At the end of most business-related Instagram posts, you’ll be urged to do something specific, (like, say, buy a jacket). In marketing, this is called a call-to-action or CTA.
Calls-to-action are how marketers show people what they should do after they’ve finished reading a post or an ad. You can ask them to buy your product, visit your website or get in touch with you.
However, not all CTAs are the same. For example, would you respond better to “Register for my mailing list,” or “Become a part of my community!”? Think about the tone you want to strike and how you want to make your followers feel. The key is to be creative enough that you excite people to take action.
As with any change to your social media approach, we suggest you try testing several new types of CTA to see which one engages your customers the most.
Here Are 13 Creative, Effective Call-to-Action Techniques That You can Use on Your Next Post!
1. Tease Your Followers
Posting teasers before introducing the actual product is an effective marketing strategy. It keeps the audience guessing so that they will start to get excited to learn what’s cooking.
You could even direct people to your Instagram Stories to see the teaser!
Teaser examples:
- New product/equipment in the office
- New staff member
- New look/new furniture
2. Let the Audience See the Need
The best way to convince your followers to visit your office is to make them understand why they need to. What makes your office stand out? Show them!
3. Encourage Followers to Tag Their Friends
This is a great way to grow your engagement. When your existing followers tag other users, this helps you get more followers, increases your brand’s reach, and drives traffic.
4. Use Active Language
Words or phrases such as “buy now,” “click on,” or “subscribe to,” help persuade the audience to take part in the action.
5. Create a Sense of Urgency
Injecting urgency into your CTAs may give your followers/patients the feeling of missing out (and wanting in). CTAs such as “for a limited time only,” “available to the first 100 customers,” and “call now to make an appointment with this discount code” grab your followers’ attention. Avoid vaguer CTAs like “contact us anytime.”
6. Focus on “You” Statements
CTAs work best when your audience feels like you’re talking directly to them. “Visit the dentist” is not as effective as “visit your dentist today!” Can you see the difference?
7. Splash Some Colors
Before you can convince your followers to visit your office, or engage with your posts, you first have to catch their attention. Colorful CTAs are a good way to tell the audience, “Hey, eyes here!”
You can also insert text in your photos, but remember, the idea is to make them as visually attractive as possible.
8. The Bigger, the Better
Yes, size matters.
Changing the size of the CTA in your posts is not yet possible. However, all is not lost. Instagram stories allow you to customize the size of your CTA and make it as large or as colorful as you like.
Tip: You can also add doodles and emojis to make your offer even more attractive.
9. Get Your Followers to Like, Share and Check out Your Other Channels
This will increase the number of likes on your posts and make you discoverable on their friends’ “Explore” tabs. Plus, it will increase your hits on your other social media accounts.
10. Make it Easy for Your Audience
Your patients value their time. Therefore, your CTAs should point out that it won’t take much time or effort to follow the steps you indicate.
Instead of saying, “Fill out this form to get exclusive discounts,” you can say, “Sign up now to get exclusive discounts.” The second example makes it sound less tedious!
11. Use CTAs, but Not Too Often
Adding a CTA to every post is overkill and will likely irritate your followers. This is why you have to use them judiciously. Your goal is to make sure that your CTAs are noticable, but not annoying.
12. Use Layman’s Terms
Using jargon may confuse the readers and make them scroll past your post. Make sure to keep a tone of voice that’s friendly, inviting, and easy to understand.
13. Be Reachable
Make sure that your bio links to your website and that your “Contact Us” button works.
Once users contact you, respond as fast as you can. The longer they have to wait to hear from you, the greater the chances are that they will take their business elsewhere.
Extra Tips!
3 Ways to Entice People to Click on the Link from Your Bio:
- Use arrows and make sure that they’re directed towards the link.
- Paste it after a CTA.
- Use emojis. The star and hand pointing emojis are popular choices.
Remember to always be mindful about what’s working. Create trackable links with Bitly or Linktree and see what CTAs drive the best results.
Power Words to Use in Your CTAs:
- GET
- BUY
- SHOP
- TRY
- LEARN
- BUILD
- SIGN UP
- REGISTER
- CLICK
- DISCOVER
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