A marketer’s guide to building brand traffic.
Instagram hasn’t always been a great source of traffic for brands and businesses – in fact it was pretty bad. For years, social marketers have been trying to drive traffic from their social media followings to their actual sites. And on Instagram, the only way they could do that was via a link in their company bio. And mind you, only ONE link was allowed at any given time. So up until late 2017, brands depended on other social media moguls like Facebook and Twitter to direct people from social platforms to somewhere else; until only recently when Instagram finally announced the ability for verified profiles to insert links in their IG Stories.
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Now, this is a major game changer. Social marketers know what a fantastic business opportunity this is to drive traffic, increase sales, generate leads and engage their following whilst increasing their IG’s ROI. With just a simple swipe up, brands can now direct their following directly to the preferred URL of their choice, bringing the user one step closer to conversion!
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1. SWIPE UP TO SIGN UP
For all the lifestyle and beauty brands out there, you have the ability to convert your Instagram following to customers – by engaging them efficiently via EDMs or company newsletters and letting them in on the latest product releases, communications, and special deals! Tease and capture their attention with incentives via your IG story posts and direct them to the “Sign up” call-to-action. It’s as simple as that; swipe up to sign up and watch as your email list starts to boom.
Source: Giphy.com
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2. SWIPE UP TO LEARN MORE
Create a mini-series or use multiple posts to tell a story – a great way to compel your audience into wanting to learn more about your brand or even to find out more about a new product launch. The first story should create interest, this should be followed by stories that build upon that interest and finally, the last one should pack a punch and translate that interest by directing them to a link to your website or product landing page.
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By telling them a gist of the story (or tips, tricks, and product hacks), only viewers who are interested are going to swipe up to learn more. That said, links are there to complement the story and when interested parties are given the opportunity to go further, only then will be a higher conversion rate.
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3. EXPLORE!
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There is no better way to direct your following from your Instagram account to your brand blog or website than to use IG stories as teasers and anticipation build-up. This is especially useful if your blog or website has all the other great and useful information that they might have missed on your Instagram. By having direct links to your blog, your followings are just a click away from exploring more great content that you and your brand have published.
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4. SAVE $$$
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Two words: discount codes. Cues excitement. It’s a tried and proven technique to increase sales and generate more leads for your brand. If swiping up means that they can save on a few dollars, then swipe up they will. Take advantage of this and lead your following directly to your sales page. Better yet, create a sense of urgency by offering it for only a limited time period so they’d rush to act right away.
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5. LET EM’ WIN
Your Instagram story is a great platform to engage your viewers by promoting a contest or an event that gives them a chance to win something or even get stuff for free. Be creative and use bold colours and visuals to entice them to swipe up on the call-to-action button and this will inevitably increase audience engagement and they’ll be sure to come back to you for more.
(Source: Giphy.com)
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6. SWIPE UP TO SHOP
You should already be realizing by now the sheer profitability of this swipe up feature. Direct people to your product landing pages without having them to ever leave the app – a seamless transaction that will garner visitors to your site more frequently.
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7. FOR THE FOODIES
This is especially useful if your business or brand is in the F&B industry. The “Book now” call-to-action can help your viewers make a swifter decision to make a reservation at your establishment. This is a more efficient and easier way to easily swipe up and book a timing at their favourite restaurant or café! We all have the tendency to make last minute appointments amirite? So this convenient tool will come in handy. Sometimes all we need is a nudge at the right moment 😉
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8. STAY RELEVANT WITH MUSIC
Come up with something unique for your brand by integrating the “Listen now” call-to-action button to your swipe up function. If you’re a lifestyle brand that’s looking for new and exciting ways to increase engagement and build brand loyalty, how about create a specially curated Spotify playlist that reflects and showcases your brand’s personality. Plus, it’s a good way to resonate with the millennial audience. Allow them to get to know you on a more personal level, and they might just end up choosing you over your competitors!
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9. INSTAGRAM STORY ADS
Instagram story ads are another way businesses can make use of the swipe-up call-to-action button. Immerse your audience in fruitful content that is both engaging and creative; target audience to the different available call-to-actions be it whether your brand wants more reach, video views, conversion, app installs or brand awareness. McDonald Malaysia is one of the success stories on Instagram we can get inspiration from. Their use of fun storytelling and playful branding was aimed to engage with millennials, raise awareness and increase in-store sales of its McFlurry and McCafé offerings.
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Those are just some of the ways you can utilise the direct link tool on Instagram Stories. But wait… there’s more.
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BONUS CONTENT !!
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I’ll let you in on three cool IG features that Instagram just came out with. Combine these with the methods mentioned above and watch your brand traffic GROW.
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1. @MENTION SHARING
With the new @mention sharing for Stories feature, now you’ll be able to upload and share photos or videos that mention you in their story into your brand’s own IG story. This is a great way to repurpose user-generated content and tag them in it – adding more value to your IG stories.
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When someone mentions your brand in a public story, you can choose to “Add It To Your Story” and add on creative tools like text, stickers, and gifs as well! Way to increase brand engagement for sure. You can even use this function to mention other brands that you’re co-marketing with or even feature a special guest.
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2. SHOPPABLE TAGS
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Instagram recently just extended shoppable tags to IG stories. Your business or brand can use it to tag products in their visuals and videos – making it quicker and easier for consumers to click and purchase the item immediately. Your viewers will then be directed to your the landing page which has all the relevant information such as price and product description.
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3. QUESTIONS STICKER
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Brands can now use interactive FAQ’s stickers in your IG stories. Perfect for community managers to advocate your brand and getting down and dirty with all your following on IG! This new feature allows your tech-savvy consumers to submit any queries on their mind immediately – super fast and efficient. It hasn’t been long since this new feature is out but we think it’d defo be a more effective way to increase brand engagement albeit be ready for the steady stream of questions that are bound to be flowing in which can be quite overwhelming if not prepared properly. But don’t worry – you’ve got this.
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Need help on your brand’s marketing? Reach out to us at hello@alto.sg for a free consultation. We’ll be glad to help you out!
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