The 4 Most Effective Social Media Calls to Action

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social media calls to action

Effective social media marketing must include calls to action. CTAs, as they are often referred to, are critical to the success of inbound marketing. The goal is to convert a user into a lead, and, later, into a customer, fan, client or reader by focusing them on a specific action or actions you want them to take. The call to action is your invitation for people to engage and respond.

Here are the 4 most effective social media calls to action:

Ask and Ye’ Shall Receive

According to an analysis conducted by Dan Zarrella (social media genius) the most effective social media calls to action are those that simply ask for something directly. Topping the list are “link”, “comment”, “share”, “like”, “retweet” and “follow”.

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GAoo

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Paint a Pretty Picture

Calls to action icons or images that contain the action you want your audience to take are highly effective. Some of the most popular are images containing the words “download” (i.e. files, ebooks, etc.), “check out…” and “Join XXX”. Updates that include these words along with a separate image are also ideal as shown below:

download

Be Discreet

Sometimes it’s what you don’t say that generates that best engagement. If you’re not comfortable asking for something directly, try a more subtle approach. If you’ve ever noticed yourself nodding along or smiling or agreeing with something – and you’re about to take action – you just got persuaded through a subtle, indirect call to actionNike does an amazing job with indirect CTAs, such as this one posted on Twitter the other day:

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Hurry! Quick! Act Now!

Motivate your audience by using a sense of urgency. Utilize limited time offers or promotional opportunities to give people the extra incentive to act quickly.

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Tips for Creating Stellar Calls to Action

The last thing you want to do on your social media channels is promote or try to sell to people directly. This is a major turnoff for most people who follow or connect with businesses, blogs and brands online. Here are a few tips for creating stellar calls to action to get your community to do what you’d like them to:

  • Determine ahead of time what you want your followers or connections to do. Make sure it’s something that they want and ultimately answers the question, “What’s in it for me?”
  • Create an epic lead or hook! Get creative!
  • Keep it short and actionable. Trying to shove multiple CTAs into one piece of content can lower conversion rates, while long, wordy CTAs can confuse readers or simply get ignored.
  • Test, measure, refine. Repeat.

Have you used social media calls to action? If so, what were your results? Leave your questions and comments in the box below.

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