The creator funnel: how to turn social followers into paid customers

A funnel is a term long-used to describe the sales process, which begins by attracting a wide array of potential customers and anticipating that a small group will convert into actual paying customers.

You know, kinda like how a funnel is shaped 🤔

For creators, earning a living online doesn’t work the same way sales traditionally have. But constructing a strong sales funnel is still critical to establishing a thriving income stream. Some creators have really nailed this, and we’ll show you examples.

Here’s the five steps for creators to build a funnel that generates steady income:

1. Choose the right link for your social bios

The most important real estate you have on social media is the clickable link in your profile.

On TikTok, that’s the one and only place you get a clickable link, so maximizing that feature is critical! If your goal is to monetize your followers, you’ll want to put your BrandArmy link in that space, or any other platform you choose to sell your products (we don’t mind, we’re just here to help!).

Instagram allows you to display one or a menu of multiple links in your bio, which is helpful but creators need to be careful and utilize this feature properly. While it may be enticing to add several clickable links into your Instagram bio in order to show followers everything you’re about, it’s likely not best practices for building a strong funnel. We recommend using one link in this space for an important reason: you want people to press that link. It’s harder to do that when you add an extra tap and make the important link one of many your followers can choose.

2. Reference the link in your profile description

It’s worth saying again: your goal is to get followers to press the link in your bio.

That’s how they move into the funnel 🤔

The description in your bio is the perfect place to advertise that you have a link for followers to engage with you and see all your paid offerings.

The strongest creator funnels use action verbs in their description like “press the link below” “get the latest” “go here for more” and call attention to the link below the description by utilizing emoji, arrows, and any clever ways you can think to entice a profile visitor to press on your link.

3. Consider using a “link in bio”

For creators who have more than one important link they want to drive followers to, a “link in bio” page is a much better solution for establishing a strong funnel than utilizing the multiple link feature inside Instagram.

It may make sense for some creators to use a “link in bio” as their profile link because of the strong customization features that allow for bigger buttons, vivid imagery, and greater detail. Your social accounts only show a small string of text, whereas your “link in bio” page can be as bold and appealing as your imagination.

It only takes minutes to set one up at places like Linktree, Beacons, HooBe, and more.

4. Post stories in order to share your link

Stories are the only other way to share links on Instagram. So take advantage of it!

To add a link to one of your stories, press the “Sticker” button and then select the “Link” sticker. Make sure to give the sticker an appealing title!

Mention @brandarmy in your story and we’ll re-post it!

5. Promote your link in content

If earning income is your goal, your content needs to prioritize that. Think of the arrangement like you’re doing a brand deal… for yourself. You’re the sponsor of your own post, and it’s critical that you take advantage of all the attention you’re getting with your content in order to spread awareness of your paid offerings.

Make sense?

Use post descriptions to mention the link in your bio. Leave comments on your posts telling followers where to go for more content and to connect with you. Use any opportunity you can to call out your link without infringing on the enjoyment of the content.

At BrandArmy your URL is brandarmy.com / your username, which is easy to communicate or share in your social media profiles.

If you use a different link in bio, be sure to choose something that’s easy to say out loud, not too long, and you can communicate it quickly to others.

---

Ready to build your own creator funnel?

That’s great! We’re here to help along your journey. You can always reach us at support (at) brandarmy.com or head to our Help Center and press the live chat button.

Earning steady income from followers begins with a BrandArmy account — head here to get started!