At Socialee Media we have been talking about the need for companies to actually guide their visitors for a long time. It’s a reflection of how far behind the times some companies are when it comes to digital when their website is still a static brochure that was produced for them 5 years ago. The effect that has on someone searching the web for your product or service is extremely detrimental. With such a short period of time to actually grab someone’s attention, a site that is either hard to look at, hard to navigate or is so confusing that your visitor doesn’t know what to do next will be closed and forgotten within seconds, regardless of the fact that your product or service might be the exact solution that visitor was looking for.
You have to be very clear about what you want them to do when they come and visit you or your brand online. Building calls to action into your visuals is a key success factor in transforming visitors into whatever you need them to be. (This should always be a metric that you as a business have put in place before you even think about the kind of visuals you are going to put out there) If you aren’t sure what you are measuring, it’s really hard to know if you are being successful or not. Right?
When we talk to our prospects one of the points we make (sometimes to much laughter), is that inherently, people are lazy and stupid! This means that if they are not told what to do, they tend to do nothing. If you have a brochure site or static posts on your social media channels, you have no clear instruction or you are making it harder than it should be for someone to take the action you require of them, they tend to do nothing. The old cliché rings true – KISS – Keep It Simple Stupid. The easier you make it for a visitor to take the action you want them to, where in return they get something of massive perceived value, the more likely they will take that action. You get what you want and they get the solution to their problem.
The great thing about imagery and video when it comes to your blog, your website and your social media channels is that you can include a call to action in a format that people want to share – thus taking advantage of the whole point of social media which is reach! People are happier to 1 click share stuff because it doesn’t take them any effort, but not only that, they are resonating with the visual nature of your content and in many cases will actually be oblivious to the call to action – if you are doing it right that is!!