feature  

As I said before, the Swipe Up feature is only for business accounts which have 10K followers or more.

But not every business account has that many followers. So where does that leave them? Can you add clickable links to their Instagram stories without the feature?

Yes, you can. It would cost you a little bit of money, but you most definitely can.

How?

It’s all about applying a marketing strategy coined by digital marketer Dennis Yu for Facebook Ads.

Dennis Yu believes that you can generate results from Facebook ads at a budget of just $1 a day by outsourcing the promotion of your products to a really good PR team.

The same concept can be applied to Instagram Stories. Here’s how:

1. Promote Instagram Stories from the App 

When you post an Instagram Story, the platform has an option which allows you to promote it using the App.

2. Promote Instagram Stories From The Ad Manager  

It’s easy – just follow the steps below:

1. Open the Ads Manager for your Instagram
2. Create a campaign objective
3. Select an audience or create a customized one
4. Choose a daily budget
5. Pick “Instagram Stories” as the place where you’d like the ads to appear.
6. Edit your Instagram Story, add relevant information (especially a ‘call-to-action’ phase.

As soon as the post is published, you’ll be able to track how well the post is performing through the Ads Manager or using your device’s native app.

Growing Your Instagram Business Account – Hitting 10K+ Followers

Not everyone is willing to go the route of paid promotion of their Instagram stories by way of Instagram ads.

The solution? Get your business account over 10K so that you can just access the swipe up function.

But hitting the 10K mark isn’t as easy as some might think.

Still, it’s not impossible. Growing your followers and expanding your digital footprint on Instagram doesn’t have to be difficult.

Here are some strategies that you can implement to help grow your business account.

1. Develop A Content Calendar That You Actually Stick To 

Part of the magic that goes into hitting the 10K mark on Instagram has to do with posting content consistently.

Doing so helps Instagram’s algorithm to keep placing you high up on your followers’ feed.

It works just like Instagram stories. The stories from accounts that you view the most are the ones that load up first on the queue. The ones that you hardly watch are those which you have to scroll to access.

You don’t want to be one of those that people have to scroll to get to. But in order to do that, you have to post consistently. The more people engage with your content, the more you’ll keep appearing on their’s and others’ timelines.

You can do this by creating a video content calendar. These, help you organize your content ahead of time and implement campaigns that actually bring you results.

2. Use Hashtags That Get You Noticed  

Never underestimate what a good hashtag can do for your business’ visibility on Instagram. Ever.

With the right hashtag, your content will reach a wider audience and help you get more followers.

You can use a hashtag research tool like Hashtagify or Tags For Likes to help guide you in the right direction as to what the trending and popular hashtags are.

3. Create Content That Keeps People Engaged  

One of the best ways you can grow your Instagram fanbase is actually one of the hardest ones: post content that people love.

The reason that I say it’s the hardest is that people are very fickle. Some might love your posts, others might find that they’re just ‘meh.’

You can’t please everyone, but you can please a lot of them.

Do some research into your target market and find out what they’re looking for.

Stats say that over 100 million photos and videos are shared on Instagram daily.

You need to post something that catches someone’s eye. If not, people won’t spend another second on your page.

Think of innovative and creative posts that make people stop on your page. Posting video content helps as it is one of the most engaging formats for viewers.

Whatever you do, just make sure that it makes you stand out among the other millions of Instagram handles out there.

Analyzing The Performance Of Your Instagram Stories

Now that we’ve looked at how to add a link to an Instagram Story, it’s time to move on to another part of Instagram marketing that is just as important as adding a clickable link. I’m talking about analyzing how well your Stories are doing.

Campaign analysis has evolved in so many ways thanks to the explosion in data and new marketing statistics that are always coming out.

You need to analyze your Instagram Story campaign in order to gauge how well it performed.

Doing so will provide you with useful information that will help you determine whether you need to:

1. Change your campaign entirely and go back to the drawing board or
2. Make minor adjustments to it

There is a way to view your Instagram Story analytics, and that’s through Instagram Insights.

These can be accessed up t0 14 days after you’ve published a story. You can access them in two ways:

1. Via Your Profile

Go to your profile and click on the menu located in the upper right-hand corner.

When the drop-down menu is shown, click on ‘Insights,’ then ‘Content’ and finally ‘Stories.’

2. Via Your Stories   

Click on “Story” and swipe up. You’ll see an icon that looks like a graph. Click on it. There, you’ll get the stats on your Instagram Story.

That said, you’ll only be able to access these features if you have an Instagram Business account.

Creating Videos For Your Instagram Stories With Lumen5

It’s no secret that video marketing is the ‘it’ factor when it comes to successful marketing on social media.

Recent stats indicate that 83% of marketers reported good ROI on their video marketing strategies.

Because video is so important nowadays, you need to make sure that you’re showcasing great-quality videos that make your products and brand look attractive to viewers.

Luckily, some really great digital marketing tools that produce great video have come out recently, one of which is Lumen5.

Marketed as ‘the world’s smartest video maker,’ Lumen5 is a video tool that converts text into content for video marketing in just minutes.

The tool has many amazing features among which is its ability to automatically determine the length of a scene based on how much text is in each segment.

Still, even though Lumen5 does create stellar videos, great videos aren’t enough.

It’s knowing how to create and get results from your Lumen5 videos that is crucial to reaching your marketing and sales goals.  Particularly, knowing how to place links and calls-to-action (CTAs). These make the difference between getting you a sale and boosting your conversion rates and keeping them at a standstill.

Granted, with Lumen5 videos, you won’t be able to add a link CTA to it. But neither can you with any other type of video generated from a native app.

But that’s why major social media channels like Instagram, Facebook, and Youtube provide you with features and tools to make your videos clickable.

They know the struggle that video and social media marketers have with their platforms. So they try to make life easier for marketers like me so that your customers aren’t inconvenienced when viewing your product.

How To Add Link To Instagram Story – Final Word

With Instagram Stories and this feature, you can sell your products and build your branding like never before.

Don’t miss out on the rewards that are waiting for you and your company – incorporate clickable links in your Instagram Story marketing campaign today. You won’t regret it, I promise you.