Psychology for Effective CTAs

People consuming organic social media posts do not want each post to make them buy a ticket, download a free resource or go off-platform to visit an external website. It's so much easier to just keep scrolling to get entertained even more. As a marketer, you can benefit from understanding the human psychology behind creating effective, well-timed, persuasive calls to action (CTA) in your posts so that some of your audience would become your company's customers.

Use easy-to-follow CTAs often. To get new followers, add a clear reminder to follow your business's profile at the end of your videos. Keep your existing subscribers engaged by including a call to action to save a post for later, like it, or comment. These are in-platform activities that are easy to do but could be forgotten if not reminded. Once the aforementioned process is in place, your business could start thinking about finding new actual paying customers from your social media audience by crafting more sophisticated calls to action.

Segment Your Audience for Relevant CTAs

Calls to action that require more effort from your audience rely on the fact that they already like you. Go beyond liking and identify groups within your audience. People belong to groups such as individuals who grew up in the same neighbourhood, share the same hobbies, have the same profession, are passionate about travelling. Or opposing groups such as people who do not like travelling at all. Tailor your call to action for these groups.

Peer Endorsements Drive Action

The sense of belonging affects human thinking. People care about what others say. Create calls to action by asking followers to share posts featuring specific activities related to your brand, tagging you for a chance to be featured. Let them speak about their experience and the value they got from your company's products to get others participate as well. If someone from your customers is a well-known expert in a particular field, even better. It will make others' decision-making process easier.

Scarcity, Simplicity, and Specifics

If something you offer is available in limited quantity or during limited time, share it openly. Remind about constraints multiple times over several posts. That would cause people not to postpone their action until they forget about it or until the offer is no longer available. If limited-time offers require signing up, consider whether it would be easier for the audience to fill out a form via a link, or if they might register more quickly with an "I'm in" reply in the comments and receive a sign-up link for later completion through a direct message.

Be specific about what's in it for participants. For example when you're organising a tournament for a sports club, the effort it takes to sign up and show up must be worth the fun, competing with friends and receiving prizes that come afterwards. Therefore highlight the rewards. Also, post checklists for participants regarding the event's time, location, skill level, format, what to bring, and cancellation policy. Replace generic "join tournament" with specifics: "Play 3 matches, win prizes, meet local players, 6 PM-9 PM, free warm-up." Events should not occur when people are busy with other things. Instead, find out when the best time would be for most people by using polls or studying your customer groups' characteristics.