How to Drive Traffic from Instagram Stories and Posts to Your Website

As successful storytellers and marketers of the 21st century, we are all aware that we have to be familiar, active and engaged with our customers. It will come as no surprise that the best way to create and maintain a relationship with your clientele is through various social media platforms, with Instagram being at the very top of the list of possibilities.

Why Is Instagram the Best Social Channel for Flourishing Business?

For starters, Instagram has the highest user engagement rate, which means that if you post and share something with your followers, they'll be likely to interact with your content in some way. Whether it's comments, likes, or direct messages that you seek if you use Insta-platform and all its features, you'll soon have all the engagement your heart desires, but…

Just like you, the StorifyMe team knows that likes and comments don't pay the bills. No matter how engaging, well-liked, and beautiful your web stories and feeds are - you have to make those conversions happen to keep things afloat.

Unless you figured out how to do all of your business directly on Instagram, you probably use Instagram to lure the customers in with eye-catching pictures and to raise awareness of your brand. However, after making sure that your customers are happy with what they see, you want them to be intrigued by what you've presented.

Click On Your Storified Landing Page

Or regular old product page, or some other part of your web site, because that's where magic (read orders and sales) actually happens, right? Ultimately, the main reason why you put so much effort into your Insta-game is to drive traffic to your storified micro store and have people purchase the products or services you worked so hard to create, launch, market, and present.

How do you make it easier for people to stay away from your captivating feeds/posts/stories, and lead them to your site? The conundrum seems tricky on the surface because this aesthetically pleasing platform doesn't support clickable links in captions of regular posts.

But don't worry, StorifyMe team has found some ways to sneak in these unique getaways to your "conversion land", starting with the obvious one:

Link Up You Insta Stories Aka Add the "Swipe Up" Option

Since adding links into captions and comments isn’t an option, you can try including them into your Insta web stories. All of your teasers, sneak peeks, promotions and other ways you promote your product storytelling will be so much more effective if you slap on a feature that will lead the swiper straight to the thing when they want to see! You can even make a custom gif or a sticker that will encourage people to leave the platform and land on your storified article, for example.

This feature is available only to business accounts that have more than 10k followers, so not everybody will have it included among their options. Yes, this privilege is extremely useful, but it's not something you can't do without.

You can always slide into DMs of people that tagged you in their content or reacted to your polls, questions, and quizzes, and leave the links there. However, if that's not enough or not as effective as you'd like it, StorifyMe team found other ways how can you drive traffic to your website that doesn't include swiping up, starting with:  

LINK IN BIO!

How many times did you see this written somewhere on your feed! The space under your circular profile picture and above your carefully curated feed is perfect for a little vanity link that will lead people directly to your main online endeavors. You can also use your posts and stories to nudge the viewers in the right direction, tag your Instagram profile on the story, and use one of plenty of "link in bio" GIPHYs.

If you didn't hit those coveted 10k (yet), reaping the benefits of this premium linkable space is in your best interest. Keep it nice and short, professional, and watch them click away.

Don't Forget About IGTV!

You know that part of Instagram that isn't all about images nor it's story-related, but serves as a "platform within a platform" that enables people to post and watch long-form videos? That’s IGTV, allowing unverified users to post up to 10 minutes while verified accounts can go up to an hour.

Fun Fact: Descriptions of these Insta-videos support clickable links. That being said, make sure that among all the related hashtags and impactful calls to action, descriptions of your videos include relevant links, too!

Shoppable Stories and Posts

This option allows you to sell your products directly in your posts. With the product page linked and highlighted, just waiting for the interested observer to click it, you'll eliminate hassle out of the buyer's journey and streamline their way to your storified microstore.

And not just your store; even better, it will direct them straight to the product that struck their fancy, with all the details and info right there! This will make you, your company, and your product more approachable and shopper's experience so much smoother and more convenient.

Keep in mind though that, to qualify for this feature, there are some requirements you have to fulfill. These include but are not limited to: offering a physical product that is within Instagram's policies, being on the list of countries that this feature is available in, and having a business profile on Instagram.

Use Everything Instagram Offers for the Betterment of Your Business!

Learning how to drive traffic away from Instagram is a valuable thing for your business, conversions, and overall profit margins. Don't let the fact that some of these options require ten thousand followers (and other platform's demands) demotivate you. As this storified guide has shown, even when you don't have all premium options, you have plenty of other alternatives to link it up, wake up the sense of wonder, entertain your audience and ultimately- get the desired results you want.

After all, Instagram claims that 75% of users on its platform have taken action at one time or another, whether it's visiting a website or buying something. Those are some staggering numbers, especially considering that Instagram (as a platform), isn't very "link friendly".

No matter which platform you are trying to customize per your product, it’s important to learn the ins and outs of it before you decide that platform is your go-to. In the case of Instagram, the advice above should make for a good starting know-how; if you need any more information, advice, consultation or help - StorifyMe team is here to help.

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