Facebook just rolled out a new Call-to-Action (CTA) for Pages.
Is it the best option?
What other options are there?
All this and more in this episode of Halftime Mike!
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A Call-to-Action is a lead generation method that marketers use online. It typically is some type of action button that is clear and prompts the user to take the desired action. Studies have shown that users take more desired action when it is simply and clearly spelled out what you want then to do.
In the case of Facebook, they offer marketers the ability to add Call-to-Actions (CTA) on a variety of posting methods and I want to dive into three of those here.
This is the newest CTA offered by Facebook. It's been rolling out for about 5-6 weeks and has been billed by Facebook as a great feature addition for businesses.
I'll go into detail on how to set it up, but first let's look at the value of it. The Call-to-Action appears on the Cover image at the top of the Page. It offers a number of button options (see below) and then you can set the URL that users go to when it is clicked. There are mobile, iPhone, and Android specific options which is nice to give a business options on where to send users based on specific device they are using. Most commonly Facebook Page Admins will simply use their main website URL and will skip unique URL's for mobile and mobile device apps.
Pro's - Facebook give you something to drive traffic to your website to help you with sales.
Con's - Fans do not come back to your Facebook Page very often. Most fan interaction is in the News Feed on posts so it is not like this CTA will have massive use. Facebook Pages are different than websites. Web visitors more often than not come back to the home page of your website, it's often the highest trafficked page of a site. Not so with Facebook Pages, the posts in the News Feed are primary.
So, it's a nice touch but not likely to have significant impact and high ROI. However, it's free! So set it up and here's how:
You will be alerted or you will see the "Create Call-to-Action" button your Page. This is only visible to you as a Admin of the Page. Click "Create"
You are then presented with options for the call-out. Select which is most appropriate such as "Contact Us".
Next, you enter the destination URL you want visitors to go to upon clicking. This is where the options begin with web users and mobile users. Again, most businesses will only enter a Website URL and leave the other options blank.
As noted, they do give you options for unique iOS and Android destinations that most will not use:
With that, you complete setup and you are alerted where the tracking of clicks on the Facebook Page displays to you as a Page Admin. It'd conveniently located in the right sidebar in your quick Insights area.
The Call-to-Action can be edited and deleted at any time by the Page Admin by clicking on the arrow dropdown on the Call-to-Action button.
Check your page today to see if you've been granted access and be sure to set it up, it can only help.
This feature was rolled out in later 2014 and is a favorite of mine for two reasons:
1. More people are watching Facebook videos than ever before!
2. Videos have a great, centrally placed CTA right at the end of the video.
I’ve done a number of tests for my own videos like this: I load the same video to YouTube and to Facebook, and share them at the same time of day on my Facebook business page. The results are not even close! The Facebook video reach and engagement is MASSIVE compared to the YouTube link share. This is important because marketing on Facebook is about getting in front of your audience and providing some of value that they want to engage with.
In fact, I’ve found that little videos I post to Facebook are performing from 50-400% better than text, photo, and link posts for many of the Pages I manage!
Facebook itself has added new features for video ads, launched the “auto-play” of videos in the Facebook News Feed this summer, and they have shared data reports outlining that videos on Facebook are performing well. By this they mean that videos are being watched, “Liked”, shared, and click on. This is an important tool and update for businesses to use.
Many times small businesses are fearful of creating videos and believe that it takes a lot of work and professional equipment but that’s not necessarily the case. I’m seeing great results for our business in terms of driving traffic from Facebook to our website by using videos simply made on my iPhone!
Here’s my model….
I write new blog posts each week. When done and live on our site, I then:
This way I can promote a new blog post on Facebook using video and get more reach and engagement that ultimately can drive more visitors to the web page I want.
Facebook Ads also offer Call-to-Action options. Of course, different from the two above, these are CTA's that you must pay for but they are well worth it!
CTA's help drive user action and you want traction on your ads or you wouldn't advertise in the first place. You must use the Facebook Ads manager or Power Editor to access the CTA options as shown in the image below.
Select the type of CTA that is most relevant to your action and it appears on the Ad as you can see here:
Need more help with Facebook Ads setup? Get my primer here >
So that's a wrap on 3 Call-to-Action options in Facebook. The first two are free and as noted I like the Video CTA's the best because of the traction videos are getting and because of the central placement of the CTA at the end of the video. This works great, just keep your video reasonably short. I recommend 2 minutes or less.
So what about you? Do you have the Page CTA? Are you using CTA's in videos?
Let me know!
I do a lot of writing, including having articles published with leading blogs including Social Media Examiner, AllFacebook.com and with Mari Smith.
As the co-founder and manager of TabSite, I understand the small business and start-up mindset. With over 7 years of consulting experience for small and medium sized businesses, I understand and can speak to those wanting to increase in-store traffic, elevate their online footprint, and those battling the challenges of juggling multiple priorities.
I speak the language of business. I understand the challenges – what it is like to meet budgets, to go out and get customers, and to keep them. I spend my days as President of Digital Hill web agency helping our team develop plans for solving client online challenges from responsive sites to digital marketing plans.
Those who hear me and follow my blog value my skill for simplifying technology and social business ideas to make them practical and useful.
You can view my complete bio at the About tab of this site.
I’m a Indiana Hoosier native where basketball is the top sport. Every team heads to the locker room at halftime to evaluate the first half and create a updated plan for the second half. That plan includes adjustments based on reviewing what worked and what didn't.
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