Call to actions are hard to write. What should you include? Read on to learn more!
Tap, tap, tap, tap.
You type out a caption for the Instagram post you’re creating for your new business and read it over. It doesn’t feel complete. Something is missing.
Ah, yes.
A call to action. One of the basics of social media marketing.
But is crafting a call to action really that easy?
What Others Are Saying About Calls to Action
Many people in the social media marketing world have shared their opinions on calls to action, and for the most part, they agree that it’s a game-changer when getting your audience to engage with your brand, product, or business.
Still, you will find inconsistencies among marketers as to when to include your call to action, what should be included, or how it should be delivered.
Method
With the help of “The Importance of Call to Actions in Social Media Marketing” by Jonathon Tanner, I coded 30 captions from the Instagram posts of Torrey House Press, Shadow Mountain Publishing, and Future House Publishing to determine what components in Tanner’s article were included in each caption.
I nailed down four of the most Instagram-relevant points from Tanner’s article that he said make a good call to action, and with the assistance of a second coder, I analyzed the data using four separate codes with an average of 83% agreement and an average Cohen’s Kappa of .80. The points from the article are as follows.
- The action, of course: establishing the specific thing you want your audience to do
- The how: telling your audience how they can complete the action
- The set-up: essentially, explaining why the audience should take the action
- The personal approach: addressing your audience specifically
What Instagram Is Saying About Calls to Action
Among these publisher Instagram posts, only 20% of posts used all four of these suggestions in one caption. And the ones that did often had the fewest likes or comments.
The posts that received the most engagement through likes and comments, however, almost always included points 1 and 2: the action itself and how to complete it. The addition of points 3 and 4 had little to no effect on engagement.
Based on these results, we see that when creating a call to action, points 1 and 2 are the most important components to include in order to attain maximum user interaction.
Conclusion
To answer the question I posed at the beginning, yes, it really is that easy.
The data suggest that when publishers create a call to action in Instagram posts, the best practice is to include a specific action and how your audience can complete it. Anything extra is not necessary to increase involvement.
So, when you’re tempted to get caught up in creating the perfect caption—
Tap, tap, tap.
Remember that all you really need is (1) the action and (2) the how. Then craft your caption and watch the likes and comments roll in.