In recent years, TikTok has established itself as one of the most popular social media platforms for creators and marketers alike. It gives businesses the opportunity to increase their sales, raise brand awareness, and reach new audiences.
However, success on that scale is only possible if you use the app’s full advertising potential. Optimizing your profile has a key role in this regard, as it can help you differentiate yourself from your competitors.
One of the most tried and true ways to do this is to add a clickable link to your bio. This guide will teach you how to do that and reveal why this step is so crucial for your ranking on the platform.
Why Is Adding a Link to Your TikTok Bio Essential?
Before discussing the how, let us dedicate some time to why optimizing your TikTok bio with a clickable link is important for every user.
Every social media profile — regardless of the platform you use — is an instrument that you can utilize to drive attention to your brand. As such, it can aid you in converting a casual viewer into a paying customer.
To do so, you ought to provide visitors with a clear and accessible pathway to learning more about your brand. Adding a link to your bio is an excellent way to achieve that, as it will encourage viewers to explore. Conversely, if they tap on your account and cannot find any of your socials or website, they might abandon the search altogether.
Furthermore, a well-placed link can also help you:
- Boost your website traffic;
- Increase the engagement rates on your latest social media posts;
- Promote your products and any special offers;
- Incentivize users to sign up for your newsletter, join your mailing list, or follow you on other social media platforms.
And if these facts don’t convince you, here is another one. On TikTok, a bio link is the only clickable URL that you can share. If you include a link in your post captions or hashtags, users will have to copy it, open their browsers, and locate you that way.
For the average TikToker, these steps require too much time and effort, so they seldom complete them. Thus, making the most out of this single link slot is a must for every brand that wants to thrive on the platform.
TikTok Bio Optimization: Step-By-Step Instructions
If you want to add a link to your bio, these are all the steps you need to follow:
- Open the app and log into your account;
- Head to your profile (click your profile picture in the bottom right-hand corner of your screen);
- Tap on Edit profile right by your bio;
- Look for the Website slot and paste your link of choice;
- Select Save.
You should note that only business accounts can add a link to their bio. Thus, if you cannot locate the Website option when editing your profile, you will have to switch to a business account first. Here’s how to do so:
- In the TikTok app, select your profile picture;
- Tap the Menu button in the upper right-hand corner (the three horizontal lines);
- Go to Settings and privacy;
- Click on Manage account;
- In the menu that appears, tap Switch to Business Account;
- Choose a category that most accurately describes your brand;
- Add your email (this step is optional);
- Add or change your bio (you can skip this step for the time being as well);
- Tap on Create profile.
With that, you’ll be all set! Besides adding a link to your bio, a business account will also give you access to TikTok’s Web Business Suite. Using this feature, you will be able to analyze in-depth profile data, use TikTok Workspace, and take advantage of the growth tips the platform provides in its Activity & Support section.
In case you make the business account switch and still cannot see the option to add a link to your bio, you might not have enough followers. Namely, only creators with more than 1,000 followers can add URLs to their profiles. At the moment, there is no way of bypassing this restriction.
What Types of Links Can You Add to Your TikTok Bio?
You should choose the link for your bio based on your overall marketing goals on the platform. To decide, you can ask yourself some basic questions.
For example, do you want to drive more traffic to your website? Or are you more interested in directing potential customers to your eCommerce store? When you pinpoint your objectives, picking the appropriate link will come a lot more naturally.
Here are some ideas that you can consider for your profile.
Link to Your Website
As already mentioned, you can use your bio to encourage people to visit your website. If that is your main purpose, you should include your site’s URL in your profile.
To maximize engagement and traffic, make sure that your site is mobile-friendly, as most TikTokers use their phones to access the platform. In addition, help your visitors out by highlighting your best-selling products or most popular content. That way, you will increase the chances of them remaining on the site and sifting through your offers.
Link to Your Store
Next, you can also use the URL to link to your eCommerce store. Whether you sell on Amazon, Shopify, Etsy, or any other marketplace, you can point your audience in the right direction with a clickable link on your account.
Link to One of Your Social Media Accounts
If you have a substantial following on another social media platform or you want to promote it on TikTok, you can link it in your bio.
You should note that the platform allows you to link directly to YouTube and Instagram. In case you connect these apps to your TikTok, users will be able to visit your profiles on these platforms by tapping the icons with their respective logos on your profile.
Thus, it’s smarter to use the clickable link slot for another social media account (Twitter or Discord, for example). By doing so, you’ll give your audience even more ways to reach you.
Link to a Landing Page
In the event that you can’t decide which URL to pick, as they are all equally relevant, you can create a multi-link landing page. As its name suggests, this type of page contains multiple URLs, and you can make it using one of the many free and paid online tools.
The most commonly used choice is Linktree. Using the free version, you can pick one of the basic templates and design a one-stop solution for all your links. In addition, you gain access to some elementary statistics that can help you monitor how your page is performing.
And if you opt for the paid version, you will get to take advantage of several pro features. For instance, you will be able to remove the Linktree logo from your page, making it 100% unique and highlighting your own brand.
Moreover, you’ll have access to Linktree’s social media retargeting feature, more in-depth analytics, and better customization options. The pro subscription fee is $6 per month.
Besides Linktree, you can also consider one of the following platforms:
These options all offer free and paid plans, and they mostly differ based on the personalization templates they provide. Our advice is to try out a few of them to see which one matches your vision best.
One Final Tip
While adding a link to your bio will do most of your work for you, there are still some tricks you can use to motivate your audience to click. In that regard, emojis can be of utmost help.
For example, you can add 👇 or ⤵️ to your bio, drawing the viewer’s attention to your URL. Besides making your bio look colorful and visually pleasing, emojis will also help you save precious character space.
