Make One Link Do the Work of a Dozen. Hack the Link in Your Bio to Bring Your Internet Brand to One Place

 


Social media is not meant to be social marketing. Believe us, social media definitely is part of any basic marketing strategy. But Instagram is, at its core, merely a platform to share pictures. TikTok is just an infinite stream of videos. To integrate them into their marketing and sales strategies, businesses have gotten pretty creative by essentially turning what used to be embedded throughout media content -- advertisements -- into media content,

 

At the end of the day, this post is an advertisement for Ollogginsawmill but it is a piece of art in its own right!

One of the easiest and most robust techniques for turning your Instagram into a tool for driving sales is of course providing a link for potential customers to  visit your sales site. But as many business owners know -- and we mentioned a paragraph ago -- social media is not explicitly social marketing. Platforms like Instagram and TikTok only allow one clickable link per profile, and that’s in the bio section. That’s why you’ll find so many posts with “link in bio” or “click the link in the bio for more info” in the caption. We call these links the 'bio links'.


The bio link is thus a bottleneck. No matter what you post about, you can only send potential customers to one destination. So what’s it gonna be? Your website’s home page? The landing page of your blog? Another social media site? If you’ve got a small shop and you want to maintain a minimal social media presence, it makes total sense to just have an Instagram page that links back to your online shop. But maintaining a larger and/or growing shop means having to do a little more with your bio link.


Perhaps you will change the link with each post, so that the link always goes directly to your newest product or the page with details on your newest promotion. It would just be easier if you could add links to individual posts…


Currently, bio links can only send potential customers to one location

BIO LINK OPTIMIZATION TOOLS


People are creative. That’s obvious from any glance at Instagram in the first place -- check out the amazing things craftsmen and craftswomen are making in the #woodworkingcommunity. But there’s creativity even when you dig deeper into people’s profiles. App and software developers have created fantastic solutions to the bio link bottleneck. Through optimization tools, you can turn your bio link into a roadmap to all the other aspects of your marketing strategy: your website, your latest (and highest-performing) blog posts, your YouTube channel, your podcast, your newest promotion, and/or your latest and greatest products. 


Here’s what these tools do, in short: Rather than linking directly to a single destination, the bio link is directed to a separate landing page. From that landing, you can add and control many links to whatever you want!


Optimization tools create landing pages for a more dynamic bio link!


The main benefit: No need to ever change the link itself on your social media profiles. The landing page will change and update, allowing you to refresh and adapt your bio link to your newest social media posts, product roll-outs, and promotions. And these landing pages are specifically designed to be very mobile-friendly and some even mimic the look of sites like Instagram or TikTok. They have been engineered to be much more user-friendly, customer-friendly, and visually appealing than creating your own landing page on your website (though that is still something you can absolutely do!)


There are a number of ways that these products turn the bio link into a dynamic and multifaceted sales tool.

  • Featured Links: Do you have a website or Etsy shop? Do you have an event to which you want to invite your audience? One important element of your bio link page can be specific links that are highlighted to your customers. 
  • What might you add? Your featured links might include a specific product in your online shop that you are promoting or a series of your best-selling products! You could include links to specific pages on your website that tell the story of your business -- how you started in your garage with a table saw and some 2x4s and grew your business from there.
  • Featured Images and Videos: Add an image or video to your featured links to capture your customers’ attentions from the get-go.
  • What might you add? You could add an introduction video to your landing page that connects with your audience right away. You would be able to let your customers see your face and your shop, hear your voice (and maybe the sound of a circular saw!), thereby making a personal connection with them.
  • Social Media Connections: If customers clicked on your bio link, they probably would be interested in learning more about what your business has to offer. 
  • What might you add? Connect all your social media accounts to your landing page: Twitter, TikTok, Instagram, Snapchat, YouTube, Pinterest, etc. If your customer is looking to purchase an item as a gift, for instance, seeing your products on a different social media platform for a different audience could give them plenty of ideas on how to use your products to give the best birthday present.
  • Latest Blog Posts or Shop Items: One of the best features of the bio link landing page is that it can be updated as your business updates. When you publish a blog post, upload on Instagram, or add a new product to your store, your landing page can update too. Depending on the tool you use, it could update automatically! 
  • What might you add? If you have special promotions for holidays or focus on selling seasonal products, you’ll want to have your latest shop items at the top of your page when the right season comes around! After all, if you’re still promoting a Christmas tree drum skirt in June, your customers may be a bit confused.
  • Join our Supply Chain Newsletter to get a free lnk.bio account, which has Instagram Sync. That means your landing page automatically updates with your Instagram account!

  • LNK.BIO 


    Speaking of lnk.bio, if you’re convinced that a bio link optimization tool is worth it, we recommend them. And no, we are not being paid by them to say that. We just figured we would save you some trouble and suggest one tool that has a free account (and paid accounts, of course) and lots of features (though the free account has limited features -- it’s a business, too, after all).


    We use lnk.bio ourselves, so we’re not just talking a big game.


    Here’s 7 reasons we have chosen to use it ourselves:

    1. They have a free account option: Use the free account to see if you like the idea of a bio link optimization tool. If you don’t -- no big deal. If you do -- you have the option of paying for more features.
    2. They offer links, images, and videos: Their landing pages aren’t just a list of boxes with links. You can customize its look by adding images, videos, or blog posts with embedded header images.
    3. We can add unlimited links to over 90 social media sites: Everywhere you have a presence on the internet, lnk.bio probably has an icon and link to it. We have our Instagram, Facebook, Venmo, TikTok, and Google Business pages linked 
    4. We can style our page to fit our brand (some customizations are paid features): Change the background color, wallpaper, font, and images so it is cohesive with your other branding. If your shop uses red, white, and blue for all its branding, your landing page would feel out-of-place with a light yellow background.
    5. Automatic sync with Instagram (paid feature): No need to upload your posts twice, they just show up on your landing page. Less time on your computer posting pictures of your projects means more time actually working on your projects. That sanding is not gonna do itself, no matter how much we ask it to.
    6. Scheduled link (paid feature): Schedule links to new products to show up on your landing page at the same time those products show up in your store! Don’t let marketing invade your personal or family time. Schedule it ahead of time and stick to business hours.
    7. Analytics (paid feature): Check how much customers are coming to your landing page and see where they are going. [Note: if you tie the lnk.bio link to Google Analytics, you will be able to do much of the same traffic tracking for free.]

    Are you convinced? Or maybe you still aren’t… Either way, join our Supply Chain Newsletter for your own free lnk.bio provided by George Supply Company. It’s free, but unlike other free accounts, you get some paid features -- for free!. So that means extra features without extra cost. Here’s what you get:

    • Custom URL: Get a URL like lnk.bio/joinermetalsandwood rather than just a random string of letters and numbers.
    • Instagram Sync and Scheduler: When you schedule a post through lnk.bio, it appears on your Instagram feed and your landing page at the same time.
    • QR Code: Generate a QR code for mobile users to instantly jump to your lnk.bio landing page. It doesn’t just have to be a link in your bio, you know!
    • Analytics information: See which posts are getting the most traffic.

    You just have to be one of the first 50 shops to reach out to us to get your custom bio link landing page. If you’re interested, let us know by filling out the form on the bottom of our Supply Chain Newsletter information page (or send us an email: info@georgesupplyco.com).


    IN REVIEW


    It seems like there are a million social media sites that everyone recommends you join. It’s hard to keep track of them (though content calendars can help!). What’s worse is that having a presence at so many different locations can make your brand feel disjointed, like putting walnut trim on mdf.  Even if you modify your content to meet different audiences on different platforms, you still want some level of cohesion. But it’s not like social media sites are going to help you with that… they’re competing with each other for screen time and traffic!


    One small way to weave your marketing strategy across multiple platforms together is through a bio link optimization tool. Nearly every site requires a profile, and while tons of sites allow you to add links to your website, store, blog, podcast, etc., some big sites like Instagram or TikTok just let you have one single link in your bio.


    But tools like lnk.bio allow you to hack that link by bringing your customers to a dynamic landing page with connections to all your other profiles, with links to your newest promotion, and your latest blog posts and products.

    It’s a one-stop shop. 

    And when you join our Supply Chain Newsletter, it’s free to you! See you on the ‘gram.

    Have other questions about building your maker brand and business? Subscribe to the Business for Makers Blog and Business for Makers Podcast for insights and tips. Tune to Sawdust Talk on IGTV Live on Wednesdays at 10 pm CST to hear from makers about their projects and business and meet some great members of the maker community.

     

    ABOUT THE AUTHORS

    Scott Chervitz is the owner of George Supply Company, dedicated to helping woodshops build their brand. See more at GeorgeSupplyCo.com. You can reach him at Scott@GeorgeSupplyCo.com or on Instagram at @GeorgeSupplyCompany.

    Brian Chervitz, M.S., is an Associate Instructional Designer at the University of Wisconsin Extended Campus.

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