8 Easy Ways to Share Your Product/Service Links on Instagram
Instagram is a great platform for building your brand, generating awareness and fostering a community.
However, to really get the most out of your Instagram presence, you will eventually have to redirect your audience to a link or a landing page where they can take actions that will drive them further into your marketing funnel – claiming a free offer, subscribing to a newsletter or buying one of your products.
Today, we are going to talk about several different ways in which you can embed your links into your Instagram content and profile.
1. Adding links to your bio
This is the quickest and easiest way to share a link. The bio section is the only place on Instagram where everyone is allowed to embed a link.
This is your home or main clickable link. While your other link embeds might be for more specific purposes, this link is what people are going to see first when they look at your profile.
You can go several different ways with this link – the landing page for your ecommerce store, a newsletter signup link or just the homepage for your mobile website.
2. Using a link service to embed multiple links and products
Link services were very popular when Instagram first came out. They gradually faded away but with new features and capabilities, they are back in a big way.
Link services are great when you want to use a link that then opens up a landing page that includes several different clickable buttons.
For example, you might want to use a link service to create a landing page that allows people to browse different types of apparel you have – fitness, casual, office wear etc.
3. Using captions to share links or include landing page directions
You can’t embed links directly into the captions of your content, but you can still use them to tell users which link to go to.
You can use something like Bit.ly to create a short, memorable URL that you can tell people to type into their browser.
Whichever URL you choose, make sure that you include clear, unambiguous descriptions on how to get there for your users.
4. Adding swipe-up links on your Stories
Swipe-up links are only available for selected profiles (over 10,000 followers). But if you’re one of these profiles, they are a great way to share content that is timely or urgent. For example, you might have a limited offer, sale, discount or giveaway that you want to let your followers know about.
Or, you might want to send them to a page where they can enroll for an upcoming webinar or livestream that you have.
When you’re adding a link, make the call-to-action clear and visible with stickers and GIFs.
5. Creating links in your Shoppable posts
Shoppable posts are a great new way for creators and brands to share links to their products. Each shopping tag you add to a post can link back to one product.
To create shopping tags, you will have to build a product catalog on Facebook complete with prices, descriptions and links.
Your Instagram Insights will allow you to see how your individual shopping posts are doing.
6. Promoting posts to add links and action buttons
If you have a business profile, you can promote individual posts and stories. This allows you to target a specific audience as well as ad clickable links to the captions.
You need to make sure your links are completely relevant to the post or story in question to give yourself the best chance of making a sale. Think about the type of action you want users to take after they view your post – are you looking to educate them, get them to subscribe to your email newsletter or encouraging them to make a purchase?
7. Using direct messages to share links
Very few brands utilize Direct Messages on Instagram to their fullest potential. Your inbox is a fantastic place for fostering connections, answering questions and reaching out to potential partners.
Whenever possible, communicate directly with your customers. The time you take crafting a personalized message can pay for itself several times over if the person you reach out to becomes a loyal advocate for your brand.
You can also use Quick Replies to load up a few pre-scripted messages that you can drop into your direct message conversations.
8. Using IGTV descriptions to share links
Video content is huge on Instagram, and IGTV is a major focus for the company. As a result, the link capabilities on IGTV are a little more relaxed.
IGTV allows you to share clickable links in the captions of your content. To see the full caption, users have to click on the arrow next to the post.
If you’re including a clickable link, mention it in your video and encourage users to click on it.
We’ve talked about a lot of different ways to share links on Instagram, but it bears repeating that you have to keep the customer experience in mind at all times. If the links you drive people to aren’t engaging or interesting enough, eventually they will stop clicking on any buttons and URLs you want to send them to.
We hope this discussion helps you share the right links for your audience so you can continue to build your brand on Instagram.