10 Freebie Ideas That Will Get Your Instagram Followers to Click Your URL

The reason people promote their businesses on Instagram is to get people onto their main platform, most likely their website or shop. If you ask someone what their selfish reason for starting their business is, they’ll tell you it’s because they want to make money. As selfless as a reason can be for starting a business, we all need to make a living.

The way that you make money online nowadays is by having a following, and while having a following on social media is important, numerous bloggers and entrepreneurs will tell you about the importance of an email list. If you have an email list, you want to get your followers to not only follow you on Instagram, but also sign up to your list.

You also want them to be clicking the link on your Instagram profile page. The best way to get the best of both worlds is to create an irresistible lead magnet, also known as, a freebie. Your URL should lead to a page on your website with an opt-in or a landing page with an opt-in. However, no body’s going to click it unless you specify what they get for clicking it and signing up.

You can explain what somebody gets by signing up to your email list in your bio in a short line. For example, if you’re offering a free book, you can say on the line closest to the URL, “Get my FREE book today!”

So, how do you get people to go to your profile page and click your URL? By coming up with really good freebies.

10 freebie ideas that will get your Instagram followers to click your URL

1. Productivity-related downloadable

If you’re in an industry that gives you the opportunity to make some sort of planner, organization sheets, or any type of productivity-related downloadable, take advantage of that. People are obsessed with improving their productivity.

Don’t take advantage of this and make a bad product, of course. Deliver on your promise. Make something that will give people the chance to make their life easier, and share your link on Instagram!

2. Discounts

Discounts aren’t necessarily freebies, but they’re a lead magnet. People love to save money, so if you promote that you give a discount to anyone who signs up to your email list, they’re likely to do it. Just make sure that you’re sending the discount the second they sign up. You don’t want to promise a discount and send it the next day because by then, they may not want to buy anymore.

3. E-Book

If your ideal client likes to read, and that’s the way they take in information, a free e-book could work wonders for you. Whether it’s fictional or non-fictional (depending on your audience), you can make an e-book on Canva, upload it onto Amazon Web Services, and then share the link. Explain to your followers what it’s about in your bio in just a couple words.

4. Manifesto

Written correctly, manifestos can be a really powerful and empowering thing. Manifestos are all about building communities, and community creates binds. They’re a good way of making people feel stronger and like they’re a part of a group, a family. It can be a page or a couple of pages, and it needs to touch people.

5. Worksheets

People love to have worksheets with fill-in-the-blanks or questions that make them think. Whether the worksheets are about a hobby, figuring out who they are, or making life easier, this is a good way to get people to click on your URL. Make it colorful, different, and fun. Some people will download just for content, even if it’s not pretty, but you want to give your followers the best you can anyway.

6. Email courses

There are online courses that you’ve probably taken, but if you don’t want to make an e-course just yet, you can also make a course online. Brainsparker Academy is a great example of this. They have a twenty-six day course that helps creatives spark their imagination.

They send out an email every single day, and this is a great way to get people onto your list. Make an enticing course that people are willing to show up to every day.

7. Checklists

Checklists are easy, and everyone loves the satisfaction of being able to cross something off. Your checklist can be a YouTube video checklist, like Sunny Lenarduzzi has, a before-you-write-checklist, or a things-to-get-before-you-go-back-to-school checklist. Keep it neat, simple, and easy to read. Add the URL to your link section on Instagram, and talk about it!

8. Backgrounds

Have you ever gone on Pinterest, Tumblr, Google, or Unsplash to look for a background? While some keep their phone or tablet background for months, there are others who change it once a month like a ritual. You can create backgrounds with quotes that you’ve come up with or cool designs, if you’re an artist, on Canva or Photoshop, and then give them away for free!

9.  Keynote presentation/slides

If you’ve recently held a webinar or had a speech in which you used slides, and you know that you’re never going to use them again, give them away! You can make your presentation into a freebie, and it gives people such vast value. You save the time of having to come up with a lead magnet because this is something that you’ve already used.

Mention that you gave this information a way to a crowd of 1,000 people at a popular convention (if you honestly did), and people will go running to your profile page.

10.  Exclusive YouTube video

You have the option of uploading YouTube videos and keeping them private. This means that the only people who will be able to view the video are people with the link. You can offer this YouTube video as an exclusive and free video that someone can get by signing up to your list. You can also offer something, like a worksheet, as a bonus.

You can have more than one lead magnet, so go ahead and try all of these if it works for your business or brand.