If a social media expert ever tells you there’s a perfect type of social media post that works every time, they’re lying.

In the ever-changing social media landscape, there may not be a perfect formula that guarantees results, but there is one essential piece every caption needs.

That, my friends, is a call to action.

A CTA is the part of your caption that guides your audience on what to do next.

Ending a social media post without a CTA is like leaving perfectly good popcorn in the bowl — you just don’t do it.

Yes, sales-focused CTAs can move the needle and generate revenue. But if you think CTAs exist only to get people to buy from you, you’re missing a huge part of their value.

CTAs do more than drive sales. Right now, they play a critical role in helping your audience stop scrolling, spend more time with your content, and interact in ways that can give your posts a helpful algorithm boost.

So if you’re wondering how to switch up your CTAs without sounding repetitive, or like you’re always asking people to buy, keep reading we've got you covered!

Use this list as inspo to add the best fitting CTAs to your captions:

These first two are more on the salesy side:

Encouraging Purchase

This is probably the CTA you’re most familiar with. It encourages your audience to buy your product or service. Include this CTA at the end of a post highlighting your products or services. 

You can try a CTA like:

• Sign up today.
• Enrollment is open.
  Get started now.
• Grab your spot.
• Apply now.
• Purchase through the link.
• Grab yours on our website. (make sure to include the link in Facebook, and how to get it on Instagram!)
• Get your butt to our shop! (jk, but something like that)
• Join us for XYZ.

Encouraging the next step

This one might include a sale or just an initial conversation; it all depends on your services. For example, if you’re a hair stylist, “schedule” usually means coming in for a hair appointment. But at Stratos, scheduling might just be a way to connect with your customer, learn about what they need, and provide them with some info on next steps.

Consider these CTAs to encourage scheduling or taking the conversation further:

• Set up a time on my calendar.
• Schedule an appointment on our website.
• Call to schedule today.
• Let's have virtual coffee (scheduling link in bio).
• If this sounds helpful, this might be for you.
• Curious how this could work for you?
• This could be your next step.

The rest are less salesy + offer more opportunity for engagement:

Direct Messaging

If you’re doing your social media research, you might have already seen that more connection is being done in direct messages these days. Include some CTAs to direct your followers to your DMs to encourage deeper connection.

You can try things like:

• Let’s talk in the DMs.
  Want to chat about this? DM us.
• Curious? Send us a message.
• Have questions? DM us anytime.
• Let’s talk it through in the DMs.
• Send us a quick message.
  
  

Comment

This is another easy one to encourage engagement in your CTAs. You can use it to ask followers to share their thoughts or ideas related to your post topic. This one shows that you care about their opinion and you’re seeking their input.

Consider ideas like: 

• What do you think about this?
• Which one would you try first?
• Have you experienced this too?
• Does this resonate with you?
• What would you add to this list?
• Be honest, have you done this before?
• What’s your take on this?
• Agree or disagree?
• Drop your answer in the comments.
• Tell me what you think in the comments

BONUS: If you’ve set up ManyChat keywords, you can prompt your follower to comment a word with an automated response that sends them a link or directs them somewhere else (like to a blog to read more)

• DM us the word “INFO.”
• Message us “START” to learn more.
• Send “HELP” in the DMs.
• DM us “GUIDE” and we’ll send the details.
• Message us “YES” if this sounds like you.

Save

Create savable content like tips + tricks to keep your audience coming back for more + to show the algorithm your content is worth showing to more people. People generally save posts that offer them tips or ideas they want to come back and reference.

We’ve seen things like: 

• Save these tips
• Save this recipe for later
• Bookmark this for your next content day.
• Keep this handy.
• Save this as a reminder.

Share

When people share your content, it increases your engagement and is more likely to be seen by more people. Create sharable content that’s relatable to your audience, then invite them to share it to raise awareness, connect with someone else, or even for a chance to win a prize.

Here are some examples of CTAs prompting you to share:

• Share this post for a chance to win
• Share this with someone who needs it.
• Send this to [insert a call back to someone who may have the same pain point as this person].
• Tag someone who needs to see this.
• Tag a friend who would agree.
• Tag a business owner who’s working on this too.
• Shout out someone who does this well.

Links

Prompting your followers to click on a link or navigate to a webpage is another way to use a CTA. You can link to a resource, blog, calendar for scheduling, etc. *Remember, don’t include links in your Instagram captions. Instead, add the link to your bio or just ManyChat to link it.

Simple & Direct:

• Click the link to learn more.
• Tap the link for details.
• Visit the link to get started.
• Check out the link.
• Follow the link to learn more.
  
  

Instagram Specific:

• Tap the link in our bio.
• Head to the link in bio for details.
• Find the link in our bio.
• Link in bio to learn more.

To recap, we recommend you always include a CTA in your caption. But the good news is, as you can see, there are a ton of different options for calling your audience to action. You can even bookmark this blog to refer back to as you create your future posts. 😉

And remember to use a variety of CTAs; some salesy and others, not so much.

Now that you’re full of great CTA-knowledge, it’s homework time.

1. Write 3 posts right now, each ending with a different CTA. You can use a salesy CTA on one of your posts, but try out something different on the other two.
2. For extra credit: Look at an old post that doesn’t include a CTA and repurpose it. Change the caption a bit, add a CTA, and post it again. Compare engagement between your new + improved post and your previous one.

Can’t wait to see what you create! Feel free to share it with us!

P.S. Have you seen any posts with great CTAs? Share them with us! Send us a DM @stratossocialmediaclub.