Yet, if you go hunting through your Instagram feed to figure out exactly how to add your own links, chances are you’ll end up disappointed. Instagram marketing and engagement traffic is picking up speed like a rocket and you’ll come across several Instagram Stories links, depending on how much time you spend on the social media platform. Luckily, the capability to add links to story and post is not limited to Instagram Business profiles. It’s available to everyone. So, how exactly can you add links to your Instagram stories and posts? Here are the best options to add a link to Instagram stories and posts.
1. Add a Link to Your Instagram Story
With the changing social media network landscape and its usage, adding links to Instagram Story had become very easy. If you have the basic knowledge or just curious enough to tinker around, adding a link to your Instagram story is possible to achieve in a jiffy. Here’s how to do it. Step 1: Launch the Instagram app on your Android or iPhone. Tap on the Your Story option in the top-left corner. Step 2: Add a photo or a video to your story or use the Shutter button to capture one. Step 3: Tap on the Sticker icon in the top-right corner and select the Link sticker (one with the Link icon) from the menu. Step 4: In the URL box, type in the sticker’s text, which is the link you wish to share and tap on Done.. Step 5: Now, move the sticker to a preferred location. You can tap on the sticker to scroll through different styles. After, tap on the right arrow in the bottom-right corner to share your Story. You can choose to share the story with Close Friends or everyone on Instagram account. You can head to your profile and tap on your profile picture to check your story to inspect if the link works properly.
2. Add a Link to Your Instagram Posts
Unlike Instagram stories, it is possible to add links to your Instagram posts. However, it’s not exactly easy either. You can type any URL you want in the caption of your photo, but it won’t link anywhere. The only official way to add a link directly to your Instagram photo is to pay for the Ads. Unless you’ve a legitimate reason to do it, there are better alternatives. One of the best ways to add a link into a Post, is to use a URL shortener service. These services create a shorter URLs that are easier to type and share. You can use a service like bitly.com to shorten the destination URLs. Then you can type out the new shortened URL in the Post’s caption. While it may not show a clickable or tappable link, but it’s easier to copy and paste rather than a really long link. So instead of posting a long link of the blog posts you’ve found helpful, you can just create shorter URLs of the same and share it in the post caption. Also, it’s a smart way to run any promotions through your post for a longer duration.
3. Add a Call to Action in Your Instagram Story
Sometimes, followers get confused about exactly what they should do to follow your page or how to navigate to the link you are putting in your story. To avoid this, you can add a CTA or Call to Action in your stories to inform your audience about what they should do to click on your link and navigate to the page you intend them to go to. In order to add a Call to Action, you need to generate a clickable link and put them in your story post and write the action (swipe up, double tap or click on this circle) to educate your audience and drive traffic.
Alternative to Add Multiple Links in a Story or Post
While Instagram doesn’t yet support links in Instagram posts for average users, there is a popular workaround. They’re not perfect, but the end result is a link leading to more pages. If you want to keep it simple, you can always just update the link in your bio. Instagram allows for one link that shows up on your profile. Every time you want to include a link with your Instagram post, go to your Instagram profile and check the link in the bio. Then in the caption of your Instagram post, point viewers to your profile to click through for the desired content. Say something like “Link in bio” or include the link emoji. This method does limit your links though. Since you have to update your bio every time you post a new image, anyone viewing your old images in search for a link might be confused when your updated bio takes them somewhere else. Another free option is Linktree service, which lets you create a landing page like a mini website for your Instagram page. That means you can multiple links, including your website URL, Twitter account, Youtube Channels, Discord ID, etc. There is no web design knowledge required as the layout is essentially just a list of links. You can add as many links as you want there, plus track to see how many clicks they get. First sign up using your Instagram account on Linktree website. After that, paste your Linktree URL in your bio as the sole website. Update your Linktree page with a new link every time you post a new photo, and then just put in the caption “link in bio” as always. With this method, at least you don’t have to change your bio every time, plus you get some analytics. Also, you can add a Linktree URL in your Instagram bio after you tap the Edit Profile button on your profile page. Instagram’s options for linking your photos are currently less than ideal. Hopefully in the future Instagram sees how tedious it is and makes some much needed improvements.
