The Instagram Promotion Template You ll often see Instagram posts with the caption, click the link in the bio. That s because Instagram restricts profiles to that one link. For individuals, this isn t much of an issue, but for marketers, it puts the pressure on. Choosing between the main website, webstore, Facebook page, a contest or promotion, and blog can get tricky. With ShortStack s Instagram Promotion Template, you don t have to make that choice. The template is divided into posts or days intended to run in conjunction with daily Instagram Posts. For one of those days, let s say you want to draw attention to a flash sale at your webstore. Create an Instagram Post showing off a product, and craft a caption with details about the sale that includes the phrase click the link in the bio. The link in the bio is the URL to the Instagram Promotion we re going to create in this guide. We ll cover all the steps you need to take to customize the template, from the links in each post to rearranging and scheduling the posts. While the template may look intimidating, it only takes about 20 minutes to transform it from a bare-bones template to a beautiful, functional Campaign. Ready? Let s get started!
STEP 1 Log in to your ShortStack account and select Campaigns from the menu at the top of the page. Click the orange New button. When asked How would you like to start?, click the Start with Template button.
STEP 2 Search for Instagram Promotion in the Template Gallery and then click the blue Use this Template button.
STEP 3 Enter a name. No one will see this name but you. You can leave it as Instagram Promotion, or give it a unique name you ll remember easily. When you re done, click Create Campaign. If you re creating a Campaign on your own account or are an account owner or an admin on a team, you can also add any tags that will be associated with this Campaign.
STEP 4 Select a theme by clicking on the gray paintbrush icon in the upper-left corner of the Campaign Builder. Click around on different Theme thumbnails to see what different themes will look like when applied to the campaign. When you ve found the theme you like, click Save and close the Theme Selector.
STEP 5 Replace the header image. You ll see an image at the top of the Campaign that reads YOUR LOGO. Hover over that image and click the pencil icon that appears in its top-left corner to edit it. Click the Select Image button. The Image Selector will pop up so that you can add an image. You can choose to upload a file on your computer, a file on the web, build an image with Canva, or use an image that you ve uploaded to ShortStack previously. Click Save and Exit.
STEP 6 Find the image you just uploaded, and hover over the text below it. Click on its pencil icon to edit it, and use the WYSIWYG editor to make your changes. Click Save and Exit. STEP 7 You re not seeing double! There are two sets of header images and text on this campaign, one for visitors on mobile devices, and one for visitors on computers. Repeat steps 5 and 6 for the desktop version. Click Save and Exit.
CUSTOMIZE EACH POST Find Post 5 Container in the Edit Widgets Panel and click on it. Notice that as the Container Widget highlights, so do several widgets below it. That s because Container Widgets are used to group widgets, and the highlighted widgets below it are inside it. Each Post Container you see in the Edit Widgets Panel represents a different post or day in the promotion; Post 5 Container at the top is the final day, and Post 1 Container at the bottom is the first. Each post also has a couple things in common: an image and some text. Take the following steps to change them in each of the Post Containers. Also, make sure to Save & Exit each time you modify a widget.
STEP 8 Find the Image Widget in the Post 5 Container and click on its pencil icon. When the Edit Widget window opens, click the Select Image button. The Image Selector pops up so that you can add an image. You can choose to upload a file on your computer, a file on the web, build an image with Canva, or use an image that you ve uploaded to ShortStack previously.
STEP 9 Find the Rich Text Widget in the Post 5 Container and click on its pencil icon. Enter your text and use the WYSIWYG editor to style it.
Each post also has a Links Widget below the Rich Text Widget. However, what this link does is different in every post. Take the following steps to customize each link. STEP 10 The link in Post 5 displays a Form Widget. You can use this form as-is to run a simple giveaway or sweepstakes, or customize the form by clicking on the Edit Form button. To change the button s text, edit the Links Widget by clicking its pencil icon. When the Edit Widget Window opens, click the pencil icon on the far-right to open the Link Editor, and make your changes. Click Save Link.
STEP 11 The link in Post 4 also accesses a Form Widget, but this one is designed to collect newsletter signups. It s a simple form with just the email address field, but you can change that by clicking the Edit Form button for Post 4 s Form Widget. Follow the instructions in Step 10 to change the button s text. Click Save Link.
STEP 12 Clicking the link in Post 3 starts the download process for a PDF. By default, that download is one of ShortStack s Getting Started guides. To swap out that PDF for content of your own, edit the Links Widget and click the pencil icon at the far-right of the Edit Widget window. When the Link Editor opens, make your changes in the Link Text field, and then replace the download link in the URL field with your own. Click Save Link. Click here to watch a video about how to upload downloadable content to ShortStack.
STEP 13 Just like the button suggests, Post 2 links to a video. Unless you want to change the link s text, you don t have to make any changes to the Links Widget in this step. To swap out the video that comes with the template, find the Post 2 Video Container Widget in the Edit Widgets Panel and edit the Video Widget. Clear the URL field and enter a URL to your own video, channel, or playlist. The Video Widget is compatible with both YouTube and Vimeo. Click Save & Exit.
STEP 14 Edit your links. Hover over the Links Widget in the Edit Widgets Panel and click on the pencil icon. To edit the links your audience will see, click on the individual pencil icons and insert your own link names and URLs. Save and exit. Step 15 Now that you ve customized the link for each post in the contest, follow the instructions in Step 8 and 9 to add your own image and text to each post, making sure that the image and text match the post s link.
STEP 16 (OPTIONAL) After each post is set up, you may wish to create additional posts. Instead of adding all the widgets that make up a post individually, it s easiest to clone one of the Post Containers. To do this, first decide which post you d like to clone. If, for example, you d like to show a video, it would be best to clone Post 2, since it s already set up to display a video. Once you ve decided which post to clone, click on its Container Widget to select it. With the Container Widget selected, find the icon at the bottom of the Edit Widgets Panel that looks like two sheets of paper, and click it. The Container Widget that you selected - and everything inside it - will be duplicated.
STEP 17 You may wish to reorder the posts. To do this, click on a Post Container Widget in the Edit Widgets Panel, and drag it to a new location, making sure that you don t place it inside another Post Container Widget.
STEP 18 Now that every post is customized and ordered, it s time to schedule them. Start at the top of the Edit Widgets Panel with Post 5 Container. Find and click on the clock icon next to it to open the Visibility Settings Menu. Click inside the Start Showing field to open the calendar and select the date and time. We suggest scheduling posts down to the minute so that you can plan them within minutes of your Instagram posts. After you ve scheduled the Post 5 Container, move on to the other Post Container Widgets, and schedule each of them.
STEP 19 Find the Links Widget near the bottom of the Edit Widget Panel called Footer Links, and edit it. Click the corresponding pencil icons at the far-right of the Edit Widget window to edit the website and Instagram Links.
Step 20 You re all done! Click the orange Publish Campaign button at the top of the Campaign Builder to publish the Campaign to the web. When you do, the confirmation dialog appears, letting you know you ve successfully published the Campaign. Click the Custom URL button to create a completely custom subdomain and choose a domain.
Step 21 Now copy the Campaign s URL and paste it into the link field in your Instagram Profile s Bio section. Congratulations! You re ready to run your Campaign!
NEXT STEPS... Promote Your Campaign For tips on how to promote your Campaign, check out 40 Ways to Promote Your Campaign. Advanced Features, Help & Resources Now that you ve built a ShortStack Campaign, you might be ready to get fancy with your next one. Here are a few of the resources that can help: Refer-a-Friend Points Per Field Sharing