Instagram is undoubtedly one of the most powerful media-driven social marketing tools that can be used to drive traffic to your website. With over 500 million users from all over the world and an average number of 52 million photos uploaded daily, Instagram has proved to be one of the most effective marketing platform, which businesses can make use of everything it has to offer to boost traffic to their websites and generate new leads.

Online marketers are utilizing Instagram as an online environment where they can safely engage with their target audience using visual cues and content that will catch their attention and drive them down the sales pipeline. Top brands like Go Pro and National Geographic are quite successful with leveraging Instagram to ramp up their target traffic and to communicate with their fans.

Studies show that Instagram is the king of social engagement. The study also shows that top brands on Instagram are seeing a per-follower engagement rate of 4.21 percent.

While some brands adopted Instagram to only engage their audience or as a promotional tool; some other companies are harnessing the power of the social marketing platform to drive traffic to their websites.

In this article, you will discover 8 tips to leverage Instagram for increased web traffic.

Add a Website Link to Your Bio

The most effective way to direct Instagram followers to your website is to include your website’s URL on your bio. To add a link to your website on your bio, go to your profile, click ‘Edit Your Profile' in the top right, add your URL in the ‘Bio’ Section and then click ‘Submit'. This is a great way to drive traffic to your website.

Include Site URL on Images or Photos

Adding your website URL on your photos can drive Instagram followers and audience to your website. Here are some of the best editing tools for your Instagram photos – Pic Stitch (Andoid, iOS), Canva, Squaready (Andoid, iOS), Hipstamatic, Boomerang and Snapseed. These tools can be used to enhance the quality of your photos.

Key into Instagram Influencer Marketing Strategy

Influencer marketing strategy has become a popular marketing trend on Instagram. Most influencers are celebrities and they have thousands of followers. Work with influencers to extend your reach and build brand awareness. Instagram influencers have the power to influence their followers with little or no effort. All they need to do is to upload your branded photo, and add short descriptions with a link in their ‘bio’, so that it can reach their followers and network.

Launch a Quick Contest or Campaign

Instagram is one of the best social media platform, where you can engage your audience with quick campaign or contest with prizes and drive traffic to the landing page. Create a landing page for your Instagram contest, add the URL to the landing page in your ‘Bio’, upload contest photo on Instagram and direct audience to click the link in the ‘Bio’ to enter contest. Use Bitly to shorten the link so that it will look organized and be clearly seen. With Bitly, you can easily track the traffic and clicks, know the source of traffic and when the link was visited.

Share Photos from Your Blog Posts

Instagram is all about pictures, graphics and videos; but, descriptions are really important too. Share photos from your blog and use descriptions to excite them and make them want to read more. Use Bitly or Google’s URL or Bitly Shortener to shorten the blog post link. Include your blog post shorten links in the description or to your ‘bio’ and ask them to click the link, leading to an increased web traffic.

Launch Branded Hashtags

Hashtags help to increase the visibility of your Instagram post. Most photos are discovered when people search for various hashtags. Branded hashtags will make your brand unique and increase the visibility of your posts and page. Launch branded hashtags to create hype for your page or post. When people are attracted to your photos via hashtags, they will visit your profile, thereby clicking on your ‘Bio’ link to visit your website.You can use analytics tools like Keyhole, Hashtracking, Hashtagify to track your Instagram branded hashtags.

Drive Massive Traffic with a Video

Sharing video on Instagram is a practicable way to keep the audience engaged. A video creates a captivating visual experience for your audience and it’s one of the best tactics in driving traffic to websites from Instagram. When editing the video, you should include a text overlay of your URL so that the audience can see easily see it. Longer videos are now available on Instagram. According to Theverge.com, You can now record 60-second videos in Instagram.

Invest in Sponsored Instagram Ads

Instagram has made it easier for businesses to target their audience with sponsored ads. With Instagram sponsored post, you can target your prospective customers, and add Call-to-Action button, which can link to your website or landing page directly, thus driving traffic to your site.

Conclusion

Ultimately, the end goal for Instagram is to grab more relevant inbound traffic, engage with them remotely, invite them subtly to your site, and convert them to cash for your wallet. Therefore, if your goal is to build a real audience, using Instagram as a marketing tool can certainly help you generate this traffic. Plus, from an SEO perspective, you'd be crazy not to at least have a minor presence on the platform.

Date: October 12, 2016 / Categories: Marketing, Tips, / Author: Rich Drees