Your Content Deserves More Traffic 💥
Do you want to drive more traffic to your content?
Are you trying to sell a product or increase the click-through rate on your affiliate links?
Or maybe you want to invite your social media following to take a specific action — like answering questions on a poll, signing up for your emails, or joining your text community.
Whatever your goal, a clear and specific call-to-action can help you achieve it.
And this blog reveals a TWO-step writing strategy to help you:
💥 increase social reactions,
💥 content engagement,
💥 and close more sales.
Whether you’re writing a social media caption, a video description, or copy to close a sale — these upcoming tips and examples can help you create a call-to-action that drives your audience to take action.
And not just any action (like muting your notifications or unfollowing you on social) but the specific (desirable) action you want them to take! Yes! A CTA can inspire and influence your audience to take the action you really want them to take.
🔍 Let’s start by defining CTAs
A CTA or call-to-action is a clear and specific closing message that compels a listener or reader to engage and interact. That’s a simple definition.
A more exhaustive definition for call-to-action is a phrase or instruction that prompts a desired action from a target audience, usually at the end of a piece of content, to convert that audience into customers, clients, or leads.
You will commonly find CTAs on sales and product pages, emails, ads, and other marketing channels like social media. Up next is the TWO-step writing strategy!
Step 1: Be Specific + Action-Oriented
Using a call-to-action can improve your social media engagement, but personalizing your CTAs can make them even more effective.
I once took an online course on how to create online course curriculums, and it was attended by people from all over the world with different backgrounds and experience levels. The instructor was based in Italy and did an amazing job teaching the class. I was looking over my notes from one of her courses (because I took a series of courses on this subject to earn certifications).
One important thing I learned from the course is:
When you want someone to do something, it’s best to ask them to do something specific, which limits their options and increases the chances of them taking action.
This same principle applies to writing effective CTAs for social media. When you want your audience to do something, ask them to do something specific because this gives them fewer options and increases their response rate.
So instead of using vague phrases like ‘tap here’ or ‘learn more’ — use verbs that convey a clear message.
Below are examples:
💥 Say ‘claim your offer’ instead of ‘tap here.’
💥 Say ‘reserve your spot’ instead of ‘learn more.’
Then add another layer to that…
Personalize your CTA to suit your audience, offer, and industry.
For instance, if you’re promoting a health and wellness product, focus on the benefits of the product, like transforming your skin and feeling the difference.
That will help you write a CTA like this:
Transform your skin and feel the difference with these vitamins I take daily!
ACTION-ORIENTED words to SAVE for later:
- Start
- Shop
- Join
- Claim
- Download
- Subscribe
- Follow
Step 2: Add Urgency to Your CTA
Encourage your audience to act quickly by creating a sense of urgency. Do this by pairing your call-to-action with a word or phrase that expresses urgency.
Words and phrases that express urgency:
- Exclusive
- Instantly
- Now
- Free
- Today only
- Limited offer
- I’m only doing this for [add #] people
- The first [add #] comments get a shout out
FOMO is a powerful tool for influence 💯
Words that express urgency create a sense of FOMO (fear of missing out) and encourage your audience to take action before it’s too late.
I’m not a big fan of using FOMO because it’s often misused. But I must admit FOMO is a powerful motivator and tool for influence.
Sprinkle a little FOMO into your communications to capture your audience’s attention and gently nudge them into action!
Super-specific CTAs that express urgency:
- Claim your limited-time offer before it expires!
- Reserve your spot for our upcoming webinar and learn how to [add benefit].
- Transform your life with our [add product/service] — try it risk-free today!
- Discover the benefits of [add product/service] and start [add action] now.
- Try it now and see the results for yourself!
- Get started today and [add benefit].
- Start listening now and [add benefit].
- Invest in your future and [add benefit].
- The first 3 comments can try [add product/service] for [add discount] — today.
Urgency is just one of many tools in your CTA toolbox. With time and practice, you’ll master CTAs that get results and have your audience responding with enthusiasm!
Best practices for CTAs: Getting more reactions on social
Use these tips and examples to explore and experiment with different words, phrases, and approaches to see what works best for your audience.
- Do keep your CTA short but specific. You don’t want to confuse people or make them guess what you want them to do.
- Add a CTA to most of your communications, but don’t try to sell something every time you post. People will get tired of that.
- Make more small asks than big asks. A small ask is something like asking people to leave a comment or share your post. A big ask is something that takes longer than a few seconds, like leaving the social platform to visit a website or download an app.
- Use FOMO sparingly. If you use it too much, people will start to ignore you. Because they’ll get tired of you saying they’re going to miss something if they don’t do what you’re asking.
Use these tips + examples on social media + beyond
🚀🔥Ready to put these tips into action?
You can use this TWO-step writing strategy on your 📱website, 📋sales pages, during your 🔴 live videos, and even in your 💌emails.
🚫 Spam trigger words
For anyone using this strategy to write emails…
Be mindful of spam trigger words.
Spam trigger words are words or phrases that can make your emails look like spam to email providers and filters. Using them in your emails could get your messages marked as unwanted or unsolicited, and end up in your recipients’ spam folders instead of their inboxes.
You want to avoid these spam trigger words to ensure your emails make it to your audience’s inbox. 📋For a lengthy list of spam trigger words tap Email Spam Trigger Words to Avoid. Use this list to spam-proof your emails.
Overcoming doubt + taking action: Why trying CTAs is worth it
Remember: You can influence your audience to take a specific action by using action-oriented verbs and words. So don’t forget to end your communications with a strong, clear, and specific call-to-action — it can make such a massive difference!
Let me switch gears here. I started this conversation talking to you because you want help writing in a way that grows your social page, drives traffic to your content and helps you make money online.
But now I want to talk to someone who doesn’t believe their writing can drive their followers to take action or convert followers to customers.
🤔 Maybe you think the tips and examples shared here are too simple to work. And here’s my honest reply, sometimes we need simple because simple helps us start and be consistent.
😀 Starting simple and consistently with this two-step approach to CTAs can help you achieve your social goals. Think about it. How helpful are tips and examples that are too complex to apply or stick with long enough to get results?
🤔 Or you’re thinking, I’ve heard this before, and it didn’t work well for me. Well, here’s my response to that. There are many more advanced copywriting techniques beyond the scope of this episode.
😀 If you want to take a deep dive into more specific copywriting techniques, try Great Leads: The Six Easiest Ways to Start Any Sales Message by Michael Masterson and John Forde. #PaidLink
The book holds timeless copywriting techniques to disarm your audience, make a pitch, and get the results you want!
🤔 Or you may believe using CTAs is a complete waste of time. And that a specific call to action won’t turn your followers into customers or get the results you want. I don’t want to minimize what you believe—but I have to say this…
😀 These tips and examples may not work on everyone, but THEY will NEVER work if you don’t try them. And as long as you’re willing to try, you can test to see what CTAs perform best for your audience. So you can increase the likelihood that they will work for you and turn your followers into customers.
Now we could go back and forth all day. But the numbers don’t lie.
Just quickly search online for call-to-action statistics and see what the numbers say.
Grab attention + encourage action
Remember, being specific and action-oriented is the key to an effective call-to-action. By clearly stating what you want your audience to do, you make it easier for them to take that next step.
And by adding urgency to your CTA, you create a sense of FOMO that encourages your audience to act quickly.
So use the tips and examples shared to craft a call-to-action that grabs your audience’s attention and inspires them to take action. I hope the reaction from your online community positively surprises you!
DANTE + LOLA
Dante is a money magnet and the king of optimization. He loves creating plans that cut losses, increase profits, and build cash.
Lola is a genius at creating digital content and OCD about organization. Her gift is making things simple and organizing creative projects.
Got questions? Contact us!
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