Having a strong digital presence is essential for any business in the modern age, be it a website, social media, an email marketing platform or a combination of all three. The truth is that the Internet has become an essential medium to achieve brand reach and visibility. Even if the company does no form of business online, it is a great way to connect with customers.
For that reason, a company or individual may wish to promote themselves through a number of different digital platforms, such as an online store, blog or subscription. But when it comes to a social network such as Instagram, it is impossible to share all these platforms when only one link is allowed in the biography. This means, for example, a user can put a link to their virtual store, but not their WhatsApp, for example. And so, Linktree was created to solve this problem.
The most important content in a single link
Linktree is a tool that allows you to group links to different websites on a single page In this way, you only need to link to a single URL in the biography of social networks such as Instagram. From this, the audience can quickly view the most important content of a brand or business.
The landing page generated by this ‘link tree’ can include web pages, social media profiles, WhatsApp contacts, surveys, forms, blogs, online shops, Drive download folders, videos, podcasts, maps and any other content that the user considers important for promotion.
Link trees have countless uses
For example, if you click on the Linktree link in the bio of Jamie Oliver’s Instagram account, it redirects you to content as varied as his recipes, his new book, products in his online shop, and the TV programmes that the famous chef presents on Channel 4.
In the case of singer Katy Perry, the Linktree in her Instagram account leads you to her latest video, the page to buy tickets for her show in Las Vegas, a podcast, an platforms on which to listen to her songs.
The bad Siames, meanwhile, uses the link in their bio on social media chiefly to sell tickets for their tour.
Recess, a New York brand which sells drinks focused on calm and concentration, publishes promotions and offers on its Linktree. They also feature a useful map showing where their drinks are sold, and a subscription page for regular home deliveries.
But it’s not just companies or individuals who can benefit from bringing together all their promotional links on a single page. The successful dog model Tika the Iggy not only has an Instagram account with more than a million followers, but also “writes books” and sells merchandising such as calendars, posters and shirts through her Linktree.
Steps to create your own Linktree
Now that we’ve seen what Linktree is and how it can be used in a number of cases, we are ready to move on to the next step: how to create your own tree to include in an Instagram bio:
1.Visit the Linktree website: https://linktr.ee.
2.Create an account. To do this, click on the “Sign up free” button, choose a username (which can be changed later) and enter your email address.
3.Choose your plan. The Linktree tool is completely free, but there are also various paid versions for extra benefits.
With the free version, you can add as many links as you want, including videos, and also provides access to metrics so you can find out how many clicks each link has received. It also has basic templates to create a profile, though the design is still clear and distinctive, such as that of digital creator Adrian Bliss.
However, there are artists and companies who prefer to fully customise their profiles, using the colours, typeface and even logo of their brand, such as Sebastian Curi or the TV channel Comedy Central.
With the paid version, you get a more detailed analysis of audience statistics and behaviour, as well as the ability to collect data such as emails and phone numbers for marketing campaigns. You can also schedule posts.
4.Customise your profile. Depending on the version you use, as we’ve seen, you can customise the design and image so it best suits your needs.
5.Add links. Here you can add your links (audio, video, web page, social media…) and choose the order you wish them to be displayed.
6.Connect your Linktree to Instagram. Now that our link has been generated by the Linktree platform, you can go straight to the settings of your Instagram account and embed it in the relevant section of your profile.
Best practices for using Linktree
While the Linktree does allow you to add an unlimited variety of links, the truth is that less is more. In other words, it’s best to limit yourself to only the most important links, so as not to overwhelm the user. Furthermore, the links should be kept updated; for example, there is no point keeping a link to a promotion that has now ended. Clarity is the rule, so long titles and sentences should be avoided and the overall appearance of the page should be considered.
While Linktree does offer many advantages, many brands actually do not use it as a tool because it affects their SEO ranking. The explanation is simple: when the link to the company’s website appears on Instagram and the user clicks on it, Google positions the site as relevant. On the other hand, when a link tree is placed so that the user has access to different pages, the visits are accredited to Linktree and not the company’s website.
So it is important to assess the pros and cons of a tool that has revolutionised the way content is presented on social media.