Call To Action
Every social media business post should have one, but what is a call to action and why do you need to add them?
A call to action or CTA is the marketing term used to describe directing the reader or follower to take a specific action once they have read your social media post. This could be
- Save the post
- Follow my account for more information
- Sign up for my newsletter
- Use the link to shop
It doesn’t matter if your post is on Facebook, Instagram, LinkedIn, Twitter, Pinterest or even on a web page or in an email newsletter. Be sure to ALWAYS include a call to action.
It may feel that you are stating the absolute obvious or repeating yourself. However, you can never be sure what a reader may be taking away from the content of your post. This is your opportunity to suggest what they should do next and to be absolutely sure that they understand the purpose of your post.
The actual wording you use for a call to action will need to differ depending on the platform, audience and your location. The following examples are phrases that will resonate with a 40+ British audience, who may find some other terms a bit too slangy. Furthermore, each social media platform has its own terminally and nuances. I will explain more here:
Generic call to action ideas for any platform
- Follow me (or this account) for more great tips
- Ask a question at the end and follow with “let me know” or “I would love to know” ( This is a great way to get more engagement)
- Sign Up for my newsletter
- Avoid using click bait type words e.g Freebie, click, buy, buy now, sale
- Alternatives are grab it, get it, hurry over, shop
- See Link in Bio ( Use this rather than adding links to website or other platforms because links in posts do not work at all). Another tip related to this, is to make sure the website field in your profile is correctly linked to a website or webpage where the follower can learn more about you or buy your products or services)
- Tag a friend who may find this helpful
- Save the post
- Save the post
- Share this post if your friends would find it useful
- It is best to avoid using web links in a post, so use alternatives like
- hurry over to my page @yourfacebookpagename (Facebook will create a Facebook link to your business page. A related tip here is to set up the Facebook business page Call to Action button. This typically is Learn More or Shop Now)
Here are some examples of call to action in context
Artist or Crafter. If you are posting photos of your lovely creations on Instagram, as well as admire your amazing creation, what else would you like the view to do?
- Follow me to see my latest creations as soon as they are available.
- DM me if you are interested ( If you don’t have a website or Etsy page)
- Follow link in Bio to get this for yourself
Life coach. If you have a services based business, you are most likely aiming to get new clients to find out more about you, arrange consultations or sign up to a newsletter. Therefore these might be ideal
- Follow link in Bio to find out more (Instagram)
- DM me to arrange a discovery call
- To get regular updates from me, check out my newsletter link in my Facebook page @yourfacebookpage
- Tag a friend if this may help them
Café takeaway business. If you are a café offering a click and collect takeaway offering, such as afternoon teas. You may find these examples useful:
- Share this with someone who may want to treat you (Facebook)
- See link in Bio to order yours today (Instagram)
- Go to our Facebook page @yourfacebookpage, to reserve your today
Finally, I will finish with a related tip. This is that it is good practice to only use 20% of your social media posts to tell followers about your products or services. Therefore create 80% of your posts to inform, educate and entertain your followers.
I hope you have found this useful, if you would like to receive further social media business tips, why not sign up to my newsletter (Do you see what I’ve done here? 😊 )