How to Make the Instagram Link Work for You

Instagram's link-in-bio policy is one of the most complex of any social media platform. And, to be honest, it's a policy that drives a lot of businesses crazy. But now there's a way to use that Instagram link to your advantage.

I don't mean just creating a list of links. There are plenty of tools that can help you do that – some far more complicated than they need to be and most of them frustrating to your audience (I mean, who wants to have to go be told to go to your bio, then go hunting for the right link?).

I'm talking about using your Instagram link to offer your audience a smooth experience that takes them exactly where you want them to go:

• Signing up for your email offers
• Buying your products or services
• Reading your blog posts

All without having to leave Instagram, open up other apps, or go hunting. to find the right image.

An Easy Way to Lose a Client is to Send them on a Hunt

Don't get me wrong: I love Instagram's one-link-to-rule-them-all policy. I really do. I think this policy has helped keep Instagram from turning into a huge spamfest and it has forced marketers from every industry and niche to get more creative about how they share their products and opportunities.

Where the problem comes in is when a client wants to go click on that link to learn more. That's where it can get tricky. Where do you point that link to?

• How about your blog? Okay, but then people still have to hunt to find a specific post when they get to your blog, or you have to constantly change out the link to go to the specific blog post you want to promote or talk about that day.
• To your mailing list? Okay, but is that all you're ever going to talk about? What if you want to talk about a book, product, or service you're offering? Most people will want to go straight to that offer rather than a mailing list.
• To another social channel? Okay, but which one?
• A landing page that shows a list of all your links? Up to this point, this has pretty much been the best option as it allows you to provide several links on one page. But it still forces your audience to hunt for the link they want, takes them away from Instagram, and it's just clunky.

And this is all if you can even get people to go from viewing your post to checking out your profile to clicking on your link… No easy feat right there.

In fact, Owen Video and Scott Ayres of the Social Media Lab over at AgoraPulse have done quite a few studies on the whole “link in bio” phenomenon on Instagram and whether or not you can effectively drive traffic from your post to your profile and out to your final destination. And every study has been about the same: sending your audience on a hunt for your Instagram link is not an effective way to use that link.

Not to mention the fact that trying to do so lowers your reach and overall engagement on Instagram.

However, having a shoppable feed has proven to be very effective. In fact, businesses that have implemented a shoppable feed have seen a 1416% increase in Instagram traffic and a 20% increase in Instagram revenue.

What does that tell you?

People don't want to have to leave Instagram to take advantage of your offers.

They want to be able to do everything without leaving the app.

And this is where Taplink really sets itself apart from other services and tools designed to help you take care of that whole “link in bio” problem.

Taplink Turns your Instagram Link into an Interactive Experience without Sending People Away from Instagram.

The first instinct is to compare Taplink to a service like Linktree. And I understand why. Linktree was one of the first services available that allowed you to curate your links into a mobile landing page that could be brandable and used as your Instagram link.

And Taplink, on the surface, offers a lot of that same functionality.

However, the developers at Taplink recently invited me to check out their tool and test some of their features, and I've got to tell you, Taplink is far more than a link curating tool.

Taplink helps you build out a real mobile landing page that will integrate with your services without sending anyone off Instagram.

How to Get Started with Taplink

Getting started with Taplink is really easy – which is good because not everyone wants to spend hours and hours trying to build out a mobile site.

Just head on over to Taplink and sign up for a free account. You'll then be brought to a screen with a blank rendering of what your landing page will look like:

So far, not very different from a screenshot you might see any just about any other Instagram link service tool, right?

However, click on that button that reads “Add new block” and you'll see the big deal:

Yep! That's right!

Instead of adding in a link to a form, you can add in the form. Instead of adding in a link to a store to checkout, you can accept payments right there.

• Messenger link
• Images and videos
• Google Maps
• Full landing page
• Countdown timer for urgency
• Social links

Anything you want. All right there at your fingertips in drag-and-drop fashion.

It couldn't get easier.

And each block is fully customizable. For example, let's go ahead and add in a social networks block. You can, of course, start by choosing which networks you wish to show:

But it also goes further than that.

As you can see, you can adjust the display however you like – even set it up to show on a particular schedule:

And if you click on the Add-ons link, you'll notice you can also include tracking and insights from Google Analytics to help you measure and evaluate your marketing efforts:

Integrating Google Analytics to Taplink

To activate the Google Analytics Add-on, you'll need to get the tracking code from Google Analytics.

To do that, first log into your Google Analytics account and add a new property.

You could just use the same property you use for your website, but by setting up a new property you will be able to track your audience and how they interact with your Taplink page much more efficiently.

You'll find the website URL on your Taplink profile:

Once you've created the property, you'll want to take the tracking code provided by Google Analytics. Highlight the code and copy it to your clipboard:

Then head back over to Taplink and paste the code into the appropriate spot:

Once that's done, you'll be able to track how your audience interacts with your landing page. With Google Analytics, you can track which links they click on, how far down the page they scroll, whether or not they're reading everything, and more.

By integrating Google Analytics, you will know exactly which parts of this new landing page are working and which ones aren't. You can then make changes or adjustments as needed and maximize a return on your effort.

Integrating with MailChimp is a breeze too.

Same as before, activate the MailChimp Add-on. Then log into your MailChimp account and grab your API key.

Once that is set up, you can add a new Form Block to your page, set up your fields, and add in the MailChimp integration to make sure your audience is directed to the right list.

You can even have the form redirect to a unique URL, tripwire, offer, or other landing page after they've filled it out.

And, of course, if you are going to include a form on your page, then you will need some way to include legal information such as authorization for consent, privacy policies, terms and conditions, and any other documents that you might need to stay compliant.

Legal Information is another Add-on available to paid accounts. Once you've activated the Add-on, fill out the information that you want to include in the link below your form:

Surrounding the relevant words with the pound sign will highlight that phrase as a link in the live view on Instagram:

And if someone taps on that link to view your terms and conditions or privacy policy, your legal information text will pop up for them, making it nice and easy for them to read and close so they can get back to you.

You can even integrate your payment gateway (I use PayPal, but there are others available) to accept payments right there in Instagram:

Now, I have to be honest here: I set up the PayPal integration so I could check out how hard it was to do (it's not hard) but I have not yet actually set up my page to take payments.

However, now that I know how easy it is, I fully plan on getting things set up so that people can purchase some of my ManyChat templates or maybe even some of my courses right there through Instagram.

And, of course, you can add in your individual links as well:

Which is good, seeing as how this is kind of the whole point of these link services.

As you can see in the screenshot above, you can link to just about anything you like: products, landing pages, sending an email. You can even use it to allow people to call you, or use it to bring people over to your Facebook Messenger and opt-into your messenger bot.

The limits really are endless.

Applying your Branding Elements to Taplink

As you could probably tell in the first live screenshot above, my landing page on Instagram does not look like the generic landing page that I showed earlier in this post. That's because Taplink also allows you to apply your branding, such as colors, to ensure that your landing page looks like a part of your network.

You can start by choosing a pre-built theme you like (and there are several to choose from):

You can then go in and adjust the theme, add in your own branding colors. You can even upload and use a background photo if you like.

You can also attach Taplink to a custom domain, to help your branding stand out even more:

Is There Anything I don't Like about Taplink?

I have to tell you, it was hard to find something about Taplink that I didn't like. It really does seem to have it all. But there are still a few things that will, hopefully, improve with time:

• Integrating with more Email Marketing Service Providers. Right now, they integrate with MailChimp, which is good but somewhat limited. I would really like to see them integrate with some of the other, more popular email providers such as ConvertKit, MailPoet, and GetResponse.
• Only one “Legal Information” set up. Although the Legal Information block setting is amazing, I would really like to be able to have more than one. For example, my Terms and Conditions block could be shown below my ManyChat templates for sale, but wouldn't need to be shown for the newsletter opt-in. Right now, I have to include all that information in one block.

All in all, Taplink is the Solution to the One Instagram Link

Taplink allows you to do exactly what Instagram's one-link-to-rule-them-all policy was meant to do: enhance the audience experience when interacting with your brand.

And without needing to send people away from Instagram for most things.

With Taplink, you can build a completely unique landing page that will help your audience find exactly what they're looking for without having to hunt or swipe for it. You can leverage the power of a single call to action, take advantage of impulsive buying habits, or still drive traffic to your blog posts as needed.

Did you enjoy this article? Here are some more posts about Instagram Marketing you may like:

• Writers need to Avoid these 10 Instagram Mistakes
• How to Make the Instagram Link Work for You
• How to Find Great Hashtags to Market your Freelance Writing Business on Instagram
• The One Thing Freelance Writers Using Instagram Need to Stop Doing