Traditionally, Instagram isn’t a platform most marketers associate with lead generating tactics. Unlike Facebook, Twitter, LinkedIn, and more, Instagram doesn’t offer the ability to include links in posts. And, being a visual based platform, with truncated captions in the feed, most people aren’t looking for links or options to click on.

Instagram does not offer common lead generating tools, therefore requiring marketers to be more creative and conversational on Instagram in relation to how they attain this goal.

Most marketers understand the value of lead generation. We appreciate the ability to get social media followers off of social platforms and into our own funnels. So, while other businesses may bypass the options to use Instagram for lead capture, with the tips here, you can begin using your Instagram profile as another lead generating tool for your business – and improve over your competitors in how you communicate with your customers.

Optimizing Your Instagram Profile

In order to best capture leads on Instagram, you’ll need to ensure that your profile is properly formatted. Your Instagram profile should have all of the major components complete, including a well written bio that explains who you are, what you do, and why the visitor should care. Additionally, the URL and Action buttons should be properly formatted for easy use.

Using the URL in Your Profile

The link in your Instagram bio is your primary gold mine for collecting leads (although it’s far from the only one). When you are looking to use Instagram for lead generation, you will want the link in your bio to go directly to a landing page or other page on your website for you to capture that information. This could be a download, sign up, opt-in, or other offer you have.

You will want to draft your bio to include a call-to-action or a value-added proposition for clicking on the link in your bio.

When @thelovebombco recently ran a campaign to get a free product, customers could easily get one – in exchange for their information.

For the link in your bio to be really effective though, it’s best if you’re creating content in your feed to drive people to that link.

An example of this is @madeby.kasia who teased a new product and encouraged her audience to sign up for her newsletter in order to make sure they didn’t miss the announcement. This call-to-action is simple and effective as it appeals to her existing audience and drives traffic to her website while building her email list.

You may also choose to use a URL that sends visitors to your blog where they can read more information, but where you may include pop-ups to capture emails or offer a free download in the blog post with a valuable resource.

There are plenty of creative ways that you can use the link in your Instagram profile to collect leads, depending on how you use your website and lead capture technology.

Additionally, if you want to accurately measure the effectiveness of your lead generation from Instagram, use a dedicated landing page on your website with a URL that is only shared on Instagram. This will allow you to review your website analytics to accurately tally the number of visits from Instagram as well as the behavior flow and/or conversions of visitors after they land on this page.

Using Call-to-Action Buttons

Instagram understands that businesses need effective means of connecting directly with their audience and they have done a lot to improve that functionality with one-click Action buttons available on business profiles.

You can have up to three Action buttons on your profile, with the default options being Call, Text, Email, or Directions. However, you can also choose from additional Action buttons tied to third party tools like Resy, Eventbrite, or GrubHub.

The “Email” button may seem like the obvious choice for lead generation tactics, but it’s actually not. It’s great for immediate conversation since tapping that button will open the user’s email app and they can send you an email directly. This is valuable for direct communication and even closing a sale – which could be argued is much more effective than merely a lead capture. But it is not ideal for collecting their email address and building your list. You cannot add someone to your email list simply because they emailed you – this does not provide consent or an opt-in into your list itself. So, while the Email button is definitely a good button to have, do not rely on this button for lead capture.

If you use text campaigns, however, you could use the Text button to set up the text-to number for people to submit a keyword or phrase. A lot of businesses run offers where if you text a specific phrase to a 5-digit number, you’re entered into a contest or will be sent a link for a download, etc. In doing this, the company is collecting the phone numbers of each entrant for re-marketing purposes.

You may also use the third party integrated Action buttons to both close sales and generate leads. The third party buttons are designed for immediate action like purchasing tickets, making a reservation, or other act. If your company collects contact information from any of those third party tools, however, it also becomes a lead generating process in addition to your immediate transaction.

Good Captions Drive Lead Generation

Now that you see how to set up your profile with the URL and Action Buttons, you still have to get people to navigate to your profile to access those options. And to do that, you need to write great captions on your post content.

First, it’s important to point out that Instagram captions get truncated with a “…more” after a couple of lines. So your first sentence needs to be captivating. Think a bold statement, a question, a quirky phrase. It should be attractive like a good email subject header or blog post title. Something that will get people to click on the “… more” and read your whole caption. Because, within that caption is where you will include your call-to-action (CTA) to get them to your profile to click on the link or action button.

The most common (CTA) you’ll see in Instagram captions is “link in bio” or a variation of that. People will say “click the link in my bio” or “head to our bio and tap on the link to learn more”. But this is the most direct way to tell your followers or people viewing your content that there’s an easy way for them to take action.

If you’re a blogger, sending the to the link in the bio may be to read your latest blog post. And there you may have an opt-in to your mailing list or an option to sign up for a webinar. If you’re a consultant, your link in bio may lead to a free ebook or tutorial they can download (giving you their email in exchange for the free item). If you’re an ecommerce company, the link may be to a shopping guide or PDF download for tips in your industry (which again require an email to snag the download).

You could also include CTAs like “visit our profile to Buy Tickets today” or “Reserve your spot – tap over to our profile now”.

Using Instagram Stories for Lead Generation

One of the first things people think of for lead generation in Instagram Stories is using the swipe up link to drive traffic to a specific link, much like you would use the tactics mentioned above when using the link in your bio. For example you could use the swipe up link to encourage viewers to sign up for a free training session as a lead generating tactic.

If you’re regularly creating content with swipe up links in your Stories, you can also save these Story posts to your Instagram Highlights, creating a gallery of content that people can visit long after the initial Story has been uploaded, and continue to drive opt-ins or sign ups to your lead magnet.

The swipe up link, however, is only currently available to business profiles with over 10,000 followers. So it’s not applicable to everyone. But there are other ways you can get creative with your use of Instagram Stories!

Even though you may not have the option for the swipe up link in your Stories, you can still direct people to click on the link in your bio – as you would on a regular post. Use a simple text box in your story with a CTA like “Click the link in my bio”. Additionally, it helps if you actually list your username here as a clickable @ mention that makes it easy for people to tap through to your profile.

You can also create content that your audience will want to share and encourage them to share it to their Stories. Instagram has a feature available to most users that allows you to share a regular feed post to a Story. When a user shares your post to their Story, your post is clickable and viewers can visit both your post and your profile directly from the Instagram Story post. If you’re using the call-to-action tactics to click on the link in your bio for email collection, this tactic can help you reach new audiences, all thanks to your existing followers.

Using IGTV for Lead Generation

One of the best marketing features about IGTV is that the video descriptions can be long and they can include a clickable link regardless of audience size! So anyone can add a clickable link to the video description.

You can include a link to download a free PDF with more information on the topic covered in the video or an opt-in page for a training video with more information about the topic of the IGTV video. There are plenty of ways you could incorporate a lead magnet as your link in the IGTV description.

For best results and clicks on the link, you will want to state in the video that viewers can get that download or additional information by clicking on the link in the video description. Many viewers may not open or read the whole description unless you tell them the link information is in there, so don’t miss that opportunity.

Additionally, Instagram now allows you to share the first one minute of your IGTV video directly to your Instagram feed. This means people who are following you in the feed will also see your IGTV video and if they tap through to watch the whole thing on IGTV, they’ll hear your CTA and be able to click on the description to click on the link.

Combining IGTV and Stories for a Unique Lead Generation Tactic

Many accounts that don’t have the option for a swipe up link in Stories do have the option to include a swipe up link to their IGTV channel. In this situation, follow these steps to capture leads:

1. Create a video for IGTV that covers the topic related to your lead page or opt-in
2. Include the link to the lead page in your IGTV video description
3. Design a post (or series of posts) for your Instagram Stories that teases or discusses the topic of your IGTV video
4. Include the swipe up link to your IGTV video in your Story post
5. Direct people to the swipe up link to view the video

This tactic will drive people from your Instagram Story to your IGTV channel and video, and ultimately to your lead page. This does require a few extra steps on both your part and the viewer’s part. But the quality of opt-ins that you will generate using this strategy will ensure they are some of the most likely to convert once into your funnel.