What’s your CTA?

When working with a social media client, one of the first things I ask is, “what’s your CTA?” for all social media posts. Often, they don’t have an immediate answer. Sometimes they don’t even have a one. Having a call-to-action (CTA) on your social media posts is a must. It not only encourages engagement, but it gets the reader to act on your post.

What is a CTA?

In its simplest form, a call-to-action (CTA) is a line of text that prompts readers, leads, and clients to take action. It is, quite literally, a “call” to take “action.” Examples of CTAs include “click here,” “share this,” or “fill out this form.”

There are many different types of CTAs, and while they don’t have to all ask for your readers’ email address or direct them back to your website, you should always have your own website.

You own your website – you don’t own Facebook or Instagram. Any social network could shut down at any moment, and if that were to happen, how would potential customers get to know more about you? How would current customers reach you? Having a website is very important.

I have only worked with one social media client who did not have a website. I recommended they get one and they didn’t…that working relationship didn’t last long. Measuring your social media’s success isn’t about how many likes your posts get – it’s about how your social media is converting, and if leads have no place to go other than your social media sites then measuring real results can get tricky.

What makes a good CTA?

A good CTA encourages action and engagement, resonates with your audience and stands out from other CTAs. What does that mean? Well, a good CTA will have people not only “liking” your social media posts, but commenting, clicking through, and signing up for your offer, newsletter list, etc.

Encourage Engagement

Your social media call-to-action should encourage people to engage with you. You can do this by asking them a question that helps them to leave a comment, like your Page, follow you on Instagram, etc. Keep this CTA simple and let them know how it will benefit them. For example, “If you like this post, I have more examples of it on Instagram. You can follow me at @TracyVirtually.”

Resonate with your Reader

If your posts fail to resonate with your audience, then they won’t take any action on your posts (not even a ‘like’). Make sure your request makes sense to them. That this means is to not ask them to work with you or buy from you if they have no idea who you are – this is especially true for social media ads. If you’re running social media ads, have a sales funnel in place so you can funnel your customers through appropriately…don’t run a Facebook ad based on interests to a new audience promoting your upcoming workshop. Chances are your ad will fail, and no one will buy-in because they have no idea who you are.

Make it stand out

Visual marketing is impactful. Why not use an image editing software and use colour, fun (yet legible) typography and relevant images to emphasize your CTA? You can ask your question directly in an image, for example, “What are your weekend plans?” and then leave a comment yourself telling your audience what your plans are.

Regardless of what you are sharing or posting on social media, always make sure there is a call to action – a call for your reader to do something, whether it is to leave a comment, share, visit your website to learn more…something. Without that call to do something, your reader will do nothing, and you will be left wondering if your post was ever really seen at all.

What’s your CTA? Do you need help setting up your social media so that it encourages action, engagement and grows your list? Let’s chat!