How to Use linkit for This Season's Holiday Strategy

October 27 2020 | Best Practices , Social Media , linkit

PLANOLY-Blog-Post-Linkit-holiday-strategy-banner

It’s no surprise that this holiday season looks a little (or a lot!) different this year. The pandemic caused an increase in online shopping (hello, an increase in loungewear sales), and it's predicted many shoppers may avoid crowds and in-person shopping this holiday season.

At PLANOLY, we prioritize creating products and features that make your social marketing easier and more seamless. Our latest free (yes, free!) tool, linkit, does just that! Whether you want to drive more sales to your website, streamline your affiliate marketing, or increase traffic to your holiday promotions, linkit can help.

Create it, link it, and share it!

This post will provide inspirational ideas on how to level up your strategy for this never-before-seen holiday season. Closely, we’ll examine how influencers, solopreneurs/freelancers, business owners, agencies, and nonprofit organizations can strategically utilize linkit. Plus, we have examples of how some PLANOLY users are using linkit.

What is linkit?

To put simply, linkit is a visual gallery of your Instagram posts linked to URLs. It’s a free tool built within PLANOLY (and the Instagram Planner) and has a custom URL, which you can include anywhere a link can be shared!

Things to know:

In your linkit gallery, you have two customizable buttons at the top, which you can link to any URL.
Below the buttons is your linkit gallery grid. Here you can add a selection of your published Instagram grid posts.
Once a post is added to your gallery grid, you can redirect it to any URL (Learn more here about linkit!)

Jump to the section with your best practices

Influencer

Solopreneurs/Freelancers

Business Owners

Nonprofit Organizations

Agencies

PLANOLY Pro-Tip: Don’t consider yourself any of these? No worries! You can (and should!) still take advantage of this information and apply it to your social media marketing.

linkit Inspiration for Influencers

Influencers of all sizes have many opportunities to tap into this holiday season! Incorporate linkit into your holiday strategy by utilizing its customizable buttons and the gallery grid.

Inspiration for your linkit buttons

Link to your website or blog
Redirect to seasonal giveaways
Link to your personal Amazon page if you’re a part of the Amazon Influencer Program (Definitely check this out if you’re an influencer, because you can get rewarded for recommending your favorite products!)

Inspiration for your linkit gallery grid

Feature holiday-themed or partnership blog posts - Planning to write any holiday-themed blog posts this year? How about blog posts for partnerships? Use linkit to link to these posts to drive traffic to your blog/website.
Link to Vogmas videos or podcast episodes! - Are you taking part in YouTube's Vlogmas this year but not sure how to organize all of your video content? Once published, link your Vlogmas videos from your linkit gallery posts.
Incorporate affiliate marketing - linkit can strategically be used for affiliate marketing! Link your gallery grid posts to products or LIKEtoKNOW.it pages.

linkit User Example: PLANOLY and linkit user, Portia, @obsessedbyportia, uses linkit as a go-to resource for her followers.

Portia shares with us, “I love how linkit provides a seamless and comprehensive resource for my community, allowing them to shop, learn and explore my favorite brands and experiences.”

PLANOLY-Blog Post- Linkit-holiday-strategy-image1

PLANOLY-Blog Post-Linkit-holiday-strategy-image2

linkit Inspiration for Solopreneurs/Freelancers

Whether you’re a freelancer (of any kind!), graphic designer, photographer, or solopreneur, you know the importance of promoting your portfolio, website, and work samples. linkit can help take your linking up a notch! The following are some ideas on where to include your linkit URL and what to add to your linkit gallery grid.

Where to include your linkit URL to drive traffic

Email footer (so your customers/clients can always find more information about you!)
Social media bios
LinkedIn comments when networking (when appropriate!)

Inspiration for your linkit gallery grid

If you sell digital or physical products, linkit’s gallery grid is a great way to visually showcase what you’re selling this holiday season. This is also a great space to utilize if you’re a freelancer because you can show off your work samples here! Consider including the following in your linkit gallery grid:

Work samples
Links to client or customer reviews
Physical products
Digital products (i.e. online courses, fitness programs, and ebooks)

linkit User Example: Yoga and meditation teacher, @demetriajackson, uses her linkit grid gallery to redirect her followers to her meditation videos on YouTube. She also uses her two customizable buttons to link to her website and YouTube channel.

PLANOLY Pro-Tip: Did you know PLANOLY also offers sellit? sellit is a tool that transforms your linkit gallery into a social storefront where you can sell your products directly! As a solopreneur or a freelancer, sellit could be a great option for you! Click here to learn more.

linkit Inspiration for Businesses

While there will always be last-minute shoppers during the holiday season, many of your customers will be planning further ahead with shopping than ever before! Utilize linkit in your holiday strategy by utilizing the customizable buttons and gallery grid.

Inspiration for your linkit buttons

Driving traffic to your website is a given (particularly during this holiday season!), but here’s what else you can link to your linkit buttons.

Discount codes or special sales your business is offering
Product or service FAQs to help educate your customers
About page or contact form so your customers can learn more and contact you

Inspiration for your linkit gallery grid

Link to blog articles from your website
Provide free downloadables for your customers
Link to product pages from your website

linkit User Example: PLANOLY and linkit user, @tactustherapy, is a business that sells best-selling therapy adult speech therapy apps to help stroke patients get more practice. Here’s what Megan, Director of Tactus Therapy, has to say about linkit:

“We have an important message to get out to speech pathologists and people living with the consequences of a stroke, so we use PLANOLY and the linkit gallery to share our resources and insights with our followers, making it really easy to point people to all the free handouts, apps, and articles we offer.”

PLANOLY-Blog Post-Linkit-holiday-strategy-image3

PLANOLY-Blog Post-Linkit-holiday-strategy-image4

linkit Inspiration for Nonprofit Organizations

It may be a no-brainer to say the holidays are a crucial time of year for nonprofit organizations (NPOs). Due to the pandemic, your NPO may have started holiday fundraising/planning a lot earlier than expected this year.

Featured below is how you can use linkit to help maximize your holiday strategy. Specifically, we’ll show you what you can link from your linkit buttons and gallery grid.

Inspiration for your linkit buttons

Donation, mission, or volunteer landing page
Newsletter signup
Fundraiser or holiday event

Inspiration for your linkit gallery grid

Testimonials from donations
Blog articles from your website or feature your free resources
Outsourcing information about your cause

linkit User Example: PLANOLY and linkit user, Natural Resources All Families Foundation (@naturalresourcessf), is a nonprofit organization that supports new and expectant families through classes, essential products, and community.

Here’s how Natural Resources is using linkit this holiday season, “This holiday season, Natural Resources is using linkit to highlight products and gift-giving ideas for newly pregnant families, new parents, and growing kids. We will also share ways to celebrate the holidays during a season that looks different than ever before.”

linkit Inspiration for Agencies

If you work for an agency, your company may be planning to highlight your clients and customers this holiday season. linkit is a great tool for agencies because it provides many linking opportunities. Incorporate linkit into your holiday strategy by taking advantage of the customizable buttons and gallery grid.

Inspiration for your linkit buttons

Link to your website or holiday landing page
Redirect to your about page or contact form
Link to any holiday promotion

Inspiration for your linkit gallery grid

Feature client testimonials
Link to case studies
Feature employee highlights or “behind the scenes” content

PLANOLY Pro-Tip: Click here to read the best practices for creating a holiday content plan!

Create It. Link It. Share It!

While the shopping lines outside for Black Friday and this holiday shopping may be shorter, website traffic may be more explosive than ever this holiday season. PLANOLY’s latest feature linkit (located in PLANOLY!) is here to help you increase traffic and sales where you need it most.

Don't Forget! - You can drop the linkit link wherever you can insert a link. It doesn’t need to be featured in just your Instagram bio. You can insert your linkit URL in your newsletter, email footer, group chat (yes, group chat!), and so many other places. We encourage you to be creative, especially for this holiday season!

For more resources, head to our Create Your Joy Workstation. Happy holidays PLANOLYFam, and happy linking!