Instagram has officially retired the ‘swipe up link’ option from stories and replaced it with clickable link stickers. How exactly do you add them, and what accounts have the feature?
For some time now, Instagram influencers and business accounts with over 10k followers had been able to add a ‘swipe up link’ to their stories on the Facebook-owned platform.
Having the ability to add a link to a story is an advantage for some companies and influencers due to the fact Instagram only allows one link in your profile. Although there are link aggregators that allow users to click one link to access others, adding a link in a story allows the user to go straight to where they would like to go.
As of August 30, Instagram has decided to change up how you can add a link to a story by replacing the ‘swipe up link’ option with a clickable sticker — and you may not need 10k followers to use it.
If you have an Instagram Business or Creator account with 10k followers or more, you can add links to any website straight from your Instagram Stories. These come in the form of a clickable link sticker.
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While being more visible with the added ability to be placed anywhere on the screen, the sticker also shows the first part of the destination link. Showing the first part now gives users more transparency as well as security from malicious intent.
How to add a link to your Instagram Story: Step-by-step
- Open the app and swipe left to create a story.
- Search in your stories sticker tray for the link sticker (only one sticker can be added per story).
- Click URL, add a link and select done.
- Share your story.
There are a few things you may need to do to switch over to the new link sticker. Those include:
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- Create new story design templates to remove any references to ‘swipe up links’ and to make space on your story for the new sticker.
- Review your existing Instagram Stories to see if your links are still intact. If they are not, you may need to spend time creating a new set of highlights with the new link sticker.
- Adjust any verbal/on-screen call-to-action when you record to encourage link clicks, instead of swipes.
How to add links to Instagram Stories without 10k followers
Instagram users without 10k followers and a business or creator account are currently unable to use the clickable link sticker provided to bigger accounts.
However, according to an interview with The Verge, Instagram’s Head Of Product Vishal Shah confirmed that they are testing the waters on allowing smaller accounts to use the sticker.
Shah stated that the test is small at this time, and it’s mainly to see how people take advantage of the linking option.
While the stories link option seems like it could be available for everyone one day, it is unknown whether or not it will stay in stories or migrate over to other parts of the app. We’ll update this guide if anything changes in the future.
