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Related: Why Facebook is a waste of time for publishers in 2018
Calls to action (CTAs) are important for us marketers. We need people to do things that at some point lead to a sale or at least some kind of measurable and important marketing metric. On the flip side, the actions need to be of value to the consumer as well. Those work the best. One of those call to action strategies that potentially may be worth pursuing is adding a CTA button to your Facebook posts. Here’s an example of that:
Facebook allows a host of buttons, including Apply Now, Book Now, Contact Us, Download, and Learn More. It sounds quite useful because it makes it crystal clear what to do next. And buttons stand out. We are drawn to them.
This functionality is available for Facebook ads (when you pay Facebook to show your content to a wider or more specific audience) and also for organic posts, which means you didn’t spend any marketing dollars to promote it further. Organic posts spread through the people who are seeing it based on Facebook’s algorithm and who then like or share it. Fingers crossed all posts are interesting enough to not be ignored.
Adding a call to action button to your Facebook post isn’t as easy as it sounds. As of late February 2017, you can’t even do that directly from your Facebook Page. That makes too much sense. Ha.
Not too worry, though. Here’s a step-by-step guide on how to add the button to your Facebook post – paid or unpaid.
[Tweet “”Facebook buttons are an option to increase conversion.” – @ctrappe #socialmedia”]
1 – Make sure you are logged in to Facebook.
2 – Go to the Power Editor by using this link: https://www.facebook.com/ads/manage/powereditor/
3 – Make sure you are in the right account. Select the relevant page in the dropdown menu on the top left. The first time I logged on, it was tied to my personal page, and in that view I cannot add the button. I had to use the link above and try it a couple of times to make it work. Once in the right account, I simply had to click CREATE POST in the top right, and this window popped up:
Here’s what should go into the fields:
URL – the exact web address where the button will go. I would recommend to copy it from your website and paste it in here.
Post text – this is the little snipped on top of the image.
Call to action – pick your button here.
Link headline – This is just a visual element. I would recommend using the site URL. For example: AuthenticStorytelling.net
Description – This shows up under the photo.
Picture – I uploaded a custom image.
The two radio buttons give you the option to post as a post or as an ad, but as far as I can tell, both do the same thing. Once I clicked CREATE POST, it just disappeared. I did find it in the ADS POST section on the left.
That was a rather strange place for it since I wasn’t creating an ad, so it took me a moment to find it there.
Click on ADS POSTS to get to this screen below. Click the checkbox next to the post, then under ACTIONS click PUBLISH or SCHEDULE.
Once it’s published, you can boost it from your Facebook page as well. Interestingly, you can’t see metrics right on your Facebook page. To do that go to your page, then INSIGHTS and review metrics in this location:
This process is quite a bit more work than just publishing or scheduling to Facebook without the call to action button. But I’ve seen enough people do it with success that it’s worth trying at least. Test and see if it works. If it doesn’t, try something else. If it does, the extra process might be worth it.
[Tweet “”Many things are worth trying at least once in #socialmedia” – @ctrappe”]