How to Drive More Website Traffic with Instagram

Instagram is one of the most impressionable social media platforms, with a potential to 2x or even 3x the traffic to your website.

There are multiple features on Instagram that can direct your audience to the website and convert them into paying customers. It’s a very cost-effective option to target potential customers and convert them.

In this article, we’re going to explore some strategies to scale your Instagram profile and drive more traffic to your website.

5 proven strategies to drive more traffic to your website with Instagram

It’s true that Instagram is not very keen on allowing users to go on off-platform links. However, there are plenty of ways to work around it and ensure you send your audience to the website, thus increasing traffic and the chances of a higher conversion rate.

Let’s check out these strategies:

1. CTA, and link in bio

One of the most common and direct ways to direct your audience to the website is to include a link in your bio. Instagram allows users to include a clickable link in the bio, through which you can send your audience anywhere. This can be a landing page to capture their email address, your company website, or YouTube channel.

Ideally, use a tool like Linktree to have a landing page with multiple clickable links. This would act as a single link in the bio, but when users click on it, they’ll reach a bridge page with plenty of link options to choose from and navigate wherever they want.

However, if you want to direct them to the website only, then include fewer links, so they don’t get confused and bounce off. Mirror the look and feel of your Instagram profile on this bridge page for visual consistency.

A great way to almost double the number of clicks on this link is to include a call to action just above the link. It can simply be, ‘Visit our website to learn more about us’ or ‘Download your free copy of XYZ here.’ This will pique curiosity and intrigue the reader into clicking on the link.

Lastly, to track this link’s analytics, measure efficiency, and see the Click Through Rate (CTR), use a link shortener like Bitly. It’ll give you a dashboard to see user behavior and the effectiveness of your links.

2. Use the swipe up link in stories (if you have over 10,000 followers)

A direct way to send your followers to your website is to include a link in your stories. You can use a verbal CTA to help them navigate or include a text which says, ‘Swipe up to know more.’

You can even use stickers that say ‘swipe up’ and match it with your brand colors to make it even more visually appealing. Ideally, include a story sequence of 2-3 stories giving some context about why they should swipe up and what’s in it for them. This can substantially increase the number of clicks and drive more traffic to your website.

However, the only downside is that you need over 10,000 followers or a verified account to get the swipe-up feature and add an off-platform link to your stories.

3. Include links in IGTV video captions

A lesser-known hack to include a link apart from the generic ways is to use them in your IGTV captions. No matter how many followers you have, you can add a clickable link to your IGTV video that will direct your audience to wherever you want.

This way, you can create educational videos and include a link to a similar blog on your website or a product you want to market. It can bring you a tremendous amount of traffic and sales as well.

Now, to increase the clicks on this link, there’s another thing you can do.

Post a story or a sequence of stories talking about the IGTV video. Add a swipe-up link that directs your audience to this video. Anyone can add IGTV video links in stories, despite the number of followers.

By doing so, you will increase the reach of your IGTV post, and thus the link mentioned in the caption, driving more traffic to the website. 

You can also create a video preview of the IGTV video and publish in your regular feed. This can also divert attention to the video and boost traffic. 

When you use this technique of publishing an IGTV video and promoting it with both stories and in-feed posts, make sure you get the timing right. You must publish your video and the accompanying posts at a time when more people are active to get maximum traffic. You can use an Instagram post planner to help you with this. 

4. Use shoppable posts

If you’re an ecommerce business, then one of the most organic ways to get your audience on the website is to create a shoppable Instagram feed. In your feed posts, you can tag products, provide a description for them, and even include the price for the same.

You can use upto 5 tags in regular feed posts and videos. You can use about 20 tags in carousel posts. If you use this feature regularly on your feed, it could act like a lookbook and catalog for your ecommerce store’s products. 

You can even use a product sticker on stories to promote a particular product. When the users click on the sticker, they’ll be redirected to your product page on Instagram, where they can directly navigate to the landing page. 

However, all of this is only possible when you follow this:

• Set up Instagram shopping
• Ensure you have a business profile
• Connect your Instagram account to a Facebook catalog

Use this feature to organically drive traffic to your website and get some fantastic conversions.

5. Leverage the power of ads and influencer marketing

If you want to move away from the organic path and are ready to invest in more significant and faster results, you must consider ads and influencer marketing.

Sponsored posts on feed and stories can help you target the right people with the right message at the right time. If you use adequate research and target the right audience demographics, it can significantly increase your website traffic.

These can be images, carousels, or video ads with a CTA to the website. If you’re using story ads, they’ll have a swipe-up feature redirecting to the website- either way; it’s an excellent opportunity to get potential customers in the funnel.

Now, if we talk about influencers, then you know they have massive reach. Given the rise of influencer marketing, it’s one of the best investments you can make in your brand. If you find an influencer with a good organic reach and an audience similar to yours, you can enter into a partnership with them. They can endorse your brand on feed posts or stories, redirecting the audience to the website. 

Since influencers have the power to influence, people will be intrigued to know more about the product they’re endorsing, thus, visiting the website and serving the purpose.

The type of campaign you work on with your influencers should depend on your budget. If you have a tight budget you can run an affiliate marketing program or do an influencer giveaway. But if you have a big budget you can find macro and mega influencers and pay them huge fees to recommend your products in their posts. You can also ask them directly link to the landing page in the bio. 

Final thoughts

Instagram is a revenue-based platform where you can monetize your audience and use its features to drive conversions. Using these strategies, you can drive traffic to your website and either convert or wrap the visitors in your funnel to nurture them till they make a purchase.

Experiment with your Instagram marketing strategy while including these methods to amplify your reach and increase website traffic. Lastly, pay careful attention to how your strategy works out and use it to improve your methods. In that case, you can successfully convert your Instagram profile into a sales machine- worth a shot.

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