Drive Traffic with Facebook Call-to-Action Buttons
As I speak with prospects and clients, doubts often rise over Facebook’s capacity to drive sales. “I just can’t sell through Facebook!” is a line I hear all too often. Those concerns are not baseless. Facebook has a reputation as a consumer platform. PR professionals are famously known in the industry for not wanting to be pitched through Facebook. It’s the site where professionals go to check photos of their friends’ kids and read about the latest engagements.
But recently, Facebook released a little talked-about feature that promises to positively affect business owners’ sales efforts on the widely-used social network: a call-to-action button. This handy little button has been rolling out to US-based business pages over the past few months. It lives near the top of the Page, over its large cover photo. And it can be customized to reflect a relevant action, based on the Page. Its sole job: increasing traffic to the business’s website, landing page, or app.
Here’s what Facebook’s newest call-to-action feature does for you:
It drives traffic to your online catalog and products.
You can select the “Shop Now” call-to-action to drive traffic to your online store. The “Shop Now” call-to-action may be used to send visitors to an individual product on your website, an entire product category, or a general “Shop” page. The choice is yours.
It sends people to your Contact page.
Use the “Contact Us” call-to-action to drive traffic to to your website’s Contact or Inquiry page. This call-to-action may be used when looking to increase the amount of leads generated through your website.
It can increase your app downloads.
Utilizing the “Use App” call-to-action can send traffic to Apple’s App Store or Google Play. Looking to drive more app downloads? How about getting the word out about an upcoming app? This call-to-action is for you.
It can increase booked appointments and reservations.
Increase your booked appointments and reservations using the “Book Now” call-to-action. It can be used to send traffic to your website’s calendar or booking page. It’s denoted by the small calendar icon on the call-to-action button.
It could increase your mailing list or promotion sign ups.
Looking to build your mailing list? Use the “Sign Up” call-to-action. No fancy explanation needed here. This call-to-action sends visitors right to your website’s sign-up form. Huge mailing list, here we come!
Some other caveats you should know:
- You can only use one call-to-action per Facebook Business Page
- The call-to-action feature is only available on Business Pages
- You cannot add custom text to the call-to-action at this time
- There’s a “Donate” button that’s being tested for Not-for-Profit organizations
- It’s not available internationally – yet
We’ve been using the call-to-action feature on Boucher + Co.’s Facebook page and have noticed that our Facebook-to-website referral traffic has recently increased. Here’s to hoping Facebook’s Call-To-Action feature continues to improve and is rolled out further in the future.
The best part of Facebook’s call-to-action feature: it’s absolutely free.
The bottom-line: Facebook’s new call-to-action button for Business Pages is a great way to drive traffic to your website, product, app, or other destination. It’s free and can be adjusted between several pre-defined actions depending on your business.
