What if Trump used Branded Links?
Buzzfeed exposes Trump’s Links!
Recently, Buzzfeed published an article detailing the traffic President Trump drives whenever he links to an article, poll, or website via his Twitter account.
It turns out, the POTUS, who uses a public version of Bitly to shorten his links, is a traffic-driving machine, often sending north of half a million people to an article through his Twitter links alone.
It’s an impressive figure, but we here at Rebrandly were wondering what would happen if President Trump used branded links instead?
What is a Branded Link?
A branded link is simply a short link built around a brand name or related term. It is also known as a custom URL.
Our branded link for this particular article for example: Rebrandly.news/TrumpThat
Read more: What is a Branded Link?
To answer that question, our linking experts compiled a list of the possible results and have outlined them below:
People Would Know What the Trump was Linking to
President Trump is like a box of chocolates—you never know what you’re going to get.
Is he linking to an article on Fox News or is he linking to a funny video he saw that day?
With the Bitly links he currently uses, there’s simply no way to tell. While some people may appreciate the element of surprise that comes with clicking a Trump link, we’re sure that many more people would like to know what they’re getting themselves into ahead of time.
With custom URLs, Trump could take all of the ambiguity out of his links and let his viewers know just what he is linking to.
And for those who prefer the surprise? Well, we’re sure that even with branded links a showman like Trump could still find plenty of ways to be surprising.
A custom branded link can act as a short bio for your link. Instead of a short generic link, Trump’s tweet could read:
Therefore revealing exactly where he would like to link his followers to while keeping his CTR private.
Trump Would Know What he Was Linking to
Donald Trump has gotten himself into some hot water before by accidentally linking to some questionable people and sources.
Of course, it’s a little hard to blame the man for what he links to when his links are so untidy that it’s impossible for him to tell.
After all, Trump does a lot of linking, and when each link he creates is a paragraph long mess of random characters it’s easy to see where he could get confused.
With branded links, though, Trump himself would be able to better keep up with what he was linking to and hopefully avoid the ones that are likely to stir up controversy.
Trump Would get More Click-Throughs
Trump’s click-through rate on the links he posts is already impressive but custom URL’s this would make those numbers even better.
Our studies have shown that using branded link increases the click-through rate of links posted by anywhere from 30%-200%.
This is done by the transparency of the link – by revealing the intended destination of the link increases trust.
If Trump were to use custom URLs for his Twitter account, the difference would be “Yuge!”.
CURVE BALL
Alternately, another fun question to explore is what would have happened if Hillary Clinton had used branded links? If an extra 30%-200% of people had clicked the links she shared during the campaign would it have swayed enough people for her to win the election?
If an extra 30%-200% of people had clicked the links she shared during the campaign would it have swayed enough people for her to win the election?
*The world will never know…
*But probably not
Trump’s Traffic Information Would be Completely Private
Donald Trump and the media have an interesting relationship, and we all know how much he loves it (read: hates it) when the media write these types articles about him.
Yet if Trump had used Rebrandly for his Twitter account, Buzzfeed never would have had access to the data they built their article around, to begin with.
You see, traffic analytics on the version of Bitly that Trump uses is public information, and Buzzfeed was able to access the figures for how much traffic Trump was generating with each link he posted.
Rebrandly, though, is completely private, and the traffic analytics for any Rebrandly link the President posted would have been known only to him.
Then, instead of reporting a click-through figure of 678,000 for his link to the Emerson poll showing that the Trump administration is more popular than the media, Trump could round the number off to 5 million or so. It would be entirely up to him.
Either way, information about Trump’s link traffic would be his and his alone if he used Rebrandly. We value the privacy of our users, even if the user in question is the most watched man on the face of the planet.
Sounds pretty good, doesn’t it?
Trump Could Continue Beating Kim Kardashian at Click-Through Rates
Move over Kim Kardashian, it’s Donald Trump’s turn to break the internet (though hopefully not in the same way).
Data published in Buzzfeed’s article shows that the POTUS is currently dominating Kim in terms of how many people are clicking the links the both of them are publishing.
If Trump were to used branded links, though, and increase his number of clicks per link by 30% or more, then the competition would be officially over.
On the other hand, maybe it’s Kim who could use the extra clicks more to increase her influence.
A recent Bitly link of hers generated just 2,998 clicks in spite of the fact that she 50 million followers on Twitter. For a woman who makes a living off the amount click she gets on Twitter it’s a pretty sad result.
If you’re reading this, though, Kim Kardashian, we invite you to start using Rebrandly and give President Trump a run for his money.
There is no denying branded links are a great aid to influencers and presidents alike. Whether you want your name beside a brand you are working with or a campaign you’re running a branded link can achieve that for you with very little effort.
Trump Could Improve his Public Image
People love their own brand, they developed it, it reflects who they are. Why compromise that for a minute, even with your links?
If you are Donald Trump? Why share links as bitly or 45.why.gov? Be TRUMP!
As a cherry on top, finding new software is also always cool. An improvement in image and click throughs? That *could* increase the President’s approval rating.
Even those on the other side of the aisle would have a hard time coming down on a President who has enough vision and decision-making skills to post branded links. Trump using Rebrandly could be just the thing this country needs to start healing its political divide.
Trump using Rebrandly could be just the thing this country needs to start healing its political divide.
Conclusion
Okay, so maybe we’re getting a little bit ahead of ourselves on a few of these, but the very real point is that President Trump, as well as anyone else who is still using Bitly to post shortened links, have a lot to gain by switching over to branded links.
They create a more aesthetically pleasing user interface, are completely private, and can drastically increase the amount of people who click your links.
If you would like to see the benefits of Rebrandly first-hand and make linking great again, we invite you (and President Trump as well!) to download our Chrome extension or sign up for an account with Rebrandly today.
They create a more aesthetically pleasing user interface, are completely private, and can drastically increase the amount of people who click your links.
If you would like to see the benefits of Rebrandly first-hand and make linking great again, we invite you (and President Trump as well!) to download our Chrome extension or sign up for an account with Rebrandly today.
