How to encourage clicks through call to action

 

How to encourage clicks through call to action

To encourage higher click-through rates from Facebook and other social media

to your website and blog, being specific about what you want your customers to

do using a clear call to action is often a good bet, e.g. Click here for more

information [your link]. Sometimes that little push can make all the difference

between a successful status and one that sinks without a trace.

Note: In relation to the above, it is worth pointing out that August 2014,

Facebook amended its News Feed algorithm to crack down on so-called click-

bait article-sharing. These are typically articles with vague and over-promising

headlines like You will never believe who puked on the red carpet last night.

CLICK to see our exclusive pic! that do not make it plainly clear what the post

will entail.

 Facebook wants you to share valuable content that people will read

and share with their friends, so if it spots that your fans are clicking on these

types of links and returning straight to Facebook (because the content is poor)

and not sharing, similar posts will receive less visibility in the future.

Conversely, high quality links that get shared many times over will benefit from

higher reach.

Guarantee views with Get All Notifications and See First strategy

One tactic that can be used to all-but guarantee that fans see all of your Page 

content is to train them to select the Get Notifications and See First options,

found in a drop-down menu when hovering their cursor over the Liked and

“Following” button underneath your Page cover photo. With this selected,

every time you post a new status update, the fans in question will be informed

with a notification under the blue globe icon in the status bar of their Facebook

account, and your new content will appear at the top of that users’ News Feed

respectively. 

These requests are best communicated through a status update with

a screen grab of the menu, to demonstrate the exact action that you wish them to

take. Whether or not you are comfortable with asking at the risk of appearing

pushy is up to you, and you should judge it based on the strength of the

relationship you have with your audience. If you do decide to do it, I would not 

force it upon fans very often, particularly as they are unlikely to be right on your

Page when they see your instructions appear, and even more unlikely to click

through and carry it out.

Optimize blog images to make an impact on Facebook

In September 2013, Facebook introduced a significant increase to the size that

thumbnail images from linked articles appear in the News Feed. When you post

a status update including a link, Facebook will automatically pull an image from

the article, and as long as it is of sufficient size, that image will display at full

width on your Page and in News Feeds, with the blog title and blurb below it. In

exact terms, for a linked article image to display at full width on Facebook, the

width of the image needs to be 1.91 times its height. Facebook recommends an

image that is at least 1200 × 630 pixels, which, truthfully, isn realistic for most

bloggers. Instead, aim to produce blog posts that include at least one image that

is 600 × 315 pixels (even if it an image that is uploaded large, but shrunk to fit

your blog formatting style), as this is the minimum size that Facebook requires

for any linked article image to display at full width in any position on all

devices - desktop, mobile, or tablet. If your linked article chosen image is

below 600 × 315 pixels, Facebook will automatically shrink it much smaller.

Note: When you paste a link into the status box and the automatically-generated

preview appears, two small arrows appear on top of the thumbnail image

allowing you to select the most appealing photo from the article. If none of the

available thumbnail images takes your fancy, click the Upload Image link and

choose one that is saved on the hard drive of your computer.

 You can edit the

text in the headline and description fields that are generated, too, if you wish to

make them more effective. On the rare occasion that you paste a link to share

and no preview image appears at all, you may have to debug the page -

essentially forcing Facebook to refresh its cache of your site.

 Simply visit the

Facebook Debugger tool at https://developers.facebook.com/tools/debug, paste in the URL

of the Page with the problem image, and click Debug.Wipe your status box

clean and try pasting the link again; the problem should now be fixed.

Note: Somewhat related to the previous tip regarding the popularity of images

and quotes in particular, why not try the following: Pick out a blog post most

quotable, shareable snippet and turn that into an image either as a quote on its

own or coupled with an appealing photo. Then, link back to the blog post from

the text box in a status update and monitor how well the post is received.

Alternate between YouTube-linked and Facebook-uploaded video

The emergence of video content on Facebook has changed the landscape of the

social network, and it only going to get bigger. In many cases, it pays to upload

engaging video content directly to the site, rather than, for example, sharing a

YouTube link. 

This is because native Facebook video is given a more favorable

ride in terms of reach (but keep an eye on your analytics to see how things go. 

If

the video is ever green in nature (i.e. it will still as relevant in the future as it is

now) why post the video twice - once by uploading directly to Facebook, and at

a later date via a shared YouTube link?

Strategies to maximize the impact of videos uploaded to Facebook

Videos uploaded to Facebook play automatically – and are muted

with no audio - within the News Feed. With that in mind, consider

how you will hook your fans into watching your clip (and turn the

sound on) from the very first frame – catching someone’s eye with

movement in the first 2-3 seconds is one way to do this, or if a person

is seen talking in front of camera, fans who are interested will click to

hear what’s being said.

Organize videos into playlists via the Video tab on your page (to

encourage increased watch time), and choose one video to Feature.

The Featured video will appear in prime position below the About

section in the sidebar of your Page - a great opportunity for an

introductory video to your business, or to highlight a current

promotion. 

Tag people who feature in your videos, add descriptive labels, and

select the best thumbnail available in the menu that appears after the

file has been uploaded (or upload your own custom image). 

And do not 

forget to grab the video embed code to include in a blog post on your

website to encourage more exposure and interaction  choose

between embedding the whole status update, or just the video player

itself for a cleaner look.

The video content you choose to post should reflect the same types of stuff

referred to in the “Explained: The Best Type of Content to Post on Social

Media” chapter of this book.

Use hashtags to encourage engagement and conversation

In June 2013, Facebook joined sites like Twitter, Pinterest, and Google+. 

Create Facebook Offers

If at least 50 people have liked your Page, you can create an offer on your

Facebook Page. When a fan claims an offer, they will receive an email that they

can show at your business' physical location or a code to enter online so that they

can get the discount. Offers are not available free to run (there is a minimum spend of

around $5 - $10), but they are useful in promoting special deals, rewarding loyal

fans, and encouraging them to spread the word about your business to their

friends. To create an offer from your Page, click Offer, Event + and click Offer

from the top of the status update box. Fill out the details to make your offer

shine, including Headline, Image, redemption link, start date, and expiration

date. Preview your offer in the top left and make any changes, then click Post

Offer.

Some pointers to help run a successful offer include:

Make offer discounts substantial (at least 20% off a product or service, or the

opportunity to get something else free when purchasing is recommended for the

best results), and ensure that it is exclusive to Facebook fans.

Keep your offer and its terms and conditions simple, and give people a

reasonable amount of time in which to claim it (this also allows them time to

spread the word about your great deal to their friends.

Use simple and direct language in your headline to reduce any confusion, and

showcase the value of the deal your fans will get, rather than just using a slogan.

Use a clear and engaging image to represent your offer, but not your profile

photo, as that will often be displayed next to the promotion around the site.

Pin the offer to the top of your Page for added visibility, and train your staff so

that they are prepared for when a customer wants to redeem their offer.