Swiping left is old news. These days, it's all about Swipe Left's more exclusive and harder to come by cousin, Swipe Up. You've seen all your fave celebs doing it — "Swipe up to buy these collagen-boosting gummies" — and maybe even your micro-influencer friends.
While not everyone can access this feature, as it turns out, it's not impossible to come by. You either need 10,000 Instagram followers, or you need to be verified. (The two are not one and the same.)
If you fall into one or both of these camps, you should automatically see a chain link icon at the top of your screen when you go to post a Story. Once you click on the button, it's as easy as adding in the URL you want to link out to (whether it's to a product, a video, or any other kind of external link) and hitting "Done." This will add the "See More" text with the upward caret to the bottom of your Story, which your followers can then swipe up on. This also applies to Instagram business profiles that are verified or have follower counts over 10,000.
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But before you try to reach 10,000 followers to unlock this feature, it's important to note that Instagram is cracking down on fake profiles, making it more difficult for users to rack up their follower counts by buying followers. As a result, it's likely that fewer users will have access to the Swipe-Up feature moving forward.
If you don't have 10,000 followers and are unverified, though, there is one workaround. If you post at least one video on IGTV, you'll get access to the chain link button when you go to post a Story. You won't have the option of posting a URL (like you would if you were verified or had 10,000 followers), but you can link out to your IGTV video, and viewers can swipe up on your Story to watch.
Just remember, if all else fails, you can always tell your followers to hit the "link in bio."
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