Instagram, the 4th most-used social platform, boasts over 2 billion active monthly users. That’s a big deal for brands who want to market themselves. But Instagram is more than just pretty pictures. It’s a powerful tool to achieve business goals like driving website traffic and generating leads. And that’s where the Instagram bio link comes in!
The Instagram bio link serves a crucial purpose in capturing the attention of your followers and driving them to a playground that you have more control over – your website.
Imagine the potential click-through rate when 90% of people on Instagram follow at least one business they are interested in.
But getting people to click on the Instagram bio link is easier said than done.
That’s why, in this blog we’re going to deep dive into the different ways Instagram bio link can be used for meaningful interactions.
What is an Instagram bio link?
Instagram link in bio simply means a clickable URL placed in the profile section of your Instagram account. Initially, Instagram allowed users to add only one URL to their profile, but now lets you add up to 5 links in the bio – this enables businesses to provide their audience an easy way to discover their website, promoted content and other relevant collateral.
Adding an Instagram bio link is a pretty straightforward and easy process. But here’s a quick step-by-step on how to do it:
1. Sign in to your Instagram account (individual or company)
2. Tap the icon of your profile picture at the bottom right to go to your profile
3. Tap “Edit Profile” at the top of the screen
4. Write a short description about yourself in the bio section using 150 characters or less
5. Tap on “External Link”
6. Copy and paste the link to your website in the form of “yourdomain.com” (make sure to add the link by copying and pasting it, rather than manually typing it, to avoid any potential errors)
7. Tap “Done” to save your Instagram bio link
Here’s what this will look like now:
Note: If you want to remove a link, simply tap on the link and select “Remove link”; you can even swap or update the link following the same steps.
How to use the Instagram link in bio effectively?
While there is no set way to use the Instagram bio link, here are a few use cases of it that we love implementing to drive our business goals and objectives from the social media platform:
1. Boost Sales
You can use your Instagram bio link to direct users to a webpage where they can find information about a sale or discount that you’re offering. This helps to create awareness and attract customers to take advantage of the special offer.
2. Promote Videos or Podcasts
If you have video content or a podcast that you want to promote, you can provide a link in your bio that leads your followers directly to it. This makes it convenient for them to access and enjoy your longer-form media content.
3. Create buzz for new product
When you have a new product that you’re about to launch, you can build anticipation by leading users to a dedicated landing page. This page can showcase the product, provide details about any launch events or announcements, and include links for users to make a purchase.
4. Engage with Contests and Giveaways
Instagram contests and giveaways can be a great way to engage your existing followers and attract new ones. By linking the promotion in your bio, you increase its visibility and encourage more people to participate, thereby increasing engagement and growing your audience.
5. Direct people to valuable resources
By including an Instagram bio link, you can direct users to a landing page where they can access valuable content or resources for free. In exchange for the free resource, you can ask them to provide their contact information, which allows you to generate leads for your business.
6. Offer Free Samples or Demos
With an Instagram bio link, you can direct users to a page where they can sign up to receive a free sample or demo of your product. This allows potential customers to experience your offering firsthand and provides you with valuable leads boosting your Instagram success.
7. Highlight Best-Selling Products
If you have popular products that you want to promote, you can share a custom landing page in your Instagram bio link. This landing page can feature multiple best-selling items, making it easier for your followers to explore and potentially make a purchase.
8. Feature Blog Posts or Recent Content
If you’ve written a blog post or published recent content that you want your followers to read, you can create an Instagram bio link that leads them directly to that specific piece. This saves them the effort of searching for the content and encourages them to engage with your valuable information.
9. Showcase Your Brand
You can use the Instagram bio link to direct users to an “About” page that provides more information about your brand, products, or the cause that you support. This helps users to get a better understanding of your business and creates a connection with your audience.
Best practices to follow for Instagram bio links
Yes, with Instagram now letting users add more links to bio, there is a lot of opportunity for businesses. But we do recommend following a few best practices to ensure your links are getting noticed and don’t overwhelm your target audience:
1. Grab Attention with Emojis in Your ‘Link in Bio’ Callout
Emojis can be an effective way to draw attention to the Instagram bio link. By adding relevant and eye-catching emojis, you can make your call to action more visually appealing and engaging for your audience.
2. Opt for a Short Link in Your Bio for Easy Access
It’s important to keep the URL for your Instagram bio link concise. Long, complicated links can be difficult to remember and may deter users from clicking on them. Consider using URL shorteners or customizing your link to make it more user-friendly and easier to type.
3. Align Your Links with Your Objectives for Effective Results
Align the Instagram bio link with your specific goals. Whether you want to drive traffic to a particular product page, promote a new blog post, or encourage sign-ups for a webinar, make sure the linked destination corresponds to your desired outcome. This ensures that users who click on your bio link find relevant and valuable information.
What are the best link-in-bio tools for Instagram?
Link in bio tools are online platforms or services that boost the capabilities of an individual or business’s bio on social media. They enable users to optimize their bio, share multiple links, promote content, and engage with their audience more effectively by creating a consolidated URL for the same.
Here is the list of the best Instagram link-in-bio tools for you to use if you’re looking at added capabilities of tracking and want to add more links than what the platform has to offer:
1. Beacons
Beacons provide a centralized hub to link all your social media platforms, including Instagram, TikTok, YouTube, Twitch, Twitter, and Facebook, in one place. They offer creative options to customize your link blocks with headers, descriptions, images, collapsible blocks, carousels, and other engaging features.
Key Features
Link directly to third-party storefronts like Amazon and other retailers to drive traffic and engagement where you want it.
The donations block allows you to monetize by accepting tips and donations from followers.
Build your subscriber list by collecting fans’ email addresses.
Customize your domain to make it more branded and professional for instant recognition.
Pricing
Link in Bio- Free
Link in Bio Pro- From $10/month
2. Feedlink
Feedlink empowers you to build your own personalized .link social site with a custom domain for your Instagram or TikTok bio. It allows you to seamlessly guide your followers with clickable links to product pages or blog posts. Feedlink automatically generates all your Instagram posts and lets you tag each one with a custom link, leading to specific landing pages on your website.
Key Features
Change the album feed to show posts with essential links if you want to display different posts for a new marketing strategy.
Get access to make unlimited links for multiple Instagram (private or business accounts) or TikTok profiles or use the custom link option to create links for all other social media profiles.
Choose from different styles Default, Classic, or Banner, and use all the customization options available to make your signature ‘link in bio’ page.
Pricing
Free
Pro- $3 per month
Business- $9 per month
Agency- $19 per month
3. Linktree
With Linktree, you can schedule links to go live at specific times, utilize animations to emphasize key information, generate QR codes to bring offline customers online, enhance your following with social icons, embed videos, and effortlessly collect email and SMS subscribers.
Key Features
Easily link from IRL – your product packaging, posters, and flyers – to your online world with a simple QR code.
Linktree seamlessly connects to other platforms like Mailchimp, Vimeo, Zapier, Amazon, YouTube, Google Analytics, plus more.
Use powerful analytics to know what your followers are engaging with, and use the insights to grow your followers and business.
Pricing
Free
Starter- $4.58 per month
Pro- $8.24 per month
Premium- $21.97 per month
4. Shorby
Shorby is a powerful link-in-bio tool that enables you to cross-link your social profiles and retarget audiences on third-party websites such as Clickbank or Amazon. The app also lets you retarget those who click on custom links with ads, maximizing your sales potential.
Key Features
Personalize your page with custom videos, backgrounds, animated avatars, and icons to create a unique and visually appealing experience.
Enhance your page with rich links, text blocks, eye-catching GIFs, and captivating headlines that engage and attract your audience.
Easily swap, add, or change links as frequently as you desire, ensuring your content remains up-to-date and relevant to your audience’s needs.
Pricing
Pricing plans range from $9 to $99 per month.
5. Sked Link
Sked offers built-in analytics with up to two years of historical insights. With Sked, stakeholders can easily comment on, approve, or reject content. All plans include a social inbox for streamlined and collaborative engagement, perfect for centralized and team-based management.
Key Features
Create a custom approval workflow that includes internal and external stakeholders.
Schedule and auto-post Instagram images, videos, carousels, and even stories with link stickers.
Respond with on-brand, personalized replies in a fraction of the time with built-in AI.
Pricing
Fundamentals- $30/ month
Essentials- $89/ month
Professional- $159/ month
Enterprise- Custom Pricing
6. Lnk.Bio
Link.Bio enables you to effortlessly direct your followers to various destinations such as blog posts, email newsletter signups, your website, products, and much more.
Key Features
Add as many links as you wish, and change them as often as you want.
Cross-link all your social profiles and optimize engagement across your different channels.
Create your Url and place it in your Instagram Bio.
Pricing
Free
Mini-monthly- $0.99/ month
Mini- one time- $9.99/ month
Unique- one time- $24.99/ month
7. Link in Profile
With Link in Profile, you can easily incorporate Instagram bio links, and links into your Instagram images, guiding your followers to the desired destinations. To add a post to your Link in the Profile landing page, simply paste a URL into your Instagram post’s caption and it will automatically appear.
Key Features
Add links through Link in the Profile dashboard.
To add a post to your Link in the Profile landing page, simply paste a URL into your Instagram post’s caption and it will automatically appear.
Provides in-depth performance and engagement analytics.
Pricing
Personal Plan- $9.99/ month
8. Milkshake App
A Milkshake website is a mobile-based website created using the free Milkshake app. It’s quick and easy to make and update directly from your phone. With a Milkshake website, you can seamlessly connect your followers to all your offerings through your ‘link in bio.’
Key Features
Personalize cards (pages on your Insta website) and themes to suit your specific requirements.
Gain access to detailed analytics and valuable insights for better understanding your audience.
Invite your followers to send you emails by providing a link. When they click on the Email link, they can easily write and send messages directly to you.
9. Campsite
Campsite is packed with a lot of premium features. With the Campsite.bio Pro subscription, users can create their ultimate Instagram bio link. Enjoy premium link types, advanced analytics, and the ability to collaborate with others.
Key Features
Effortlessly switch between multiple Campsite accounts for convenient management.
Seamlessly integrate with Google Sheets or Mailchimp to streamline your workflows.
Retarget your website visitors using Google AdWords or Facebook Pixel to maximize your advertising effectiveness.
Pricing
Free
Pro- $7 per month
Pro+ – $24 per month
10. ContactInBio
ContactInBio is a platform that enables users to connect all their links and social media profiles onto a single page. It offers a micro-landing page feature that helps users convert their followers into valuable customers.
Key Features
Add multiple links, link social media profiles, add a contact form, and much more.
Create smart links for messengers such as Whatsapp, Telegram, Facebook, Skype, and Viber which allow contact on those platforms in one click.
Design your page to match your brand by adding your logo, and changing the background color, link size, link color, and background color.
Pricing
Starter- Free
Business- $4.55/ month
Agency- $18.20/ month
11. Tap Bio
Tap Bio offers personalized and branded mini-websites for your Instagram bio link and enables you to easily create mobile landing pages with all your desired links.
Key Features
Utilizes cards that seamlessly integrate with your landing page, allowing you to highlight multiple links with different functions.
Maintain a single call-to-action view to enhance the likelihood of your followers clicking on the link you want them to engage with.
Pricing
Basic- Free
Silver Plan- $5 per month
Gold Plan- $12 per month
Latest update of the Instagram link in the bio
The latest Instagram bio update focuses on the number of links that can be included in your bio.
Instagram has updated its “link in bio” feature, now allowing brands to add up to five links. Previously limited to just one link, this enhancement offers greater versatility, eliminating the need for external tools.
To add multiple Instagram bio links to your profile, again head to ‘Edit profile’ > ‘Links’ > ‘Add external link’. Add five links in the order you’d like them to appear in the app.
Conclusion
Leveraging the Instagram bio link effectively can go beyond a simple hyperlink and drive remarkable results for your brand. When utilized strategically, it becomes a powerful tool to direct traffic, promote products, and engage followers.
Don’t miss out on valuable insights and strategies to maximize your Instagram bio’s potential—subscribe to our blog today.
“Openness may not completely disarm prejudice, but it’s a good place to start,” said Jason Collins, the first male professional athlete to publicly come out as gay. This openness and the celebration that comes with it is why June as Pride Month is so important. It symbolizes acceptance and unity and reiterates how love is love in every form.
Celebrating this month is an excellent way for brands to show their support for the LGBTQIA+ community. But doing it the right way, which is respectful and thoughtfully represents the community, is essential. Because often, it can come across as tokenism and filled with superficial gestures.
In this blog, we will show you how you can extend your camaraderie and show genuine intentions with powerful examples from the best Pride Month campaigns.
What is Pride Month really about?
Pride Month sounds like a celebration filled with colors, parades, and rainbows everywhere. It is a celebration – the celebration of freedom and inclusivity. It acknowledges the struggle and history of the community and the importance of promoting the rights with acceptance today.
However, its inception is profound with the liberation movement. The history of Pride Month has deep roots in the Stonewall Riots of June 1969 in New York City. During that time, members of the LGBTQ+ community faced widespread discrimination and harassment, with frequent police raids on gay bars.
However, on June 28, 1969, the patrons of the Stonewall Inn in Greenwich Village stood up against a police raid, leading to several days of demonstrations and protests that marked a turning point in the LGBTQ+ rights movement.
The following year, the first Pride marches were held in several cities, including New York, Los Angeles, and Chicago, to commemorate the Stonewall Riots and demand equality and liberation. Pride Month is a vital platform for advocacy, awareness-raising, promoting inclusivity, and fighting discrimination and prejudice. It offers support and empowerment to LGBTQ+ individuals, creating a sense of community and belonging.
Throughout June, various events, including parades, rallies, workshops, art exhibitions, and cultural festivals, are organized to engage and educate people about LGBTQ+ issues. Millions of people participate in these festivities and demonstrations worldwide to promote equality and acceptance for all sexual orientations and gender identities. Companies also run Pride Month social media campaigns to show their allyship with the community.
How to acknowledge and celebrate pride month on social media?
To run successful LGBTQIA+ campaigns, you must first understand the significance and curate campaigns that reflect the cause and the emotion.
Therefore before you launch your Pride Month marketing campaigns, here are some pointers for you:
1. Educate yourself and others
Take the time to familiarize yourself with the history, experiences, and challenges faced by the LGBTQ+ community. Gain knowledge about terminology, issues, and current conversations. This will enable you to create content that is well-informed and respectful.
2. Collaborate with LGBTQ+ Influencers and Organizations
Partner with LGBTQ+ influencers, content creators, or organizations to co-create content or initiate projects. Collaborations should be based on mutual respect and a shared commitment to advancing LGBTQ+ rights and inclusivity.
3. Spread the word on queer-focused organizations
Give a platform to LGBTQ+ individuals, organizations, and activists. You can share their stories, perspectives, and initiatives by featuring guest posts or conducting interviews that showcase their achievements and contributions. Such initiatives help amplify their voices and provide visibility to the community.
4. Be an ally
Participating in Pride Month on social media provides an excellent opportunity for brands to support LGBTQIA+ organizations and initiatives. Be a genuine ally by utilizing your platform to promote and share information about fundraisers, donation drives, and volunteer opportunities, encouraging your audience to actively contribute and make a positive impact.
In addition, create spaces on your social media platforms that foster dialogue and conversation. Encourage your followers to share their stories, experiences, and questions about LGBTQ+ issues. Actively respond to comments and engage in meaningful discussions, creating a respectful and inclusive environment where diverse perspectives are valued.
5. Be supportive throughout the year
Recognize that supporting the LGBTQ+ community requires ongoing effort beyond Pride Month. Commit to inclusivity, diversity, and equality throughout the year in your brand’s policies, hiring practices, and content creation.
Best pride month campaigns and what you can learn from them
In a survey, 91% of respondents said they’re more likely to choose or try a brand that supports the LGBTQ+ community over one that doesn’t. This reiterates the importance for brands from a social and business perspective to show their support for their customers from every segment of society.
Additionally, celebrating Pride Month on social media can be exciting, and you can put on your creative hats to develop interesting POVs. To help you create impactful Pride Month social media campaigns, here are the best Pride Month campaigns for you to get inspired by and set the tone for your social media:
1. LEGO’s “Everyone Is Awesome” campaign
LEGO, a beloved toy company known for its universal appeal, recently made a groundbreaking move by introducing its inaugural set celebrating the LGBTQIA+ community through the “Everyone is Awesome” campaign. This innovative initiative garnered widespread admiration as consumers enthusiastically embraced the set, showcasing their customized versions and praising its inclusive aesthetic.
The “Everyone is Awesome” campaign stands out for its seamless alignment with LEGO’s core values, resulting in an authentic and resonant connection with consumers. While retaining the playfulness and creativity inherent in other LEGO sets, it effortlessly conveys a powerful message of inclusivity without relying on complex language. Consequently, the product received high praise from members of the LGBTQIA+ community and those outside of it.
Matthew Ashton’s remarkable set is a testament to the deep-seated desire for a more supportive and accepting society that appreciates our diverse identities. Crafting the set as a powerful statement about love and inclusivity, Ashton aimed to spread the universal embrace of LEGO’s joy to all individuals who seek it.
His personal experiences of facing adversity as a gay person growing up in the 80s have given him immense pride in the set and the profound message it conveys. With “Everyone is Awesome,” Ashton fervently hopes to empower and uplift each individual, emphasizing their inherent right to acceptance, love, and the freedom to express their unique creativity.
Skittles, a well-known brand famous for its colorful candies and packaging, has come up with a unique idea to celebrate this occasion. They have launched a special edition of gray candies to highlight the significance of the rainbow Pride flag, which serves as a symbol of inclusivity and diversity for the LGBTQIA+ community.
Skittles’ Instagram account offers a diverse mix of content, including product announcements, lighthearted memes, and posts related to the LGBTQIA+ community. An analysis of a year’s worth of content reveals that the brand frequently engages in discussions about LGBTQIA+ topics alongside general product updates and holiday promotions.
While some consumers criticize Skittles for releasing gray candies during Pride Month, others appreciate the brand’s clever and thought-provoking approach. By removing the vibrant colors from its candies, Skittles underscores the importance of the rainbow Pride flag, reminding us of the dullness that would permeate our world without vibrant hues.
Skittles’ campaign goes beyond raising awareness; it actively supports the LGBTQIA+ community through collaborations with LGBTQIA+ artists who design the packaging. Additionally, a portion of the profits from the gray edition is donated to GLAAD, a prominent LGBTQIA+ organization.
With Xbox’s Pride Controller, besides the standard editions, gamers can get their hands on all kinds of colorful and limited editions. In 2022, Xbox released a special controller for Pride Month, bursting with colors from 34 different flags of the LGBTQIA+ community. In addition to the rainbow flag, it also features flags for the trans, intersex, bisexual communities, and many more.
This campaign works because it raises awareness for the LGBTQIA+ community and celebrates diversity. It also emphasizes that the LGBTQIA+ community is more than the well-known rainbow flag. By sending it to LGBTQIA+ members of the gaming community, Xbox is recognizing them as an important part of their customer base. The company also promoted video games popular with the LGBTQIA+ community and donated to non-profit organizations.
Microsoft’s Pride message this year is a beacon of hope, covering crucial issues like climate change and racial justice beyond just diversity. Their Pride Month video is a testament to their unwavering commitment to change-making and overcoming seemingly insurmountable obstacles by working together and harnessing the energy of the Pride movement. Seeing a brand go above and beyond to support the LGBTQIA+ community is truly inspiring.
The Together We Can Pride campaign by Microsoft celebrates the intersectionality and strength of the LGBTQIA+ community. Microsoft has donated a whopping $15M to organizations supporting LGBTQIA+ rights, in addition to a recent contribution of $200,000 to five groups fighting for equity and equality. Microsoft also marks the 30th anniversary of its Global LGBTQIA+ Employees and Allies at Microsoft (GLEAM) employee resource group, which has been a staunch advocate for LGBTQIA+ inclusion and Pride at Microsoft.
It is commendable that Microsoft has been promoting LGBTQIA+ inclusion since 1989 and has non-discrimination policies that include sexual orientation and gender-affirming healthcare services for all employees, regardless of gender.
5. Quint Media – How the rainbow flag came to represent Pride
Educational content plays a pivotal role in effective branding and strategy. As part of their Pride Month initiatives, Quint Media, an Indian media company, recently unveiled a captivating and informative 4-minute video.
The animated short delves into the origins of the rainbow flag and its significance as a symbol for the LGBTQAI+ community. Rather than relying on superficial statements, the video takes viewers on a fascinating journey through the history of the Pride flag. By the end, viewers are left with a genuine sense of having gained valuable and relevant knowledge. This exemplifies the essence of exceptional content marketing—providing engaging and educational material that leaves a lasting impact.
Pride month social media campaigns – Dos and Don’ts
It is important to celebrate the achievements of the LGBTQIA+ community and honor their struggles as well. However, while doing so during the Pride Month, there is a thin line between being sincere and performative.
You don’t want your campaign to look forced; you want to be sincere in your allyship and be authentic. Therefore here are some dos and don’ts:
Dos’:
Take the time to understand the history, experiences, and challenges of the LGBTQ+ community. This knowledge will help you create well-informed and respectful content.
Ensure that your support for Pride Month aligns with your brand’s values and actions. Authenticity is key, as insincere or opportunistic gestures can be easily identified.
Give a platform to LGBTQ+ individuals, organizations, and activists. Share their stories, perspectives, and initiatives. Collaborate with them to co-create content that showcases their contributions.
Showcase the diversity of the LGBTQ+ community in your campaigns. Include representations of different sexual orientations, gender identities, races, ages, and abilities. Avoid stereotypes and tokenism.
Respect individuals’ chosen pronouns, use inclusive language encompassing all gender identities and sexual orientations and avoid outdated or derogatory terms.
Partner with LGBTQ+ influencers, content creators, or organizations to amplify your message.
Show your allyship throughout the year and not only during Pride Month.
Speak up for LGBTQIA+ issues and take a stand when you can.
Don’ts:
Avoid using the LGBTQ+ community as a mere marketing ploy. Genuine support goes beyond superficial representation during Pride Month.
Steer clear of perpetuating stereotypes or reducing LGBTQ+ individuals to simplistic caricatures. Respect their multifaceted identities and experiences.
Show respect for the symbols and cultural elements associated with the LGBTQ+ community. Avoid appropriating or commercializing them without understanding their significance.
Beware of empty gestures that lack substance. Ensure that your support extends beyond Pride Month and aligns with ongoing efforts for LGBTQ+ equality.
Recognize the diversity within the LGBTQ+ community. Avoid assuming that one narrative or experience represents the entire community.
Listen to feedback from the LGBTQ+ community. If you receive constructive criticism, take it seriously and make necessary improvements. Engage in dialogue to learn and grow.
Don’t harp on stereotypes from the community and use social listening tools to understand what needs to be spoken about instead.
Only changing your social media icons and images to a rainbow is not enough. Make thoughtful posts and campaigns.
LGBTQIA+ community faces backlash and hatred every day, so when you show your allyship, your campaigns will face some hate too. Ensure your stance is strong, and don’t back down under pressure.
Celebrate Pride Month on social media the right way
The celebration of love in every form and acceptance of each person’s individuality despite their gender and sexual orientation is at the crux of Pride Month. It is about the LGBTQIA+ community; your brand must keep its voice as the core aspect.
Plan your campaigns to show how you care about the cause, and create a narrative that reflects this notion. By doing so, brands can celebrate Pride Month authentically and foster acceptance, unity, and love.
You can use social listening tools to know how your customers feel about Pride Month and what they want you to speak about. If the majority of your customers would feel uncomfortable with the campaign, that doesn’t mean you shouldn’t voice your support, but you have to be thoughtful in creating the campaign.
In such instances, brainstorm and create Pride Month marketing campaigns in a way that educates your audience and shines a light on the human aspect of it all.
You can also use social media listening to respond to people who leave hateful comments on such posts and take a stance for the LGBTQIA+ community. Because Taylor Swift once said in her song, “Shade never made anybody less gay” – despite the backlash, a lot of your audience and customers will appreciate your understanding that people from this community cannot change who they are. You can create campaigns that can change people’s mindsets toward them. Social media is extremely powerful that way.
With the campaign, you can also garner new customers who will appreciate your sincerity and stance regarding this subject!
You can use social media listening tools like Radarr to know your audience well and conduct sentiment analysis to create the best Pride Month campaigns.
YouTube is an incredible platform for marketers across industries to reach a large number of users, and the numbers really say this. YouTube ads have the potential to reach over 2 billion users, which is more than half of the world’s internet users! YouTube gets over 14 billion visits per month, second only to Google.
But as much as YouTube is popular among people, it is becoming equally popular among marketers, and the competition is at its highest. And as such, brands are finding it tough to get their videos noticed by their audiences.
So how do you tackle this issue? The answer lies in your YouTube SEO strategy.
What is YouTube SEO?
SEO or Search Engine Optimization is a set of strategies for enhancing user experience and tries to elevate a page’s ranking in search engines. It includes programming, design, content creation, and interactions with other websites in order for search engines to recognise that page as the best result for the user’s query. They can also help eliminate spam and other irrelevant content from the results and ensure a good user experience.
YouTube has its own search system with an intelligent algorithm, which enables users to easily find what they are searching for. Let us delve deeper into YouTube SEO.
How does YouTube SEO work?
YouTube uses a similar search algorithm that its parental company, Google uses, to show users videos that best suits their search intent. When a user enters a search query on YouTube, the site’s robots comb through all of the channels and videos to present the most relevant results to the user. The ranking of a video for a given set of search phrases is determined by an algorithm using many factors in each video post. Among these components are:
Video description
Title
Watch time
Number of views
Number of comments and likes
Metadata
The algorithm of YouTube also considers the person’s past activity and behavior when they search for a particular thing. This way, the search results become more personalized and relevant. All these elements together inform the algorithm how engaging, popular and appropriate a video is for a user’s search, and will be ranked on the search results accordingly.
How to create a YouTube SEO strategy
Similar to how you document a SEO strategy for your website, we recommend following these steps to optimize your videos for the best of results:
1. Perform keyword research
The first thing you need to think about is the topics people look for on YouTube. Keyword research is the foundation of a successful YouTube SEO strategy. You can use the terms to research fresh ideas, potential topics and new keywords. YouTube search bars are a great way to search for popular keywords from other users. Or you can look for keywords on Google as YouTube videos get ranked on Google search results.
2. Add hashtags
Hashtags can help get your videos the audience it needs. Adding relevant hashtags like company/ brand name, main topic etc. on your videos and titles is a great way to get your videos exposed.
Users can view video content linked to a specific topic by clicking on the hashtag or searching for it. Too many hashtags might make the content appear as spam so it’s ideal to stick to two or three relevant hashtags.
3. Create a playlist
Viewers find it easier to access your content on YouTube if you create organized playlists. This can benefit you in the long run, as you can retain viewers on your channel for longer while improving overall watch time and search result ranking.
4. Optimize titles and descriptions
Your title and description can really change the treatment your videos get, once they are out. It is ideal to stick to around 75 characters for titles. You can integrate your keywords cleverly with the title by posing a question, making a listicle (E.g. “7 Best..”), comparing and contrasting (E.g. “Best to Worst…”), or with How-tos and Tutorials.
When it comes to descriptions, ensure that your primary keyword is placed without it seeming spammy. Good descriptions will contain links to your other key-word specific videos, timestamps, and links to your socials and website.
5. Leverage YouTube tags
Tags are another small but crucial aspect of your YouTube SEO strategy. Here too more isn’t necessarily merry. Tags can help improve your video’s ranking and boost its visibility, but knowing the right number makes all the difference. By tagging with descriptive words, you let YouTube understand your content so that relevant recommendations can be sent to the viewers.
6. Level up your thumbnails
Thumbnails do not directly impact SEO, but visuals are important to pull viewers. A good striking thumbnail will boost the number of clicks you get and improve your search ranking.
Include bold text for highlighting the title, use striking colors and include some action in the graphic for maximum effect. Note that your thumbnail plays a great part in establishing your brand identity and effectively conveying your brand persona with your content.
7. Promote content across networks
It’s important that your video gets promoted for higher engagement, both in and out of the platform. You can include CTAs in the video and ask for likes and subscriptions. Promote your videos across other channels as well, by embedding them on your website or blog posts and by sharing them via email or via social media channels.
8. Leverage analytics
The next step in your YouTube SEO strategy should be to analyze your results for further optimization in the future. Use YouTube analytics to assess the performance of your videos and find out what works best for you in terms of YouTube SEO. Leveraging analytics will give you a more detailed understanding of what keywords work well, what content people prefer and what content performs the best.
Additionally, you can leverage social analytics tools like Radarr to deep dive into video analytics. Leveraging artificial intelligence and machine learning, we are also able to pull in additional insights on video engagement, including the sentiment they are generating across the internet.
Best YouTube SEO tips to try
Now that you have a YouTube SEO strategy in place, let’s look into some of the best practices we recommend following:
1. Rename video files to accommodate the target keyword
Firstly, use SEO tools to identify the right keywords that you want for your video. Before you even upload the video, rename the video file (note, this is not your title) with your keyword. You can only use your keyword in a few places on the viewing page, and since YouTube actually reads the file name and the codes that come with it, it can improve your video ranking.
2. Insert keyword seamlessly on the title
Titles are undeniably one of the first things about your content that gets seen by the viewer, and it makes an impression. Considering how the keyword is a fundamental part of your title, you should be able to craft the title closely to what a viewer is looking for, while naturally inserting the keyword.
3. Optimize the video description
The official number of characters you can use in the description, according to Google, is 1000. Even though you can use this space well, only the first two lines are displayed, while the rest is hidden under “show more”. It is better to front-load the most crucial information like CTAs and website links in your description. A well-optimized description can also help your video turn up in the sidebars among suggested videos.
4. Tag the video with popular and topic-related keywords
Tags convey to viewers and to YouTube itself, what your video is about. So, stick to the most relevant tags and use your important keywords here. By understanding the context, YouTube can associate your video with other similar videos and this way your content can gain more views.
5. Categorize the video
By choosing a category for the video, you can group it with similar YouTube content, increasing the chances of it landing into different playlists, and getting more exposure. You can categorize the video from “Advance settings” after uploading the video.
6. Create a custom thumbnail for the video’s result link
Thumbnails catch attention from the beginning and influence the impression of it on viewers. Use a thumbnail of the right quality (1280×720 pixels) and the right file size (below 2MB) in the right format (.jpg, .gif, .bmp, or .png), so that it appears in high quality when displayed. Using a custom thumbnail will be ideal, rather than going for the ones YouTube recommends.
7. Add subtitles and closed captions using an SRT file
Subtitles also contribute greatly to boosting YouTube SEO by further highlighting your keywords. You must provide a valid text transcript or a file with timed subtitles if you want to add closed captions or subtitles to your video.
8. Increase your YouTube channel’s viewership by adding Cards and End Screens
Cards are preformatted notifications that appear on phones or desktops, that can be set up to promote your videos. They can appear as translucent bars prompting subscribers, as channel cards or playlist cards linking to other YouTube content, as poll cards posing a question, as link cards that lead to external sites or as cards requesting fan funding and donations. End screens display similar info but they only appear at the end of the video.
9. Use Hashtags to improve video reach
Similar to social media platforms like Instagram you can include relevant terms and keywords to your clip by using the hashtags feature in the YouTube user interface. They show up right above the video title so that they can be accessed easily. You can also use hashtags in your description, but here too spamming will be penalized by YouTube so stick to only the important ones.
10. Try different video lengths
Higher overall watch times are what you need, but not everyone will stay through longer videos. Try making videos of various durations to see what length your audience prefers to watch. Observe and evaluate each video’s watch time, average view duration, and audience retention, so that you can craft a strategy that hits the right spot.
11. Utilize YouTube’s autocomplete feature
This will help you look for the most popular keywords you can adopt. By typing a keyword phrase on the search bar, you can see what other phrases come up and use this knowledge to craft clever titles, tags and descriptions. You will also have insights into YouTube trends and the keywords your competitors are using.
12. Create a playlist that relates to the video’s general topic
Create keyword-focused playlists for the videos as you continue to add them to your content library. This will not only tell YouTube what the subject matter of your videos is, but it will also keep viewers clicking from video to video, boosting your view count and, consequently, your ranks.
13. Use timestamps
Timestamps let users find what they are looking for within the YouTube video, by demarcating different sections in the video. As it creates expectations, including a timestamp can enhance retention and user experience. Timestamps give viewers a quick way to skip to the part of a video they wish to see or a reason to wait for a particular part to start playing. It also helps YouTube’s algorithm to understand the content and in turn, help improve SEO.
14. Add CTA in the video and description
A good, alluring call-to-action can help improve engagement while boosting likes, shares and subscriptions. These actions can also signal YouTube about how engaging your video is and in turn improve YouTube SEO.
15. Review YouTube search analytics
Analytics are helpful for monitoring how well you’re doing in reaching your objectives, but you can also actively use this information to raise your YouTube SEO. You can see how and why your traffic is improving or worsening, anticipate popular keywords, understand your viewers and optimize your content for the best results.
16. Leave a pinned message on the video
This is an optional YouTube SEO tip you can use, as leaving a pinned comment on your own video can generate more comments and increase engagement. But ensure that the comment you leave is engaging enough to lead towards further discussions from viewers.
Improve YouTube Marketing with Better YouTube SEO Tactics
YouTube marketing can cost you. And if you are investing your resources in creating video content to improve your marketing, it is paramount that you also invest time into helping the video content get discovered.
With a clever YouTube SEO strategy in place, you can ensure that your efforts result in appropriate rewards.
Now you have mastered YouTube SEO, and only need to apply your knowledge. Looking for more marketing wisdom?
Social media management is a tricky job – you have to be creative, stay on top of trends, create content consistently, and ensure the brand is always represented in the best way. And doing all of it for multiple social media accounts is the same problem multiplied.
To do this well, it is not feasible or economical for many businesses to hire different marketers for each platform. So you need to empower your social media marketer with the best tips, resources, and tools so they can easily manage multiple social media accounts. Read on to learn how you do it.
How to manage multiple social media accounts?
Each social media platform and account has its purpose. You cannot copy and paste content from one account to the other. Therefore curating and creating content for each account and platform is necessary, but it can quickly become overwhelming. So take a breath because these tips will make the process smoother.
1. Use a single platform to view all your social accounts
Switching between Twitter, Instagram, to LinkedIn and other platforms becomes a tedious process. This is why if you want to manage multiple social profiles, then using a social media management tool like Radarr that provides a dashboard to access it all in one place is essential.
Having all the platforms in one place will save you a lot of time and effort. You can use a social media management tool to help bring everything to one dashboard – not having to switch between platforms can reduce human errors; think about the number of times you posted the wrong hashtags!
2. Don’t create content on the go
If you are using your Twitter or Instagram for personal use, you can post whenever you feel like it or whenever you have a witty remark to share. But when handling social media accounts for businesses, you have to be consistent and post based on a predetermined schedule.
To save yourself last-minute mistakes and panic over what to post, pick a time or day that works for you and dedicate it to creating content. You can always make other posts if you want to hop on a trend and have some news to share – but otherwise, create content in advance.
Use a social media scheduling tool like Radarr to schedule them in advance. This way, you won’t worry about what to post each day; you can be assured that all the accounts are taken care of on their own.
Posting at different times of the day can yield different results, which means your post’s visibility and reach depends on it. This is because your target audience is active during certain times, and when you post something and the content doesn’t have a lot of engagement, it means you are just sending it into the void.
To avoid these situations, learn when your account sees peak interaction on each platform. This will be based on the demographics of your target audience. Understand the user behavior patterns and preferences and what kind of posts they react to. This data will help elevate your posts, and garner more engagement in the form of likes, comments, and shares.
You can automate this process with a combination of research using the social media insights on Radarr for your social accounts and automate the posts at the time discovered by this tool.
Creating unique content for your social media accounts is essential – but sometimes you can make the process easier by engaging with others and reposting their content.
However, ‘others’ here refers to brands and people relevant to your brand. Make a list of industry experts and businesses in your field and follow them closely. Whenever they post content that is useful for your audience – repost it!
Keep an eye on content created by your customers and users and share them for user-generated content.
However, keeping track of all of it can become tiring, but using social listening tools can make it easier. Keep an eye out for industry keywords and brand mentions across the internet, and you will be notified when something relevant comes up. Then share them!
5. Engage with your audience
Social media isn’t a one-way conversation platform. To build your brand’s presence, you have to engage with your audience to create a sense of community with them. When you actively engage with comments, messages, and mentions, you demonstrate your appreciation for your followers, which fosters a positive perception of your brand and encourages loyalty.
Additionally, it helps you to offer customer support on social media. This way, your customers will know they can trust you to solve concerns.
Engaging with your social media followers also humanizes your brand. It showcases the people behind the brand and creates a personalized experience for your audience.
6. Make social media management more collaborative
Social media management can be a taxing experience if you do it alone. While that’s the case sometimes, you want to have a tool that helps you collaborate with the others in the team more easily.
The best social media management tool will provide you with multiple features to do this well. You will be able to view all the accounts and users of the accounts in one view. You can also set roles and permissions for different users based on their level of access. You can also use the tool to get approval for your posts from others on the team, and they can edit, approve or even provide feedback.
Having a collaborative tool will help you share the content calendar so that the team is informed of the posts, and it causes no conflicts. This also means whenever you get messages on your social media accounts, they are always answered. Someone in the team can respond right away, even when you aren’t available.
This is extremely helpful in ad-hoc situations. If a team member isn’t available suddenly, someone else can take charge and understand what to do by looking at the calendar.
7. Use analytics across platforms
To reach your business goals, it is crucial to analyze the performance of your social media marketing efforts across multiple accounts. Through analytics and reports provided by Radarr, you can track essential metrics such as engagement, reach, impressions, click-through rates, conversions, and more. This allows you to identify which accounts are performing well and areas that need improvement.
By comparing the performance of each account against one another, you can evaluate the relative success and effectiveness of different accounts, identify trends and patterns, and determine the best practices and strategies with the highest results.
Additionally, analytics provide valuable insights about your audience. With this data, you can customize your content, messaging, and targeting strategies to engage and connect with them effectively. By measuring the return on investment (ROI) of your social media marketing efforts on multiple accounts, you can assess the financial impact of your campaigns and demonstrate their value to key stakeholders.
Post from any account and from anywhere using Radarr
It can be challenging to manage multiple social media accounts, but not if you have the best social media management tool like Radarr. This one platform helps you schedule all your posts in one bird’s eye view and manage them amongst your team seamlessly.
If you want to know we make this happen, book a demo with Radarr today and let us help you with social media marketing.
Your brand’s presence and reputation that you built over years of hard work are sacred to you. People trust you because of it and develop a sense of brand loyalty. But because the internet has many fickle elements, it is easy to ruin this reputation with one fake social media account.
Fake social media accounts can close down companies because of the dire consequences. In 2021, more than one in four people reported losing money because of fraudsters, and their initial interactions started on social media through ads, posts, or messages.
These fake accounts are only increasing, and from 2017 to 2021, Facebook claimed that there were 17.6 billion fake accounts. With this surge in fake accounts, you must be vigilant to ensure you don’t become a headline for a scam through a fake account.
In this blog, we will address how to prevent such accounts from hampering your brand.
What are fake social media accounts?
Fake social media accounts are profiles created maliciously to deceive or mislead people by pretending to be someone else. They can mimic individuals or brands and, in the process, spread false information and engage in activities that could land your brand in trouble.
Fake accounts impersonating brands also cause distress by trolling the original account’s audience and scamming them through activities such as fake giveaways.
Such accounts can have lasting effects on a brand’s presence on social media and across platforms. Therefore, you have to stay vigilant in identifying them and taking action on the issue.
How can fake social media accounts hurt your brand?
Fake accounts on social media are designed to tarnish your brand and cause repercussions while often trying to scam your audience in the process. Here are how they can do it:
1. Scam your followers
Several individual accounts and brands host giveaways and contests to increase their account’s reach and create more buzz about their products and services. Scammers use such opportunities to either engage with the customer’s profiles in comments and invite them to DM for more information or even create new social media accounts with names very similar to the brand.
The consequences can be chaotic, and this was the case for a Twitter user who fell for a scam through Elon Musk’s tweet.
Below is an example: a Twitter user saw a message to click on a link for a Bitcoin giveaway. The user believed both the tweets were from Elon and participated in the giveaway and sent 10 of his Bitcoin for maximum returns. Only to realize this was a scam and, unfortunately, lost his money.
When people assume the online identity of brands, they can also stir up nuisance by spreading false information in their name. During the COVID-19 lockdown, many fake social media accounts were set up to spread false news about the disease and vaccines, leading to many scares among the public.
While the general public needs to be aware of the consequences of consuming information on social media and providing their sensitive data – often, it is an impulsive decision.
One retweet and share could blow up the fake account’s post. Such information could potentially harm people and, therefore, a brand losing its credibility.
3. Brings a negative perception
Fake accounts are also created to cause damage to a brand’s reputation. They could comment negatively, engage with your audience and harass them online or even post inappropriate content on fake accounts. To most people, it would appear as if you are posting it all, which leads to a dent in how people perceive your brand.
4. Damage your relationship with customers
Often fake accounts mislead and confuse customers with false promises, scams, and negative posts. This leads to customers losing trust in the brand without even realizing it is fake.
Even after your account finds out and clears the air about such incidents, it strains your relationships with customers who now don’t trust you enough. Negative experiences associated with your brand can lead to loss of customer loyalty, negative word-of-mouth, and significant difficulty rebuilding trust.
5. Cause legal implications
When fake accounts on social media engage in activities such as phishing, and copyright infringement, they open up your brand to legal risks.
Even though these activities would not have involved you, once your brand name is involved with such incidents, you are immediately in trouble. Even getting out of it is a time-consuming process to clear your name and do damage control, and the legal fees become an added expense.
6. Tank your stocks
The stock market can be volatile, but when your brand’s name comes up negatively in the media, your stock prices will suffer too. In a recent example, when Twitter made blue tick easy access,
Another account impersonated the Aerospace company Lockheed Martin with the name @LockheedMartini. The extra i was the giveaway but also how they created false names and claimed they would halt weapon sales to Saudi Arabia, Israel, and the US. The tweet had the ripple effect of their stocks tanking by 5.30%.
Tips to protect your brand from fake social media accounts
We discussed the effects of fake social media accounts, but you don’t have to go through it all. You can take several proactive steps to avoid being in bad situations.
1. Implement a social monitoring system
A social monitoring system will help identify fake accounts created in your brand’s name. This includes looking for different accounts using names similar to yours with some changes and misspellings. It’s tedious, but you might never find out about these accounts before the damage is done. Social monitoring automates the task and keeps an eye on these accounts and their verification.
2. Report fake accounts immediately
Whenever you encounter a fake account impersonating your brand, report it to the respective social media platform. Immediately flag any fake accounts that attempt to mimic your brand and provide the social platform with the necessary information and evidence to support your case. Additionally, inform your audience about the impersonation and advise them to report and block the fake account. When multiple people report the same issue, the chances of immediate action are high.
Along with the two action items for you, here are some tips to fight fake social media accounts:
3. Imbibe social listening for security
One way to learn about conversations about your brand is through social listening. Whenever someone mentions your brand or is impersonating you, you can get alerted about the discussion surrounding the situation.
When you monitor these alerts, you can quickly check and understand in what context you mentioned. If there is false information about your brand or someone is talking about an experience with you in poor taste, you can quickly fix this issue and report the accounts involved. Radarr can help with social media listening that can provide real-time alerts and audience insights so you remain on top of such problems constantly.
4. Set up Google alerts for your brand
While you can use social listening tools to learn about social media conversations, you can broaden your security by setting up Google alerts. These alerts notify you every time your brand is mentioned on the internet.
You can set up brand-related alerts using your name, possible variations and misspelling of the name, keywords related to your brand, and more.
Additionally, to narrow down your alerts, you can set up alerts for phrases like “fake [your brand name] account” or “[your brand name] scam,” you can be notified of such instances and take appropriate action. Fake accounts could use your brand’s content without permission. To know when such things happen, set up alerts for key phrases or copyrighted content. They can help you identify content misuse and take appropriate action to protect your brand’s intellectual property.
5. Buy domain names that could represent your brand
Secure domain names that closely resemble your own to prevent impersonation. Fake accounts can use this to buy domain names similar to yours and redirect your audience to scam them.
Therefore investing in website names that sound or are spelled like your brand is one of the most effective ways to protect your brand. This will deter hackers from purchasing and misusing them.
In addition, register your domain name on relevant extensions, for example, www.apple.store for Apple’s commercial website or www.amazon.tech for Amazon’s primary webpage. They all redirect to the same original site.
6. Develop a strong sense of brand identity
Your brand identity is beyond a name and logo. When you invest in building a solid virtual presence, it helps your audience identify you. This way, when an impersonating account posts something, your audience can tell the difference.
Create guidelines that define your brand’s visual identity – logo usage, color palette, typography, and design elements. Use them consistently in all your social media posts, stories, and ads.
Use consistent tone and voice in your posts and interactions on social media. So whenever an account pretending to be you try to engage with your audience, they will know something is off.
Engage with your audience regularly on social media. This includes responding to their comments, DMs and reaching out when they tag you. Doing this also enables them to let you know if they find any suspicious accounts.
7. Curate a social media crisis management plan
Despite all the steps you take to avoid fake accounts from impersonating you, sometimes you just might not catch them on time. This can cause frustration to customers, long-term damage to your reputation, and also revenue loss depending on the severity of the issue.
Whatever the case may be, you need to develop a plan for every case, you don’t want to scramble for a strategy when you are in the middle of the situation.
Identify the type of instances that could occur and list the possible scenarios. A fake giveaway, asking for sensitive information, posting false news, posting lewd images or videos, or even abusing your customers online – whatever the case, create corresponding plans to deal with each of them.
Decide what kind of emails you want to send, what social media post you want to create, and how you want to let your audience know about the issue.
Some issues could be resolved by a simple post, while others require intervention from the higher management. And you want to be prepared for both. Remember, quick responses can save you from fake accounts damaging your reputation and causing financial losses to you and your customers.
8. Get verified on your social media handles
If you want to prevent brand impersonation on social media, there’s no better way than getting verified. With a blue checkmark or similar badge next to your brand’s name, users will know your account is genuine. This sets you apart from any fraudulent or imitative accounts and establishes credibility with your followers.
Follow the instructions provided by each social media platform to submit a verification request. This typically involves completing a form or providing the necessary information to prove your brand’s authenticity.
9. Educate your audience
If you see a pattern of fake accounts in your brand’s name or users have reported such issues, then educating your audience about it is essential.
The people who already follow you are most likely to fall for fake account scam attempts, so when you create awareness among them, you will minimize such chances. Show them examples of fake accounts and how to identify and report them.
Additionally, let them know that your brand would only ask them for sensitive information or payments with appropriate steps. Encourage your audience to be vigilant and rely only on your official accounts for accurate details.
Don’t let fake social media accounts hold you back!
It is stressful to deal with fake accounts on social media, especially if you are still building your brand. However, by taking the proper steps to deal with them, you can safeguard your brand’s reputation.
Actively monitoring your social media accounts through the right tools can help you stay prepared for any such scenario and react quickly for minimal effect. Preempting such attempts can help you create strong crisis management narratives as well.
