Hey bud, I hope you're well. I'm deep in the throes of creating my Build Your Artist Brand course, but I wanted to resurface for a moment to share a game changing development for Instagram.
On October 27th, IG announced that it will be removing the Stories "Swipe Up" feature (previously available only to creators with 10k+ followers) and replacing it with a Link Sticker.
Using links in your Stories is the best way to get people to leave the platform and listen to your music, buy tickets to your shows, and visit your website. Bummer that it was only available to bigger curators... until now!
With the roll out of the Link Sticker, all accounts, regardless of follower count, will be able to utilize this new feature. Cool AF.
If you have content to promote, this is a great way to monetize your Instagram account, driving people to pages where they can actually support you.
Here's how to use the Link Sticker (excerpt from official Instagram announcement)
Capture or upload content to your story
Select the sticker tool from the top navigation bar
Tap the “Link” sticker to add your desired link and tap “Done”
Place the sticker on your story — like other stickers — and tap on the sticker to see color variations
I've heard reports of people not being able to see the Link Sticker yet. If that's you, hold tight. I hear that it may take a few days-weeks for this new feature to roll out to all users.
I hope this was useful to you. If so, leave me a comment and let me know, I dig hearing from the community. If you have any questions about this or another aspect of building your career, hit me up. I answer every email personally.
And BTW, I'm launching the beta version of my Build Your Artist Brand course very soon. If you'd like to be one of the people to get in at the ground level and give it a test run for half the cost when it goes public, shoot me an email at james@forestparkdiy.com and let me know!
// James
