- Welcome to The Journey.
Today, we're going to talk about how to use Instagram
to drive website traffic.
In the time where content strategy is key,
it's not enough to have an engaged Instagram
following who only like and comment
with heart emojis on your posts.
You need to start using Instagram to drive traffic
from the social platform to your website
if you want to move your audience
from interested followers to paying customers.
- And then we're going to show you the value
of having an Instagram account for your business
and give you some steps you can take
to best use it to your advantage.
But before we do, let's talk about why Instagram
is important for your marketing strategy.
Nowadays, if you're a small business,
do you not only need to have a website
but also a presence on relevant social media platforms.
Instagram, in particular, has become the social platform
of choice for millennials and some older Gen-Zers.
- In addition to using Instagram
to upload pics of their daily activities,
people also use Instagram as a new form of search engine
because so many people are on Instagram,
1 billion monthly active users to be precise,
having an account just for your business
is a solid way to acquire customers and attract attention.
Again, just gaining followers shouldn't be the end goal.
Driving audiences from your Instagram account
over to your website so you can convert followers
into leads and customers is the real achievement.
- So yeah, let's talk about the tips
for driving traffic from Instagram.
Link your site in your bio is our first tip here,
and it's kind of a no brainer.
If you're only going to do one thing, do this.
There's that one thing that makes it difficult
to use Instagram to drive traffic to your website,
and that is that there isn't an option
to include clickable links within your
post captions or comments.
However, you can add one primary clickable link in your bio.
So make sure to make this a call
to action as something like
click below to grab my free ebook,
or whatever is relevant to your reason
to send them to that link.
- So if you have a lengthy URL, avoid long ugly links
by shortening your URL with Bitly.
Plus if you sign up for an account,
there's a free option, don't worry,
you'll be able to track how many clicks that link
has received, which is super helpful knowledge to have.
And if you have multiple links to promote, awesome!
You can use a tool like Link Tree or Link.Bio,
or if you're savvy enough, create your own mobile links
landing page on your website.
- And one thing you'll want to avoid is linking
to pages that have poor mobile experiences.
So Instagram is primarily a mobile first platform.
And while you can view it on a desktop,
most users access Instagram
via their phone, the mobile app.
So keep that in mind when you link out to content.
- Yeah, and direct users to your bio link
in your captions and in your comments.
So don't expect audiences to visit your bio links
all on their own.
Once you have a link system set up in your bio,
start driving audiences to that link in your content
and sell them on taking action by sharing
what value or benefit they will get
by going over to click your link.
- And for those lucky few that are super popular
on Instagram, you can add links
to your Instagram stories, that swipe up feature.
So while you can't link in post content, you can link
in your story content if you have over 10,000 followers.
And if you don't, it's kind of a good goal to have
to kind of reach to while you're posting along.
But now, if you have that large following,
this is a great way to seed links in your content
and use Instagram to drive traffic to your website.
- However, if you don't have enough followers
to include a link in your story,
you can tell users to message you for the link.
And it's easy for users to direct message,
DM you, from a story.
So ask them to DM you and send back the link
for an easy sharing system.
- Our next way is to link to products
using Instagram Shopping, and this is a newish feature,
similar to tagging a friend in a photo,
but you're tagging your products, instead.
And if you haven't heard about this
and you're selling stuff with your store,
your website, or even Instagram itself, start using this.
But Instagram Shopping turns your post and page
into a storefront where users can click on your posts,
see prizes, and be directed to your website
to make a purchase.
- This is a smart way to do things,
drive traffic, and initiate sales.
And to use Instagram Shopping, first off, make sure
that you have a business account, that's the key
and that you are in one of the supported markets.
And then create a business manager account
and a Facebook catalog.
And there you can link to products in your posts.
Let audiences know that they can shop
on your post by mentioning it
in your caption and including a CTA to click to shop.
- You can also include product stickers
in your Instagram stories that lead users to your products.
And you can also sell directly to users on Instagram.
Decide what is the best for your business:
selling directly on Instagram
or driving traffic to your website to sell there.
Both options are definitely viable,
just which one's better for your business?
- Yeah and consider running Instagram ads
and working with influencers.
From boosting posts to setting up campaigns
to promote stories or posts, test a few
paid ads to grow your following
and see what engages your audience.
And working with other accounts who already have
a lot of followers and or a similar target audience,
it'll add more of a human element to your marketing efforts.
And you can find ways to work with them
from free partnerships,
yes, free (chuckles)
where you share each other's content to paid promotions
where the influencer promotes your content or brand.
I actually, one of my favorite local surf brands,
they do a great job of this, of reaching out
to the surfers that are tagging their brand,
their boards, in their Instagram posts,
and then reach out, hey, you know,
next time you're out catching waves,
we'd love it if you would tag our brand
Degree 33 Surfboards,
and then we'll repost you.
I bet they send them some swag, too.
- Yeah and how you can see why it's so important
for your brand to be on Instagram.
Not only does it help build brand awareness
and engage your community,
it can also help you drive valuable website traffic.
So leverage these tips to use Instagram
to drive traffic to your website.
- That's a wrap.
You just learned how to use Instagram
to drive website traffic.
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This is The Journey, we'll see you next time.