I love Instagram, but like many marketers, there is one thing that I always find frustrating – no links allowed in posts. If you have a product catalogue set up, you can tag products in your posts and link to them that way, but if you want to link to a blog post or service, then tough luck!
But, have no fear! There is a way around this, and it means using the single link in your Instagram bio to its full potential. The secret is to set up an Instagram link tool that will allow you to have multiple links inside your bio link. These tools look great, come in all shapes and sizes, and some are even free.
So what is an Instagram link tool? In essence, it’s a simple, middle-man web page between Instagram and your website. It’s built specifically to be a page of links and is responsive, so it looks beautiful no matter what device someone is viewing Instagram on.
I’ll go through a few of my favourite Instagram link tools in this article and discuss the pros and cons.
Linktree
Linktree is one of the most popular tools as it’s super simple to use and comes in free and paid-for versions.
The free version lets you choose your Linktree address, for example, http://linktr.ee/yourname, create a simple list of links, add a profile picture, and you can choose from a few colours and styles.
The paid-for Pro version, which is only $6 (about £4.50) a month, allows you to customise the background and button colours even further so you can pick your brand colours and upload your own background images to the platform. You can also add pictures of products on to the buttons to add a bit of colour. A few other options are available to paid users, including a custom domain, embedded Youtube videos, link scheduling, analytics, and email signup form.
The admin interface is so easy to navigate; you can add links, edit them, move them around and delete them with ease and so it’s pretty foolproof for a beginner.
Campsite
Campsite is very similar to Linktree; it’s a very simple and easy to use interface. The pricing comes in two tiers: Free and Pro, which costs $7 (about £5). There are some advantages to the free version of Campsite over Linktree when it comes to the colour scheme, as Campsite lets you choose a lot more colours and stylings so that you have more control over the look of your link pages.
The paid version is also very similar to Linktree as it lets you customise it further, including scheduling links, adding images to your links, email sign up form, analytics, and customised domain, e.g. links.yourdomain.com. There’s also an extra advantage – you have three link pages included! You can have a different link page for each of your social media channels and tweak them to reflect the content you’re posting on each one, or if you have more than one brand, you can house them all under one account.
Once again, this platform is straightforward and quick you use, so it’s great if you’re not tech-savvy or you are time-short.
Later’s Linkin.bio
Ok, so now we’re going to look at something a little different. Later is a social media scheduling platform, and as part of the platform, it has Linkin.bio, an Instagram link tool. Now there are two ways you can use the Later accounts, you can sign up to a free account and just use the Linkin.bio part of it, or you can use the whole platform and schedule your posts with it too – an all-in-one solution.
Later is an Instagram-first platform (although you can connect other accounts), so I’d recommend it if your strongest platform is Instagram, as you’ll find the layout of the admin very intuitive with its grid system.
Because of Later’s Instagram affinity, you’ll find Linkin.bio looks a little different to Linktree and Campsite; instead of a list of links, it tries to replicate your Instagram feed with a grid of clickable images. This is an excellent way to bring continuity to what your customers see on your social feed and what they see on the page of links.
The Free and Starter ($15/approx £11) packages offer a lite version of Linkin.bio, which offers everything you need to get started, and the Growth plan ($25/approx £18) upwards provides the ability to add more than one link per image.
If you’re only going to use the link tool option and not the scheduling services, I’d suggest just going for the free account. If you want to have a more robust set of links, I’d suggest that Linktree and Campsite are better value for money. But if you’d like to schedule too, then the Growth plan is an excellent choice.
Milkshake
The Milkshake app is an interesting concept; it allows you to build simple web pages on your phone. It has both Android and iOS apps and is free to use.
Like the others in this list, it allows a personalised URL (msha.ke/yourname), but it also offers some exciting options we don’t see on the other platforms. The main feature is that you can choose a standard link template, or you can have something a little different such as a mini ‘about me’ or ‘top picks’ page in your Instagram bio link. There is a range of charming templates to choose from, but the only disadvantage is the designs are not very customisable – you can change a few of the colours and fonts, but not all the images and patterns are adjustable.
It’s effortless to set up – just a few clicks on the app, hit publish, and your page is live. Then just add the link into your Instagram bio, and you’ll be good to go.
WordPress Plugin – WP Link Bio
If you have a WordPress site, there’s an excellent plugin called WP Link Bio that’s free to use. It’s a simple interface that integrates seamlessly into your WordPress site. It allows you to use your own domain name and will enable you to update your link page in the same WordPress admin as your website.
If you’re not confident in the WordPress admin, this option might need you to enlist the help of someone knowledgeable in WordPress to install and tweak some basic configuration, but after that, it’s straightforward to use. You have customisable options such as colours, animated buttons, and the ability to add images or emojis to the buttons.
A pro version will be coming in the future, and the developers have suggested will have WooCommerce integration – so that’ll be something to look out for if you have an online shop.
Once you’ve got your fabulous bio link, the etiquette for sending people to it is to add the words “link in bio” somewhere in your post text; this will let people know where they can find a link with more information on your topic.
I’ve only mentioned a few platforms here, but there are many other choices depending on what you need. A few more examples you can check out are: Feedlink, Lnk.Bio, Link In Profile, Shorby, and elink.io.
Whatever tool you use, remember to update your links regularly. The link page shouldn’t be too long, so keep curating those links and removing old ones. You want it to be as clean and easy for a user to see so that you can direct them as efficiently as possible to your most important pages of the moment.
