Social media marketing is a fruitful avenue for increasing brand awareness and driving sales. However, there’s always the chance that a follower will never step foot in your online store. Links are essential here, providing a seamless transition from your Instagram page to the company website.
There’s a thin line between giving people a nudge in the right direction and turning your account into a massive commercial, though. Let’s check out the best ways to push users to action while delivering authenticity and maintaining brand image.
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Link in Bio is Key
Think of the URL beneath the name and description as the ‘home’ link to your business as a whole. When picking this one, make sure it’s general enough that it stays relevant.
Only direct the viewer to the landing page to find general information, and leave smaller promotions for other posts.
Use the Tools
Business accounts let you link to more than one page in your bio. When a person taps the primary link, they’ll see a pop-up page with several clickable options.
Make the grid design on-brand and include only relevant clickables. You could promote the prominent sales you’re organizing, different website categories, or other social media accounts.
Smart Placement Matters
The URL in your bio is vital to your overall success, but it’s not the only place for effective linking. Other, more targeted link arrangement strategies make it easier for people to check out specific offers, effectively expanding your reach.
In Posts
Instagram doesn’t let you add links in post descriptions, but that doesn’t make these text boxes useless. Include a well-thought-out call to action there and direct your followers to a page where they can learn more.
Make the offer alluring and straightforward, and regular posts can boost website traffic even without URLs.
On Stories
The short-lived Instagram stories are a fantastic place to add swipe-up links for limited-time promotions. You could also pick the posts with relevant links and pin them under the highlights section for easy access even after the initial 24 hours.
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Use Action Buttons
Instagram action buttons are another neat aspect of business profiles on the platform. These are instant clickables on your profile, letting followers:
- Text
- Call
- Start order
- Book or reserve
- Get directions
These serve as an additional natural and to-the-point linking option.
Make sure to leave only buttons that make sense for your brand to avoid unnecessary clutter. For example, the ‘call’ button is unnecessary if you’re promoting a fitness channel, while ‘get directions’ only works for businesses with physical locations.
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Make It Worth Clicking
Finally, you’ll have to ensure that each clickable post is worth a visit to avoid seeming too out-of-touch with your followers. Otherwise, there’s not much point in adding URLs in the first place.
This pitfall is especially common among massive accounts cooperating with third-party posting managers. Having a person who doesn’t regularly communicate with the brand as a whole is the highway to ineffective, counterproductive platform activity.
It’s usually a better idea to employ a third-party scheduling service and use content that you, the person behind the brand, created. As sked social explains, you can visually plan your feed and create posts with worthwhile descriptions and hashtags in a batch. The automated service will do the rest.
While you’re sitting down to come up with future content, the following might be a good source of inspiration:
- Future product launches
- Upcoming sales and discounts
- Competitions and giveaways
- Free product sample offers
- Most popular products
- Blog posts that exploded
- Personal information
Your business plan likely contains plans for such offers months in advance. As long as the moment is right, such posts can do wonders for engagement, especially in combination with your authentic brand voice.
The Bottom Line
In the end, remember that social marketing beats traditional advertising. These platforms are the best way to reach broad, diverse audiences.
Links are your chance to turn followers into clients. Use them strategically. Taking some extra time to determine the ideal placement and wording and explore all the different options Instagram offers is ten times worth the trouble in the long-run.