With its policy change to allow business accounts, the wildly popular Instagram platform is sure to become even more widely used. Brands can use the tool to engage with their target audience by sharing images and videos alike.
Of course, earning engagement on Instagram is only part one of this process.
The ultimate test of a great Instagram post as part of a social media management effort is its ability to drive traffic to your website and landing pages. In today’s article, I share with you four strategies will help you achieve that directive. However, before we dive into that, let’s take a look at the benefits first.
The Benefits of Using Instagram to Drive Traffic to Your Website
You may wonder if all of this is worth the effort. It certainly is. Here are just a few benefits:
- The more traffic you send to your website from any source will boost your SEO efforts. Your social media posts on Instagram and elsewhere also impact SEO by causing search engines to gather data from those sites and increase your rankings.
- Posting compelling content on social media also improves customer service. It’s another channel for your customers to engage with your brand, and for them to learn more about your products and services, even receiving immediate answers through messaging
- You’ll gain a better understanding of your audience through analytics. You’ll know which posts are earning traffic, and which ones are not generating the attention you want.
- Your audience will trust your brand more. Your social media marketing will lead to more brand loyalty and engagement.
The tips below will help you reap these benefits as well as directing traffic to your website, blog, and landing pages.
#1 Create a detailed bio
Your Instagram bio is the social media equivalent of your business card.
Fill it out completely. Include loads of relevant and interesting information. Most importantly, link to your business website in your bio. Then, pass it along to people by linking to it in your Instagram posts. Followers who are interested can click into your bio to learn more, then continue on to your website.
It’s worth the time and effort to make your bio compelling. Here are some tips:
- Choose a great photo that really reflects your brand. If you are the face of your brand, use a recent, professionally taken photo. Otherwise pick a flagship product, logo, or another representative image.
- Use spacing to make your bio easy to read. Think of mobile users who will be reviewing your information.
- Add branded hashtags to your bio. People will be encouraged to include your hashtag when sharing your content.
- Include a call to action that encourages followers to visit your website.
- Write your bio using a brand-aware voice. It should reflect your brand’s attitude and personality.
- Use emojis if it’s appropriate to your branding. It makes your business seem friendlier and more accessible.
- Add a link to your website! It’s the only clickable link that Instagram will let you have!
#2 Develop a well-planned ad campaign
Native may not be enough to generate the traffic you want. It may be time to create an ad campaign that is designed to bring traffic and conversions. You can do this by designing an imaginative Instagram Ad campaign that gets your followers to click to learn more about your products.
Instagram ads can contain an image, video, or a collection of images. They are created and managed through Facebook. They own the Instagram platform. This is good news because Instagram ads are targeted to just the right audience members by using demographic data that Facebook has collected. That makes it more likely for the right people to see your ads.
Costs are pretty reasonable as well. The average cost per click or impression is between 70 and 80 cents. When you create your ad, you’ll be able to select a goal for that ad. Later, you will be able to look over the data collected for your ad to see how effective your efforts were.
#3 Use tagging
Instagram has created a feature that allows businesses to tag their products in the posts that they create on Instagram. People viewing your posts can click on those products. They will then see a brief description. From there they can click on the website to learn more.
If you can get approved for shoppable posts, you can encourage people to purchase your products directly from your website. While this doesn’t technically boost traffic, it certainly helps you reach your goal of converting customers. To make this happen, you have to first obtain approval from Instagram.
Then, you’ll need to have a product catalog that is associated with your Instagram profile. Shopify and other platforms allow this. You can also create a product catalog through Facebook. Once this is done, customers will be able to simply ‘buy now’ to purchase the products you have tagged.
Just be aware of Instagram’s policies here. First, you can’t use tagging to sell certain products. This includes weapons, cars, currency, tobacco products, etc.
Finally, you can work with influencers to make your shoppable posts even more engaging. For example, you can create a post with a local celebrity wearing your tagged products. Then, you can tag the influencer themselves in the caption.
This provides your audience with a bit of social proof and serves to make your post more engaging.
#4 Implement swipe up or see more
The swipe-up feature that’s available in Instagram Stories can be an absolute gift if your goal is to drive traffic to your website and boost conversions effectively. Currently, you can only use the swipe up feature if you have a business account with more than 10K followers. It’s also available for verified accounts.
If you want to share products and provide followers with a quick and easy way to access them, this is perfect.
It’s relatively easy to use this feature once you’ve gotten the okay. You start by simply going through the steps to create an Instagram story. Then, tap on the chain link icon.
There, you can enter the URL of your website, blog, or landing page.
To increase the chance that people will go to your website, add a call to action to your Instagram story.
This article was contributed by Daniela McVicker.
