How to use the Instagram Stories’ link sticker for your small business

Want to know how to use the Instagram Stories’ link sticker for your business? On the 27th October 2021 Instagram announced it would be making the link sticker, when creating an Instagram Story, available to all. This offers many business owners a new opportunity, and an easier way, to drive their viewers to other places on the internet. Keep on reading to find out how to use the Instagram Stories’ link sticker for your small business.

 

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Some context about why I’m so excited about the addition of the link sticker

The 1st November 2021 was a joyous day for me. I had already woken up massively excited about it being a Monday that was not only the first day of the week, but also the first day of the month. I sat down at my desk ahead of a super long day (I run my book club, PropelHer’s Book Club, in the evening on the first Monday of the month) and opened Instagram to share some stories around it being the first of the month and ensuring you had set some goals.  

 

It was as I editing a story that I realised I FINALLY had the ability to add a link into my Instagram Stories. Now depending on when you are reading this you might think that isn’t a big deal. However, I’ve had my business account @charellegriffith (if you aren’t already following me come and follow me and say hi) back in April 2016. At that time the link sticker didn’t exist. Instead, there was a Swipe Up feature, but it wasn’t for all. You had to have over 10,000 followers and ever since then I became obsessed with the number (I talk about it more in this blog post – Is 10k really a magical business number). Now I’m a big believer in not being obsessed with follower or subscriber numbers. It is a vanity metrics (more about vanity metrics here) but this wasn’t pure vanity. I knew the swipe up would offer me and my business new opportunities.  

 

However, for a reason I’ll never know, but be eternally grateful for, Instagram decided to scrap the Swipe Up feature and in 2021 they started rolling out the link sticker to all accounts. 

 

So whether you are new to link sticker or you had the Swipe Up feature but weren’t making the most of it keep on reading to learn how to use the Instagram Stories link sticker for your small business.

 

HOW TO USE THE INSTAGRAM STORIES’ LINK STICKER FOR YOUR SMALL BUSINESS

 

Level 1: Daily Stories

 

The reason why the ability to share a link in Stories is so beneficial for businesses is because it allows you to make it easy for your audience to quickly go to another place on the internet. Your job as a business owner is to work out where it is beneficial to send them.  

 

 

Sales pages for your services and/or products 

An obvious, but I always like to ensure all bases are covered, is that you can use the swipe up feature to drive a viewer directly to your sales page. Now the less services and / or products you have the more creative you’ll have to get with your Instagram Stories. No one wants to listen to you saying the same thing over and over again, but there are lots of different approaches you can.  

 

For example, as a coach or consultant you could do the following stories and all would make sense to have the a link included to swipe up to your sales page  

 

• Talk about the service in a broad/generic/introductory way 
• Share a video testimonial for a client 
• Share a written testimonial 
• Share a photo or screen grab of you and your client 
• Talk about something specific you’ve been helping a client with  
• Talk about why you created the service 
• Share wins from your current clients 
• Talk about why you love your service 
• Create graphics that outline with is included in your service 

 

 

Your long-form content (Blog posts, Podcasts episodes or YouTube videos) 

If you are taking the time to create long-form content, whether that be blog posts, podcast episodes or YouTube videos) then you want to make sure that you are getting as many ears and eyes on that content. You can use the swipe up feature to drive people to your newest content, but also go through your back catalogue and share those pieces of content too. 

 

 

Your mailing list sign-up form 

Having an audience on Instagram is great, but ultimately you are building an audience on borrowed land and at any time it could disappear. Instagram probably isn’t disappearing for a while, but you could get hacked, your account could become blocked or banned, or your account could be accidentally deleted. So as a sensible business owner you should always be thinking about how you are building your audience in a place you own – your mailing list.  

 

With the swipe up feature you can now make the journey from Instagram to signing up even easier. All you have to do is make it enticing for someone to want to join. If you have lead magnets (something free for people to download or sign up for) then be sure to share information about them in your stories. If you send a regular newsletter then you can also share before and after you’ve sent it and encourage people to not miss out.  

 

 

Products and / or services that you are an affiliate for 

Personally, I think the swipe up feature is a gamechanger for affiliate marketers (myself included). For years I’ve been sharing through my stories all about the books I’m reading and reviewing. People would send me messages how they were inspired to buy a copy of X or Y. However, I wasn’t able to easily direct people to buy through an affiliate link. However, those days are over.  

 

As an affiliate marketer you could talk about something or share pictures and then add the swipe up link. Be sure to make it clear in the story that you are an affiliate for the product/service just as you would in any other type of marketing.  

 

 

Hopefully by now you can see that there are lots of options when it comes to using the link feature. The best thing you can do is make a list of all the places it makes sense to drive your audience (based on your business) and then start to think of the multiple different creative angles you can use to direct someone to the same link.

 

 

OVERWHELMED WITH ALL THE DECISIONS YOU NEED TO MAKE? 
 
WISH YOU HAD SOMEONE TO HELP YOU WORK THROUGH ALL THE OPTIONS? 

I work 1-to-1 with coaches, consultants and online service providers to help ensure they are marketing their businesses as effectively as possible to help them achieve their overall business goals. Instagram is likely to just one of the many ways you are marketing your business. I’ll help you to understand how to make sure everything is working together as effectively as possible. Click here to find out how we can work together.

 

LEVEL 2: THE HIGHLIGHTS 

 

Being able to have swipe up links in your everyday stories is great, but there is also another way to get the most out of the swipe up feature and that is by thinking strategically about your highlights.  

 

Incase, you don’t know the highlights are saved stories. They appear above your feed and because once you’ve set them up, they can stay the same for months even years it is worth ensuring that you are using them as wisely as possible.  

 

The first 5 highlights are seen without scrolling so you should focus on those 5 highlights.  

 

A highlight can have multiple stories. However, when you add a new story to a highlight it will push that highlight to be the first highlight on the right. So it is useful to plan ahead.  

 

In terms of where you are driving your audience it will be the same as before. At this point it is more about you curating the experience.  

 

Some popular highlight options are: 

• Shop / Products 
• Discount Codes 
• Work With Me 
• Welcome / Introduction / Start Here 
• Articles / Blog Posts 
• Resources  
• Podcast 
• Client Love / Testimonials 
• About Me 
• PR 
• Freebies 

 

In order to work out what is best for your business think about what would you want someone new to be able to quickly find out about you and your business.  

 

There you have it! You now know how to use the Instagram Stories’ link sticker for your small business. 

 

I truly believe that being able to swipe up is a gamechanger (especially whilst you still can’t have links in Instagram captions). We know that people are lazy and the easier you can make it when trying to drive someone essentially away from the platform the better.  

 

Hopefully reading this blog post has given you some ideas. Let me know in the comments how you plan on using the Instagram Stories link sticker for your small business. 

 

 

And if you do decide to update your highlights take a screenshot and tag me in it (@charellegriffith) and I’ll come and watch them.  

 

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NEED HELP WITH YOUR INSTAGRAM MARKETING STRATEGY?

 

As you can see even just choosing what Instagram Stories to create can be challenging and that is just one aspect. There is still your bio to craft, creating content for your feed, Instagram Reels and, of course, making sure Instagram works alongside the rest of your other marketing.

 

Just because social media is free doesn’t mean you don’t need a strategy. In fact, it makes it even more important because most people would pull adverts if they aren’t working after a week, but will spend months organically posting content that isn’t converting.

 

Stop wasting your time and get an Instagram marketing strategy for your business! Book a strategy day and in just one day we’ll create a plan to sure you are marketing your business as efficiently as possible and that your content is directly leading to signing new clients.

To find out more, or book a Strategy Day, click here.

 

Want to work with more over a longer period of time? Drop me a message here to discuss other options.

 

 

 

Other blog posts you might be interested in reading: 

Instagram Stories for Business: A Beginner’s Guide
7 different styles of Instagram Reels for small businesses
How to post videos on Instagram in 4 different ways
How to use Instagram Reels