Get booked from Instagram
without living in your messages.

How do you get booked from Instagram?

Put one booking link at the top of your Instagram bio, to a page where people see your treatments, prices and free times, then book and pay any deposit without messaging you. Point to it from your stories with a link sticker, and keep your prices and how to book in your highlights. Instagram’s Book now button only connects to booking systems on its partner list, and Covered Beauty, which we make, isn’t one of them. With us, the bio link does that job, and you get a booking page and a story picture to post the day you sign up, from £9 a month.

Why does a booking link beat booking by message?

Booking by message usually goes like this. Someone asks how much a full set is. You reply between clients. They ask about Saturday. You offer two times, and by the time they answer, one has gone. Nothing is held, and it’s ten at night.

A booking page answers what those messages are really asking: what it costs, when you’re free and how to secure it. Clients book in their own time, and you find it in your diary with the deposit paid.

Where does your booking link go on Instagram?

Four places: your bio, your stories, your highlights and your replies to messages. Instagram’s Book now button is a fifth for some booking systems, not ours.

Your bio links

Instagram’s help centre says you can add up to five websites to your profile, and anyone, on or off Instagram, can see them. Tap Edit profile, then Links, then Add external link, and paste your booking link. Then put it first: in Links, tap Options, then Reorder links. Your bio can be up to 150 characters, so spend a few saying what to do, like “Book online below, a deposit secures your slot”.

Sources: Instagram’s help centre, Add a website to your Instagram profile and Add a bio to your Instagram profile, checked 24 October 2026.

Link stickers in your stories

When you share a story, tap Stickers at the top and choose the link sticker. Instagram says you enter the web address, can tap See preview to check it, and anyone who can see your story can tap it to visit the link. Not every sticker is available to everyone, so update the app if it’s missing. Stories disappear after 24 hours unless you add them to a highlight, so use link stories for things that won’t wait, like a gap tomorrow.

Sources: Instagram’s help centre, Using stickers on Instagram and How long Instagram stories remain visible, checked 24 October 2026.

Highlights that answer the usual questions

Highlights keep stories on your profile until you take them off, and anyone allowed to see your stories can see them. On your profile, tap New (or Story highlight), choose the stories, then pick a cover and a name. A Prices highlight and a Book highlight answer what people would otherwise message to ask.

Source: Instagram’s help centre, Add a story to your Story Highlights, checked 24 October 2026.

Instagram’s Book now button

A business account can show one action button on its profile, and Book now is the one for appointments. Instagram’s help centre says you need an account with one of its partners to use it, and that the feature is being introduced gradually. It’s in Edit profile, under Action buttons, where you connect it to an online service or add a lead form to gather contact details.

Its list of Book now partners includes Fresha, Booksy, Treatwell, Timely (listed as Gettimely), Vagaro, Acuity Scheduling, Appointments by Square, Setmore and SumUp. Covered Beauty isn’t one of them, so the Book now button won’t connect to a Covered Beauty page. A lead form gets you someone’s details, which is another conversation rather than a booking. With us, the link at the top of your bio does the job.

If that button matters most, the systems on Instagram’s list can give you one, and the best salon booking software in the UK compares several. Moving to us from one? Remove the old button under Action buttons, then Current button, and put your new link first.

Sources: Instagram’s help centre, About action buttons for Instagram Business profiles, Add an action button to your Instagram business account, About action button partners on Instagram and Remove action buttons from your business profile, checked 24 October 2026.

Your messages, for people who still send one

Some people will always message. On a business or creator account, you can set up to four frequently asked questions that show when someone starts a message to you, each with an optional automatic reply. In Messages, open Tools, then Frequently asked questions, and turn on Show questions. “How do I book?”, answered with where your bio link is, is a good first one. Instagram says these messages land in your requests, so check there too.

Still on a personal account? Instagram says business accounts suit service providers, and switching a private account makes it public.

Sources: Instagram’s help centre, Frequently asked questions on Instagram Chats and Set up a professional Instagram account, checked 24 October 2026.

What makes a follower actually book?

Your link gets someone to your page. What they find there decides whether they book.

• Prices they can see. If they have to ask what it costs, they message. Your booking page shows each treatment’s price and how long it takes, and our free price list maker turns your prices into a picture for stories and highlights.
• Times they can see. Each treatment on your booking page shows the next time you’re free for it, like “Next: Thu 09:00”, and clients pick from your real free times. When a day is full, they can join the waiting list.
• A deposit that holds the slot. Choose a deposit for each treatment: a fixed amount, a percentage or none. Clients pay by card when they book, straight into your own Stripe account. Our cancellation policy writer puts your rules in plain English, free.
• Nothing to sign up for. Clients book without making an account, and get a confirmation email, then reminders 3 days, 1 day and 2 hours before.
• Your work on the page. Add your logo, photos and colours, so it feels like the profile they’ve just come from.

How do you set it up with Covered Beauty?

1. Put your treatments on. Paste the price list you already have, from Instagram, your notes or an old booking page, and it becomes your menu, ready to check. Made one on the price list maker? Press Turn this into your booking page and it comes with you. Or ask us to set it up, and we’ll put your treatments and opening hours on for you.
2. Set your hours and your deposit, so the times on your page are the times you work.
3. Copy your link. Straight after the welcome screen you’ll see your booking page, with a Copy link for your Instagram bio button. It’s your own address, like yourname.beauty.covered.technology, or your own web address on the Salon plan. Want a different one? Change Booking page address in Settings before you share it, as old links won’t follow.
4. Post your story picture. On the same screen, Download story image gives you a picture sized for stories, with your name, your cover photo if you’ve added one, “You can now book online” and your booking address. Post it with a link sticker on top, and add it to a highlight. On an iPhone it goes to your Files app first: open it, tap Share, then Save Image.
5. Spotlight a treatment. Share booking page in your dashboard makes a spotlight picture of one treatment, with its price and how long it takes, and has a direct link to each treatment for the sticker.
6. Tell your regulars. The same page has messages ready to copy into a direct message or WhatsApp.
7. Link back. Add your Instagram name in Settings, and your booking page links to your profile.

What should you post so people use the link?

• Your gaps, like “two left on Friday”, with a link sticker.
• One treatment at a time, with its spotlight picture and a link straight to it.
• Your prices now and then for people who’ve just found you, and in a highlight for good.
• Your deposit and cancellation rules in plain words, so nobody’s surprised.

Moving from another system? Read our guides to moving from Fresha, moving from Booksy, moving from Treatwell or moving from Timely.

When isn’t Covered Beauty the right choice?

• You must have Instagram’s Book now button on your profile.
• You want a marketplace to find you new clients, rather than a booking page for the ones you find yourself.
• Your team is bigger than five.
• You’re outside the UK.

If none of those apply, it’s worth a free week, with no card needed to start.

Sources

Instagram’s help centre, read on 24 October 2026, with the iPhone steps where they differ. Its own words about its own app.

• Add a website to your Instagram profile
• Add a bio to your Instagram profile
• Using stickers on Instagram
• How long Instagram stories remain visible
• Add a story to your Story Highlights
• About action buttons for Instagram Business profiles
• About action button partners on Instagram
• Add an action button to your Instagram business account
• Remove action buttons from your business profile
• Frequently asked questions on Instagram Chats
• Set up a professional Instagram account