Recently introduced Facebook call-to-action buttons are for advertisers who want to promote their page posts.
Calls to action enable marketers to set a clear objective for users to take action on.
There are 5 actions that you can currently choose from:
- Shop Now
- Learn More
- Sign Up
- Book Now
- Download
We have noticed while running Facebook ads (especially in ad units on the Right Hand Side) that mentioning a clear objective with a call-to-action has led to better CTRs and higher conversions.
We suspect that Facebook’s introduction of preset call-to-action buttons is also based on this premise.
However, Facebook call-to-action buttons can currently be used only in page posts and when advertising in posts in the news feed rather than the Right Hand Side (RHS) column.
The two types of posts that you can create with call-to-action buttons include:
- Organic page posts (created and published through powereditor)
- Unpublished or dark page posts (created through powereditor)
As you can see this feature works only through powereditor at the moment (Facebook’s advanced advertising tool for Google chrome).
How to create page posts with the new Facebook call-to-action buttons?
1) Go to Facebook powereditor, click on Manage Pages on the top and choose the page you wish to create the post for. In this case, we will be creating a post for our company ie. Swoop Digital.
2) Next, click on the ‘create post’ button on the top left hand side.
3) A pop up window will appear. Enter your URL, post text, and other information as relevant. Select an appropriate call to action button that best suits your objective. Since we are leading users to our blog post for more information on a topic, we have chosen ‘learn more’.
You can choose to create an advert (unpublished or dark page post that targets non-fans of your page) or an organic page post (targeting your fans) to show on your page.
Finally, when your done you can click on ‘create post’.
4) Now, you should be able to see the post along with your older posts in powereditor. You will also see a dark page post sign next to it. Go to the post and click on it.
5) This will open a new pop-up window for you. You can preview the post here and choose to publish it right away or schedule it for later.
6) Voila! This is how the final post appears on your page. Don’t forget to check out the ‘Learn More’ button at the bottom!
Benefits of Facebook call-to-action buttons
The benefits of these call-to-action buttons are still to be tested – especially considering the fact that they appear only in newsfeed and not on RHS ad units.
In the past, adverts that we have created for newsfeed worked best if they resembled a natural post rather than an ad. We wonder if this addition might deter users from interacting with posts since the post looks more like an advertisement.
On the other hand, the advantage is that users can now easily identify the action you want them to take and accordingly decide if they wish to either download, book or shop from you. If you’re someone they like to follow regularly and love to hear from, they will most likely perform that action. It all boils down to how well you have been engaging with them and providing quality content to them in the past.
Either way, we recommend testing using these calls to action versus not using them.
It’s difficult to say if Facebook is likely to roll out these buttons for other ad units in the near future but it would be interesting to see how these call-to-action buttons perform for a variety of markets with different business objectives.
Have you started using Facebook call-to-action buttons for your business yet?
Please drop in a comment about its success or failure and how it has worked for you so far.