In today’s digital age, where attention spans are short and competition is fierce, standing out from the crowd is crucial. Using branded short links can help you do just that. By incorporating your brand name or a relevant keyword into your links, you can reinforce your brand identity and make it easier for people to remember and recognize your content.

But that’s not all. Branded short links also offer a number of practical benefits, such as improved tracking and analytics, increased click-through rates, and enhanced security. Whether you’re a blogger, social media influencer, or business owner, using branded short links can help you streamline your online presence and achieve your goals.

So, if you’re looking to elevate your online presence and make a lasting impression on your audience, consider incorporating branded links into your digital strategy. In this blog post, we’ll explore the many benefits of using branded short links and provide tips for how to create and implement them effectively. Let’s dive in!

Also Read: How to Strengthen Your Social Media Presence Using Replug and ContentStudio

What are branded short links?

Branded short links, also known as custom short URLs, are shortened URLs that contain a brand name or a custom keyword, making them easily identifiable and memorable. These links can be used to promote your brand, track your marketing efforts, and improve your overall online presence.

A branded short link can be created by using a URL shortener tool like our own Replug, which allows you to create a custom URL that redirects to a longer, more complex URL.

By using a branded link, you can provide your audience with a link that is easy to remember and recognizable, which can lead to increased engagement and click-through rates.

Also Read: How to Shorten a link using a URL shortener?

Tracking links you care about is easy:

Branded short links can also be used to track the performance of your marketing campaigns. By creating a unique short link for each campaign, you can easily track the number of clicks, the geographic location of the clicks, and the time of day the clicks occurred. This information can be used to refine your marketing efforts and improve your overall ROI.

Here’s an example:

Let’s look at an example that will make the amazing technique clearer to you.

For example, you want to shorten a URL as seen below

Damn! That’s an awful URL.!!!

However, the best URL shortener can turn this ugly link into an attractive and exciting one. Now let’s see the magic of a URL shortener in the below image.

Now let’s dive into something even more amazing!

Also Read: Top 5 Paid URL Shorteners Worth Paying For!

5 Game-changing benefits of branded short links

You’re ready to take your online marketing efforts to the next level, aren’t you? 

Utilize these game-changing benefits of branded links to improve the online presence of your brand.

• Increased brand recognition

Branded short links are a great way to promote your brand and increase brand recognition. For example, your brand name is “ABC Clothing”, and by using a branded short link like “abcclothing.link”, you can reinforce your brand name and message every time someone sees your link. 

This can help build brand awareness and customer loyalty over time. In fact, according to a study, branded links can increase brand recognition by up to 39%.

Also Read: How To Build Brand Recognition using Short Links

• Improved click-through rates

Branded short links can also help improve your click-through rates (CTR) by making your links more visually appealing and trustworthy. For example, let’s say you are sending an email marketing campaign promoting a new product. If you use a long, generic link like “https://www.example.com/products/new-product-123”, it might look suspicious to some recipients and deter them from clicking on it. 

However, if you use a branded short link like “yourbrand.link/newproduct”, it looks more professional and trustworthy. This can lead to higher CTRs and more conversions.

• Better tracking and analytics

Branded link services like Replug offer detailed analytics that allows you to track clicks, engagement, and other key metrics. This can help you measure the effectiveness of your marketing campaigns and make data-driven decisions to improve your ROI. 

For example, if you use a branded short link in a social media post, you can track how many clicks, likes, shares, and comments it received. This can help you identify what content is resonating with your audience and what isn’t.

Also Read: How to Build a Custom Audience through URL Tracking

• Enhanced social media presence

Branded short links can also help enhance your social media presence by making your links more visually appealing and shareable. For example, let’s say you are promoting a blog post on Twitter. If you use a long, generic link like 

“https://www.example.com/blog/why-branded-short-links-are-important”

It takes up valuable character space and looks unprofessional. However, if you use a branded short link like 

“yourbrand.link/brandedlink” 

It looks more concise and visually appealing. This can lead to more engagement and shares, which can help increase your reach and followers.

• Increased security and trust

Branded short links can also help increase security and trust, as they provide protection against spam and phishing.

The way malicious links harm your PC or laptop, for which you may need some ideas to remove malware from your system. Similary, a Uhttp://www.cleanmymac.com/blog/new-mac-slowRL shortener can allow you to redirect 404 links to the right destinations. Thus, adding a layer of security. 

For example, you receive an email from an unknown sender with a link to a website. If the link is long and unbranded, it might look suspicious and deter you from clicking on it. 

However, if the link is short and branded, it looks more trustworthy and legitimate. This can help reduce the risk of clicking on malicious links and protect your personal information.

Also Read: Brand Consistency:  Build Brand Consistency Using Branded Links

Do Link Shorteners Really Hurt SEO? No, They Do Not!

Shortened URLs can allow spammers to insert harmful links. 301 redirects, which can occur for very reasonable reasons, can cause indexing issues. This causes a lot of problems and relays a bad name for link shorteners.

Adding to the above, research by Jin Mun & Li in 2017, revealed that using URL shorteners can make a webpage easy to access for your target audience. Whereas, a long URL that has random characters does not reach the intended audience and cannot engage the user. Secondly, shortening the URL can protect you from phishing attacks as they can detect the original URL source.

Social networking websites usually put a ‘NoFollow’ tag in the links. This is done as a safety precaution. URL shorteners potentially benefit SEO, as the URL shorteners typically ignore no follow attributes. This proves to be a huge bonus for people who use social media as part of their marketing campaigns, or who just use them to share content.

According to several ranking specialists, using URL shorteners doesn’t lead to any negative impact on your SEO. As a matter of fact, Search Engines consider short URLs as any regular 301 redirects and they will thus act upon it.

Also Read: How to Create a SEO Friendly URL: Ultimate Tips

However, there are other positive impacts of URL shorteners on SEO. The key is to utilize the tools effectively.

• You can brand your links with the focus keyword in the URL.
• Secondly, a URL shortener can help in eliminating unnecessary elements such as stop words and punctuation from your links.
• It allows you to keep your URL and page titles consistent which positively impacts SEO.

Also Read: What Does HTTP 302 Code Mean For URL Shorteners?

Link Management With Replug

There are a lot of link-shortening tools available in the market today. However, Replug is one URL shortener that actually offers great value for money.

First and foremost, Replug is a link-shortening & tracking platform that allows you to create eye-catching custom URLs. Replug offers several other features you can also create social media Bio Links, URL tracking through custom URLs, QR Code generator, UTM, Tags, and much more. With Replug you can shorten links, and track and optimize them with catchy call-to-actions. It also provides the ability to add retargeting pixels paired with branded links and powerful analytics. There are several new features added to Replug that are briefly explained below.

Also Read: How to get to the link in the bio on Instagram?

Deep Linking

Deep linking allow users to instantly go to specific applications rather than wasting their time searching for themselves on the webpage. When it comes to mobile users, deep links increase overall engagement and conversion rates.
Also Read: A Quick Guide To Deep Linking & Its Benefits

Traffic Routing

Using the traffic routing feature, you can now target your audience with several filters such as location, device, browser, etc. You can also choose the IP address, time, and dates as well. Thus, allowing you to redirect users from various locations to your link.

Also Read: 5 Top Link Rotators: Convert More With Traffic Routing & A/B Testing

A/B Testing

A/B testing feature allows you to redirect a link to multiple destinations. Easily distribute the weightage and start testing up to 10 branded links at a time.

There are several other features that we have listed that you can learn more about.

If you are looking for a branded URL shortener with great value for money, then Replug is just for you.

Branded Links

With Replug, you can easily create branded links. Just put the brand name in front of the domain and tell the readers what the domain is actually about. Having your own short URL built around your brand identity can help increase conversion rates.

But how to manage these links? Don’t worry, Replug also helps you with that as it has a solution for branded link management.

Related: 9 Ways Brands can use Replug to ascend their Brand Recognition

Branded Link Management

The goal of creating a short branded URL is to engage more users with your brand. Ultimately, converting these users into customers.

But how to analyze these campaigns?

Branded Link Management is a solution that lets users manage their branded links easily with Replug URL shortener.  Whether it’s a social profile or a website, track their performance easily. You can also create campaigns for multiple brands and analyze the progress of each campaign. Thus, making it easy to analyze and retarget ads.

How to Create Branded Short URL Links with Replug?

Creating branded short links using Replug is as simple as it can be. Login to your Replug account or sign up if you do not already have one.

The first thing you need to do is to create a brand. What is a brand you may ask? A brand is a unique identity for your call-to-action widget. To put it in simpler words, let’s say you have 5 websites, they are 5 unique identities for you, so these 5 unique identities are brands in Replug.

Get started by putting your website logo or your profile picture as a brand to convey your message effectively.

Also Read: Brand New Replug UI. Let Us Amaze You!!!

Steps to Follow To Create a Branded URL

Creating and using branded short Links was never this easy. It just takes a few simple and easy steps to create one.

Step 1

Log in to your account and navigate to the dashboard. Select your desired campaign and enter the URL that you want to optimize (you can add any UTM as well). Then click on create.

Step 2

Completed the above step… That’s great!

After clicking on creating a new screen will appear. Click the edit button where you can start customizing the URL link into a branded URL link.

Add tags and set other parameters that you want for your campaign. Now click on update and your branded link is live to share.

Register with Replug and start creating your own short links. Don’t worry! Replug offers a 14-day free trial. You can also schedule a meeting with our representative to learn more.

Now let’s recap again what we have learned.

Other Notable Link Management Tools

• Bitly

With Bitly, you can create a short domain name for custom link shortening and forward it on Twitter or Facebook.

• T.LY

Customize or personalize any link using T.LY. Get statistics on how many times your links have been viewed online by shortening URLs.

• Clkim

Clkim allows you to use your branded domain, retarget on click, and monetize with custom, responsive, full-page interstitial ads.

• Rebrandly

Use your own domain name to create branded, memorable, and pronounceable custom short links.

• Droplr

It is used to share ads and market them on a custom domain name directly from your Mac storage.No need to write long emails anymore. With Dropler you can show complicated, processes using screencasts and transfer files with a customized short link.

• Tinycc

Tinny CC is a URL shortener platform that allows you to plug in your own short domain and then manage your whole brand from social media to product packaging.

• Geniuslink

Genius Link makes localizing, tracking, and managing smart links dead simple so you can earn more without added work.

• Short.io

It allows you to create your own branded short Links on your domain. You can easily manage links and view click statistics. If you need short links for different websites, you can manage many domains in your account. It provides an API for developers and a Google Chrome extension for a better experience.

• T2M

We can use t2M as a URL shortener with  Twitter, Facebook URL Shortener, and YouTube URLs Shortener. You will get a powerful dashboard that will make your work easier.

• Polr

If you have programming skills and have an interest in running your own shortening service. Then get Polr, as you can run your own URL shortening service with this free open-source software.

• Foxly.in

Foxly provides URL-shortening services to marketers, advertisers, and brands. The purpose of Foxly is to help users achieve growth goals on their social websites across all marketing channels. Increase subscribers with short URLs for YouTube, Facebook, WhatsApp, etc.

• Toinsh

Transform your long URLs into short and concise links with Toinsh. It also allows you to create landing pages with multiple links and gather valuable data insights. Other features of these tools include UTM Generator, Social Audit, and Hashtag analyzer.

• Sniply

Sniply is another URL-shortening tool that allows to the creation of short URLs, CTA, and tracking. Share links using Sniply on your social media channels, articles, newsletters, and much more. When it comes to the price, its price value is a bit high.

• Yourls

Yourls is an acronym for ‘your own URL shortener’. Similarly to Polr, it’s also an open-source link shortener. It allows the creation of links and provides analytics, Bookmarklets, etc.

• Tiny.ie

Tiny.ie is a simple URL shortening tool for link shortening, branded domain, custom short links, real-time analytics, etc. It helps users short ugly URLs into attractive short links.

Also Read: 12 Best Bio Link Tools To Amp Up Your Marketing In 2023

FAQs

Which short link is best?

The best short link really depends on your specific needs and preferences. When choosing a short link service, you should consider factors such as ease of use, reliability, customization options, analytics, and pricing. 

You should also ensure that the service you choose provides adequate security measures to protect your links from being misused or redirected to malicious websites. Some of the most popular short-link services include Replug, Bitly, and Rebrandly.

What is better than Bitly?

We recommend Replug, a tool that lets you create short, branded links with custom domains, track clicks, and conversions, and add call-to-action overlays. This can help increase click-through rates and drive more traffic to your website. 

Additionally, Replug integrates with a variety of popular marketing tools, making it easy to manage and optimize your campaigns.

Do Replug links hurt SEO?

No, Branded Replug links do not directly hurt SEO. Using a URL shortener like Replug does not have a negative impact on your website’s search engine rankings. However, it’s important to keep in mind that if you use a URL shortener to mask spammy or low-quality links, this can negatively impact your SEO. 

It’s always best to use URL shorteners ethically and responsibly and to ensure that the links you are shortening are relevant, high-quality, and add value to your content.

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Wasiq Naeem

Wasiq Naeem is a content and digital marketing veteran who is passionate about his writing. Extensive research and producing high-quality content is just another day at the office for him.

Hyperlinks are created by using anchor tags in HTML code. The anchor tag defines the start and end of a hyperlink, and the text between the opening and closing tags is displayed as the link. To change the name of a hyperlink, you need to edit the text between the opening and closing anchor tags.

When you add a hyperlink to a message, the text displayed as the link is usually the URL of the webpage that the link points to. 

For example, if you add a link to “https://www.example.com/articles/how-to-change-a-link-name,” the link text may be displayed as “https://www.example.com/articles/how-to-change-a-link-name.”

However, displaying a more descriptive and readable link text is often more user-friendly than the raw URL. 

For example, you could change the link text to “How to Change a Link Name: A Comprehensive Guide.” This makes it easier for users to understand the link and encourages them to click on it.

Read Now: Brand Consistency:  Build Brand Consistency Using Branded Links

Increase your CTR with a Branded Link Now!

Get Started for Free

How to change a link name in a text document?

To change the link name that uses a hyperlink, you must edit the text displayed as the link. Here is an example of how to change the name of a link with a hyperlink in a Microsoft Word document:

1. Open the Word document containing the link that you want to change.
2. Right-click on the link and select the option to edit the link.
3. In the Edit Hyperlink window, delete the current text in the “Text to display” field and type in the new name you want to use for the link.
4. Click the “OK” button to save the changes and close the Edit Hyperlink window.

How to change a link name with a hyperlink in an HTML webpage:

1. Open the HTML code for the webpage in a text editor. You can do this by right-clicking on the webpage and selecting the option to view the source code or opening the HTML file in a text editor such as Notepad or TextEdit.
2. Locate the anchor tag that represents the link. It will look something like this: <a href=”http://www.example.com”>Link Name</a> The anchor tag consists of the opening tag <a>, the destination URL “http://www.example.com,” and the closing tag </a>. The text between the opening and closing tags is the link text, currently “Link Name.”
3. Change the text between the opening and closing anchor tags to the new name you want to use for the link. For example: <a href=”http://www.example.com”>New Link Name</a>
4. Save the changes to the HTML code by going to the “File” menu and selecting the “Save” option.
5. Refresh the webpage by pressing the “F5” key or by clicking the “Refresh button”.

How to change a link name using Replug?

Here’s how to change a link name using our URL shortener:

Step 1: Sign in to Replug, or create an account.

Step 2: Choose the desired campaign on the main dashboard or create a new one in a few seconds. 

Step 3: Enter the link in the “URL to shorten” section below “Select your campaign” and click create. 

Note: Here, you can also add UTM parameters to your link to track the performance of that link. Using UTM parameters can help you better understand which links are driving the most traffic and conversions for your website.

Step 4: Your link will be shortened. Click the edit icon and type the URL slug you want to use in the link. 

Step 5: Copy the new link, hit the update button, and you’re done. 

Here’s a recap of the above steps:

How to make your links more descriptive and user-friendly with Replug

Using Replug can help you make your links more descriptive and user-friendly in a few different ways:

• Customizable link names: With Replug, you can choose the name of your link rather than using the default URL. This allows you to create a more descriptive and readable link that tells users about the link.
• Link branding: Replug allows you to customize the appearance of your links by adding your branding. This can establish user trust and credibility and make your links more recognizable.
• Link targeting: Replug allows you to redirect traffic to different URLs based on the device or location of the user. This can be useful if you have different webpage versions or want to redirect users to the most relevant version of your website.
• Link analytics: Replug provides detailed analytics about the clicks on your links, including the number of clicks, the location of the users, and the devices used. This can help you understand how your links are used and make data-driven decisions about your link strategy.

Branded Short Links

Create and track branded short links for your business for better conversions.

Brand Your Links Now!

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Arslan Jadoon

Meet Arslan, a skilled website blog and content writer who combines creativity and expertise to deliver engaging and informative pieces that captivate audiences.

Links can be long and unwieldy, especially if they contain a lot of parameters or tracking information. Shortening the link can make sharing easier, especially on social media platforms with limited space.

Here’s the best part: A URL shortener can also provide analytics and tracking information to see how many clicks the link has received and where those clicks are coming from. 

Some URL shorteners, like Replug, and Bitly,  also offer additional features, such as the ability to customize the link or set an expiration date. 

Overall, using a URL shortener can make it easier to share links and track their performance, and it can be beneficial when sharing links online.

Here’s a step-by-step process to shorten any link in just a few minutes. 

How to shorten a link using Replug?

Step 1: Sign in to Replug or create an account for free. 

Step 2: Choose a campaign from your main dashboard, or create a new one.

Note: Here’s how to “Create a campaign in a few seconds.” 

Step 3: Enter the link in the “URL to shorten” section below “Select your campaign” and click create. 

Note: Here, you can also add UTM parameters to your link to track the performance of that link. Using UTM parameters can help you better understand which marketing channels and campaigns are driving the most traffic and conversions for your website.

Step 4: Your link will be shortened. Click the edit icon and type the URL slug you want to use in the link. 

Step 5: Copy the new link, hit the update button, and you’re done. 

Note: You can add some amazing Replug features to your link, as some of them are shown in the image below. You can use any of these features with your Replug link and take your campaign to the next level. Additionally, check out our CTA campaign features to see how they can help you elevate your marketing efforts. 

FAQS

What is a URL shortener?

A URL shortener is a tool that takes a long URL and converts it into a shorter, more concise URL that is easier to share and remember. For example, the long URL “https://www.example.com/products/red-shoes/womens?size=8&color=red&utm_source=newsletter&utm_medium=email” could be shortened to something like “http://www.example.com/products/redshoes.”

URL shorteners work by creating a mapping between the short URL and the long URL. When someone clicks on the short URL, they are redirected to the original, long URL. This is useful for various purposes, such as sharing links on social media or tracking clicks on a link.

What is a custom URL shortener?

A custom URL shortener is a tool that allows you to create short, personalized URLs using your domain name. For example, if your business’s website is “example.com,” you could create a custom URL shortener using a subdomain such as “go.example.com” or a subdirectory such as “example.com/go.” This would allow you to create short URLs like “go.example.com/redshoes” or “example.com/go/redshoes,” redirecting to a longer URL.

Why use a custom URL shortener?

Using a custom URL shortener has a few benefits:

• It allows you to create short, branded URLs that are more memorable and professional-looking than generic short URLs.
• It can give you more control over the short URLs you create, as you can customize them and set up redirects as needed.
• Some custom URL shorteners offer additional features, such as tracking clicks, password protection, and setting expiration dates for links.

Overall, a custom URL shortener can be useful for businesses and individuals who want to create and share short, branded URLs.

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Arslan Jadoon

Meet Arslan, a skilled website blog and content writer who combines creativity and expertise to deliver engaging and informative pieces that captivate audiences.

Are you looking to change the destination URL of a published page, blog post, or web link? Following this easy step-by-step process, you can quickly and easily create short URLs.  

5 simple steps to change a URL:

Replug is an all-in-one link management tool for creating custom URLs, embedding call-to-actions, and making social media bio-links. You can change the URL of a website in seconds by following these simple steps. 

Step 1: 

Sign in to your replug account or create one if you don’t have one.

Step 2: 

Find the desired campaign on the main dashboard, or create a new one. 

Note: If you have difficulty creating a new campaign, check out this guide: “Create a campaign in seconds.” 

Step 3: 

Once you’ve chosen or created the campaign, paste the URL in the “URL to shorten” section below “Select your campaign”.

Step 4: 

Click on create, and you can customize the website URL how you want, making it simple and easy to read. 

Step 5: 

Click on the edit icon and type the slug you want for your newly created URL. 

Once you have done that, click on the update button below. Now that your URL has been created, you can start making an impact.

For example, I created the link above by changing the old URL to a new one.

FAQs

Can I shorten any website links?

You can easily shorten any website link using a URL shortener tool like Replug. It allows you to shorten your link and make it the way you want. Moreover, you can share it among your audience and track its performance by examining the metrics like clicks, unique clicks, conversion rate, etc.

Can I edit my domain name?

Your custom domain is a top-level domain you own and use to share your links. Replug lets you easily edit your domain name, and if you want to maintain your branding and reputation, you should always use your custom domain name. Here’s how to set up a custom domain.

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Arslan Jadoon

Meet Arslan, a skilled website blog and content writer who combines creativity and expertise to deliver engaging and informative pieces that captivate audiences.

Now and then we get to see URLs that are either too long or carries random characters. However, URL shorteners is the magical way to not only shorten a long URL but also to change the URL name and to use the URL as a powerful marketing tool.

Link shorteners do way more than disguising a link, as times have changed, and so does product marketing. Long URL shortener is a reliable tool to change URL length, edit characters, add a call to action, and much more. We can also track and analyze how links perform across all social channels. 

For example, global businesses are now thoroughly based on online marketing and URL sharing. However, with a nasty URL, it is hard to describe what it is about. Unknown and random characters in the URL are suspicious enough not to stray away the receiver from clicking on it.

Hence, custom URL shorteners come in to play. 

Long URL shortener: Use cases and examples 

A good URL shortener will help in two main objectives, simplifying the link with fewer characters and measuring analytics for it. Anyone with internet availability can use a link shortener, from product marketers to small business owners, from Tiktokers to individuals. Everyone can use it anywhere!

Here are some reasons why a link shortener should be an important part of your marketing aspect.

#1:Tesla Incorporating Branded Links

Any URL with your brand name will assure the link reader that it will lead to your page. Link shortening tools make URLs visually appealing and legitimate. 

It has been reported that branded links increase CTR so the companies that go with the changing trends and technologies are adapting.

Elon Musk’s multinational automotive company, Tesla, incorporates branded links when they run social media campaigns. 

Look at the example below.

Increase your CTR with a Branded Link Now!

Get Started for Free

#2: Fail Army promoting video content

Youtubers are also realizing the power of bio links. 

Fail Army is a popular Youtube channel known for curating funny videos. They also have a massive Instagram following. Their strategy is to use bio links to promote their latest content. These links directly take the user to their promoted content.

#3: Pewdiepie’s merchandize marketing

Here’s an example of how Youtubers are utilizing bio links to promote other content on their socials.

Famous Youtuber Pewdiepie, has a massive social following on Youtube and Instagram. He has monetized his Instagram following by promoting its merchandize store through Instagram bio links.

When any one clicks the bio link it takes them to his online store.  He also share pictures of himself wearing his latest clothing to promote on Instagram.

Related: How To Add Instagram Link In Bio?

#4: G Fuel’s bio link strategy

Gfuel is a famous energy drink and often collaborates with Ninja and Pewdiepie. It is also the official drink of Esports. If you visit their Instagram, they have multiple pictures of their products. Every product description says, “link in the bio.” 

Here is the bio link of Gfuel. 

If you click the link, you will go to the landing page showing exact pictures as on Instagram. You further tap on your target product picture and land on the purchase page. 

This is an easy way of capturing leads to the product page and changing them into conversions.  

#5: Digital branding and marketing

Branded links increase trust and credibility of the URL. 

Below is an example of an unreliable link.

There are ways to make the links more appealing. Create short URLs, in return that can also bring more conversions. 

Instead, this is what you should do.

Editing random and untrustworthy links through shortening tools becomes more genuine and authentic. It is important to edit messy links, especially if you are running digital and social media marketing campaigns.

Related: Bio Links From Replug: Create a Stronger Marketing Impact while Social Sharing:

#6: Podcast marketing

Above image is an example of Jack Paxton’s account. He mentions his bio link, which will be redirected to a page filled with all podcast links. 

Like this: 

Bio links are the best strategy to take your Instagram audience to the podcast library. This is also helpful in collecting emails by adding the “email me” button. 

Use case #7: Amplify your music following

Another feature of the URL shortening tool is a deep link. Deep links redirect you from the URL to the specified screen page of a particular app.  

Spotify is a well-known audio streaming and media provider company. They recently tweeted about a new album and shared a customized link. If you click the link, you will directly go to wizkhalifa’s new album on Spotify.

Related:How to Build a Custom Audience through URL Tracking

#8: Myfix Cycles retargeting strategy to reduce cart abandonment 

Retargeting is a great feature that can bring back visitors that have bounced from your websites. Along with other great features, Replug also gives you the control to retarget visitors through retargeting pixels.

Retargeting has proved to be a great source of converting potential buyers to customers. Link retargeting allows users to target the people who have already visited your social or website.

Most of the eCommerce companies face cart abandonment issues where users leave without completing the purchase. With retargeting, users can remind customers through ads or emails to complete their purchase. Retargeting has proven to be a far more successful strategy to increase conversions.

Myfix Cycles uses retargeting smartly and resells their product that didn’t make the purchase the product the first time around. Below is the image of their retargeting.

Related: How To Utilize Replug for Facebook Retargeting Ads?

#9: A/B test your marketing campaigns

Link analytics plays a very important role when it comes to creating tracking URLs. One of the exclusive features of link shortening tools is A/B testing.

Imagine you are running a specific sales campaign and creating two or more special offer web pages to test which content performs well. 

A/B testing allows you to split traffic and compare performance of each URL on the base of weightages that you set. Finally, choose the page that performs well or optimize the content that underperforms. 

This feature is very handful for designers to test their designs, for content creators to evaluate their content and for every marketer as a whole package. 

Related: Conversion Rate Optimization Tips – 8 Easy Ways to Boost Sales

#10: Deep linking example of text marketing to increase conversion

Deep links in SMS marketing motivate users to install the app. Take the example of a shopping app. Use a deep link with a bonus point which will be rewarded after users install the application. Once the user clicks the deep link, it will launch the app on the relevant system. If it is not installed, a relevant store will be opened. When the user initiates the app, the product page and offer will appear. Without deep linking, these steps require manual processing.

Let’s say you are making an online shop and promoting a certain item; deep links help you direct visitors to relevant content. In case the app is not installed it will take you relevant play store

Deep links are very helpful when it comes to online user experience. Suppose, you are a seller on Amazon, Shopify or any other ecommerce platform and you want to direct the user to specific products rather than search the product on the app or web. With deep linking, no unnecessary steps will be required and you will directly land on the relevant content as shown in the below image.

You don’t need to advertise the app as a whole. Only the relevant content that you want to target and the user that clicks that link will reach the appropriate location without any hurdles. This not only increases the rate of conversions but also improves the overall experience.

Related: How to Use Short Links for SMS & SMS Marketing

#11: Short links are best for Tweets

You have only 280 character limits for tweets to express opinions, use captions, add captions, call out a person, and much more. You can do anything under Twitter’s specified character limit. Brands use URLs while announcing any update, sale, or mega deal. 

Generally, links are overly long, and they tend to cover all Twitter character space. Therefore, people tend to use URL shortening tools to change messy long URLs into branded URLs. 

Here are some brands that have used short & customized links in their tweets. 

Example#Disney

Disney is also making a new series announcement with a customized link in their tweet. 

https://twitter.com/DisneyD23/status/1554150408695586816?s=20&t=mnN3JZJn8pBTfZofu8q7Yw

Here is Disney’s example of using a short & customized links in their tweets. 

Disney is also making a new series announcement with a customized link in their tweet. 

Disney’s customized link is not short only but has the brand’s slogan in it. There are higher chances for the audience to visit links, check new promos, and subscribe to a streaming platform if they haven’t already.

#12: Turning USP realizes the power of bio links for brands

Link shortening tool can change a single link into a beautiful, mobile-friendly, flexible landing page. You can offer the services you want. Pre-designed layouts are available to create a landing page. 

Moreover, you can add videos, images, text etc. to showcase your brand. Drag and drop editor can make everything easy and efficient. 

Here is an example of Turing USP that mentioned their bio link in the Instagram bio. 

#13: Engage more QR code marketing

QR codes are new scannable marketing sources. You can generate a new smart QR code with every branded link you customize with a link shortening platform. 

Download it and use it in your every visual content, such as visiting cards, flyers, or discount codes, as a marketing opportunity to build brand authority. QR codes are a powerful way of amplifying your brand’s slogan.

QR codes promote engagement and interaction. This type of business strategy enables businesses to share information with users.

The calamities like the pandemic and global warming initiatives have pushed us more towards creating a contactless and paperless green environment. While QR Codes are playing a vital and supportive role towards it yet they are also proving to be a great tool for marketing.

From banking payments to promotion or any information and material, it is proving a useful tool for analytics aswell as to improve user experience. 

Here are some ways how you can maximize QR codes to monitor the performance of your marketing campaigns properly. 

• Lands customers directly on the website
• Dial your business number
• Send message/ email
• View business locations
• Download app
• Direct customers to social media pages

#14: Make your social links count!

Similarly length is important for all your social links. A domain name adds more plus points. They provide a clean look. 

Any URL with your brand name will assure the link reader that it will lead to your page. Link management tools make URLs visually appealing and legitimate. 

Look at Gary Vee’s bio link

He uses the bio link to drive users towards his Apple podcast.

Similarly, you can share your favorite content with friends without the installation of a particular app. Let’s say if somebody shared a TikTok video link with you, and you don’t have a TikTok account, you can click the URL and still watch it without installing TikTok. This is the power of deep links. 

You can share your favorite content with friends without the installation of a particular app. Let’s say if somebody shared a TikTok video link with you, and you don’t have a TikTok account, you can click the URL and still watch it without installing TikTok. This is the power of deep links. 

Related: How To Get More TikTok Views?

#15 Perfect Call to Action buttons

Every Marketer’s end goal is to earn high revenue. It gets possible when your product reaches the right audience. It improves your impression and ad rank. 

High CTR means more people seeing, clicking, and engaging with your services. It is all possible with link shortening URL platforms. You can create, edit, and advertise links that have a custom domain name or brand’s slogan. They will be considered authentic and genuine and will attract the right customer. 

#16 Example of media companies using Vanity URLs

Several major media companies and publications use vanity URLs when sharing links:

• Netflix = movi.es
• Time = ti.me
• TechCrunch = tcrn.ch
• Engadget = engt.co
• Huffington Post = huffp.st
• Economist= econ.st
• New York Times = nyti.ms

Related: What is a Vanity URL and How to Track it?

#17: Track, analyze & convert

URL shortening tools empower to make informed decisions by providing vital data points. You can track what content is working best for you and what needs to improvise. 

URLs are trackable and give insights about clicks and engagements. You can also retarget your prospected clients who have already shown interest in your content. 

Campaign analytics help you optimize your marketing efforts. It helps you understand your audience better. You can observe which social media channels drive maximum traffic and design strategies accordingly.

How do I shorten a URL length?

It is a pretty simple process to shorten your links using a URL shortener.

Step 1
Login to your Replug account

Step 2
Navigate to “create quick Replug link”. Enter the campaign and the long URL to shorten. 

1. Now click “Create”

Step 3
In the next step, you can edit the link or change the slug. You can add or remove existing tags. Click the update button and you are done.

FAQs

What is a long URL?

A long URL is a long and nasty address to a particular document or file. They are difficult to remember. Sometimes they are long enough that after copying them on social channels, you don’t have any space left to write details. 

Here is an example: 

All the above URLs have one thing in common, they are long, messy, and have random characters. Therefore, they may look suspicious to some people when forwarded in DM, which makes them avoid clicking it. 

What is too long for a URL?

A URL is considered too long if it has above 100 characters. An overly long URL causes search engine and usability issues. It may also lead to lower CTR (click-through rate). 

Long URL doesn’t display better on the web. An extra-long URL might have symbols and characters. Google doesn’t support an overly long URL with random characters. 

Is it okay to have a long URL?

It doesn’t matter how long the URL length is.  However, with respect to marketing and SEO, the leading brands try to keep them shorter than 100 characters. It makes monitoring easy.
For example:

This URL is 118 characters long, and Twitter has 280 characters limit. So the above link is long enough in itself that it doesn’t leave any space to say anything about it. Furthermore, such link are unappealing and unattractive to share.

Long URL Problems Solved
Shortening long URLs is pretty simple and easy. Brands and celebrities have realized the powerful features that come along with URL shorteners. The use cases and examples have highlighted just. If you are still not convinced, I recommend taking time for an online meeting just might change your thoughts towards URL shorteners. One thing is for sure. a long URL just sucks and drains your online marketing!

Khadija Anwar

I am Khadija Anwar, B2B Copywriter. I started my career as a freelance writer in 2019 and built a strong portfolio. I have crafted multiple blogs, website content, fashion magazines, news outlets, SEO content, and technical documentation. Last but not least, my favorite cartoon character is Dopey Dwarf, resembling my real-life character- calm, happy, and lively.

Looking for a hack for Instagram and other socials to boost your social presence and following? Tools like Instagram URL shortener is what you need to try out. It simply can do much more than just shortening your long nasty URLs. For example, you can shorten the URL with a domain name, add catchy call-to-action, create bio links, manage analytics, and redirect your audience.

In short, you can create trackable and memorable links that enhance your brand recognition across all social media channels. 

Let’s discuss how link shortening tools can strengthen your social media presence and help you increase your following through custom links on Instagram, Tiktok and other socials. 

Why Use an Instagram Link Shortener?

Link shorteners make sharing significantly easier that promote marketing as a whole. They use a few precious characters to deliver links and catch a higher click-through rate. In addition, the Instagram link shortener can track the performance of all URLs you share across social media channels. These analytics record your audience’s behavior patterns and find what they want. 

Bio links are the most prominent feature among the people that use Instagram URL shorteners. However, some other specific advantages of using a URL shortener are discussed below.

Stronger Branding with One Bio Link

Creating a bio link with Instagram URL shorteners can direct the customer to a custom landing web page. Create CTAs, add text, pictures, and videos and design the landing page. Most socials don’t allow adding more than one bio link to your profile. So with a bio link, you can provide more information about yourself or your business. 

Here is an example of Replug’s Bio Link:

Here is an example of Airbnb: 

They have mentioned the Airbnb accommodations link in the bio. If you click that link, it will lead you to a single bio page with all rental places.

If you further click down any picture, it will redirect to complete detail of that particular place just like this: 

Now, this is a simple URL redirecting example with a brand’s profile name mentioned in it. You can do this with your brand or personal Instagram profile, share it on any social media channel, and bring direct traffic to your account or shop. Link shorteners for Instagram make all work easy without making themselves the third wheel. It is a straightforward technique to build brand credibility and enhance brand awareness.

Related: Amazon Link Shortener: 10 Reasons For Amazon Sellers To Try

Branded Links are Appealing

Branded links can enhance social media presence because they seem legit. They encourage click-through, engagement, and conversion rate around a product or service. Moreover, you can build brand awareness through branded links wherever you use them. Data has shown that branded links receive 34% more clicks than non-branded links. Besides brand awareness, branded links are appealing because they reflect the domain or brand’s slogan, which is an essential element of your digital presence. 

Disney uses a link management tool for shortening, redirecting, and promoting its official podcast while highlighting Disney’s slogan “di. sn” in the URL. 

When you customize your links, you have an opportunity to promote a product or service by creating a domain. For example, you are running a YouTube tutorial channel for pizza making, and you don’t want a messy long URL. In that case, you can edit it to Pizz. co/tutorial. 

Related: YouTube URL Shortener-A Must Have For Every YouTuber

Links are Trackable

Marketing without analysis and tracking is like shooting in the dark. It is a waste of time, energy, and substantial resources. Link shortening platforms track your links and save from extra effort. Knowing your visitor’s demographic, interests, and favorite social channels allows you to post more relevant and exciting content. Your customers are a valuable asset to your company. By tracking analytics, you can observe what your audience is looking for, their needs, and expectations. 

Being a marketer is a tough job; you must know what your audience wants without hearing from them directly. Therefore, you can determine which marketing channels you should utilize to find your next customers through link shortening platforms.

Cross Promote with Same Link

You might have noticed that you uploaded a picture on Instagram and wanted to share it on WhatsApp, but the link is too nasty that you gave up. This is wherecustom URL shortener for Instagram step in to change malicious URLs into short ones and make them sharable on any app. Vanity links are friendly, memorable, authentic, and safe to use. In addition, you can add a custom domain name to enhance brand awareness and build brand credibility. 

The above image shows Spotify’s shortened link with its domain’s name and recommended Sabrina Ann’s playlist. 

In addition, link shorteners provide services for all social media channels, not just Instagram. Suppose you have changed a long URL into a short URL and forwarded it to people’s DM. Then you can also use the same link across all social media channels; Facebook, Twitter, Tiktok, LinkedIn, and many more. You can apply the same link on every marketing channel to bring more leads, engagement, and conversions.

Related: 7 Ways You Can Use Instagram Bio Links to Your Advantage

Deep Links Improve the User Experience

The deep links feature allows users to reach the in-app location directly or to be directed to the relevant app store, depending on their devices. For instance, sharing a shortened link through text or a DM would mitigate the unnecessary steps required. Thus, improving the user experience, increasing the chances of conversions, and increasing followers on your other socials.

Related: How to Understand and Maximize Your Reach on Any Social Network

Increase Engagement

As discussed in the above examples using a custom link can increase engagements. Research evidence supports these claims as shorter URLs receive 39% higher engagement than long URLs.

Whether you are an influencer or a brand, short links will help you generate more traffic, attract a higher following and ultimately increase overall engagement.  

Easily Apply Redirection

Imagine you are running a social media marketing campaign and have forwarded a link to a big chunk of the audience. Then you realize it has a typo mistake. But unfortunately, you can’t go to every platform and change or delete the URL. 

You can redirect that erroneous link to your profile or website, and the audience will directly land on it.

Related: Using Vanity URLs for Social Brand Awareness

Retarget Clicks

Retargeting is served to people who have already visited your website, prospective leads, or customers. For example, a link shortener offers retargeting that provides additional points of association with your brand or product, increasing the likelihood that those leads who know you will convert. With the ever-changing digital marketing landscape, the fight for the audience’s attention has to be won in quality and quantity.

Retargeting is a great way to stay in front of prospective clients and keep them aware of your brand such as facebook retargeting ads is a great example. It is a cost-effective technique to gain maximum ROI for every penny you spend on digital advertising. Last but not least, you can gain insight into where your prospected clients are being found after leaving your website. Comparing current and old retargeting campaigns will make a roadmap for future marketing campaigns to bring quality traffic to your website. 

Related: 14 Crazy-Effective Ways to Boost E-commerce Sales Through Retargeting

5 Best Instagram Url Shortener Tools (500-700)

Replug.io

Replug is an all-in-one link management tool to change long, messy links into short branded URLs. It helps brand recognition, amplifies your engagement and boosts brand awareness, through retargeting ads and strategies to generate leads.

Replug.io is a cost-effective, feature-packed tool that helps optimize marketing campaigns and monitors and analyzes every interaction with your audience. 

Branded links offer a consistent, trustworthy experience. Moreover, you can view all data on a simple dashboard. You can filter your data with keywords, sources, and channels to help you understand how your links perform. 

Replug.io creates and tracks your offline campaign with customizable dynamic QR codes and offers much more. 

Features

• A/B testing
• Geo and social targeting
• Add OG titles and descriptions 
• Chrome extension
• Create beautiful bio landing pages
• Track analytics and KPIs
• Add a catchy call to action
• Add a custom domain or brand slogan
• Retarget your audience
• Custom Support 24/7

Replug.io offers three affordable and efficient pricing plans:

• Basic $19/month
• Professional $49/month
• Agency $79/month

RocketLink

RocketLink allows you to pass retargeting pixels through shortened links. You can enjoy link tracking features to retarget people who have clicked on your link. RocketLink allows you to use their or your domain for link tracking. Once you have created links, you analyze them. This is similar to any other link shortening platform. You can manage and create links effectively, shorten URLs, use a custom domain to improve UX, build trust and drive traffic to your website. You can track all links and clicks on a single dashboard and optimize your marketing effort. 

It offers three pricing plans: 

• Liftoff $19/month 
• Space $29/month
• Galaxy $69/month

PixelMe

PixelMe is another link management app for social marketers. With the help of PiexelMe, you can brand track and share URLs through this platform. It has retargeting pixels to track all leads who visited your website. It also has custom domains and sludge features, making it a reliable link shortening tool. In addition, it offers in-depth analytics and KPIs to track all leads and the progress of your links so far. It suits mega enterprises and small companies trying to build brand recognition. 

PiexelMe offers three pricing plans: 

• Growth $99/month 
• Scale $149/month 
• Elite $249/month 

SayHey

SayHey is a powerful but simple built-in editor to create beautiful landing pages. It allows you to share the story in your desired way. It is a user-friendly link shortener tool for creators and marketers that lets you connect with Instagram, Shopify, and many more. SayHey uses high premium quality converting landing pages to promote your campaign. It makes a custom page by adding visual arts, newsletter, and sign-up, and also integrates with Instagram, YouTube, MailChimp, and Shopify. In addition, it offers weekly and monthly analytics to better understand current and previous campaigns. 

SayHey offers a free and pro-paid account starting from $10/month. 

JotURL

JotURL is another link management tool to create deep links, pixels and branded links for marketing campaigns. Besides creating branded links, it monitors, analyzes, and is able to perform many other link-building functions. In addition, it can create a catchy call to action. It offers many functions within a unique and efficient tool. JotURL increases conversions, tracks revenues and engages prospects. It helps you attract, catch, and convert your clients. It tracks which events catch leads in order to expand your marketing reach. 

The pricing plan starts from $55/month. 

FAQS

Does Instagram allow short links?

Instagram allows only one active link in the bio section. But Instagram should allow adding short links in the regular post or at least in sponsored posts at additional costs. Short links become very helpful in digital marketing. 

Why is my link not clickable on my Instagram bio?

The Instagram bio link isn’t clickable from mobile because the link is added in the bio field and not in the dedicated website field. To fix this problem, make sure you have an updated Instagram account version, put a link in the right section, and have a good internet connection. 

Create Youtube, Tiktok, Instagram short URLs, bio links, track clicks and do much more with URL shorteners.

Khadija Anwar

I am Khadija Anwar, B2B Copywriter. I started my career as a freelance writer in 2019 and built a strong portfolio. I have crafted multiple blogs, website content, fashion magazines, news outlets, SEO content, and technical documentation. Last but not least, my favorite cartoon character is Dopey Dwarf, resembling my real-life character- calm, happy, and lively.