Avoid this app if you want more website traffic
When you’re working on a content strategy for your business, one of the main goals of sharing your content on social media is to get eyeballs back on your website to increase their overall brand awareness of you and what you offer.
While we all wish this was as simple and easy as hitting one of those ‘Easy’ buttons staples used to have (remember those?!)—sadly there’s a little effort required.
If you’ve been following for a while, you know that 80% of your content should be educational and entertaining and 20% should be directing your traffic somewhere with a call to action. On platforms like Facebook that allow you to share a link, that’s pretty easy, but what about Instagram where you only get one link for your profile?
Marketing with links on Instagram
On Instagram, unless you have over 10k followers you only have one place to link out of Instagram, and that’s in your bio.
If you’re like most businesses, you might have used an app like Linktree or Campsite.bio to make it so people can click a link and go to your available links.
If you’ve never heard of this, using a Link app means signing up with your Instagram profile with existing programs like Link.Tree and Campsite.bio that gives you the option to create a simple page with a list of links—some that even offer link click tracking for free.
They offer paid versions, of course, that include additional perks so you can customize your link page to look like your brand and even include your logo on them. There are a few available that make a great option for people who don’t have a website of their own.
That’s right, as great as they are, if you have a website—you shouldn’t be using one for your Instagram profile.
Link App or Custom Page On Your Website?
When a follower clicks on the link in your bio with an app in place, they are then taken to a webpage hosted by Linktree or Campsite with multiple clickable options, so your 1 link on Instagram now gives access to multiple options. So when you say Link in bio, it doesn’t simply link to one thing, and you no longer need to remember to change the link whenever you post.
While ‘Link in bio’ apps make it easy to create a custom page that includes links you commonly reference in your posts, it does something you should avoid at all costs when distributing content online.
It takes your user away from your content.
Here are a few cons to using a ‘link in bio’ app:
Apps send traffic to their site, not yours. They have to take an extra step to get to your website.
With Linktree your follower will have to click at least twice to get to your website and the content that you want them to view, which may turn them off as it’s too many steps.
If they don't click on any of your Linktree links or the button they click doesn't lead them to your website, then you are missing out on traffic that could help your overall SEO and help you be found by new potential customers.
You only have so much brand control. The buttons probably don’t match your site and brand.
If you use the free plan it doesn’t allow you to customize your landing page to your brand and it even includes the app logo instead of yours. So, that builds their brand awareness, not yours.
And finally, you might end up over-offering. Imagine that you post regularly and have a lot of different things you talk about. So your audience loves your content and heads over to click the link in your bio and, suddenly, they’re confronted with 10+ different links!
Do you think they’ll take the time to suss out which one is the right link? No way, in most cases, they’re closing that page and leaving.
If not an app, then what?
So, what exactly should you do if using Linktree isn’t the best option? Create a landing page on your website!
Here is my example: https://www.kasocialmedia.ca/links
Having your links directly on your website means that’ll be the first impression someone will have of your company. It takes them directly to your website and gives you the option to put additional options right on the link page (like the newsletter option being built into my own page)
It also means that your website will be part of the link on your bio instead of having the website of another company represented on your profile.
Having your website URL in your bio allows potential clients to get familiar with it and remember it, which increases the odds that they'll voluntarily visit it in the future.
From my content manager, Crystal Picard, who updated my website:
“Creating a link page on your website doesn’t have to be complicated. No need to create something extra for it, just create a new page and add no more than 6 buttons for content you use regularly for promotion on Instagram. The most important thing is taking your audience directly to your website so they have the option to click on options in your main navigation.
I like to keep my link pages off the navigation of the websites we build. I also take steps to hide these pages from google, but you don’t have to go that far. Just remember that you want to make it as easy as possible to get traffic to your website so users are coming from a profile you own to a website you own.”
Be strategic with your 1 link
Since you only have 1 option for a URL on Instagram, my recommendation is to make it as powerful as possible!
Want people to sign up for your newsletter? Have a button for it. Have a private group on Facebook? Have a button for it too! Want people to read your blog? Make it clickable. Want to fill your online program? —You get my point!
Having more than one clickable item is key to success! Having it attached to your own website where someone could discover other things that you do, buy from you or simply learn more about you? I think that’s a no-brainer!
So if you have less than 10,000 followers which means you don’t have a swipe up and you want to promote more than one URL, this is a workaround that I think all businesses and brands should be implementing!
Have questions? Book your 1-on-1! Currently booking for September 2021.