The power of Instagram for attracting, educating and selling to customers cannot be understated. With more than 2 billion monthly users and 90% following a brand on the platform, Instagram is key in any social strategy. But how important is your bio link, really? And can it impact your larger social goals? Our data science team analyzed more than 47,000 public Instagram profiles and over 320,000 SproutLink posts to find out. Let’s dive in.

When you have a sale, email newsletter and new blog post to promote, which link do you put in your Instagram bio when you can only choose one? — Hannah Waye (@hannah_waye) May 5, 2022 This is the riddle every social media manager faces. On top of that, people expect, and want, more personalization from brands—something a single link doesn’t support. Using a link in bio Instagram tool empowers you to include multiple links, giving your audience more content choices and ways to explore your brand. With 70% of shoppers going to Instagram for their next purchase, it pays to make your profile a clear step in the buying journey. When you tap on Britax’s SproutLink—our link in bio Instagram tool—you’ll see product posts from their main feed. Notice how not every Instagram post is mirrored in their link in bio tool, just the ones they link to a product, which supports streamlined social selling. Bicycle brand Trek uses their SproutLink as a shoppable online catalog, leading with bold, stunning imagery before mirroring their Instagram grid for an easy to navigate experience. Having multiple links in an Instagram bio to create a more personalized, user-friendly experience can benefit businesses across industries and sizes. It can even grow your channel.

Including and optimizing your bio link is a best practice. But we also found that it can play a role in your overall engagement. According to our analysis, customers using SproutLink saw 17% higher average engagements per day on their profile versus those that do not. This relationship with engagement continued into individual post reactions as well—brands using Sproutlink saw 17% higher average reactions per day. Engagement is a key success indicator—for you, and for the platform. Number of likes and someone’s history interacting with an account are signals Instagram uses to rank posts in Feeds, Stories and Discover. Not to mention, 41% of marketers say community engagement is their top priority. Using a link in bio Instagram tool to make your customer experience smoother, more helpful and more immersive is a low-lift effort that drives high value for your entire channel. Social media is about immediacy and simplicity. Having a link in your bio makes it easier for visitors to explore your business and products—especially when they see the product in a post first. In fact, 40% of consumers say they find the perfect products by seeing them in organic brand posts. A link in bio Instagram tool like SproutLink makes this easy by getting shoppers directly to the product they saw on your feed, faster.

The most common content used with link in bio Instagram tools

Even with Story links now available for all users, in-feed posts are crucial for product discovery. We found that 58% of content used with SproutLink were images. This makes sense, considering that 75% of brand posts are single images. And it should be mentioned that 24% were carousels, leaving video in the minority. Carousels, where you can feature multiple products or insights, may benefit the most from a link in bio tool. If you feature a carousel of multiple products or blog posts, linking shoppers to one page featuring all of this content saves them from having to scour your website. And it’s worth mentioning—even with Instagram doubling down on video, carousels have the highest engagement rate per impression. Making these already engaging posts easier to shop and explore is a no-brainer.

Impact by industry and business size

How you use your Instagram and link in bio will differ across industries and strategies. But our analysis found that a wide array of industries benefit from an optimized link in bio.

Consumer products and services

By and large, consumer product brands using SproutLink saw a notable bump, with 41% higher average followers gained per day and 29% higher average daily unique impressions. If this is your niche, using an Instagram bio tool can make your link in bio an effective “shopping catalog” for your offerings.

Financial services

Financial services industry profiles also saw notable average daily increases in impressions (40%) when using SproutLink. Contrary to popular belief, Instagram is a powerful channel for financial services brands. It can strengthen relationships and trust with customers, help get in front of prospects and even attract job seekers.

Retail and leisure

The retail and leisure industries (the latter including sports and recreation, travel and tourism)—also saw a lift. These industries have something in common: they offer a slew of different products, promotions or events, all at once. Using a link in bio Instagram tool where you can offer multiple links allows people to find what they want to purchase right away for a more efficient experience.

Small businesses, big impact

Similarly, we found that small businesses enjoy a boost from link in bio tools. Small business profiles using SproutLink saw 23% higher average engagements per day versus those that don’t. This is an even bigger uptick compared to enterprise (13%) and mid-market brands (22%). Small businesses have the most to gain from optimizing their link in bio. When you don’t have a million followers or a huge brand name, social selling on Instagram can feel tough. It’s important to amplify your impact wherever you can. These industries may all be very different. Yet they each drive results from creating a more customized bio link. If your brand fits into one of these categories, consider how it can affect your social media goals, customer experience and your bottom line.

A link in your bio is more than just a link in your bio. It can grow your social channels and business as a whole, and strengthen your impact as a social media marketer. An Instagram link in bio tool can also make work faster for you. With SproutLink, for example, you can schedule updates to your bio link as you schedule your Instagram posts. And you can pull analytics from your link in bio to further prove your impact. Time to give your link in bio an upgrade—all you need is the right tool. If you’re a Sprout user, try using SproutLink when you schedule your Instagram posts for publishing. And if you’re new to Sprout, try it for free with a 30-day trial. About the data All referenced data on Instagram metrics are based on 47,579 public Instagram profiles of active accounts as of April 4, 2022. More than 320,000 SproutLink posts were analyzed for the purposes of this report. The SproutLink posts analyzed included single images, carousels and videos on public Instagram business profiles.