How to share a link on Instagram
The first thing you’ll notice when trying to share a link on Instagram is how it isn’t that straightforward. In this article, you’ll find all the ways to share a link on Instagram.
Here are the 7 ways to share links on Instagram:
- Link in your Instagram Post or Reel
- Link in the Bio
- Link from your Instagram Profile
- Link in an Instagram Story
- Link from Shoppable Instagram Posts
- Link from a Sponsored Instagram Post
- Links in Instagram Direct Messages
1. Link in your Instagram Post or Reel
There are two ways to add links to your Instagram posts:
Add a link in the Post Caption
You can add a link to the caption of an Instagram post but it will not be tappable. To make it easier for your followers to follow your link with tools like Bitly, which lets you shorten your links to a size people can memorize and type in their browser.
Add a QR code to a Photo or Video
Adding a QR code to your photo or video is the easiest way for followers to find your link. Make sure to use a service like Piclinq that ensures your QR code is the right size for your post and lets you track how many visitors have scanned it. It’s also straightforward for people to scan a QR code on any phone.
2. Link in the Bio
One of the few places Instagram lets you share a tappable link in your profile’s bio. You’ll often hear it mentioned in the post to check the “Link in bio” for a link to their site. Here are a couple of ways people use this space.
A link to a page on your website or blog
Some Instagramers place a direct link to their website or blog. It will either be on their home page or a dedicated page where they can share links to things people have seen on their feed.
A link to a Link Landing Page
Others use services link Linktree to create a landing page of links. It’s a personalized page with links and thumbnails that help people find the links to your posts.
3. Link from your Instagram Profile
Another way to share links is using the Instagram Actions Buttons in your profile. This is available to all business accounts and lets you share a link to your Instagram Shop, Email, and Messages.
4. Link in an Instagram Story
There are two ways you can share links from an Instagram Story:
Add a link Sticker to your Story
Here’s how to add a sticker to your Story:
- Create an Instagram Story.
- Tap on the sticker icon at the top.
- Select the Link sticker.
- Type the URL of your link.
- Tap Done.
- Move the sticker on your Instagram Story. Bonus: Tap it to change the design.
It’s important to note that Instagram Stories are only available for 24 hours!
Keep a Story with links in the Highlights section
Highlights are stories you can pin to your profile for people to find. Some people use these stories to display a collection of interesting links. These stories don’t expire in 24 hours and have the same characteristics as a regular story. You can follow the same steps as before to create the Story and link. Just tap on the create button ( + ), and you can select to create a highlight from there. Then you can either add it to the highlights at the end of making the Story or choose to add it before it expires.
5. Link from Shoppable Instagram Posts
Shoppable posts are another example of where you can share links. Each shopping tag links to one product only (and it must be a physical product sold in a select group of countries).
To start, create a product catalog on Facebook. Once you’ve completed your catalog, you can begin adding shopping tags to your Instagram posts.
6. Link from a Sponsored Instagram Post
You can pay to promote posts and stories if you have a business profile. When you pay for the promotion, you can also add a tappable link to the captions of promoted posts.
7. Links in Instagram Direct Messages
You can also send people a Direct Message (DM) with a link.
Conclusion
Even though Instagram doesn’t make it very straightforward how to share a link, there are many different strategies people use to surface their links. At piclinq we prefer the most direct approach to maximize the number of people that will follow your link. Choose the method that works best for you, or mix them up.