Guide to scheduling Instagram stories with Links

If you have tried publishing Instagram stories with automated tools before, you may see that a majority of popular tools don’t support it.

That’s because  adding links and stickers is not supported in the official API methods provided by Meta.

So what then, does it mean there is no way to schedule Instagram stories with links?

Well, not exactly. There is a workaround to automatically schedule Instagram stories with links, and today, you will learn how.

But know that you will need to do some tinkering and install third party tools.

Why is it not possible to add links in the automated Instagram story schedules?

The official API provided by Meta, which regulates how an automated agent (the social media tools) interacts with the platform, does not allow stories with automated link schedules.

This is a deliberate choice made by Meta (Instagram) to limit the functionalities of automated tools.

And unfortunately, any scheduling tool that uses first party solutions will not be able to schedule Instagram stories with links.

But fear not, there is a workaround with this.

How to share links with automated Instagram scheduling tools?

Please know that while this is a supported feature, it might require you to acquire additional paid software.

To add links to Instagram stories, you need to mimic the actions of a real user via an automated setup.

How do you do this?

Honestly, I have no idea. But our team here at FS Poster has built a great custom solution to walk around the limitations placed by Instagram’s official API and successfully share links to Instagram.

So, what do you need to have and what do you need to do?

First of all, FS Poster is a WordPress plugin, so you need a WordPress website and buy FS Poster before starting.

You can follow along using our public demo to see how it works.

In order to schedule Instagram stories with links, we need to first install FS Poster to our website, add our social media channels with the right method and credentials (there is no limit to the number of channels you can add), approve from the Instagram app and make a post with the intended link.

Here is a step-by-step instruction on how to automatically post stories to Instagram with links:

First, install and set up FS Poster, you can read more from our Installation Guide.

Second part is adding your channels, and there is no limit on how many social media profiles you can add.

Lastly, you will share your posts and attach links to it.

So, let’s see how you can add channels to FS Poster:

1. After you have installed FS Poster, click on its logo on WordPress admin panel and go to the channels section.

2. Then click on the add channel button.

3. Select Instagram.

4. Click on the more options button.

5. Click below the choose method section to change between the methods.

6. Choose the login method in the newly opened window.

Please note that the official method is the most reliable and the best working one, but it has the most limitations. Cookie method allows you to set up drip campaigns to essentially share your posts on your stories, while the Login method allows you to add links to the stories.

7. Enter your username and password.

This section is the most essential. Basically, you need to add your username and password for FS Poster’s automated bot to access your profile and share stories on your behalf.

Don’t worry about the security, as everything related to the plugin, all your credentials, data and information will be saved directly in your database with no way of us or any other third-party accessing it.

As an added bonus, you can even use your own proxy for an extra layer of security and bypass certain restrictions applied at different regions of the world. Plus, Instagram may sometimes block bot activity or simply not post certain posts as it is an unofficial method, and proxies are the go-to solution for getting around those problems.

The first time you try logging in with your username and password, you will get a notification saying “Challenge required”.

When this happens, you simply need to navigate to your Instagram account and click the “This was me” option. You don’t need to go to any specific setting because you will see this screen when you first open Instagram.

After clicking “This Was Me”, you simply need to log in again in the FS Poster.

And after that you have successfully added your channel to FS Poster. You can now start scheduling Instagram stories with links.

Here is how you do that.

1. Go into the “Calendar” again and click “Schedule new post”.

2. Then click on the “Choose channels”.

3. Then scroll through your channels and choose the section that has “account_story” written on it.

4. After you clicked on the account and added the “Add” button, you will see a screen that has the post scheduling screen. Here you can see a checkbox “Attach link”.

5. At the opened option, simply add the link you wanted to share.

6. Lastly, choose the time and click schedule or share now alternatively.

And there you have it. Now you know how to schedule Instagram stories with links attached to them.

Why schedule your stories with FS Poster?

FS Poster is a powerful social media scheduling plugin for WordPress that's being used by over 16,000 people.

It has been continuously developed for over 6 years and powers more than 200,000 schedules every month.

With FS Poster, you can not only schedule stories with links, but also add hashtags, share video and image stories, post reels, and even generate your image and captions with AI.

There is no limit to the number of social media channels and posts you can publish and it supports 20+ social media platforms, including Facebook, Twitter, TikTok, LinkedIn, Pinterest, and others.

The best part? You can do it all with just one payment, which gets you a lifetime license.

Interested?

Buy FS Poster now, or learn more about its features.