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We’re always looking for the top tips and coolest catches when it comes to social media, and no matter what we try sometimes things seem to slip through the social net, and we aren’t making the impact we had hoped with our fans.

So how do we make sure that every time we post it is the best of the best it can be?

Calls-to-action!

Calls to action are a great ‘hook’ when it comes to engagement, and one that should never be neglected. So look no further Socialites! Here is our 7 step guide into optimising your calls-to-actions for your audiences which as a result, will optimise your engagement and overall business traffic.

social media advertising#Step One: What do your fans and followers really really want?

Chances are, you already know your base rather well. You know your USPs, you know your products and services, you know what works, what doesn’t. You already know what’s hot and what’s not.

CTA’s are there to encourage those reading your post to engage with you further, so look to your previous successes to determine what this may be. Be it ebooks, vouchers, discounts, freebie give-aways or mailing lists containing all of the above!

Keep it simple and straightforward (social media users are easily lost with complexities or too many steps to your/their end goal.) and easy to understand:  “Do X – Get X”.

#Step 2: Create a hook to reel ’em in.

Do you know what every social media user asks themselves before doing…. well….just about anything?

“What’s in it for me?”

Making their next step must be worth their while, and different users are always at different stages of the sales process. Some are ready to jump in the deep end, others still gathering information or are completely to new to ‘you’ altogether.

With this in mind, opt for a more ‘soft sell’, and offer other benefits from actioning your CTA. It is also worth considering which social media outlet you are using.

For example, if your product is food related, a jam company or hot chilli sauce for example, why not use recipes featuring your product as a way of enticing users to make a sale? Or if perhaps you work in retail, perhaps clothing, opt for Tumblr and Pinterest posts/boards which show your dedicated followers of fashion a timeline or process of an item (“History of Hats!”) ?

Providing your users with informed choices will help them ultimately make a commitment to your brand. Let them fully understand “you” and why they should be interested in parting with their hard earned cash!

#Step 3 Motivate some moves!

It’s a simple concept really, without a reason to do anything, everyone will do nothing.

Without a reason to act on your CTA, no one ever will. Giving your posts a sense of urgency  will improve the response you receive. Offering pople something they can’t refuse simply isn’t enough, sticking a timer on the deal though can be a great motivator.

(It’s worth keeping in mind though, that this approach is very much an organic process. The more opportunities you provide over time, the more uptake you will in turn get on each CTA.)

#Step 4: Optimise, optimise, Optimise….

With everything you post online, formatting and context is everything, as no matter how many CTA’s you may post on your various feeds, without optimisation chances are it won’t make the slightest bit of difference to your engagement. So how do you do that? Well, here are a few tips:

  • Make a visual impact. Colour, wording, typography, everything counts when it comes to standing out.
  • Qualify your offer. Make sure your readers understand exactly what it is they might be missing out on, and why. Include time limits and restrictions such as “only 50 tickets remaining!”.
  • Use multiple locations. When it comes to CTAs, more is always more. If you repeatedly use the same CTA across your pages, it’s more likely to catch your users eye and make them really think about taking the next step rather than seeing it as a passing post. 
  • Don’t make people scroll. Never put your CTA below a scrolling point (and consider layouts from multiple devices such as mobile and tablets) and ensure your CTA is right there the second they see the page.
  • Include social sharing. Don’t forget to ask your fans and followers to share your offers and CTAs with their own networks!

#Step 5: Remember about quality landing pages.

One of the biggest issues with CTA’s in marketing is the lack of continuity and planning when it comes to landing pages. Once a user has clicked through to see the promised page and subsequent offer/promotion, if they are faced with hard to read information (or even the wrong information!) or a lack of continuity with your social pages and your website, chances are they’ll click away and close the tab in an instant. 

Make your potential customers feel safe and with a business they can trust. Without that, you’ll likely lose them forever.

Target each landing page for each offer and Call to Action. Not only does this appear professional, but is a great way of tracking your CTAs/web traffic too. (See Step 7.)

#Step 6: Testing, Testing!

Every element of your CTA needs to be tested to ensure its success. Only change one factor at a time (else you won’t know which change provoked which reaction) and consider everything. Your text, the colours, the graphics, sizing, placement,…everything. Trial and error may sometimes take a while, but once you have the perfect combo success is the only thing left to achieve!

#Step 7: Measure your results.

Step 7 is almost the most important of them all. If you fail to track and measure your results, you may as well have not bothered with any calls-to-action in the first place.

Here are some of the important things for you to analyse/measure: 

  1. Impressions: This is the number of people who were exposed to your call to action.
  2. Click Throughs: The number of people that took action.
  3. Click-through-rates (CTRs): the percentage of people who checked out your offer and the number of people who saw it.
  4. Completions: The number of people who filled out your form (or similar) and submitted it.
  5. Completion Rate: The percentage of people who complete your form vs. the number of people that clicked through.

With all these steps in mind, and a fantastic product/service at your fingers – we have no doubt that your social success will be soaring in no time at all!

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