How
No longer is Instagram only for selfies and funny memes, it's an advertising juggernaut with over 1 billion users. Like many Amazon affiliates and sellers, you're probably looking for a fast, easy-to-implement tactic to dramatically grow your Amazon revenue from social media— specifically Instagram— after all, you need to be where your customers are!
There is Instagram advertising of course, and organic posts with corporate branding and images of your products and that's all well and good. Why not go a step further, however, and link directly from Instagram advertising (or your profile) directly to your Amazon store and/or specific product listings?
Easy right?
Well hold up— not so fast— will that regular Amazon link open the app from Instagram? The answer is no, it actually keeps you within the Instagram app and sends you to the Amazon web login instead.
So, why are my Amazon links not opening up in the app on my iPhone or other smartphone?
No fault of Amazon itself, the regular Amazon link cannot open the app because the Instagram app (or any social app) will direct the shopper to the Amazon website— where logging in is required to engage or purchase the product. Although it might seem like a simple inconvenience, this ultimately leads most people to abandon their shopping effort.
Wouldn’t it make more sense to link from the Instagram app to the Amazon app versus the Amazon website? Yes, of course— because most shoppers use the app which is on their smart phone and keeps them logged in!
It could be smooth sailing without any logins when going from your Instagram ad to the 'Buy' button on your product page if you only had the right link. This post will tell you how to get the right Instagram mobile app URLs for Amazon affiliates, sellers, and marketers, and avoid that web login without SDKs and any technical resources.
First, let's dig into the details about advertising from social media directly to the Amazon app.
Why Are My Amazon (Affiliate) Links on Instagram Not Opening in the Amazon App?
It's important to drive non-Amazon traffic to your Amazon store and product listings for identifying new and existing customers on social media. That web login, however, is going to stop your visitor's shopping journey like a brick wall (a brick-walled garden that is!).
We’re going to let you in on a little secret that lets you link seamlessly link from an Instagram ad (or your profile) to the Amazon app on iOS or Android— all automatically from the same campaign link! Plus if you're using Amazon Attribution to measure your campaigns— no problem include those tags so you can see and identify your results at the link level in the Amazon Ad console.
Platforms such as URLgenius (that’s us!) enable Amazon sellers to update their Amazon links to add additional app deep linking capabilities that solve that walled garden issue simply by updating the link. URLgenius is the best alternative to other deep linking technologies because the platform does not require an SDK and it’s the only verified Amazon Ads partner that can do this!
Not only do you increase sales at that moment, you also gain any engagement signal that would put the shopper back into the funnel for remarketing. Meaning that your sales go up and your on-site Amazon search rankings improve because of the increased sales velocity.
Link to open the Amazon app to the right screen from the Instagram app rather than asking your customers to log into the Amazon mobile website will help you boost engagement, product consideration, revenue, and ultimately your product rankings.
Pro Tip: Your shoppers may not be familiar with the URLgenius domain. You can use your brand's domain for your URLgenius Amazon app deep links. This helps you extend your brand name to the link and establish increased trust when deep linking from Instagram to the Amazon app.
So let's go over how to optimize your Amazon links for your Instagram campaigns so that you can link directly to your Amazon store and products and other Amazon links.
Step-by-Step: How to Create a Custom Amazon Link for Instagram to Open the Amazon App
Creating an Amazon app deep link? Easy. At URLgenius, we’ve perfected the process— you don’t need any technical resources and there's nothing to install. URLgenius is the only verified Amazon Ads partner that can pass Amazon Attribution tags in-app from social media all without SDKs. In fact, you can follow these steps and update your campaign links today!
- The first thing you need to do is to navigate to the Amazon page and copy the link from the address bar. (This could be the link to your storefront, product, or even a product category link.)
You only need the core links— you can remove any navigation tags that may have been added as you searched for the right Amazon link to make sure they don't interfere with tracking or opening the app.
Paste the link into the box provided on the URLgenius home page. When pasting the link, notice the Amazon icon is highlighted— this tells you that URLgenius understands the type of link you just pasted.
You can customize the end of the link to match your campaign to make it easy to find later. If not needed, just use the pre-populated random characters.
Click the “Compose” which takes you to the settings page for your Amazon app deep link, where you can copy and place it into your Instagram ad. To test the behavior of the link, scan the QR code or email it.
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 enable Amazon Attribution tags on the link so you can track how much revenue is being driven by your Instagram campaign and your URLgenius app deep link.
Pro tip: If you are enrolled in the Amazon Attribution program, you can authenticate your Amazon account in the settings for your URLgenius account. Once you do that, URLgenius will automatically include your Amazon Attribution tags! This feature is currently only supported for store pages and product detail pages. For other types of pages, include your Amazon measurement tags when you create your URLgenius link by building the link in the Amazon Ads console.
QR Codes for the Amazon App
Doing a multi-channel campaign in coordination with your Instagram ad? Lucky for you, every URLgenius app deep link also has a corresponding QR code.
Create a branded app deep link and custom QR code to use online or offline to promote your Amazon store and product listings. Use them in posters, retail displays, tradeshows, and giveaway promotions. Just click on 'QR Settings' to find and download your code.
URLgenius will track scans and clicks separately and you can append tags for tracking in ways that won't disrupt scanning (including too many tags and appending them the wrong way is a common 'QR code fail!').
URLgenius Is the Deep Link Between Instagram Advertising and Amazon Marketing Success
As of today, Instagram is the center of the social media universe. If you're an Amazon Seller and you're not selling directly from social media you could be missing sales and remarketing opportunities. So then, doesn’t it make sense to build a seamless bridge between the two with a URLgenius app deep link?
We are always here to help you with your campaigns! Contact us with questions at info@urlgeni.us about Amazon marketing and deep links.
If you found this content helpful, check out some of our latest how-to posts for deep link app marketing:
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