How to Optimize Your Social Media Profiles in 5 Mins

Tricia Lim

Nowadays, business owners know that their brand can’t live on a single URL anymore. Successful brands live and thrive by diversifying their marketing channels–such as their social channels, e-commerce sites, blogs, apps, and so on. That’s why “link in bio” tools like Linktree and Linkin.bio have become so popular, especially for businesses and creators.

If you’ve spent any time on social media, especially Instagram or TikTok, you would’ve seen brands or creators mention this phrase in their captions or hashtags.

But what does that phrase mean? How does it benefit your social media marketing? It’s not a passing trend—it’s a highly coveted element for your social media profiles. Here’s what you need to know and tactics you don’t want to miss to make the most of your social links.

What does 'link in bio' mean?

With the limited real estate you get for your Instagram bio, you have to be witty, strategic, and wise with your choice of URL. That’s where these “link in bio” tools come to the rescue.

As the name suggests, ‘link in bio’ refers to the clickable URL that you can add to your profile. They’re called “link in bio” because that’s the phrase people often post in social media captions. Because you can’t put a link in an Instagram or TikTok caption, you instead direct people to click the link in the bio in your profile section.

Most social media platforms allow you to add a link in your bio to direct followers to your website, blog, product page, or some other page. However, there are limitations that come with platforms like Instagram and TikTok who only allow users to add one link. It may be hard when you want to highlight other channels (i.e. your YouTube or ecommerce store) to promote. Fortunately, there are several “link in bio” tools that help us compile all the important links we want to share under a single URL.

These links open up into an external landing page, which are often packed with several other buttons to redirect you to other calls-to-action (CTAs). These are particularly handy if you’re running a brand Instagram account like us. Considering that you’re limited to adding only one permanent link in your bio, this gives you the freedom to share more links if you want to. They help you to link more content without the need to always swap out a link every time you have something different to promote.

This ‘link in bio’ tool is essential to maximizing how you drive traffic from your social media to your other sites.

“It’s a huge traffic-driving hack, and one that many people are missing out on.” - Jessica Worb, Later

What you don't want to miss out on with a link in bio tool

Having a digital business means you’ve built an ecosystem of multiple marketing channels including your website, social media profiles, and even content for your blog, newsletter, and podcast. With so many platforms to manage and navigate, you want to ensure that both you and your users have a seamless experience altogether.

The beauty of having a “link in bio” page is this: your audience and customers can easily find your brand and its content across all these platforms. Link in bio users can now embed a Spotify playlist, paywall a subscription service, and even display NFTs (non-fungible tokens).

Source: Opensea

In essence, it eliminates the headache of deciding what link to highlight on your various profiles, since they’re more versatile than simply including a link to your shop. Plus, you want to make the most of your bio since it’s the first thing visitors see when they land on your social media profile.

Here’s what brands often miss out from not using a link in bio tool:

1. Drive traffic outside of the platform

The first and foremost advantage of using a “link in bio” tool is the ability to drive traffic outside of the platform. For example, if you use a “link in bio” tool on TikTok, you can seamlessly direct users to your e-commerce site with a simple click of a button.

As a matter of fact, you can even use it with different CTAs. Whether it’s to encourage your audience to check out your latest article, shop on your site, or subscribe to your newsletter.

2. Support your brand identity (colors etc)

Apart from driving traffic to other important websites, most “link in bio” tools can be customized to complement your brand colors and identity. Since these “link in bio” landing pages act as a mini webpage for your Instagram account,–it’s opportune to add your brand colors and personality into the mix.

3. Highlight a specific campaign

With a link in bio toll in your arsenal, you have flexibility to highlight specific content to set the stage for your audience. Let’s say if you have an upcoming event you want them to sign up for, you can bring it to their attention by making it the first item they see on the landing page.

Take The New Yorker magazine’s link in bio as an example. The first thing you see when you click on their link in bio, is a full width banner that invites you to subscribe to their newsletter. It’s quite hard to miss, which is helpful for them to push subscribers to their mailing list. Moreover, news sites and magazines like The New Yorker can encourage their audience to read each article via their link in bio tool.

4. Drive product sales

If you’re looking for alternative ways to sell your products on social media, the link in bio tool is one of the best ways for driving sales. Most “link in bio” tools are customizable. For those with a Shopify store, Linkpop integrates their entire catalog of products as shoppable links on the landing page. This allows businesses to add links and images for individual products, and customers can add them to their cart directly from Linkpop.

Source: Judy

Source: NA-KD Fashion

5. Cross promote your other social media channels

Last but not least, a “link in bio” landing page is a great way to cross promote your other social media channels. It keeps all your social media links clean and all in one place.

Link in bio tools

Each “link in bio” tool offers something different, but they all share common benefits.

1. Linktree

When you think of link in bio, Linktree is typically the first named tool we think of. It’s a well established tool that allows you to link anywhere. In a study done for The Atlantic, it was estimated that Linktree links account for nearly half of all the link-in-bio traffic on Instagram.

Pricing: Linktree offers a free plan to get you started. If you want to gain access to premium features, you’ll need to upgrade to their monthly plan.

Features:

Integrate with Mailchimp or Google Sheets to collect email subscribers
Option to use custom buttons, fonts, and colors
Ability to schedule links to go live with your posts

2. Linkin.bio

Linkin.bio comes from Instagram planning tool, Later. It’s a unique tool because it displays links as a mirror reflection of your Instagram grid. Creators, bloggers, and influencers may prefer Linkin.bio because it’s suited to display their visual feed and products they’re promoting.

Pricing: As part of Later, Linkin.bio offers limited features under the free plan to get you started. Otherwise you’ll have to upgrade to their starter, growth, or advanced plans.

Features:

Integrate with Shopify
Customize with themes, fonts, colors
Gain access to Linkin.bio analytics
Create a linked version of your Instagram feed

Link in bio examples

1. WeWork

In this WeWork example, their link in bio directs their audience to this landing page whereby they can tap on an image to learn more. These images are linked to their website’s blog page.

2. Mossery

Mossery is a stationery store that offers beautiful pieces for creatives and everyday journal users. Their link in bio landing page features their latest launch, products, and a call-to-subscribe button. The beauty of using these link in bio tools is its customizable function that Mossery has utilized to keep their colors on brand.

3. Clarity

Clarity is a podcast show based in Singapore that covers topics around empowering women and more. They manage to incorporate their Spotify and other podcast links such as Youtube onto their landing page as well.

The Bottom Line: How You Can Take Your Social Media Profiles to The Next Level

To make the most of your social content and drive traffic to where it matters, you need more than a single link in your Instagram bio. These “link in bio” tools are now an unavoidable part of social media especially on Instagram and TikTok.

The great part about using these tools is how you can create a customized landing page in minutes. With the right approach and tool of your choice, adding a link in your bio can be a great way to attract quality leads to your business.

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