The Alphabet Soup of Digital Marketing, Part Three
(Check here for part one, and here for part two of this series.)
We’ve all seen it. Even if it’s your first time to scroll through a social media site, you’ve seen the headlines:
“The cookies were disappearing from the cabinet. He set up a video camera and WOW!”
“7 foods you should never eat.”
“She picked up an ordinary pen and you won’t believe this life hack.”
It’s tempting to click. You really want to. I mean, what if you’re eating those 7 foods and you didn’t even know they were bad? And, what if that pen hack changes my life!?!! This type of headline is referred to as “clickbait”. They are surprisingly effective, too. The writer baits you into clicking the link through emotionally-charged, outrageous headlines designed to feed on our curiosity. But then there’s the letdown once you click on it and realize the article significantly under delivers. I mean, sure, occasionally you run across something good like this, but most of the time the resulting information is a disappointment. So, how do you capture the attention of your online audience without baiting them into your message?
You won’t believe these 4 tips for improving your Call to Action (CTA) strategy (wink, wink):
- Use action words that invoke emotion. It can be something obvious like an image of a shiny new car with the headline, “Click here to apply for an Auto Loan!” or you can add more interest with something like, “With our low rates and easy application process, this could be yours today!”. Another approach would be to have that same shiny car with a banner that says “Start building your Dream Car today”. The link takes them to a site where they can invest time and emotion in building that car by choosing the make/model, color, options, and here you are, waiting with an auto loan application button just begging to be clicked. Suddenly they aren’t just interested in buying “a” car… they’re invested in buying “that” car.
- Get creative. Your call to action needs to evolve. If you implore the reader to “Click here to apply” every time, your message will get stale and eventually overlooked. Change it up to be sure you’re offering something of interest to the wide variety of needs that are out there. Create a space of conversation with your audience. Invite them to share their stories and their testimonies. Lead them into a relationship with your brand.
- Break it down into numbers and bullet points. Let’s be honest: we’re a busy and distracted society. We’d much rather have information broken down into small bites, and we’d prefer to know how many bites we have to digest.
- Whatever you do, make sure quality content is standing behind your CTA. Attention-grabbing headlines get higher click-through rates. However, you can’t stop at a carefully crafted CTA. That’s where clickbait falls short. If you want your audience to continue trusting you and clicking through, there has to be some quality content behind your headline. Your CTA’s job is to invoke interest, but the reward of quality content is what retains the relationship over time.
Keep these things in mind whether you are writing an informative Facebook post on a product or service, reaching out to your online audience on Twitter, crafting a Pay-Per-Click Ad, or designing an eBlast, (more tips here). Remember, you can always set up an A/B test to try out different CTAs and see which your audience responds better to.
Alluring Calls to Action lead your audience to your products and services. When these are backed up with superior content, you are more likely to convert the deal. Don’t stop short at gimmicky headlines. Your content should interest, engage, and reward the reader for their click. Over time, you will reap the rewards as well.