Let's Talk About LinkTree.
Why does every comedian have the same link in their bio?
Today, I want to talk about LinkTree, that pesky URL in seemingly every stand-up comedian’s Instagram bio.
As a former LinkTree user myself (three years clean), I can understand the appeal:
A one-stop shop where your online fans can explore your entire digital landscape. Not only can they watch extended sets on your YouTube channel, but they can also listen to your podcast on Spotify, and follow your Twitter for daily punditry, and sign up for your mailing list, and donate to your Patreon, and visit your website to learn more about the brains behind that viral Instagram Reel they just watched.
But this line of thinking tends to be a lofty overestimation of how many people are obsessed with you at any given moment.
Not to mention the maintenance of a LinkTree is extremely manual and tedious.
The frequent upkeep requires its gardener to tend to it as if it were a LinkOrchid.
Unfortunately, many resemble a LinkCactus.
When I examine prospective clients' LinkTrees, there’s always seven links too many, 1-2 of them lead to old, inactive social media handles, and several links are still promoting live shows that happened 6+ months ago.
Unless you’re Harry Styles, it’s highly unlikely that thousands of people are interested in this many things about you after clicking on your profile from one crowdwork clip.
If you’re a stand-up comedian reading this article and have an active LinkTree in your bio, I encourage you to open this link: https://linktr.ee/admin/analytics
If you are an agent/manager reading this and represent stand-up comedians that have a LinkTree, I encourage you to share this article with them right here and have them do the same:
How many total clicks does your LinkTree have, across all links, historically?
How does that number compare vs. the total number of followers you have?
Did you just deflate a little bit inside?
For any additional analytics, such as sorting each link by number of clicks, LinkTree requires you to pay a monthly $7.50 subscription.
Presumably because, if LinkTree made the rest of their insights freely available, their entire user base would realize how useless their service is. But you should be able to sign up for a one month free trial and immediately cancel it, so you can still see those metrics:
*waits for you to go do that*
Now that you have access to the rest of these numbers, try and pinpoint the time when you were at your most "viral". How many clicks did you receive after your biggest video blew up? What was the distribution of those clicks? Was it pretty even across the board? Or were 70% of the clicks on one link, and 20% on a second link?
The analytics of nearly every comedian I have looked at this with go something like this:
Total Clicks: Depressingly low.
#1 Most Clicked Link: Mailing list sign up (if they have one), followed by their website at a distant second.
Least Clicked Links: always their other social media platforms.
Ticket links fluctuated depending on proximity to day of show.
If you are a live stand-up comedian using social media as a growth mechanism, you are presumably posting online because you want more people to come see you live.
So what is the point in funneling them towards more digital avenues?
This begs some bigger questions:
What do you actually want from your social media pages?
What do you actually want from these thousands of online followers?
Are you content with them watching your Reels from afar forever? Or do you want them to pay you money, and see you perform live?
Let's take a moment to emphasize a key insight from that LinkTree exercise.
The top clicked link is always the mailing list, followed by the website or live show tickets. In other words, there aren’t many of them, but the people who click at all are actively seeking out a way to see you perform live.
Conversely, the Instagram users who follow you have not indicated anything other than that they follow you on Instagram. That’s it. Full stop.
So why would they also follow you on TikTok? Why would they leave Instagram through that clunky LinkTree click path to go watch your seven minute set on Youtube? Didn’t they already see those same jokes on Instagram?
Not to mention that the reach on an individual TikTok or Reel is a complete wildcard, regardless of follow count. And the ceiling for reach is even lower on Stories.
But – suppose you owned your own marketing distribution.
Such as this mailing list you’re reading right now.
As every social media app has pivoted from displaying new posts chronologically in favor of the never-ending “For You” Page, do you know which platform still has the highest delivery rate across all forms of mass digital communication?
Email.
Want to know why comedians like Daniel Kitson and Stewart Lee sell out their Edinburgh Fringe runs months in advance? It’s not because they made a series of viral TikToks, or were the highest bidder on Google Ads for “comedy show tonight”.
It’s because they send hilarious promotional emails and show announcements to tens of thousands of inboxes. Inboxes of people who explicitly opted into receiving hilarious promotional emails and show announcements. Where the delivery rate is 100%.
Now, the actual open rate may be closer to 50-60%, but this level of engagement is a significantly more valuable asset at scale.
So if you / your client are noticing a disparity between online follow count and IRL audience attendance, I encourage you to emulate this approach.
The Marketing Funnel goes Awareness > Interest > Decision > Action. AIDA1.
Too often, people make the mistake that online followers are already in the"Interest" phase. 90% of them are still warm leads in the “Awareness” phase. Most of them will never see you, nor any stand-up comedian, live in their entire life. For all you know, half of them are twelve years old and live on the opposite end of the world.
Pay close attention to the mailing lists of successful touring comedians. Personally, I recommend Daniel Kitson, Stewart Lee, Aunty Donna, Mike Birbiglia and Louis CK.
I have no idea how many subscribers any of them have. My guess is somewhere in the range of 10-250K.
But it doesn't need to be a million.
I would much rather have 10,000 mailing list subscribers than 500,000 TikTok followers.
Rather than a LinkTree, think of your social media bio URL as a LinkBeanstalk.
Just like in the fairytale, this beanstalk has the potential to reach incredible heights.
But only if it's nurtured correctly.
If you have upcoming shows with tickets available, I encourage you to think about how every single post, story, note, tweet, or Reel can directly drive ticket sales.
If you don’t have anything live upcoming, the goal should be to funnel people to your mailing list, so they can be the first to know when you're next performing live.
If your beanstalk is supposed to be the sturdy stalk supporting your climb, ask yourself: what are my “magical beans” that will skyrocket its growth2? Is what I’m currently feeding my stalk helping it grow, and guiding followers towards avenues where they can give me money and see me live?
Or is it more like a tangled vine, confusing and deterring those who are trying to climb it?
Fee, fi, fo, (and I cannot stress this enough) fum.
David Zucker is a digital marketing consultant based in New York City. A former analyst at TikTok, his unique, data-driven approach has catapulted the growth of his clients’ audiences all over the world. He also happens to have oculocutaneous albinism, a rare genetic disorder which renders him legally blind. This condition offers him a unique perspective on both live and digital comedy, especially with respect to accessibility. To schedule a consult, click here.
Heather Headley could never.
Hint: viral comedy clips
Thanks, David: I'm not a comedian, but I appreciate your insights.