Instagram is the platform of choice for a lot of small businesses. Instagram doesn’t allow you to share links. The only spot for links is on your profile. Since most of us have to share external links, there are a few common workarounds and new services popped up to help you get more out of your “link in bio”.
How do you get around the link limitations?
You can’t share links on Instagram. So, you shouldn’t try to share links on Instagram.
This policy keeps the platform on point and uncluttered. Instagram has been built out into an entertainment platform for sharing photos, videos, and trendy content. Other platforms—like Facebook and Twitter—are built for sharing links (among other things).
The best practice is to use the platforms as they’re intended. You’re more likely to serve your audience well when you consider these types of differences.
Nonetheless, people try to work around the rule. By doing things like …
Sharing links in captions or comments
They post links in comments or captions. As you prepare your post, you include a link in the copy. Links can not be copied/pasted, tapped, nor clicked in captions or comments. So, how many people will take the time to manually type out a web address they find in an Instagram comment? I’ll make this easy: none.
Finding links they can’t tap or click only frustrates your most engaged users. They want to click, tap, or copy, but they can’t.
Some folks also simply try …
Frequently updating the link in bio
Yes, some people can simply change their profile link every so often. Another way around this is to change your bio link to line up with your most recent post. As new posts go up, you update the link to match the new content.
For many users, this creates a new problem—older posts end up pointing users to a link that is no longer the right link. Attentive creators will update their posts to reflect the changes, but this takes consistent effort.
Third-party link in bio services
Services like LinkTree allow you to create a link page, share it in your bio, and update it with all the links you need active at any given time. This serves your audience by always helping them find what they need. If you don’t have a website, this is the best option for you.
If you do have a website, you can create your own links page. Who wants yet another login and platform to worry about, eh?
One link in bio to rule them all
You can best harness the power of the link in bio (and the #LinkInBio hashtag) by using your own website. This helps drive traffic to your website (the ultimate digital marketing goal) instead of third-party services.
Here’s how:
- Create a page on your website with a logical name, like InstaLinks, to use as a list of your recent links (Just a bunch of buttons in a row is a good start)
- Change the link in your Instagram bio to your Instalinks page URL
- On posts, refer people to your InstaLinks page using the hashtag #LinkInBio
It’s that simple!
You can choose what works best for your audience, but we recommend cycling the old links out on a monthly basis. Check out April Stroink, Money Coach for an example of an Instalinks page.