Last December, Facebook began rolling out new CTA (Call To Action) buttons for Pages. (See image above.)
This was a welcome addition to Pages functionality because it is an easy way for anybody to create an “action” button in one of the most prominent places on your Page. (You could create a tab application but most people don’t know how to do that.)
If you are an administrator of a Page and the functionality has been “rolled-out” to you, there will be a new button to the left of the “Like” button on your Cover Photo that says “Create Call-to-Action.” Clicking on this button gives you seven different CTA options: Book Now, Contact Us, Use App, Play Game, Shop Now, Sign Up, Watch Video.
How to use the new Call-to-Action buttons?
- Book Now – If your business has scheduling software (hotels, appointments, consultations, etc.) on your website, this CTA button can be used to send people directly to the booking page.
- Contact Us – This one is pretty straight forward. You could either send them directly to your Contact page, OR if you have Live Chat you could send them to an actual person.
- Use App – If your business has created a Facebook application, use this CTA. Most businesses I work with haven’t done this so I don’t expect it to be used much.
- Play Game – If your business has created a game, use this to send people to the game.
- Shop Now – If your business sells any kind merchandise, you can use this button to send Facebook users directly to your online store.
- Sign Up – This is probably my favorite. Use this CTA to send Facebook users directly to a “lead capture” page on your website. Newsletters, whitepapers, discount coupons, etc.
- Watch Video – This is probably my second favorite. If you have a promotional video, this CTA button is going to drive more people to view it.
Those are just a few ideas for a Facebook CTA button. You could get creative and use the “Sign Up” button to increase your Twitter followers, or you could use the “Book Now” for a “presell” page for an upcoming product you are launching, or maybe use the “Contact Us” to send people to your Careers page. Be creative. Right now there seems to be no restrictions on what URL link you can give the button.
“Over the course of a three-week test, the Sign Up call-to-action button delivered a 2.5x higher conversion rate versus other comparable social placements aimed to drive new user acquisition.” — Brian Kim, Director of Acquisition, Dollar Shave Club
Call-to-Action Buttons on Mobile Devices
Three things to note about the new CTA buttons in regards to mobile devices:
- The “button” is not currently in a very prominent location on your mobile FB Page. I’m not sure how FB could “fix” this but maybe it could have a highlighted background or at least be above the “Likes” count. See what I mean…?
- You either have OR have not optimized your website for mobile visitors. Either way, Facebook gives you flexibility with your marketing. Let’s say your website ISN’T optimized for mobile devices…you could easily create a single “lead capture” mobile page and direct your Facebook sign-ups to it. (See example below, or more mobile landing page options here.) Or, even if your site IS optimized for mobile, maybe you have a special offer just for mobile visitors coming from Facebook. The option is there.
- If your business has a mobile application, Facebook allows you to link directly to the application. In fact, they allow you to link directly to either an iOS (Apple) or Android (everyone else) app. If you’re curious how to do it, you can click here.
BONUS TIP
Particularly in the beginning when people haven’t yet been “trained” to look for the new navigation, just adding a Facebook Call-to-Action button to your Page might not result in additional clicks. For this, I would recommend you add a “highlight” to your Cover Photo that draws attention to it. Perhaps change the background directly behind the button OR add a bright red arrow.
What do you think? Have you implemented this button yet? How are you using it?
