The Little-Known Link Hack Influencers Use to Boost Engagement
Meet Linktree, the magic tool that shrinks many links into one
Meet Linktree, the magic tool that shrinks many links into one
UPDATE: I am neither paid by nor officially associated with Linktr.ee — However, it stopped working properly on Instagram and I found a better (in my opinion) service called Shorby with way more features. You can sign up here, or click this link if you want to see/copy my current one.
The rest of this article is STILL relevant, but It’s just on a newer service.
A screenshot of how mine currently looks is below…
Are you someone who does many things? Perhaps you’re a business owner, blogger and part-time volunteer at a dog rescue center. You desperately want to shout about all of it at the same time, but you can’t.
Social media accounts like Instagram, Facebook, LinkedIn etc allow you to feature one link at a time. Only one.
It’s hard to choose between your website, blog or mailing list sign-up form. It’s like asking a parent to pick only one of their three kids to have as their favourite. I hear it’s impossible.
Roll-up LinkTree, a company dedicated to organising the diverse number of places we want to promote ourselves in.
Why Do You Need It? — Personal Branding’s Worst Nightmare
Up until last week I’d never seen or heard of it. But it solves all of my problems. If I have these issues, many of you will too.
My situation, as yours probably is too, is diverse.
I’m a Marketing Consultant as my main bread and butter (that’s slang for income).
I blog on business, marketing, and life lessons here on Medium.
I sometimes create methods for magic tricks for fun and sell them to magicians.
I am branding’s worst nightmare. You can’t coherently condense down such a wide spectrum of things into one.
The number one rule of branding is consistency. So it doesn’t make sense to have different links across all platforms.
My Facebook used to link to my mailing list sign-up form.
My Instagram used to link here to my Medium profile.
My LinkedIn used to link to my portfolio of magic tricks.
Now, everywhere carries the same single link. The link to my own personal hub of everything.
The best part is, it’s FREE and took me less than 10 minutes to fully set up.
This is how I’ve set up mine. Feel free to copy it for yourself:
Why Did I Do It Like This?
Lately I’ve been wondering about setting up my website again. I let it lapse over the last year’s holiday season and someone bought it from under me. Now they’re trying to charge me $2,500 for my own name with “.com” after it.
Of course every YouTuber and their cat is sponsored by Squarespace, so I know it’s simple and cheap to set up another one…but I don’t want to.
“Linktree is used in all kinds of ways — as a replacement for a website, on other platforms like YouTube, Linkedin, and Twitch, and some people are even using it as their resume or portfolio.” — Alex Zaccaria
Copy My Layout — Drive Email Sign Ups
The number one tip I can give you all from a personal branding point of view is this:
Collect email addresses.
You want to have direct contact with your fans. Followers mean nothing, because a rule change on any platform could wipe you back to zero.
This is why my Mailchimp sign-up form is first on Linktree. I want people to go there first. I can communicate directly with my readers and fans that way.
I’ve also set up my latest post and my full blog as separate buttons, to reduce friction for readers down to one click. The simpler you can make it for people, the better.
Bonus — Get Tips From Fans
The “Thank Me With A Tip” button I’ve set up also links to my Paypal.Me account.
I’ve received £60 in tips so far in less than one week. It’s a direct and easy way for followers to support my work. I urge you to do the same if you’re a content creator.
Zero Patreon fees, no extra accounts required by followers, and accessible to people globally.
What are you waiting for?