Last week, Instagram announced that Links on Stories would now be available to everyone. Previously, people with 10k plus followers had access to this functionality and others didn’t. But this change means that follower number is no longer a barrier. But is it necessarily a good thing?

You’ve got Instagram Links in Stories! (And you don’t need over 10k)

On this episode of the podcast, I talk about how the Link sticker can benefit brands, influencers and followers too, but I do also talk about the potential downside of links generally, and how to navigate around this.

I’ve had the ability to link from Stories for a good while now and while it is really handy in certain situations, I do think it’s important to be aware of what these circumstances are and not overuse the sticker to the detriment of the content that you’re creating and posting natively.

The thing is, when we ‘meet people where they are’ on social media platforms, that person has chosen to spend their time there. Now, there might be occasions when they’re more than happy to leave it and go somewhere else (bargains tend to be one good reason!), but we need to make sure that we’re not always sending people here, there and everywhere. And we also need to still be doing our bit to make sure that even if we include a link, that the content still works and ‘adds value’ on its own, with no immediate need for people to move around.

That said, there are clearly huge advantages to be able to take people to specific locations. If you are an influencer and create vlogs or blogs, a link on Stories can now take people there with ease. And if you have any kind of affiliate link, or you want to take people somewhere specific on your website, you can now do this.

Anyway- have a listen to the podcast- hopefully it’ll help you with the pros, potential cons, and how to avoid any pitfalls. Enjoy.