How to write better calls to action for social media posts

Successful social media strategies find ways to break through the clutter of posts, photos, messages, ads and every other type of content vying for users’ attention on social networks. As with other marketing and advertising strategies, successful social media posts rely on compelling and convincing calls to action to drive engagement.

However, drawing the eyes of users and delivering a message that interests them enough to engage with your content is always a hard-fought battle. Writing better calls to action can accomplish this goal of attracting more engagement from users, but developing these messages takes some skill and practice.

We can help you get started by offering up some tips on how to improve your social media strategy by writing better calls to action and drive real results.

What is a call to action?

The call to action is the strategic portion of a message that tries to get people to take a specific action after reading, listening or viewing the marketing content. No matter the marketing material, whether it’s a social media post, video, print advertisement or some other form, if it’s going to achieve results, then it needs a strong call to action.

These calls to action can convert a viewer, listener or reader into a lead or even a customer, depending on what the content is trying to accomplish. Calls to action can get people to sign up for newsletters or product updates, follow a business page or profile on social media, download other content (i.e. white papers) or even purchase a product.

Write convincing and compelling calls to action

Content writers and designers rely on good calls to action to make social media audiences pause and hopefully take the desired action as suggested by the content. The rest of the messaging, imagery or design of marketing content helps attract attention, but it’s the call to action that gets results.

A good call to action is convincing or compelling enough to get people to further interact with the content. Social media users should be convinced to take the action that has been suggested. They have to be shown that they have a need that could be filled by taking the action.

To do this, good marketing content lays out the benefits of taking the action. Think: How can the product or service make a person’s life easier, simpler or more enjoyable? How can it solve a problem that they have? Relate the call to action to this message.

Make social media users stop scrolling

As with most any other form of media, social media marketing success starts with drawing people’s attention. With social media, any great post starts with the perfect image that gets people to pause their scrolling.

This is obvious with visually driven social media platforms like Instagram and Pinterest, as sharp photography or imagery is the point, but it’s true with Facebook and Twitter, too. Good images on social media can boost performance. In fact, 93 percent of the most engaging posts on Facebook come with an image.

So, make sure that you have quality images that grab users’ attention.

The rest of the post creates engagement

Once a user stops scrolling because an image caught their eye, your text has to keep them engaged. With Facebook, this is the status. It could also be a headline and description in the link content area. Every text area is important, though, as they must contain consistent messaging relating to your call to action.

Your call to action can often be found in all three of these areas, but should be readily apparent no matter where you place it. When developing your messaging, remember to be clear and concise. Every word matters in social media posts - and the first few words are the most important because that’s when people decide whether they want to keep reading.

Get users to engage with your social media content

Before you can write a great call to action for social media, you have to know what you want to ask users to do in the first place. Do you want them to like your post, share your post, leave a comment or click a link?

No matter what your desired action is, your first priority is to get users to engage with your content. It’s important to remember that there are multiple steps to any marketing process, so don’t expect to be able to grab a person’s attention on Facebook or another social network and immediately earn a customer.

For the moment, you’re just interested in that initial engagement. That first, small action is easier to get than the next action - and the action after that. Try to make engaging with the content an easy decision for someone to make. This is where you try to fulfill a need or solve a problem that the targeted social media user has.

Convince users to act

Once you know your content helps convince users they could benefit in some way from heeding your call to action - and that acting will be easy - it’s time to set the hook. This means going deeper into what problem the user could solve or what way their life could improve - and suggesting to them how the action you are asking them to take gets them closer to their end goal.

Can you create a sense of urgency with your content and call to action? Tell users why they should act now. You can do this by making offers that are time-sensitive or by trying to create FOMO (fear of missing out) among users who view your content.

The other tried and true strategy is to nail the offer. Make them an offer they can’t refuse. You could even combine this great offer with the sense of urgency by making the offer time-sensitive or limited to only a certain quantity.

Refine your social media strategy

Creating social media posts that convert users into customers isn’t easy. Developing a strategy - and sticking to its implementation - takes time and discipline. Emagine can help you connect with your customers on a personal level and stand out online to potential customers.

Ready to put social media to work for your business? Let’s work together.