Bookings from Instagram and Facebook: a link, a QR code and images
Instagram, Facebook and TikTok won’t let you put a booking form in your profile, so bookings from social media go through a link to your venue’s booking page. Booklio.ai has this in the admin: a separate link for each network tagged with its source, a QR code and images for stories and posts, so your statistics show which network each booking came from. On the Features page the feature is marked Ready: finished in the code, but not yet proven in day-to-day use.
Why you can’t embed a booking form on social media
On your own website you add a booking form with two lines of code and guests book right on the page. Social networks don’t let you put someone else’s code in your profile or posts. What they do allow is a link: in your profile, in your page’s button, in a story or in your business details.
So a booking from social media goes like this: the guest taps the link, your venue’s booking page opens, they pick the day, time and party size and send the request. It takes as long as booking on your website; it just starts on Instagram or Facebook.
What you need
A booking page at its own address for the link to point to. With Booklio every venue has one, such as yourvenue.booklio.ai/rezervace, even without a website of its own.
Where to put your booking link
Each network has a different place for a link. The exact names of the options depend on the app, its version and the type of account, and networks change them from time to time, so the places are described in general terms here.
Where to put a booking link on social media
| Network | Where the link goes | Worth knowing |
|---|---|---|
| in your profile links and in a story as a link sticker | put the booking link first in your profile; stories disappear after 24 hours | |
| on your venue’s page, in the booking button, such as Book now | the button shows right under the page’s cover photo | |
| Google profile and Maps | in your Google Business Profile as a booking link | the steps are in How to add reservations to Google Maps |
| TikTok | in your business account’s profile as a website link | TikTok sets the conditions for profile links |
| Anywhere else | in a message to a guest, an email, on a business card or flyer | for print, a QR code works better |
Where the link leads: the booking page
The link from social media opens your venue’s standalone booking page, with your logo and contact details. The same rules apply as in the widget on your website:
- only times the party fits into; full slots are marked “full” and can’t be picked,
- day and time in one tap: today, tomorrow and two more days, a calendar a year ahead,
- phone or email, with country codes for every country,
- Czech, English or German, and the guest’s messages follow in that language,
- Booklio confirms routine requests itself; staff confirm the rest,
- after booking, the guest saves the date to their phone calendar in one tap.
On the Features page the standalone booking page is also marked Ready. Website bookings under the same rules run every day at James Dean Prague.
What the Booklio admin prepares for social media
So owners don’t have to put addresses together by hand, the Booklio admin has a place of its own for social media:
- A separate link for each network. For Instagram, Facebook, Google profile and TikTok, each with a source tag at the end of the address and one sentence on where to put it. Copy it in one tap.
- An untagged link for everywhere else. For messages, emails or business cards, with your phone’s share menu.
- A QR code for your booking page. To download and print for tables, flyers, your window or a poster.
- Images for stories and posts. Portrait format, with a call to book, the QR code and your booking page address, in the colours of your widget. Download it and upload it to Instagram or Facebook like any other image.
Feature status
Bookings from Instagram and Facebook are marked Ready on the Features page: the feature is finished in the code but not yet proven in day-to-day use at James Dean Prague. Tracking where guests came from is live.
Which network brings in guests
Social apps open links in their own built-in browser and don’t always reveal where the guest came from. The source tag in the link solves that: a booking from the Instagram link shows up in your statistics as Instagram, even if the app passes on nothing else.
In Booklio’s statistics every booking and visit has a source: Google search, Google profile and Maps, Seznam, Instagram, Facebook, TikTok, AI search, the QR code on the table and partners. So “How many guests came from Instagram?” gets an answer in numbers, not a guess. The Monday summary arrives by email every Monday from 8 am.
You can then put your promotion budget where guests really come from, not just likes. If you set your average spend per guest, the revenue view also estimates booking revenue by source.
Tips to make the link fill tables
- One booking link, in first place. If your profile has several links, put bookings at the top. A guest who wants a table won’t go looking.
- A story at the right moment. In the afternoon before a busy evening or the day before an event, with a link sticker, not just the word “book”.
- The same QR code offline. The post image works printed on a stand by the door or in your window. Passers-by take a photo and book later.
- The same link wherever guests decide. Instagram, Facebook, your Google profile, replies to messages. The fewer steps to a booking, the fewer guests drop off.
- Check your statistics after two weeks. You’ll see which network really brings bookings and know where to keep going.
Publishing events from the admin straight to Google, Instagram, Facebook and TikTok is still coming soon. Already today, with the Events module, you publish an event on your website in two minutes and send invitations to guests by email and text.
How to get started
- Sign up on the Get Booklio for free page and confirm your email. Booklio sets itself up.
- In the setup guide you add your opening hours, spaces and tables. No website? Tick that you don’t have one yet next to the website address and you get a standalone booking page.
- In the admin, copy the links for each network and download the QR code and the images for stories and posts.
The links, QR code and images are part of the core at CZK 0. You only pay for text messages to guests (CZK 3 excl. VAT); emails are free.
Frequently asked questions
Can I put a booking form on Instagram?
No. Instagram and other social networks don’t allow third-party forms. You add a link to your venue’s booking page to your profile and stories, and the guest completes the booking there.
How do I find out how many bookings came from Instagram?
In Booklio every booking has a source. If you use the Instagram link with its source tag on Instagram, your statistics show the bookings from it as Instagram.
Do I need my own website for bookings from Facebook?
No. The link can go straight to your Booklio booking page, such as yourvenue.booklio.ai/rezervace, with your venue’s logo and contact details.
What do bookings from social media cost?
Nothing. The social links, QR code, images and booking page are part of the core at CZK 0 a month. You only pay for text messages to guests (CZK 3) and drafts by Claude (CZK 3), excl. VAT.