I have a few articles on this blog, all about why you shouldn't use linktree in your Instagram marketing. And as I said in some of those, the idea of linktree is excellent since Instagram users only have one link in their bios to direct online traffic from customers.
Though, instead of using linktree to direct that traffic to places OFF of your website — My personal two cents is that you should be sending that Instagram traffic to your own website, even if the links you want customers to go to end up somewhere else (like Eventbrite or Youtube, etc).
Having a landing page on your own website helps with digital retargeting ads, SEO, and general branding (since the free version of Linktree doesn’t have very many choices for changing up the style, fonts, or layout).
But what happens when marketers don’t have easy access to create new landing pages on your website?
I am finding that not having access to a website is more common than I organically thought. So I will say - using Linktree, or a similar Instagram Bio app is an ideal way to control the traffic coming from Instagram to lead customers to a section of your website that you want them to go to (vs. the home page).
Case in point for using Linktree: Iron Horse.
Their paid Linktree page (https://linktr.ee/ironhorsevyds) has an image of grapes in the background, and links to shop for wines, wine club, and right now it reminds guests that the winery is currently closed for tastings (due to California’s shelter in place order to help stop the spread of COVID-19), but still open for wine club and general wine pickups.
It was essential to have this reminder at the top of the Instagram landing page. The easy access to edit the links in Linktree so we could pause the links on how to make a reservation at the tasting room, and “get directions” meant we could edit right away. The rules have changed so quickly over the past few weeks, and we didn't want to wait to make these edits, which could confuse customers as they clicked over from Instagram to learn more.
Note: We did add a reminder popup to the homepage of the website, but the backend web team wasn’t able to do that right away because they were busy with many other winery customers wanting to do the same thing.
So if you cannot easily create or edit a landing page on your website, take a look at an app like Linktree, so you can quickly adapt any situation you find your brand in.
Being Flexible During Times of Change is Important for All Marketers
I know this is an unprecedented time, at least in our current lifetime. One thing I do know is that as digital marketers, one of our jobs is to adapt to changes. And do it quickly.
... and keeping customers updated, is always a good idea.
