As an influencer, driving traffic from Instagram is key for increasing your affiliate earnings and promoting your owned channels.
In this blog post, we’re sharing the three main ways you can drive traffic from Instagram — as well as six (tried and tested!) strategies to boost your click count:
3 Ways Influencers Can Drive Traffic from Instagram
Instagram is an amazing platform for influencers and creators, but opportunities to divert people away from the app are few and far between.
There are three main ways you can do this:
#1: Link in Bio
The link in your bio is arguably the main way to drive traffic from Instagram — and it’s available to everyone!
#2: Instagram Stories
Instagram Stories are a great way to drive traffic from Instagram.
Influencers (whatever size!) can connect with their followers on a more personal level — which is essential for building trust and increasing engagement.
You can drive traffic through Instagram Stories by:
- Adding swipe-up links (or the new Instagram Stories link sticker) if you have over 10K followers.
- Linking to an IGTV video with clickable links in the video description (even if you don’t have 10K followers).
- Including clear call-to-actions (CTAs), GIFs, and text to encourage your community to click the link in your bio.
NOTE: Instagram is testing giving accounts with under 10K followers access to the Instagram Stories link sticker. Watch this space.
#3: IGTV Video Descriptions
Unlike Instagram feed posts and Reels, IGTV video descriptions can include clickable links — making it easy for viewers to click through to the URL of your choice.
Plus, you can add a swipe up link to an IGTV video in stories — even without 10K followers!
Here’s how to add a swipe-up link to your Instagram Story using IGTV:
- Record a video (between 15 seconds and 10 minutes in length) and upload to IGTV, adding links to the video description.
- Create an Instagram story of your IGTV video. Add a clear CTA that encourages viewers to swipe up and click the small arrow next to your IGTV video title to discover your links.
- Select the link icon at the top of the stories screen and select “IGTV video.” Your IGTV video will now be directly accessible via a swipe up link from your Instagram story.
How 6 Influencers Drive Traffic Through Instagram
Now that you know how to re-route traffic from Instagram, it’s time to get strategic and maximize your linking opportunities.
Here’s how six influencers have adjusted their Instagram strategy to drive as much traffic as possible:
- Maximize Your Link in Bio like Pepa Mack
- Help Viewers to Find Your IGTV Links like Gina Jackson
- Create an Instagram Stories Highlight for Click-driving Content like Carissa Stanton
- Create Intrigue Through Instagram Stories like Nitsan Raiter
- Write Persuasive Captions and CTAs like Isis Breanna
- Use Reels for Viral Reach like Candace Junée
Traffic-driving Tip #2: Help Viewers Find Your IGTV Links like Gina Jackson
IGTV descriptions are one of the few places (aside from your link in bio) where you can include clickable links on Instagram.
However, as they’re tucked away behind a tiny arrow, they can be hard for viewers to find.
Take inspiration from Gina Jackson and let your viewers know how to find your clickable links.
Follow Gina’s lead and let viewers know that they can “find a link by tapping into the video description,” pointing to where the small arrow will appear on screen, or adding a call-to-action through on-screen text.
Traffic-driving Tip #3: Create an Instagram Stories Highlight for Click-driving Content like Carissa Stanton
Stories may disappear after 24 hours, but with an effective strategy, they can live on forever!
Enter: Instagram Stories Highlights.
Take a page out of recipe and food blogger Carissa Stanton’s book and add top traffic-driving stories to your highlights reel.
Through her highlights, Carissa drives eyes to her top recipes by organizing them into clear categories and topics — letting her audience quickly find the content that’s of interest to them.
Traffic-driving Tip #4: Create Intrigue Through Instagram Stories like Nitsan Raiter
Nitsan Raiter is a prime example of how influencers can build hype, launch a product, and drive traffic through Instagram Stories.
She used Instagram Stories as her main marketing tactic for her recent photo preset launch, sharing before and after photos and messages of excitement from her community.
Nitsan also built up excitement and engagement by including a countdown sticker where her audience could set a reminder for the launch.
Use the question sticker to collect names of people who want you to send them a specific link via DM. This adds a personal touch and is an effective community-building tactic, especially if you have less than 10K followers.
Traffic-driving Tip #5: Write Persuasive Captions With Clear CTAs like Isis Breanna
As an influencer, Instagram captions are a great way to connect with your community.
Take Isis Breanna for example, she’s turned her Instagram captions into an effective storytelling and traffic-driving tool.
Through her conversational captions, her audience learns about her entrepreneurial journey along with helpful marketing tips and hacks.
And she seamlessly integrates CTAs into her captions, encouraging her followers to either comment, click the link in her bio, or save the post.
TIP: Your Instagram captions don’t have to be as long or as detailed as Isis’ — just make sure they include a clear CTA to help drive traffic through your link in bio.
Traffic-driving Tip #6: Use Reels for Viral Reach like Candace Junée
It’s no surprise that Instagram Reels are a major traffic driver — they’re the main growth hack on Instagram right now.
Take Candace Junée’s videos for instance:
She’s seeing major results by creating Reels that promote her services and courses.
One of the ways she does this is by adding clear on-screen text with CTAs that encourage her audience to read the caption and comments.
She uses her Reels captions to encourage viewers to visit her website (by tapping the link in her bio).
By following these six tried and tested strategies, you can drive serious traffic through Instagram.
With an effective traffic-driving strategy in place, you can increase your affiliate earnings and cross-promote your channels — all while making the experience easier for your community.