Instagram Swipe Up: How to Get the Most out of Swipe Up Links in your Stories

Instagram doesn’t offer users a way to include links in their posts, with one exception: the swipe up feature in Instagram Stories. Find out how to add swipe up links to your stories, and how to use the feature to grow your brand.

Did you know that when Instagram introduced Instagram Stories, it increased the average time users spent on the app by almost ten minutes?

While this made it easier for brands to be discovered and gain followers on Instagram, a wider reach through your stories doesn’t automatically mean you’ll get more leads, new customers, or more revenue from your website — unless of course, you use swipe up links.

The swipe up link can be the decisive factor in taking your audience from curiosity about your brand to conversion. It’s a powerful tool to encourage your audience to visit your website, buy a product, or learn more about your brand.

How to add a swipe up link in Instagram Stories

You will be able to add a swipe up link in Instagram Stories if:

1. you have a business account on Instagram and at least 10,000 followers, or
2. you have a verified account

This means that even if your account has not passed the threshold of 10,000 followers, you can still include swipe up links if your account has been verified.

Once you fulfill the requirements, when you start creating a new story, a link icon will appear at the top of your screen. Follow our step-by-step guide to see how you can include a swipe up link in your story.

There are several ways you can use the swipe up feature to benefit your business. These include promoting new products or services, show off new content, direct traffic to your website, get followers to join an event, work with influencers, give away freebies, and raise awareness for bigger campaigns.

Promote new products or services

Swipe up links in a story are a great way to guide your fans toward new products or services. For instance, if you just came out with a new menu item at your restaurant, show it off in an Instagram story – and invite users to order it online by including a swipe up link.

Or, if you are offering a new class at your gym, give followers a preview in a story, and include a swipe up link so they can book the class right away.

Ideally, the link will send followers directly to a landing page where they can see or purchase the new product or service.

The shopping and retail store Dress Up, for example, regularly promotes new arrivals in their stories. In one of their “Sunday Releases,” an employee shows off a new dress in a video story. Followers can then buy the dress by following the “see more” swipe up link in the story.

Show off new content

Use a swipe up link to invite followers to check out new content on your company website, such as a new blog post, a new podcast episode, or a new feature you are introducing.

You can simply give your fans a little preview of the new content, just enough to pique their curiosity, and then invite them to check it out for themselves by following the link in the story.

Direct traffic to your website

Of course, you are not limited to just promoting new products, services or content with the swipe up link. You can also link to general content that you think would work well on Instagram and would be interesting for your followers.

The food blogger Detoxinista, for instance, cleverly posts inviting food pictures in her stories and has viewers then follow the swipe up link to find the corresponding recipe on her blog.

Detoxinista’s approach is a great idea to direct traffic towards a website, and can even generate revenue if users will be able to buy something on your site. Detoxinista, for example, includes many affiliate links in her blog articles. So, directing Instagram users to her blog is a smart way to not only get more readers for her blog but also increase affiliate sales.

Get followers to join an event

Are you hosting a webinar or online event and would like for more people to join it? Invite your followers to sign up by posting information about the event in your Instagram story, and then include a swipe up link through which they can join it.

The link could lead to a sign-up form or a landing page for your event, or even to a Facebook event page. This is what the tech company Zapier did in a story when they invited fans to join them for an event on Facebook to learn more about automation.

Work with influencers to sell your products

There are many ways in which you can work with influencers on Instagram to build your brand. One way is to have them show off your products and invite their fans to buy them by following a swipe up link.

Since research shows that Instagram users follow shopping advice from their favorite influencers, teaming up with influencers is a great way to increase your business’s sales.

Give away freebies

Most people will not refuse a gift, even if it is a product or service they might not normally use. That’s the reason why freebies are such a great way to spread the word about your brand, and even get new customers. Because once somebody tries something for free and likes it, chances are, they will come back as a paying customer.

Especially if you are a new business, or just starting out on Instagram and looking to build a following, giving away something of value for free will get people talking about your brand.

Present the giveaway in your story, and tell your fans to follow the link in order to get theirs. You’ll be surprised how much traffic this will generate. Plus, it will get users to spend more time on your profile and website and get to know your brand.

Raise awareness for bigger campaigns

Whether it’s a charity campaign you are starting or a bigger marketing campaign you are running, it can be challenging to explain something complicated in a short story on Instagram.

Thanks to swipe up links, you no longer have to. Post an enticing image or a short video clip to introduce your followers to the bigger topic, and then give them the option to follow a swipe up link if they want to find out more.

This allows you to keep your Instagram content short and sweet, while still directing traffic to your website where followers can learn about the campaign in more detail.

Get the most out of your swipe up links on Instagram Stories

While it is great that swipe up links give you the opportunity to increase website traffic and generate sales, the success of the feature greatly depends on how you use it.

Make your swipe up link stand out

For example, make sure your fans are actually aware that there is a link they can follow in your story; direct their attention to it. You could use a GIF to create an animated link that stands out more or use arrows to point to the link.

Include a call to action

Be sure to let your fans know what they can expect to see if they follow the link. Are they getting more information about a product? Will they be able to buy something or sign up for an event?

Make sure your call to action is visible and has a clear message.

This will guarantee that users who follow the link are really interested, which increases your chances of gaining new customers or finalizing a sale.

Post regularly

With so many businesses competing for users’ attention on Instagram, it can be tough to stand out. Posting regularly will ensure that the Instagram algorithm will place your stories prominently in your followers’ story reels.

Planning tools such as Storrito can help you with this. With Storrito, you can upload, edit, and schedule your Instagram stories on a desktop computer. You can even schedule multiple stories at once, so you’ll be sure to post content frequently.

Storrito also allows you to include swipe up links in your stories so you can get the most out of the feature for your business. Try it out for free now!