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Social media has become a powerful tool for businesses to market to their target audience. While Instagram first began as a photo sharing site, it has grown into a source for potential revenue for many businesses. After all, nearly one billion people actively use the site to connect and share content with others. To become more appealing to businesses, the platform has added several new features, including new link stickers on Instagram.This recent feature change has affected the way brands and businesses develop their social media strategy for business. By gaining an understanding of what this change means and how to maximize its potential, businesses can capitalize on opportunities to drive more traffic, generate more revenue, and experience even more business growth.
In the past, Instagram Stories provided a swipe-up link feature. This enabled businesses and creators with a minimum of 10,000 followers to send their audience to external sources. There, buyers could discover more about the promoted service or product and engage further with the brand. This feature has recently been replaced with link stickers, clickable links in an Instagram Story.
Source:World Today NewsThe main reason for the change is that Instagram leadership feels the stickers are in better alignment with the way users currently interact with the platform. After all, people already use stickers for questions, music, polls, locations, and more. Additionally, these external links offer some advantages over the previous swipe-up feature, including:
With some distinct advantages over the previous swipe-up feature, the new link stickers can be part of an effective social media marketing campaign.
Perhaps the greatest benefit of the new link stickers on Instagram is their role in increasing engagement with your audience. Since viewers can now respond and react to link stickers, businesses can gain more insight from their customers. Feedback can guide marketing and product decisions, and interaction helps to build deeper, more meaningful relationships. These typically lead to increased customer loyalty and repeat business.But link stickers are more than a way to boost engagement with your customers. With careful strategy, they can be instrumental in driving traffic to your site, increasing conversions, and raising brand awareness. Here’s what link stickers mean for brands and businesses interested in how to market on social media.
The new Instagram feature allows sellers to place links more prominently within the frames of Stories. This means you have more opportunities to tempt your audience to click-through your content. With more deliberate CTA placement, you can create eye-catching stickers that attract attention and lead people to the action you want them to take.With more prominent CTA placement, you’ll also want to be more deliberate with your CTA wording. Create a sense of urgency. Let your audience see the need to act. Encourage followers to tag their friends and expand your audience exponentially. A strong CTA that compels users to act is an essential element of your social media marketing strategy.
The swipe-up feature has always appeared at the bottom of the Story screen. While this makes it easy to find, it doesn’t allow much room for creativity in the composition of your Stories. Source:The Newsette on InstagramSince link stickers can be added anywhere on the page, you can now be more creative in the layout of your Stories. Enhance your visual while bringing CTA to the forefront. Brand recognition is important to set yourself apart from the competition. Having more freedom over where you can add your external links enables you to develop compositions that make your Stories more engaging, more memorable, and more recognizable.
Link stickers are not only fun and engaging, they’re a great tool for paid advertising on Instagram. Product stickers enable you to promote items and educate your audience without seeming like spam content. Since viewers can respond to link stickers, use them to learn more about your customers’ needs. Find out their pain points and frustrations and seek ways your brand can alleviate those problems.The more you can learn about your audience, the more tailored your advertisements can become. By creating more customized messaging, you’ll earn a more loyal following, drive sales through your pipeline, and generate more revenue for overall success.
Now that you understand the impact of the new Instagram link stickers, you can begin to rethink your social media marketing strategy. As you continue to incorporate Stories into your marketing plans, consider how you approach these five aspects of your social media campaigns.
Now that links can be placed anywhere on your Story graphics, you have more branding opportunities to consider. Think about the size of your stickers, the colors you use, and the fonts you embrace. Ensure they meet your branding guidelines and maintain continuity to align with your brand’s image. Every time someone sees one of your Stories, they should recognize it instantly as coming from your business.
Think about the wording you use for your link stickers on Instagram. Make sure your messaging in the links not only compels people to take action, but also aligns with your corporate voice. Also, because these stickers allow people to react and respond to your links, be sure any responses from your brand reflect your company’s image as well. With the variety of sources your stickers can link to, it’s important to ensure all messaging conveys the same tone and language across all platforms.Source:Death Wish Coffee on Instagram
Design your Stories and creatives with link stickers in mind. Since your stickers can go anywhere in the frame, plan your layout so links don’t obstruct important elements in your graphics. Take product shots staged with space specifically for advertising messages and links. Use stickers to enhance your creative, and plan your layouts accordingly. This can make for even more impactful images that resonate with your audience and entice them to click-through your ads to learn more about your products and your brand.
Since link stickers on Instagram enable you to direct your audience to any external source for more information, design your social media campaigns for an omnichannel experience. Ensure all of your sources are interconnected so a visitor can travel seamlessly from one platform to another. Your link sticker may send them to your website, which can lead them to a product spec sheet that contains a link to a live chat feature.Design for different devices as well as different platforms. Someone who accesses your information through their mobile phone should have the same experience as someone who uses a desktop. Creating this seamless customer experience results in customer loyalty and high satisfaction ratings. All of this boosts conversions and increases sales, which are all essential to business success.
Your CTA is one of the most important elements of your social media marketing campaign. After all, if you don’t ask for something, you won’t get it. Link stickers make your CTA strategy even more important, since you’re no longer limited to a small link at the bottom of your Story. Now, CTAs can take prominence and be placed wherever you think your audience is most likely to see them.Not only can you size your link stickers on Instagram however you see fit. They can also take multiple forms, like gifs, which provides great flexibility in how you engage with your audience.
Understanding how effective Instagram link stickers can be is only half the battle. Next, you need to know how to apply them to your Stories. Luckily, link stickers are highly effective and extremely easy to use. Follow these five steps to insert a link in an Instagram Story:
When you apply link stickers with intent and strategy, they make social media marketing easy and effective.
Instagram offers numerous benefits to businesses looking to increase engagement, drive traffic, and generate sales growth. The app’s marketing toolkit empowers brands to create impactful Stories that attract customers and increase conversions. The newest link stickers feature is another way the platform empowers sellers and yields positive results for business success.Kubbco is a full-service social media agency with the experience and skills you need to take your social media marketing strategy to the next level. Ready to explore the marketing benefits of Instagram? Contact us today to learn ways to improve your social media marketing strategy.
As an Associate Strategy Director I am responsible for leading the development and execution of organic and paid social media and content strategies for our clients at Kubbco.
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