We all know that copywriting is essential when it comes to growing & scaling your business, but copywriting alone does not make a business.
Content marketing is on the rise and cannot be ignored… especially social media content.
In this blog, I’m going to show you how to make the most of your social media content utilizing powerful and proven CTAs that follow THE RULE OF THREE…
R. L. S.
And to make this as practical as possible for you, I’m also giving you my FREE Social Captions & CTAs Cheatsheet – loaded with writing prompts, swipe copy, and CTAs to help you grow and scale your social following.
Hey, Posse! What’s up? It’s Alex.
Welcome back to another in-depth tutorial where I teach you everything you need to write killer copy, grow an online business, and market smarter – not harder.
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Now it’s safe to say that most of us already know that utilizing social media to grow and scale our brands and businesses is the smart thing to do…
With over 4.48 billion people actively using social media all across the globe – these platforms can help you attract new leads, build brand awareness, and connect more intimately with current customers like never before…
But there’s more to Social Media than ranking up the number of likes and followers you have. If you want to turn your social posts into shareworthy content that’ll help you actually grow your business…
Then you better pay attention to your Calls-to-Action or CTAs. This is the language you use in your captions that tells your reader what to do next.
Whether it’s to:
- Like & Subscribe
- Share
- Download
- Or to buy
You always, always, always want to give your audience an action to take. Because here’s the thing…
Every CTA on Social Media is an opportunity to create trust, a lead, or a sale.
Which means every single post needs to include a call to action that speaks to one of these three goals. Or as I like to say, the RULE OF THREE: TLS.
So, let’s break each one of those down…
#1 – CTAs To Build Trust, Rapport & Engagement
While the end goal of using Social Media for your business might be to gain more leads and drive more sales…
That is NOT what you should be primarily utilizing it for – I know, shocker right?!
Because here’s the thing…
People aren’t on Social Media to be sold something every second of their user experience.
People are on Social Media for one of the following reasons:
- To be educated
- To receive inspiration
- Or to be entertained
The buying part comes secondary… and usually not until after they’ve received some sort of education, inspiration or entertainment. Which means that if you want to build an audience that buys from you AND sticks around for more…
You’re going to have to focus on building trust, rapport and engagement with your audience.
And that means every post cannot end with a “buy from me” or “download this” or “sign up here.”
For these types of posts, your CTAs need to be kept super casual and easy for people to engage with.
It can be something as simple “Double-tap if you agree!” Or something more complex that drives engagement like – “Share your thoughts in the comment below!”
Those are two great CTAs to have in your backpocket at all times, but I find that certain CTAs perform better depending on the type of content you’re posting.
So let’s get a little more in-depth here…
Assuming you follow the content pillars of promotion, education, inspiration, and entertainment… (and if you’re like – uh, 4 pillars what? Don’t worry – all is explained in my Social Media Cheatsheet you’ll get your hands on at the end of this blog)…
A great CTA for a post that’s educational is to ask for a SAVE.
When people save your content, it tells Instagram that your content is super valuable, and as a result, they will show your content to even more people – which ultimately expands your reach.
If you want to get people to save your post, here are some examples of what your CTA might say…
- SAVE this post for later to remember these tips!
- Hit the bookmark so you can save this post for another time!
- Want to remember this [thing you shared value on]? SAVE this post!
- Love my tips on [thing you shared value on]? Hit the SAVE button to let me know you want more!
- SAVE this post for later, to help you [what your post helped solve].
Now when it comes to inspirational content, one of the easiest and most effective CTAs is asking for a SHARE.
This one is great because it organically helps get your content in front of audiences who might not normally see your content – but instead of relying on the Algorithm Gods, you’re relying on your followers!
Some CTA ideas for this one are…
- Share this post if it hit you in the feels.
- Share this post with someone who needs to hear this!
- Found this useful? Hit the share button and spread the love!
And finally, for a post that’s providing entertainment value, I love to spark conversations in the comment section.
When people are genuinely entertained by your content, they’re way more likely to want to engage with conversations. And content that gets a lot of comments is deemed more worthy to the Algorithm Gods, which means – you guessed it – your reach gets expanded.
CTAs that drive engagement in the comment section might look like this…
- What’s your favorite [topic of post]? Drop it below!
- Drop a [emoji] below if you agree!
- Gimme a [emoji] if you want to see more posts like this!
- Let’s start a conversation in the comments! What do you think about [what your post was about]?
- Do you agree? Comment YES or NO below!
- Tag your [biz bestie/best friend/coach/mentor/etc].
Remember – the CTAs you use for these posts should be focused on getting more saves, shares & engagement in the comment section.
These types of posts might not directly drive more leads or sales to your business…
But they do build up massive levels of trust, relatability, and rapport with your audience – which makes them 100000x more likely to buy from you when you DO ask.
So don’t underestimate the power or importance of these posts!
Okay, next up…
#2 – CTAs For Lead Generation
Alright, so you’ve done some work to build up great engagement with your audience… Now it’s time to ask them for something a bit different – an email address!
Typically through offering them something FREE and SUPER VALUABLE. Like a cheatsheet, webinar, guide, resource list, or even taking a fun quiz.
They’re giving you their information (in the form of their email address) in exchange for this free, valuable offer. Ideally, your post would be talking about this free offer – explaining what it is, how it works, and why your audience needs it…
Then your CTA needs to tell them exactly what to do in order to get it.
You can do this in a few different ways. If you’re posting on a Social Media platform that allows you to add clickable links in the caption (like Facebook or LinkedIn), then you can simply say: “Click the link to get your free [what they’re getting]!”
But unfortunately, if you’re using Instagram (my personal fav) – you don’t have the ability to add clickable links to your captions. Which means you need to get a bit more creative…
There are a few different techniques I use to get new leads from Instagram. The first way is to manually send the download link – or free resource – to each person who asks for it.
So at the end of a post explaining how to write better social media captions, my CTA might say something like…
“Are you ready to write scroll stopping social media captions? Comment YES below and I’ll send you my Free Cheatsheet!”
Then I would follow up with every person that commented “YES” – sending them the free cheatsheet.
When they download the cheatsheet, they’ll be added to my mailing list and just like that, I’ve got a new lead that may turn into a customer if they find value from my free content.
Now admittedly, this can turn into a lot of work – especially if you have a large following.
There are tools you can look into that can help you automate the process, but if you’re looking for more of a hands-off approach to generating leads on Instagram you can always utilize the ONE clickable link Instagram does give you…
The link in your bio.
A simple CTA you could use for this would be:
“Head to the link in my bio to get your copy of [free resource]!”
Now a word of caution here…
Keep in mind using a CTA like this isn’t ideal – for a couple of reasons.
- Instagram doesn’t like it when people leave their platform, which means posts that ask people to leave likely won’t get as high of an organic reach.
- What you’re asking of people involves more steps… first they need to click your profile, then click the link in your bio, THEN they get their free resource. They have to be pretty committed in order to take all those steps…
I personally find the manual process of DM-ing people a link to be much, much more effective. But it’s worth using a combo of both methods!
Alright now onto the final type of CTA you need to be using in your business…
#3 – CTAs For Sales
Here’s where you GO BIG and ask the ultimate ask of all… to buy something from you! Now, of course, the most direct way to do this is by telling people to literally click the link to sign up or buy your offer.
And your super loyal and dedicated followers will definitely do it.
But I find that to be a little off-putting for most people on Social Media.
What I like to do for Sales CTAs is a combination of the direct-ask-method I just mentioned with a more engaging, conversational method. Especially if what you’re selling is at a higher price point where a more personal sales process will go over well…
Now again, you want the caption to speak to WHAT your offer is, HOW it works, and WHY your audience needs it – then instead of telling them to click a link to buy, you can get a bit more creative.
Here are some ideas…
- Got questions? Drop your questions below and I’ll answer every single one!
- Want to learn more? DM me and let’s chat!
- Slide into my DMs to find out how you can go from [place they are now] to [place they want to be]
- Want to experience [transformation your product promises]? Comment YES or NO below!
- Drop a [emoji] in the comments below if you’re ready to [big promise of your product]!
Again, these would be CTAs that you would follow up with yourself. Whether that’s answering the questions and doubts, chatting with them to see if it’s a right fit, or manually sending them the link via DM.
And while yes, this does involve more work on your part – it’s worth it.
Because not only are you more likely to land a sale when you’re being personal and interactive…
But even if they don’t buy, you’re building up a high level of trust and respect from that person and they very well might buy in the future!
So, when it comes to utilizing the right CTAs to grow & scale your business on Social Media – remember the rule of three: TLS – trust, leads, sales.
Alright Posse, make sure to leave a comment below if you found this blog helpful.
As promised – you can grab your FREE copy of my Social Captions & CTAs Cheatsheet in just a few seconds. If you want to see these methods in action – be sure to follow me on Instagram @copyposse!
Until next time, I’m Alex – ciao for now!
