A frustration Instagram users have had since inception of the platform is the fact you can not share links in any posts. This lack of a feature has also been a charm of this platform. So how are you to promote effectively on Instagram if your links are not live?
There are several options available you could share a QR code as part of the post that links to whatever you are posting. You could also temporarily change your Instagram profile link to the link you are trying to share or you can use a link profile service.
It wasn’t until the need to expand on this subject became obvious that it was evident your ability to have an effective social media link has always been there. You could simply dedicate a webpage on your company website to all of the links and update it when new links are shared. Granted your social media manager would need constant access to your website and in most cases these days a social media manager does not manage the content on the company website because of the dynamic nature of social media and the perceived disparity between website management and social media management.
This disconnect is also how link profile services came to be. One of the early link profile services belongs to Link Tree. Link Tree is an Australian company that describes itself as “a freemium social media reference landing page.” Currently thirteen letter runs the free version of Link Tree on many client pages as an easy one-stop to find all of a clients social media links as well as sign up for their mailing list and in some cases find forms you may require in advance of visiting their business.
Features of their paid service is more in-depth analytics as well as being able to customize how your page looks in perpetuity. Pricing on their membership is so low that larger companies could justify this cost simply for the analytics of customer interactions.
Recently a new landing page service became available through the Unfold Service provided by Squarespace. Unfold started as a nice tool to make some beautiful content you could upload to Instagram/Facebook Stories, Snapchat, TikTok, Byte and Twitter Fleets. Unfold launched this service at the end of 2020.
It was discovered by accident when using Unfold to create some new content. The beauty of the Unfold version is how designable your link becomes. This feature is a part of a one-time paid service unlike the recurring subscription of Link Tree.
You can instantly see the difference between the two services. the key though is to be using a service and the be keeping it up to date. On screen using bio.site is four links and seven social media profiles compared to five links/profiles with Link Tree.
Unfold was queried if the ability to edit more than one profile existed and the response was that it was a feature they are looking to add soon. This is to use the service for your peronsal and business profiles.
Imagine the power you can unleash in your Instagram posts if users can click on what you want to share? Imagine how you can grow your personal brand with either of these tools?
Keep this in mind with your social media management. Sharing effective links means expanding the brand, and expanding the reach of what can be done. Tools like Link Tree and Bio Site from Unfold are very effective but so could QR codes to the link or a dedicated page on your website as well.
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