The platform has experienced a meteoric rise of over one billion monthly active users globally. In fact, with 1.393 billion users (October 2021), Instagram is the fourth most popular social media platform. What’s more, people are spending more time on Instagram than other popular social channels. The graph below shows a one-minute growth in the user time spent.

Source: eMarketer

Boosting visibility and engagement on Instagram is easy and usually cost-effective for brands. The platform offers multiple advertisements and sponsorship opportunities and business-friendly features that make it straightforward for marketers to improve their Instagram engagement. With these features, brands can establish a strong online presence without spending a dime. 

Why Boosting Instagram Engagement is Critical?

Here are a few reasons why boosting your presence on Instagram makes complete business sense. 

• Active Instagram engagement will improve your brand visibility and reach. The platform has over one billion monthly active users (MAUs) globally. 
• Instagram is a great platform for businesses of all sizes – big corporations, small businesses, startups, and solopreneurs. Businesses can schedule Instagram posts each day to enhance visibility and drive traffic to their website. 
• It offers business-friendly features. For instance, shoppable posts allow brands to tag products in photos with links to product descriptions and prices. They allow shoppers to instantly buy products they see.

Similarly, the latest update, Shop Tab, directs users to the online store, enabling them to discover and shop for their favorite brands. 

• It allows businesses to share live posts and stories, thus making their content more relatable. Followers see brands beyond a faceless corporation and connect with the human side of the business. 
• It opens up collaboration opportunities with influencers who can promote the brand to their audience, thus taking the business into the mainstream. 
• It helps marketers keep an eye on the competition and understand how they engage their audience. 
• It expands horizons by reaching new audiences through Instagram advertisements. 

I can go on about the benefits of Instagram for businesses. But the core message is, Instagram is undeniably the most important social channel for businesses today. 

So, without further ado, let’s get to how you can drive traffic from Instagram and boost conversions.

Sure-Fire Ways to Drive Traffic from Instagram

Here are five effective tactics that can help you leverage Instagram to the fullest potential and drive traffic to your business website.

1. Make the Most of Your Link in Bio

Instagram allows users to add one external link in their bio. Hence, this is a prime location where businesses can persuade followers to click through and visit their home page, a specific campaign page, a newly launched collection, or a lead capture page.

Source: Instagram

But adding a link in the bio is more than just inserting a URL. You need to harness this link to gain traffic and conversions. 

Here are a few quick tips to effectively use your Instagram bio link to drive traffic to your website. 

I. Determine Your Business Goals

As mentioned above, Instagram allows you to choose only one link. So, you want to use it to achieve your business goals. 

Determine what you want to achieve through this link. Do you want to build awareness? Do you want to grow your newsletter subscriber base? Do you want them to spread the word about your brand? 

Once you know your purpose, selecting the right bio link becomes easy. 

For instance, if you improve your newsletter subscriber base, you will share a bio link that connects followers to a landing page with a subscription form. 

Check out how Glossy Box, a beauty subscription brand, directs its followers to a page where they can sign up for a subscription box service.

Source: Instagram

II. Optimize Your Bio Link 

Convert your bio link into a traffic magnet by using tools like Link in Bio by Lightricks that allow businesses to schedule Instagram posts and add links or tag products in them. It also lets you curate a beautiful single-page site where you can host links to all of your best content and sales pages.

Secondly, make sure you consistently remind and guide your followers through posts and stories to click the bio link. This will not just increase your impression on Instagram but also the traffic to your website.

Finally, don’t just assume your leads landing on your website will take an action. Help them get where you need to go. Create an effective landing page with a compelling headline, simple and direct copy, standout CTA, and a lead capture form, where relevant. 

Tools like vcita’s landing page builder can help you build a beautiful and mobile-responsive web page that generates more leads and sales online. You don’t need any developer skills as the tool can easily customize your webpage so that it’s consistent with your brand, and people can use it to directly book your services using the built-in integrated booking engine. Plus, you get access to a range of business tools to generate new leads, nurture them, and manage your client base.

III. Work on Your Bio Copy

Your bio copy should be persuasive enough to drive followers to click that link. Spend enough time reviewing your copy and include a call to action that tells your followers what to do. You have just 150 characters to play with, so make them count.

Check out how SprezzaBox, a men’s fashion brand, seamlessly directs its audience to take action.

Source: Instagram

2. Get Creative with Instagram Stories

 In a world where customers skip ads and block pop-ups, Instagram stories are a saving grace. These stories offer a quick and effective way to engage followers and persuade them to take action. 

500+ million people use stories daily. Also, one-third of the most-viewed stories come from business accounts. 

One of the biggest benefits of sharing stories is that they drive traffic to websites. Here’s how you can drive traffic using Instagram stories. 

I. Add Link to Your Stories

Adding a ‘Visit Link’ to your story is easy but make sure you give your followers enough reason to click through. 

A great idea is to share an engaging GIF or video with a relevant Instagram text and call to action. Animating stories can drive more clicks, diverting traffic to your page. 

Notice how Dior Beauty has added a link to its stories that take viewers to their target page, making it easy for them to shop for their favorite brand.

Source: Instagram

II. Leverage Shoppable Stories

Shoppable stories allow businesses to sell their offerings using a ‘Swipe Up’ function. This function takes followers to the target page, thus increasing the chances of conversion. 

Instagram confirms that 58% of people are more interested in a brand after seeing their stories.

Check out how World Market uses this feature effectively to drive followers to its website.

Source: Instagram

III. Use Highlights to Showcase Your Top-Performing Stories

Instagram stories make the most of the FOMO element by displaying your Instagram text for 24 hours only. But you can extend your story shelf life by leveraging Instagram Stories Highlights. 

Analyze your impression on Instagram and select the stories that drive the most traffic. Use stories analytics to identify trends and monitor the wins. Analyze Instagram metrics like clicks and engagement and use the insights to implement a content strategy that resonates with your audience. 

Check out how The Little Market creates a highlight for each collection, allowing visitors to shop their product lines, straight from their Instagram page.

Source: Instagram

3. Add Clear Calls to Action in Your Post Captions

You have created an engaging brand story that wows your audience. That’s the end of your pitch and they are ready to act. But your viewers need that push to click through and you need to tell them what to do and how. 

Call to action does that! 

Here are two ways you can schedule Instagram post with an effective call to action

I. Add a CTA Button to Your Ads

An effective Instagram ad carries a strong call to action that makes it easy for users to start an order, book, or reserve a product. 

Check out how Lemon and Line uses a serene and harmonious vibe to subtly draw attention to its bracelets. The ad is accompanied by a great color pallet, smart copy, and a clear call to action.

Source: Instagram

II. Add a ‘Contact’ Button to Your Profile

Instagram also allows you to add a contact button to your profile like Call, Buy Tickets, Email or Order just like Bespoke Post has done.

4. Invest in Video Ads

Video ads can help you target the right audience at the right time. Instagram ads are a form of paid advertising for publishing Instagram text based on targeting options. This allows businesses to boost their brand exposure, generate qualified traffic, and improve conversions. 

You can upload a video of up to 60 seconds to share your brand story. 

Check out how IKEA grabs the audience’s attention within three seconds with this video that uses a fun way to share the utility of anti-slip mats. They also added a catchy caption – ‘What if an anti-slip mat turned a dining room into a playroom?’

Source: Instagram

The best way to set up a video ad on Instagram is to go through Facebook Ads Manager. Go to your account page and click on the Ad Center drop-down arrow in the Manage Page panel. Then choose All Ads from the drop-down and click on Ads Manager at the bottom of the page. Just follow the instructions to start a new campaign and choose how you want your ads to appear on Instagram. 

Here are a few quick best practices to consider when creating engaging video content for Instagram. 

• Optimize your video ads for mobiles. 
• Get to the point within 3 seconds! 
• Use effective captions to keep your audience engaged. Remember the IKEA ad you just saw? 
• Check what your competitors are doing. Gather hints from how they approach Instagram video ads. 
• Solve a problem. Your audience is constantly looking for WIIFM (What is in it for me?)
• Be consistent. If you want to hammer your brand message, it’s wise to post video ads at least twice a week consistently. 

Gaining an impression on Instagram isn’t easy. But video ads, because of their engaging nature, help in boosting your Instagram engagement and conversions. Hence, these ads are a great investment. 

However, when investing in ads, it is critical to have constant access to well-visualized data that helps marketers make the right decisions. AI-powered analytics tools like Sortender Ads empower social marketers to track their social media campaign performance. It automates repetitive and time-consuming tasks when you analyze Instagram performance and saves time on data aggregation and visualization. 

CPC analysis in Sotrender Ads

The tool enables you also to generate reports on your paid campaigns in less than 60 seconds which helps to save a lot of time on a monthly basis. You receive a complex report with all necessary data that you can effortlessly pass to your boss or share with your team.

5. Optimize Your Website for Mobile

99% of social media users access these channels on their mobile devices. And around 78% solely access these platforms from their mobile phones. So, even if your Instagram profile drives traffic to your non-mobile-friendly website, your efforts are wasted. 

Follow these tips to optimize your website for mobile devices. 

• Test your website using Google’s mobile-friendly tool. 

Source: Google

• If you are using WordPress or some other CMS, consider using responsive themes. 
• Choose a reliable web host to boost your site performance and speed. When it comes to mobile-first optimization, speed is critical. 
• Redesign pop-ups for mobile devices to make them as non-obstructive as possible on smaller screens. 
• Enable AMP (accelerated mobile pages) that strips down the content and removes unnecessary media files and advanced layouts. This improves the website performance on mobile devices. 

Additionally, as you enhance your website’s Instagram engagement strategy, consider modifying your domain if it no longer aligns with your brand identity. This simple process can significantly impact your digital presence and SEO, making it easier for new and existing followers to find and connect with you online.

Wrapping Up

If you’ve been trying to drive traffic to your website and haven’t been successful, you aren’t alone. Getting quality traffic is a big challenge for most businesses. 

However, Instagram is a great social media channel that offers various opportunities to succeed in this endeavor. It is the fastest growing and popular social channel that offers several business-friendly features. 

Implement the tips and tricks shared in this post to direct traffic back to your website and boost your conversion rates.