A call to action is one of the most important parts of any marketing campaign. It makes it clear to the audience where and how they can take advantage of the offers they see in the message. Facebook has introduced a new feature for business pages where page administrators can add a call of action overtly on their pages.
Over the next few weeks, US marketers who use Facebook will get the ability to add a call to action button to their business page in the cover photo area. This will make it easier for business owners to guide consumers to certain actions.
“Today, we’re announcing a new call-to-action feature that will help Pages drive business objectives,” the company wrote in press release announcing the new feature. “Designed to bring a business’s most important objective to the forefront of its Facebook presence, call-to-action buttons link to any destination on or off Facebook that aligns with a business’s goals.”
There are a lot of different ways marketers can use Facebook to promote their business and the new buttons reflect that. There are several call-to-action buttons that Page Admins can choose to add to their pages . Besides the obvious options, such as Shop Now or Sign Up. there are seven other buttons that marketers can use.
The seven calls to action available are:
Book Now
Contact Us
Use App
Play Game
Shop Now
Sign Up
Watch Video
One of the first retailers to test the new feature was the Dollar Shave Club. As the name implies, the online retailer sells razors for rates as low as a $1 per month. Prior to testing the new feature, the call to action was a small link in the About section. The company has reported that the feature has dramatically increased their sales and referral traffic.
“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,” said Brian Kim the Director of Acquisition at the Dollar Shave Club.
One way marketers can use this new feature is to use the call to action button to let people know how to take advantage of the information shown on the cover photo. For example, many companies change their cover photo to relate to a seasonal special or event. Adding a call to action button that lead directly to a page on the company’s website that leads to related page.
Adding call to action buttons makes it easier to for business page admins to convert fans. Marketers should be on the lookout for the new feature to be added to their pages. It may be a small change, but it may have a huge impact on website referral traffic and conversions.
For more recent news about updates to Facebook, read this article about changes to the Facebook Terms of Service that will go into effect next year. Or this article about new limits on Facebook Business page posts that will go into effect at that same time.