This post, written by Jane Thomson, first appeared as a guest blog post on Social Rabbit.

You’ve probably heard of “call to action” statements. They’re those oh-so-obvious words at the end of a piece of writing that clearly tells the reader exactly what they should do next.

“Buy now”, “Order now” and “Download your FREE e-book” are just some of the more popular phrases we encounter online. (Often encased in emblazoned yellow buttons screaming at us from the bottom of the screen!)

Savvy copywriters and marketers know that well placed call to action statements can increase response by 30% to 50% or more.

So why aren’t you using call to actions in your social media content?

Social media content is marketing. And like any marketing campaign, you need to use as many proven strategies as possible to generate leads – like including calls to action.

Sure, most of your social media scrawlings probably won’t end with “Buy now.” But if you want to see results for your efforts, you need to tell your reader exactly what they should do next.

Create engagement and ask for responses

Since social media is more about establishing a relationship than achieving a more traditional sale, the call to action is going to require an altogether different tone than a direct mail brochure offering you a free set of steak knives.

In social media, a call to action tends to be more about asking for people to engage in conversation with you.

So what does that look like?

Facebook

You may already be aware that a question-style post will get you more engagement than simply putting up pictures and links. But you can generate even more engagement when you don’t just put up a question – you also ask readers to respond! (e.g. “Tell us what you think about…”).

Blogs

When it comes to your blog, ask for comments at the end of every post. Why not pose a question and then invite your readers to weigh in on the topic you’ve just covered?

But don’t use some pie-in-the-sky generic statement like “Post your comments below”. Be specific! Write a unique request for comments that’s directly related to the blog post content. (e.g. “Do you agree with…..?

Use the comments box to tell us your experience.”)

Twitter

Including a call to action in your tweets will get you a much higher retweet result. Tweets that end with “Please Retweet” have a retweet rate of 51% – compared with only 12% for those without the call to action.

Interestingly, the abbreviated version “Please RT” has a retweet rate of 39%. Which just goes to show that calls to action need to be clear and specific – even with social media.

Your competitors are afraid – so use the opportunity!

So if adding a call to action is so effective, why isn’t everyone doing it?

While many business owners simply aren’t up to speed on how effective calls to action can be in social media, a common reason they don’t use them is because they mistakenly feel that asking people to respond is “too pushy” or “too forward”.

They don’t want to put off potential customers and fans by asking them directly to share their content.

Sadly, this means they are doing themselves out of an incredible opportunity. And it gives you the chance to capitalise. Those who use calls to action will generate more leads.

And isn’t that what marketing is all about?

Treat your social media posts like any other marketing activity and use calls to action to increase engagement and response. And if you need more help, call a copywriter! That’s what we’re here for.

Back in the early days of the web Home Pages were kind of like the welcome mat for your website.

They were the gateway through which people arrived and spent some time looking around and getting to know you. "Welcome" would be screamed out in a big, bold heading and then you'd have to read some very text heavy information about the business/company before you had any chance of finding what you were looking for.

These days however, people are far more web savvy and waaaaaaayyy less patient than they used to be. If the average web browser can't find what they're looking for in the first 3 - 5 seconds - if it doesn't scream out at them from the page - then they're likely to jump ship. They'll get out of there, and away from your page, faster than you can say "welcome!".

There's simply too many other important things to have on your Home page. So if you haven't already, ditch the welcome message and make sure your Home page has these essentials:

1. Offer the solution straight up

People are browsing the web looking for the answer to a problem. They're looking for a product or a service, or information, and you need to give them what they want - FAST - or they'll look elsewhere. So make sure your main offerings are clearly available through the Home page, and there is no need to go delving deeper in your site to find them.

2. Don't use too much text

Keep your Home page clean, and don't get bogged down with words. It should be short, sharp and to the point, with your key offerings clearly visible.

3. Have a means of capturing contact details

For most of us, getting people onto the website has required loads of online (and offline) marketing and untold hours of effort. So once they've found you, DON'T LOSE THEM! Your Home page is the perfect place to capture their contact details so you can keep in touch with email marketing. Don't forget to offer something in exchange - such as a FREE e-book, or access to information on your website that is only available to your subscribers.

4. Don't just add social media buttons - add calls to action too!

If you're on Facebook, Twitter or LinkedIn then don't forget to clearly ask people to join/follow you! Having social media buttons on your Home page is really important, but it's even more important to include a call to action asking people to join/follow you. This is simply ignored by the vast majority of websites, and yet is such an easy way of increasing your social media following.

If you want some help turning your Home page into a conversion success, get in touch with us for a FREE Home page appraisal! writeme@readwritecommunicate.com.au