How To Use The Instagram Swipe Up Feature For Your Business

Instagram boasts more than 1 billion users, according to eMarketer. That’s a huge potential market. With over 71% of users under thirty-five, it’s an excellent platform for businesses with a younger target audience.

Many businesses consider Instagram a vital part of the marketing strategy, with 71% of US businesses using the platform. While many of these businesses measure success by their engagement rate, this is not an effective way to measure the return on investment you are getting.

A better measure of ROI is the amount of traffic you can drive from Instagram to your other online properties such as website, blog, online shop, landing page, etc.

Although Instagram has made it notoriously difficult to link to outside content, the Instagram Swipe Up feature allows accounts that meet the required criteria to add links to the Instagram Stories.

To qualify for the Instagram Swipe Up feature, you:

Must use an Instagram Business Account
Must have over 10,000 followers

Must have a verified account

This means that even if you’re a brand, celebrity, or public figure that doesn’t have 10,000 followers but are verified, you can still use the Instagram Swipe Up feature!

If you’ve managed to get 10,000 followers or a verified account and have unlocked the Instagram Swipe Up feature but aren’t sure of what you want to add a link in your Instagram Story to, don’t fret.

I’ve collected 9 Instagram Swipe Up examples that should help give you an idea of where you can send users with your swipe-up links. Let’s check them out now!

1. Promote a Video

If you’ve created a new piece of video content for YouTube, Facebook, or IGTV, you can add a swipe-up link in your story that sends users to the video to increase views.

In this example by food reporter Priya Krishna, she features the Instagram Grid post that announced the video in her Instagram Story, with the swipe up link sending users directly to the video on YouTube so they could watch it right away.

Another tactic can be to share a short snippet of the video giving viewers a sneak peek of what they can expect if they swipe up.

2. Promote a lead magnet

Instagram Stories can be a great place to drive your Instagram followers to your lead magnets. This, in turn, will help grow your email lists.

In the example by Talon.one, the call to action in their Instagram Story sends users to a landing page where they can download the mentioned white paper after submitting their email address.

Of course, you can also sponsor these stories to target specific audiences.

3. Highlight a blog post

If you have a blog for your business, the Instagram Swipe Up feature is a great way to create awareness around new posts and drive traffic to them.

Since Instagram is a visual platform and blog posts by their very nature are text-heavy, a good way to share a new blog post on your Instagram Story is to use strong graphics alongside a bold heading that entices users to click the link to your story.

Later do a great job of combining bright visuals with a fun headline layout that is eye-catching and clickable.

4. Promote an event

Whether a physical or, more likely, a virtual one, if you’re hosting an event and want to get the word out, adding a link to your Instagram Story is a great way of sharing the event with your followers and increasing the number of attendees.

To promote the launch of Linda McCartney’s book, Paul McCartney shared a call to action on his Instagram Story that allows his followers to buy tickets to a stream featuring a conversation with him alongside Mary and Stella McCartney, as well as a copy of the book.

5. Promote a competition

Suppose you’re running an online contest or competition. In that case, your Instagram Story is a great way to let your followers know about it and, depending on the type of competition, send them to a page with more info about the contest or to a landing page that lets them enter it directly.

An example of the former strategy is Barilla Canada’s #BarillaPastaport competition which offers entrants the chance of winning a trip to Italy.

They shared their Instagram feed post with the competition info to their Instagram story. They used the swipe-up feature to send entrants to the competition rules page, which describes the competition in greater detail.

6. Share a discount

Are you offering your product or service at a discount or are running a special promotional offer? If so, sharing this in your Instagram stories is a great way to build awareness around it.

With the Instagram Swipe Up feature, you can go one step further and let users purchase your offer at a discount by following the link in your stories.

Producer and DJ Eats Everything used a promoted Instagram Story with a swipe-up link to advertise his discounted sample pack for fellow producers.

People that used the swipe-up feature are sent directly to an eCommerce store where they can purchase the sample pack immediately.

7. Highlight a collection

If your business has just launched a complete range of products, your Instagram Story is a great way to showcase the entire collection together rather than individually.

Similarly, you can use the Instagram Swipe Up feature to send followers to a page featuring the entire collection rather than just a specific product page.

H&M did just that. To promote their Divided Basics range, they used a video Instagram Story featuring the collection with a call to action that sends followers to a page containing the entire range.

8. Share a recipe

If you’re posting content related to food, your audience is going to want to know how to prepare the dishes you feature. Sharing recipes to these dishes in your Instagram Story using the swipe feature is a great way to push traffic to your website.

Best of all, you save yourself the hassle of having to reply to all the DMs asking how to prepare the dish.

As part of her cooking class, Molly Baz asked participants to first learn a recipe which she shared via a swipe-up link in her Instagram story. The post featured a photo of the final product with a simple call to action that explained exactly what to expect if you swiped up.

9. Highlight a community

Are you building a community around your business, bringing together like-minded individuals, customers and fans to share experiences and ideas? Instagram Stories are a great way to promote it.

With an effective call to action and a swipe-up link, you can easily send interested parties to find out more about your community and sign up.

For the Slack Community, the communications platform announced its launch using Instagram Stories explaining their community, with the swipe-up feature sending followers to a sign-up page that allows you to join a local chapter.

Wrapping Up

As you can see, Instagram’s Swipe Up feature is a great way to drive traffic to your online properties if you have 10,000 followers or more. Of course, even if you don’t have 10,000 followers you can still use the swipe up feature if you meet the requirements to become verified.

Once you have the swipe-up feature enabled, you’ll be able to promote all your online properties including video, lead magnets, blog posts, events, competitions, discounts, recipes, and communities. Don’t forget to add a strong call to action and you’re sure to increase your traffic from Instagram.

I hope these examples have given you an idea of what you can use Instagram’s Swipe Up feature for. How would you use it for your business? Let me know in the comments below.

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