How to Generate a Deeplink to Open the YouTube App from the Instagram App to Increase Subscribers

Published on August 15, 2022

Whether you’re a social media influencer, a content creator, or a business selling a product or service, we can all agree that it’s essential to maximize your brand’s exposure across all social media channels. Facebook, Instagram, TikTok, and YouTube— establishing and maintaining a presence on each one of these platforms will inevitably pay off down the line, if not immediately.

Most brands get their start on Twitter or Facebook, but Instagram has quickly taken the marketing world by storm— and now TikTok is not far behind. If you're like many other brands out there, you may have a huge following on Instagram, but your YouTube channel is sorely lacking in subscribers. So how do you get all of your Instagram followers to also follow you on YouTube?

Or perhaps you have a brand new YouTube video and you want to get that content in front of your Instagram audience— it should be easy enough, right?

Now, you may have tried to cross-promote your Instagram audience to your YouTube channel simply by placing the regular link to your YouTube channel in your Instagram profile. This is a tactic that a lot of people try, but ultimately with a low success rate.

YouTube deep linking to open the YouTube app from Instagram and other apps without using SDKs.

So then perhaps you try using Facebook and Instagram advertising to link directly to your YouTube Channel or video content— also with little success to show for it. The problem? Well, you're running into the Instagram walled garden! The walled garden refers to the phenomenon of when you click on a social link— be it for Instagram or any social network— and instead of opening the app, you're sent to the mobile website login within the Instagram browser. That makes conversion close to zero because no one wants to login that way.

The good news is— there's a solution for that! Yes, it is possible to link directly from the Instagram app into the YouTube app while jumping over that YouTube website login— but only if you have the right type of deep link to open the app, and URLgenius is here to help.

App Deep Linking is the Key to Cross-Promoting Social App Audiences

So how does a marketer create a link that can open the YouTube app (or any other social app) from another— cross-promoting but app-to-app? Opening the YouTube app from the Instagram app is just one example. The same concept applies if you're opening the YouTube app from the TikTok app or opening the YouTube app from the Facebook app. The only way to avoid the YouTube website login page is to give your YouTube links some additional app deep linking capability.

URLgenius is the app deep linking platform for marketers. What makes the platform different is that there is nothing to install and there is no software development required or SDK. URLgenius uses a patented process to open an app, and in this case for you, functions as a YouTube direct link generator. You simply need to update your YouTube links with URLgenius which will give them the ability to securely jump over that website login. After all— social apps are persistently logged in, so you just need to open the app to the right screen.

Step-By-Step: How To Generate a YouTube Direct Link To Open the App From the Instagram App

The beauty of our deep linking platform is how easy we make it for you— marketer, content creator, influencer, etc— to create and implement social deep links to profiles and to specific content like videos. Deep links direct your audience exactly where you want them to be in the app for iOS or Android depending on the device clicking— in this case, your brand's profile or a specific video or playlist within the YouTube app— by clicking on a single link (you don't need a separate deep link for iOS and Android).

URLgenius App Deep Linking for Social Apps

Let’s say the agency for pop star Harry Styles wanted to promote his newest music video from his Instagram profile page or from Instagram advertising. The following are the steps his team would take to create the YouTube deeplink that directly opens the YouTube app straight to Harry's profile in the app and NOT to the YouTube login page within Instagram's web browser.

The first thing you need to do is to navigate to the YouTube profile or video and copy the link from the address bar or you could also share to expose the link. You only need the basic link— you can remove any navigation tags that may have been added as you searched for the YouTube link to make sure they don't interfere with tracking or opening the YouTube app.

How to Create YouTube App Deep Links without SDKs

Paste the link into the box provided on the URLgenius home page. When pasting the link, notice the YouTube icon is highlighted— this tells you that URLgenius understands the type of link you just pasted.

Pro Tip: Note the field that lets you customize the end of the link to match your campaign to make it easy to find later or you can use the pre-populated random characters. In this example, we're customizing it to be 'harrystyles-december-22'.

Click “Compose” which takes you to the settings page for your YouTube app deep link, where you can copy and place it into your Instagram profile or ad. To test the behavior of the link, scan the QR code or email it to yourself or someone on your team.

Notice that there are advanced features on the settings page— this is also where you can see clicks and the number of app-opens. You can also use your artist's domain for your YouTube app deep link which is recommended.

URLgenius Is the Deep Link Between Cross-Promotion of Instagram and YouTube

You invested a lot of time and energy building your brand's Instagram following. So then, doesn’t it make sense to build a seamless connection between Instagram and YouTube with a URLgenius app deep link for YouTube so you can increase subscribers?

Here YouTube deep linking to open the YouTube app from Instagram and other apps without using SDKs are some ways you can use your YouTube app deep link in Instagram:

Place your URLgenius YouTube link in your Instagram profile
Insert your YouTube app deep link as the call-to-action in your Instagram stories
Place your YouTube app deep link as the link behind your ad in Facebook and Instagram advertising
Use the URLgenius QR code for your YouTube app deep link in a clever Instagram post that inspires scanning

Pro tip: The same walled garden concept applies to QR codes. Your average QR code generator cannot create QR codes that open social apps. URLgenius creates a QR code for you with every app deep link. Just click on 'QR Settings' from the settings page of your deeplink to get the QR code

We are here to help you increase YouTube subscribers! Contact us with questions about Instagram and YouTube app deep links.

If you found this content helpful, check out some of our latest how-to posts for deep link app marketing:

Get Started for Free

No credit card required