Instagram’s Link in Bio: End of an Era or Just Evolving?

Andréa Jones [00:00:00]:
You know that trusty Linkin bio move that we all pull on Instagram to help with conversions? Well, word on the street is it may be on its way out. So in this episode, I'm gonna talk about what's really happening with Linkin bio, what's replacing it, and what you can do as a business owner and a marketer. This is the Mindful Marketing Podcast episode 320, and this show today is brought to you by Sched Social. In a world where the link in bio functionality could be fading fast and you wanna consolidate your social media management, have you considered Sked Social? Choosing a platform that not only keeps up with all of the trends, but also brings all of the essentials together could be game changing. Sched Social has you covered with advanced auto posting, including Instagram stories with a link, AI powered reporting, content creation, and a link in bio featuring a clickable image grid. Plus, Sked offers fair, predictable pricing. And because they know switching platforms can be a pain, they're making it super easy. Join Sked Social today and pay nothing until your current contract ends.

Andréa Jones [00:01:10]:
Terms and conditions apply. Click the link in the show notes for more information. Alright. So let's talk about link in bio. Link in bio wasn't always a thing on Instagram. So if we're gonna rewind the clock and go back in history, Instagram was a very image centric platform when it came out. And in fact, it was very personable. We all remember posting our breakfast with the Valencia filter on it.

Andréa Jones [00:01:36]:
Well, since marketers took over Instagram and Instagram did not have any links hyperlinked in their posts, marketers came up with a link in bio. Very similar to how on x, formerly known as Twitter, back in the day, it was the community there that created hashtags. Well, the community on Instagram created the term click the link in the bio. So users, the the people scrolling through the app, if they see something that's interesting, the call to action was to go over to the profile page and click the link there. So this then quickly became adopted by influencers and brands. And as Instagram grew in popularity, everyone says link in bio to indicate, hey, go click the link in the bio if you want more information. It kind of became second nature in the app. They did later add in a clickable link in stories, but do y'all remember this? It was only available to those, profiles that had over 10,000 followers.

Andréa Jones [00:02:39]:
So everyone was trying to get to 10 k followers so they can get the link in stories, but it was the swipe up feature. That was such a long time ago. But that was Instagram. Okay. So you had the link in your bio, and then if you had over 10,000 followers, you could say swipe up for more information, and that swipe up action would also be a link. Then comes along third party tools like Linktree. So because of the singular link in the bio, it was very common for marketers and influencers and brands to swap that link out for whatever it was they were currently promoting. If it was a specific product, they change their link to that that product.

Andréa Jones [00:03:21]:
If it was a free something, they changed the link to the free something. And so that was part of the experience. And then Linktree was created, which is one of the very first aggregate tools that allowed, content creators to put multiple links on a landing page. So you didn't know you didn't links on a landing page. So you didn't know you didn't have to go to your profile and keep updating the link. You'd have the one link that was already always there, and then you could update link tree and also link out to multiple things. Fast forward to today, we now have 5 links available in the bio. And if you have a, Meta Pro account, like you've paid for your blue check mark, you can now have an enhanced link, strategy where you can add images and things like that as well.

Andréa Jones [00:04:08]:
K? Now link in bio is a great, example of the community coming together for changing something. Right? There's no links available in the post, so we all create link in bio. And it's second nature, very low friction, easy way to drive traffic. You just say click the link in the bio, and it's second nature at this point. It's how people use the app. Okay? But there are some limitations to saying go click the link in the bio. It's a couple of steps. And in the 10 plus years that I've been doing this business, all of the analytics show that traffic from Instagram is much lower than other platforms.

Andréa Jones [00:04:47]:
I'm looking at you, Facebook. I'm looking at you, LinkedIn, even YouTube. Traffic is much lower than other platforms. However, traffic from Instagram does seem tend to be more committed traffic. What I mean by that is they're clicking multiple pages. They're signing up for the thing. K. When I look in something like Google Analytics, when I look at Instagram's traffic, they're on that website longer than someone who came in from Facebook, generally anecdotally speaking.

Andréa Jones [00:05:13]:
That's because it's a couple of steps to click the link in the bio. And as much as I love using Instagram for conversions, it's still not really a great platform for conversions. I will talk about later how that's changing. It's still not a great platform for conversion. So what happens is someone has to click on your profile, go to your profile, click on the link in the profile. If you're using a link tree, they have to look at the links that are there, find the one that they're looking for, click on that link, go to a landing page. And if they're signing up for a free thing, then enter their email address and get something from that. Right? And so there's quite a number of steps involved, and so a lot of people don't go through all of those steps.

Andréa Jones [00:05:59]:
The ones that do very, very dedicated group of people. It's the user experience that's not really that great, and sometimes it can be very challenging to update those links, to be reflective of what's going on in your business right now. So for example, I built out my own landing page on my website, onlinejreay.com/social. I put that in all of my social media bios, and it has, like, some hot links of, what's important, what's going on in my business right now. But I have a task for my assistant, shout out to Jemmy, to go and look at that every single week and make sure the content that we have coming up for that week matches the links that are there. It's an extra step. Right? It is an extra step. But it's not that bad, because I have the same link on all social platforms.

Andréa Jones [00:06:45]:
It's super streamlined. K? Then comes along ManyChat. ManyChat changed the game a little bit for this link in bio scenario. So I'll actually say this. Prior to ManyChat or kind of alongside when ManyChat was, first being birthed, Instagram started allowing accounts that had any number of followers to put a link in their Instagram stories. And to me, the link in the stories changed the game. I get the highest conversions from my stories, and the reason being is that Instagram stories tends to be my most dedicated community member. They're there.

Andréa Jones [00:07:26]:
They're watching. They're chatting with me. They're hanging out with me. They're they love to be there. And if I say, hey. I've got this resource that can help you. They sign up for the thing. They buy the thing.

Andréa Jones [00:07:35]:
Okay? And because it's a link, you just tap it. It opens the page. It's a very straightforward user experience. Okay? So links in stories, in my opinion, is a better replacement for link in bio and having a bunch of promo posts on your feed, especially outside of a launch period. That being said, I love ManyChat. So for a little bit of background, ManyChat is a third party tool. They are Meta partners. Okay? So they work with Facebook.

Andréa Jones [00:08:05]:
They work with WhatsApp. They work with Instagram. However, they're not owned by Meta. It's a third party tool, And, they work off a number, they work in a number of ways. The first way is a triggered base response. So that means someone has to do a specific, action or take a specific keyword, like type in a specific keyword on your post or in a message, and then an automated robot will respond. Now you can set this up however you'd like, but it is an automation. So you may have seen this on Instagram.

Andréa Jones [00:08:36]:
If I say, like, right now at the time of recording this, I am wrapping up my Instagram boot camp. I say on my Instagram, comment the word boot camp, and I will send you the details for the boot camp. So anytime someone says the word boot camp on my post, I can send it to be any post or that post specifically. This bot will then run them through the process of getting them signed up for the boot camp. Okay? So instead of having to click the link in the bio, there's a whole automated process behind the scenes. And since you can set it up however you'd like, it could be very conversational in nature. I have it set up so that if you comment on a post or you send me a DM with your keyword, it'll walk you through some steps. I ask for your email address.

Andréa Jones [00:09:21]:
I ask if you wanna be signed up, and then I send you reminders about the boot camp as well. K? And if you said, yes, I wanna sign up, but you didn't sign up, there's a follow-up sequence to that as well that's like, hey. You said yes, but I don't have your email address. Can you get it for me? K? That is ManyChat in a nutshell. You don't have to set it up like that. There are a number of different ways you can do it. You can even have it set up so that, you know, very simple ManyChat funnel. I actually have on my YouTube channel right now that's just a keyword and a link.

Andréa Jones [00:09:50]:
They comment the word, I have one set up like this for my Instagram mindset guide. Comment the word IG mindset. I'll send you my mindset guide. Literally, it's me DM ing them the link and saying tap here, then they sign up. K? The reason I love ManyChat is because it makes the experience easier for someone who's just scrolling and hanging out on Instagram. It doesn't feel like it has all of the extra steps of, like, go click the link in the bio, then look at all my links here, then pick the one that you want, then sign up for the thing. Okay? So there's a lot there's a lot that can go on in those types of scenarios. So ManyChat makes it a lot simpler to do.

Andréa Jones [00:10:31]:
Now also, with ManyChat on the marketing side, I like it because number 1, I'm in people's inboxes. So I'm sending them a direct message with this information. So now that is in their messages. So even if they don't sign up right now, it's in their messages. They'll see it next time they open up their messages. Number 2, I like it because I can create tailored messages. So it doesn't have to feel like a robotic experience. I use my voice when I'm writing out the confirmation messages, and I just have a a conversational flow to everything I'm doing in ManyChat.

Andréa Jones [00:11:08]:
And then also, I like it because there's no need to leave the app, especially with more advanced automations. Instead of having them go to a landing page and enter their email address, in the automated message sequence, I can just ask for their email address. And then have automations add them into my ConvertKit, send them the welcome email from there, and everything that needs to follow-up from there. So for me, I personally like that I can have this custom flow, these tailored messages. And then also I have tagging set up. So I have a tag for Instagram, for instance, where, you know, if I were to do something about Instagram in the future, I know this is a group of people who are interested in Instagram. I can send them more messages on that topic. The same thing goes for social media managers.

Andréa Jones [00:11:53]:
Whenever I create automated sequences for, my social media managers, I tag them as a social media manager. And then any of my offers that I sell about building a social media management business, I can then reach out to them directly. And one of the interesting ways I've done this is in the raise your rates funnel. So I have a free private podcast called raise your rates. And if you sign up for the podcast, one of my calls to action to kinda start a conversation with someone is for them to DM me with a keyword. And if they DM me that keyword, I give them more free stuff, and that's all set up through ManyChat. So I really enjoy, seeing those come in because to me, it's like a signal someone's listening. Now they're in my inbox.

Andréa Jones [00:12:39]:
Now there's another touch point. I really like it. Anecdotally, I have yet to see a really good case study comparing link in bio clicks versus automated response clicks from something like ManyChat. Because there are competitors out there, ManyChat isn't the only one. And I think one of the competitors, if they wanted to break into this space, one of the things they should do is create a, a test of which gets higher conversions. Because anecdotally anecdotally, the, ManyChat bots get maybe slightly more conversions than the link in bio, but it's pretty on par. It's pretty on par. I know people who are like, ManyChat stans.

Andréa Jones [00:13:23]:
They love to say that ManyChat is the way to go. I'm not convinced. I've seen this, you know, with some of my past clients. I've seen this with my own account. People still like clicking the link in the bio because it's just like what we do. And also, even though people are commenting, there's a percentage of people who just fall off. They comment the word, you know, boot camp. I email them and say, hey, you wanna sign up for the boot camp? They're like, yeah.

Andréa Jones [00:13:45]:
They never give their email address. They never sign up. Even though I'm, like, following up with them, you know, 24 hours later, hey, I didn't grab your email. Can you type it in? I've been ghosted. My bot has been ghosted. So anecdotally, I don't see conversions high enough to be like, yes, ManyChat all the way. And also, you have to keep your your community, your audience in mind. I do find that marketers are quicker to use a ManyChat bot than, like, your average everyday consumer for the most part.

Andréa Jones [00:14:16]:
So other marketers tend to love things like this. They tend to love automations. So, you know, take that with a grain of salt. Now there are some drawbacks to using automations like ManyChat. The biggest one is that it can be very easily mismanaged. One of the hardest things to do for my opinion with the ManyChat bots is to pick a keyword. So for my launch plan that is a free lead magnet that I have, I use the word launch as, like, the trigger word. And if someone accidentally types launch, it's like the bot goes off, and then now they're getting something they didn't ask for.

Andréa Jones [00:14:54]:
So that can be embarrassing. One time, when this podcast was called the oh, wait. No. It was a school. When the school I was doing a promo for the school, and I said type s s s for Savvy Social School, and I'll send you details for the school. In my mind, I'm like, nobody else would type s s s unless they unless they wanna be in the school. No. The bot went off when someone said, yes.

Andréa Jones [00:15:15]:
This with, like, a dozen s's, and that dozen s's had 3 s s s's in it. And then they're like the bot's like, hey. I saw your interest in the school. I'm gonna DM you. I was like, no, bot. Down, boy. Like, it's it went off on the most annoying of time. So you have to be really intentional about the keywords that you select.

Andréa Jones [00:15:33]:
The other thing that can be a challenge in managing ManyChat is that it gets really annoying in the follow ups. So I sign up for a lot of things because I'm a marketer, and I just like to see the behind the scenes of how things work. And so sometimes I'll use the comment DM situation when I'm just curious. I'm just wanna see how it works, because I'm nosy. And then I get start getting messages, like, daily messages from this brand, and I'm like, unsubscribe, stop. Like, there it's not there's no way to stop unless you block them. So it can be very annoying if brands don't have a proper plan in place to only message people at key times. The other thing is I think there is a little bit of a learning curve with ManyChat.

Andréa Jones [00:16:16]:
I don't think it's as intuitive as they say it is. I think it can be I think it can be challenging to set up. Not hard, but there's a lot of touch points and there's a lot of little details. And so one of the reasons why in a Savvy Social School, I set up like a ManyChat, template, like a cheat sheet. Like, here's everything you need before you go into the bot to set it up, because there's so many little things that you can add that you can get lost in the sauce if you're trying to to set it up. And then also to maintain it. You know, if you have different launches and things going on, different carts and things that are opening, it it can be a little bit of a maintenance thing to do. And then lastly, one of the drawbacks of using ManyChat for automation is that automations, especially if they're poorly done, can feel impersonal.

Andréa Jones [00:17:04]:
And this is just the challenge of living in an automated world right now. The rise of AI. It feels nice. It sounds like it could be great, and yet we all have had experience with AI gone rogue where we're like, bots, we didn't ask for this. And it's, like, the plot of every dystopian movie. Right? The robots are taking over the world. Also, ManyChat's not free. There is a cost.

Andréa Jones [00:17:31]:
My plan's $25. I know they have a free one, but because of all the things I have set up, it's $25 a month. Not a huge cost, but, like, enough for me to go. Every time the bill comes in, I'm like, do I need this? So it is a thought. So the big question then remains. Do we use link in bio? Do we use ManyChat? My answer is use both. The hybrid approach. And this may not be what you wanna hear because the drama on the Internet is that people are either for LinkedIn bio or they're for ManyChat.

Andréa Jones [00:18:02]:
There's not a lot of people saying try a hybrid approach. Because I think marketers are trying to sell their programs, let's be honest. Obviously, tools like ManyChat are trying to sell their tool as the greatest thing since sliced bread. But I also think the hybrid approach is great for this strategy, especially if you have a very engaged community. You can say, comment this keyword to get this resource or click the link in the bio. It's not that many extra words. And depending on the person looking at it, some people wanna comment, some people wanna click the link in the bio. And I think it kind of, dissuades those people who don't wanna comment.

Andréa Jones [00:18:42]:
And that's been the biggest, argument against ManyChat that I've seen is that some people don't want it known that they're looking at this resource. For example, let's say you are newly pregnant and you see a resource that says, how to deal with 1st trimester nausea, and you're like, I definitely want this, but it's like, comment the word nausea and we'll send it to you. But you don't want all your friends and family to know that you're pregnant yet. What are you gonna do? You're gonna go click the link in the bio. That's what you're gonna do. And so sometimes, leaving a comment publicly on a post is not something that you wanna do. So having the alternative there to that can be very helpful. Or if you're just nosy like me, sometimes I look at stuff from competitors and I'm like, oh, I wonder what this is.

Andréa Jones [00:19:28]:
I'm not commenting a keyword. I'm gonna go to their website and try to find it. So I think the sweet spot can be very helpful, and it can be the best of both worlds. I don't wanna diminish the power of familiarity. We know what LinkedIn bio is. And while ManyChat isn't necessarily new, it didn't really become super popular until the past 12 months. And so we've been living the last, what, 15 years with a link in bio and then the last year and a bit with many chat bots. Familiarity, can be very familiarity can be a really powerful tool in marketing.

Andréa Jones [00:20:06]:
And so people are used to clicking the link in bio, do not I wouldn't recommend discounting that. Now one of the things I love about ManyChat as well is that it does give your post an instant engagement boost because people are commenting. And, humans, we are we have herd mentality. Okay? We see someone else doing something. We're like, oh, what are they doing? Right? So when you see a bunch of people on a post saying boot camp, boot camp, you're like, I want in on the boot camp, and you type boot camp too so that you're in on the game. But the opposite can be true. If someone says comment the keyword and you go to the comments, there's no comments for the keyword. You're like, am I the only one here? Is anyone here? Hello? Hello? And so it can have a negative effect if your account isn't already engaging.

Andréa Jones [00:20:49]:
And so that is definitely something to keep in mind when you're thinking about this strategy, which is why I do recommend a hybrid approach. That being said, for newer account, I recommend just sticking with saying link in bio. And, also, you can say comment keyword and then manually follow-up follow-up with people. Nothing wrong with that saying, comment on this post, and I will DM you the resource. You could just manually DM people. That's also an option too. Now here's the twist to this whole thing. About 3 weeks ago, Meta released their q two report, and I covered this in my private podcast for the Savvy Social School.

Andréa Jones [00:21:26]:
If you're not in the Savvy Social School, you gotta come join us. We have a lot of fun over there, and I release social media news, updates sometimes daily depending on what's happening in the world with social media news. And one of the things that, Mark Zuckerberg said in his q two report was that they're working on more AI generated tools. The most recent one is their AI characters, where you as a brand can create a bot based on your brand. So, like, Snoop Dogg can have the Snoop Dogg bot, and then the Snoop Dogg bot will answer questions for you. In reading about this, it sounds very similar to some of the things that ManyChat can do. So if someone direct messages you and says, hey, what are your prices? You can have the bot automatically respond. And Meta has made this very clear that this is a bot.

Andréa Jones [00:22:15]:
They're not trying to make it look like the account is actually responding, which is different than ManyChat. And this is a tool that they are developing. So it's in progress, and I think it's gonna become the replacement to ManyChat. That's my prediction. That's my speculation. But with the rise of AI and and kind of the AI tools that are already embedded in Meta, it it would be very easy for them to completely ice out a tool like ManyChat by having a triggered response, like comment this question or keyword, and we'll send you a resource and have the ability to set that natively up in the app. Ugh, game chaser. I hope Meta does this personally, so I can save my little 20 to $25 has a month.

Andréa Jones [00:22:57]:
And also, it's less work, to set up another tool if everything's all together. So that's my speculation, my prediction for the future. So, there you go. There you have it. If you are sitting on the fence and you're not sure which one to use, stick with link in bio. Link in bio is very familiar. You can use some of these third party tools like a link tree to keep your links fresh, but you also have up to 5 links now in the bio. If you're looking for some change, you can test out some automation.

Andréa Jones [00:23:29]:
I'll have my affiliate link in the description for ManyChat. You can also go to onlinedrea.com/manychat. Test it out for yourself. I have YouTube videos and tutorials on how to use this, see if it works for you. And if you want even more ManyChat automations and tips and tricks, you gotta join us in the Savvy Social School where we just geek out about social media. We experiment, we play, we try a lot of things, especially for those of you who are not new, but you're like, man, I really wanna take social media seriously. This is the membership for you. Come on in and join us.

Andréa Jones [00:24:03]:
Next week, I am talking about marketing through a pivot. I've gone through a pivot myself this year. I'll have a update about that. I actually have a pretty big announcement to share next week as well. So stay tuned for that. Oh, a teaser. And, of course, make sure that you give us a 5 star rating on Apple Podcasts or Spotify. Helps keep us in the top 100 marketing podcasts.

Andréa Jones [00:24:26]:
That's my show for today. I'll see you next week. Bye.