A solid call to action on a social media advert is not so dissimilar to writing a banging introduction for your blog posts: it gives your audience a sign of what’s to come – and how well you pull it off can either make or break your engagement.

What is a CTA?

A CTA (or call to action) is a short and concise line of copy that indicates to the readers what specific actions you would like them to take.

For example, if you create a social media advert because you want to encourage more people to sign up for a live webinar you have scheduled, you would need to indicate to them exactly what steps you want them to take next.

Ideally, the CTA should highlight the benefits of taking action while also letting your audience know that it is effortless to do so.

Let’s be honest: if you read a CTA that read:

• “Enter all of your details in our sign up for and register your interest and we’ll let you know if you qualify” – you likely wouldn’t be all that thrilled about clicking on the link.

However, something like:

• “Join for FREE in 3 easy steps” you might be more inclined to proceed.

 

Why are CTAs so important in social media advertising?

So, why are CTAs so important in social media advertising?

Simply put, well-written CTAs will significantly increase your engagement rates. It might sound silly, but adverts without CTAs have poor engagement because people don’t know exactly what the next steps are.

Even though we are all familiar with how most adverts work, unless clearly prompted to do so, we’ll very rarely engage.

But a CTA can do so much more than encourage your audience to click on an advert and head over to your website to make a purchase or to attract more clients. CTAs can also be used to:

• Inspire people to click on your profile and hit the ‘follow’ button.
• Tap the link in your Insta bio and head to your website.
• Buy products from your Facebook store.
• Like and /or comment on a post.
• Sharing your posts with their friends.
• Tagging people in the comments.

The more compelling the CTA, the more likely your audience will be to take the necessary action!

 

Tips & tricks for creating the best CTAs

Now that you understand the importance of a kick-ass CTA, here’s how you can write awesome ones of your own:

• Set up the CTA with a killer copy: it’s not enough to have a CTA all by itself. You need to write some content indicating what the benefits are. Know your audience, aggravate pain points, and provide your solution!

• Let people know exactly what they need to do: if you lead a customer on with a vague CTA and they find they need to jump through lots of hoops to get to the good stuff, they’re gonna be disappointed. So, let them know exactly how to complete the action you want them to complete. Be specific and make it as painless as possible.

• Add clickable elements (where possible): it’s not always possible to do so, but on certain social media apps like Facebook you can create a clickable link in your CTAs. Take advantage of these elements and again, make it easy for people to take action. Facebook ads also have a multitude of CTA action buttons for you to choose from!

• Create a sense of urgency: are their limited products in stock? How quickly are they flying off the shelves? Are you giving this exclusive gift away to a select number of people who join your webinar? When you create a sense of urgency with your CTAs you will be so much more likely to inspire engagement.

• Hire the pros: and of course, you can’t get a much easier solution than letting the pros take care of your social media advertising on your behalf. Find a reputable agency that offers social media advertising services and let them work their magic!

Conclusion

If you want to up your social media game and get as much engagement as possible, writing strong CTAs is the key!

[ssba]