Social Media

Are you one of those people who has wasted an entire decade surfing and chatting on Instagram and Whatsapp?

Well, even I hail from the same group— that’s what almost all of us have done.

And let’s be honest with our profiles— we really don’t know the constructive use of social media.

Not until someone punches the ideas on our cheeks.

That’s what Mark Zuckerberg wanted to punch onto our faces— the idea— when he bought Instagram and WhatsApp.

I know there are a lot of people who hate Zuckerberg for threatening competition— maybe because of his sheer brilliance or the way he has quickly evolved as a central force of the mainstream social platforms.

But Mark didn’t sign up for a grocery deal when he got them into his kitty— he isn’t buying that crap.

He had a much bigger picture in his mind— and that was about brushing the constructive competence of social media users.

And since he owns the three major social platforms— Facebook, Instagram, and WhatsApp; social media users can maneuver several marketing gimmicks across all the channels.

And putting WhatsApp link on Instagram is one of the cross-features which every business would want to have.

Before we get into the details of adding a WhatsApp Link on Instagram— let’s understand what it means for businesses.

What’s WhatsApp Link and why do you need it on Instagram?

Instagram has become an online business hub for brands and individuals.

As 75.3% of businesses will use it for promoting and generating sales by 2020, it’s no brainer to assume that customers will want to reach these brands as smoothly as possible.

Of course, direct messages and Instagram comments are doing good so far for the Instagram business accounts; however, adding a WhatsApp link on Instagram stories highlights can take user queries directly on WhatsApp.

And believe it or not— WhatsApp queries say a lot about user desperation and interest in your product or service, and that’s the best time to convert these leads.

So, does append an easy WhatsApp route on the Instagram result in better query-making?

A definite yes— the customers will be just a tap away from shooting their queries.

• They won’t have to save the numbers for the WhatsApp query.
• Their query chain will cut-down short and prevent last-minute abandonment.

So. Without any further ado— let’s get WhatsApp linked on Instagram.

Getting started with WhatsApp linking on Instagram

You need to consider two things to activate WhatsApp linking feature on Instagram:

• You need an Instagram business account.
• You got to have more than 10k followers.

If you haven’t check-marked the above two criteria, don’t worry— you can still proceed to read this— you might need this guide later. So, here it is:

1.  Design a WhatsApp Icon photo

Well, your first step is to get a WhatsApp icon photo/image.

You can use tools like Photoshop or Canva to make this image.

If you aren’t good at it, you can ask your digital ad agency partner to design an image for you.

This image will be posted on Instagram stories.

Take care of the photo dimension because Instagram’s inbuilt photo dimension has an aspect ratio 9:16.

It means that it supports the story dimension of 1080px by 1920px.

2. Transfer the WhatsApp image on your phone

Since Instagram doesn’t support story-upload features on desktops, you will have to back up the graphic image on your phone.

Use email or Bluetooth to save the image in your phone’s library instead of sending it through the WhatsApp Web. 

WhatsApp Web/ WhatsApp compress your images which steal away the richness of the photo— and being a brand— we don’t want that.

3. Create a new story post

Like any other story post, make one for the WhatsApp image.

Pick up the image from the photo library.

Wait! Don’t rush to tap the “post story” button. 

Here’s the most crucial step of all before that.

4. Add click to chat WhatsApp feature

Link URL of the click to chat WhatsApp feature on the story page.

Tap the link chain and enter the URL:

https://api.whatsapp.com/send?phone=919574841985 

You can create your own link using the above information— the only change you have to make is to type your phone number in the international format, i.e., avoid using dashes, brackets, and the plus sign.

If you want to get into its detail, here’s some healthy knowledge regarding international format. [1]

Fortunately, this feature prevents your users from saving your number and helps them start a conversation automatically— and that’s what develops a hassle-free interacting channel between your customers and you.

As WhatsApp Web supports this feature, you can call it a cherry on the cake as you are entitled to receive messages on the web version too.

5. Post the story

Now that you have added the URL through the link component post the story by tapping on the Done button.

6. Use the story highlight feature

You must be aware of the story highlights feature— it’s a collection of old stories that fit below the bio.

It basically tells about the different sides of your brand.

In this case— where we are adding “tap for WhatsApp query highlight button”— you can add highlights in two ways.

• Before 24 hours of story posting: Open the story which you recently posted, and click on the highlight component in the right corner of the screen— and there you are!
• After 24 hours of story posting: Go on the bio page, and click on the new highlights. The page will display all the previously uploaded stories. Select the WhatsApp image story and voila! Your WhatsApp query resolving service is activated.

The Final Wrap

It’s one of the unnoticed digital marketing strategies which hasn’t gone popular with people.

But the very feature can mean a lot in creating your credibility and trust among users preferably because of two reasons—

• They can see your last seen on WhatsApp— that gives them a sense of security that you are just around them.
• They feel a direct connection because WhatsApp apparently symbolizes private conversations.

So, if adding a WhatsApp button on Instagram can enhance the pillars of customer-support, then why not have it right away?

So, what have you thought about your business? Have you linked WhatsApp yet?