How to Add Link to Instagram Story: Tips & Trick!

Other than building connections with friends or acquaintances from real life, Instagram has become a place for many businesses to promote products and maintain brand awareness. Not limited to big companies, one-man and small businesses can also utilize its features to promote their works, whether it’s art, music, a fundraiser, products, podcasts, publications, Whatsapp contact, email, etc. You may be familiar with the use of the Instagram bio for this, but do you know that you can also add links to Instagram Stories as well? This article will learn how to add link to an Instagram Story for various purposes and why it is matters. 

Why do you need to add a link using Instagram story? 

Before learning how to add a link in an IG story, you may wonder why Instagram Story matters. Story is actually one of the most famous features Meta offered for Instagram users. It allows users to share photos or videos in real-time, and followers can see them within 24 hours before they are archived in users’ private storage. 

Unlike regular posts, IG Story is more versatile and proven to increase audience engagement. It is driven by some specific features such as polls, Q&A, GIFs, stickers, and even a clickable link. Those features are not available on regular posts, which makes IG Story unique and functional for marketing purposes. 

How to add link in Instagram Story? 

On how to add link in Instagram Story, you merely have to follow these few steps. 

• Step 1: Open your Instagram account on the mobile app on your phone or tablet. Unfortunately, this option is not feasible with the desktop version.
• Step 2: Click your profile picture in the upper-left corner of your screen, or you can also press the + button above it.
• Step 3: You will be directed to a new page where you have several options to upload new content. They are Post, Story, and Reel. Pick the Story option. 
• Step 4: Take a photo/video with the camera or take one from your phone gallery by clicking a gallery icon on the bottom left of your screen. 
• Step 5: Once you have done with photo/video, press the Sticker tool on the navigator bar. It is located on the right side of the screen (iOS and Android have identical interfaces) 
• Step 6: Find the Links sticker and tap on it. 
• Step 7: Paste your URL link into the column available and tap Done. 
• Step 8: You have a link sticker on your screen in front of your photo/video. Try repositioning it by dragging it wherever suitable for your interest or taste. 
• Step 9: You can also tap the link sticker to change its colour theme. 

There you go! Now you may post that in your IG Story and see how it goes for your followers. You can also check whether the link works or not by clicking it yourself. In the past, you needed to have a certain number of followers to add a link in Instagram Story, but these days, Instagram allows all users to add a link in their Story regardless of the follower count. 

How to customize the link in your Instagram Story? 

However, it’s understandable that as a business owner, you may want something more professional and customized for your link sticker. Thus, you can also follow these few tips on how to add a customized link to your IG story. 

• • Step 1: Open a design app, preferably something with an easy interface, such as Canva or Procreate. 
  • Step 2: Design a sticker based on your brand identity.
  • Step 3: Save it with a transparent background and make sure it is accessible on your phone’s gallery.
  • Step 4: Go to the Instagram Story page and tap the Stickers icon, find your customized sticker, and add it to your page. 
  • Step 5: Create a link using the previous tutorial and put it under your customized sticker. 
  • Step 6: If you do not have time to make your own customized sticker, try the Cutout feature. It is available when you tap the Stickers tool in the Story page. This feature allows you to make customized stickers from pictures within your phone’s gallery. However, it is to be noted that the result may not be the best for your preference. 
  • Step 7: You can also use premade GIFs or stickers by other artists on Instagram. 
  • Step 8: You may simply customize the link sticker with more professional or modest words instead of the shortened version of the URL link. Do this by tapping Customize Sticker Text feature. It is available below the column where you inserted the link. For example, you can replace it with “Shop Here”, “Learn More”, “Pre-Order Now”, “Read/Listen Here”, and many more. 

More tips on how to add a link to an Instagram Story

There are a few more tips you may find handy on how to add link to an Instagram Story.

• If you want to add a link for marketing purposes, it is necessary to avoid adding it on the first slides of your IG Story. Instead, you can lure your followers by posting something neutral and eye-catching first before posting another slide with a link. 
• Instead of adding the same link users can find on your Bio, it is necessary to put a specific link in your Story. For example, use it to send people to the link of your particular product you sell instead of sending them to look at the catalogue. 
• You can also use an online tool to shorten and copy the link you want to add in Instagram Story. This will be handy, particularly when you need to add a few slides with links. 

The benefit of add link to Instagram Story 

After dealing with how to add link to Instagram Story, let’s dig into the benefits of links for your business growth. Links are proven to be essential in these matters. 

• Increase traffic on your webpage or e-commerce site. If you have business or work for a brand, traffic has a prominent role in potential sales. 
• Although it does not always directly lead to impulsive shopping, the traffic from the link can help brands or businesses to gather some essential data about the products and audiences.
• The abolishment of the minimum followers count per account to add link is beneficial for small and new businesses, as well as people who work in affiliate marketing. 
• No more hassle for followers. In the past, IG users used Bio to put a link, which was not very efficient. Followers tend to ignore the “Link in Bio!” and browse other stuff within the platform instead. By adding a link to Instagram Story, you will minimise potential loss of followers who might be enticed by your brand/products. 

Other ways to boost webpage or e-commerce traffic on Instagram 

Sharing links on Instagram stories has a significant impact on attracting engagement and boosting traffic to your website. However, you might need to know other ways to attract engagement and drive website traffic other thant add stricker to your Instagram story. Here are several alternatives that might be of your consideration. 

Add a link in the Instagram Bio

The feature to add a link in bio might be one of the most common things to do for companies or influencers. This is important because your audience, or someone who might not be your followers, can see or access the specific website links that you are promoting. If you have multiple websites or other social media accounts that you want to promote on your Instagram Bio, you can use external compiling list of links tools, such as Linktree, or Link List, etc. However, you cannot forget to say “link in bio” in your Instagram story or caption of your Instagram postings. With this call to action, the audience will realize that you have a link in your bio to be checked. 

Add a link using DMs on Instagram

Other than those common ways, such as adding a link in bio, you can also post an Instagram story to let your followers or audience directly message you or DM. Then, you can give them a direct link to the followers or audience who are curious about the products or specific website you are promoting. Not only does it drive engagement and traffic for the webpage, but link using DMs will also build a good relationship and impression with the audience. Your audience will feel like you are close to them by allowing them to message you directly and get a response directly from you. 

Creating a poll to interact with the audience

There are many ways in order to interact with the audience on Instagram, especially to share the links of the products or a certain website page. One of the ways is by using a poll feature offered by Meta for Instagram stories. It allows you to know how many members of the audience want to have access to it or not. Then, you can just follow up with the people who poll for yes and send them the links via direct message. The poll feature is quite robust to give insights into how many people that interest with your products or your websites in general. On the other hand, it can be an indication whether your posting on Instagram story is fascinating or not. If not, you can change your strategy to attract the audience with other ways. 

Conclusion

Instagram Story has become one of the most versatile features within the platform. It allows users to create things for personal or professional use. One of the functional tools in the Story is the add link option, which permits all users, regardless of their follower number, to attach a link to direct followers to a certain webpage outside the platform. This can be used to send followers to many places such as marketplace, product catalogue, streaming platform, webpage, and many more. How to add link in your IG Story? You need a phone with an installed Instagram app as that particular feature is not available in the desktop version. 

Frequently Asked Questions (FAQ) about How to add Link to Instagram Story

1. When do you need to add link to IG Story? 

You can add link to IG Story when you want to promote something, music, a podcast, a blog, or even affiliate products from brands you are working with, and many more.

2. Is the link in the Instagram Story the same as the link in the Bio? 

No, it is different, although both are clickable. Link in Bio is positioned in the Bio section of your Instagram profile page, which you can access when editing your profile. Meanwhile, the link in Instagram Story is located in the Story page. You can find it when you click the + button on your main Instagram page.

3. Can all users add a link to Instagram Story? 

Yes, now all users, regardless of their follower count and verification status. They can add a link to an Instagram Story easily, whether it is for promoting products or a webpage.

4. Do all links work when added to Instagram Story? 

Mostly yes, but Instagram or Meta can block links that lead to suspicious webpages in order to protect their users. So, as long as your promoted website does not breach the Meta moderation guidelines, it is going to be fine.

5. Can you add a link to Instagram Reels? 

No, unfortunately, you cannot add a direct link within Instagram Reels. The link sticker is not available when you create Reels. It is so far available only for Story. You may add a link URL in the caption for your reels, but it will remain unclickable.

6. How do you keep the link available forever within IG Story? 

You can put your IG Story slide with a link to Highlight. This will be displayed in your profile page, and followers can always click it whenever they open the Highlighted Story.

7. Can you use a PC or a desktop to add a link to an Instagram story? 

No, unfortunately, the add link feature on Instagram story is designed specifically for mobile phones or tablets. Therefore, you can only post the regular Instagram post with pictures or Reels videos on a PC or a laptop.