In another wave of good news for those who use Instagram, all users can now share links in their stories.
This announcement follows the recent news that accounts can now post on desktop devices, which we reported on yesterday.
Previously, the only accounts that could share links in their stories were verified accounts and those with high numbers of followers, and the only way other users could share links was by putting them in their bio and referring to it in their stories and posts.
Instagram recently changed how links in stories are displayed. Previously, they featured in a swipe up format, whereas now, they take the form of story stickers.
Adding a link to your story is easy:
1. Either capture or upload your story
2. Click onto the sticker tool in the navigation at the top (a smiley face in a post-it note-style box)
3. Select the sticker called “Link”, add your link and then click “Done”
4. You can then put the sticker on your story and click on it to play around with the different colour variations
At the moment, the sticker features a snippet of text from the URL being linked to, but Instagram has stated that it’s working on how to add further customisation to the stickers so that people are more aware of what they’ll see when they click on the link.
There are some exceptions to posting story links, however. The new link stickers won’t be available to new accounts, meaning you can’t create an account and share links straight away, and Instagram hasn’t clarified when the period of newness is up as of yet. In addition, those accounts that are found to frequently violate Instagram’s guidelines, post misinformative content or hate speech will also not be able to post links on their stories.
Instagram stories are a great way of reaching people on the platform – in 2019, the social media giant reported that stories were viewed by 500 million people each day, and this figure will likely have increased since then. By putting links directly in stories, businesses are more likely to receive link clicks and conversions, with the extra step of clicking a link in their bios taken away.
If you need help building up a presence for your business online, have a chat with our Engage Web team today.
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