2 Steps To Get ACTION With Your Posts!

Here’s the story that I often hear… let me know if any of this sounds familiar!  

You’ve been posting a lot on IG.  You’re consistent. It’s in your schedule.  You’re thinking ahead, and making sure these posts are talking exactly to your ideal audience.  Maybe you’re even batching content so that it takes less energy.  

With all of that, you’re still not seeing the leads that you think you should.  You’re not even getting the responses you think you should! 

You’re starting to wonder if it’s all worth it.  

If that’s where you’re at, you are not alone!  You’re even doing a lot of things right if you’re being consistent, and absolutely way to go if you are batching that consistent content.  

You need to take the next step, and add two important pieces: a good hook and a call to action (CTA).

A hook will draw your audience to read your caption.  You want people to read that caption because words are the best way to let your audience into your life and personality a bit more. People will only see you on Instagram for a few seconds a day, and in those few seconds you want to be able to build relationships. Just a photo or 15 second video doesn’t stir up emotions and help your audience know why they should keep up with your content.  That’s the job of your caption!

To get the response and engagement, you’ll end that caption with a specific call to action.

Adding these two steps will help your social meeting start connecting with and creating your community!

Grab Attention with a “Hook”

IG only shows a portion of your caption before you see the “read more”. So, if new people aren’t intrigued enough they just aren’t going to click.  For a reader who’s already in your audience, a good hook still increases the chance that they’ll watch.

Think of it a little like a cliffhanger - when you watch a great show that leaves you wanting more.  This is what you want to do with the first line of your caption! You want to get people interested in what you say next. With all the stimulation people have all over social media, hooks will give you that chance to get your ideal audience to keep reading or stay interested in your content.

Remember, a hook is pretty short… no more than a sentence or so.  Don’t overthink these, and don’t make them too long!

There are four types of hooks that work so well, and knowing all of them gives some great options as you start writing.  

Contagious excitement!

This is probably the easiest type, but you do want to use it sparingly- once a week or a couple times a month at most.  These are things like:

• I can't wait to tell you... 
• Stop your Scroll!!  

These work because we all want to join in on something great.  You use them carefully though because too much excitement can seem fake.  I mean, I could be that excited about tacos every day, but that’s probably just me.  Contagious excitement should be used for something that you really want your audience to learn or celebrate with you.  

Authentic excitement, though, is truly “contagious” and draws in your audience.  So save your “This is SUPER important!!!” hook for something that you really want to bring attention to!

Story sharing.  

We all love stories.  We connect with people and businesses through stories.  Story posts are amazing for building those relationships. These should still be short though, which can look like:

• “Guess what just happened!” 
• “I think it’s time I tell you about…”.  
• “Can I tell you a secret?”  

You obviously will not be sharing “secrets” on a weekly basis, but it can be effective.  It also illustrates that you can use the same hook more than once.  Any of these story introductions can be re-used for different posts. Just be sure that you spread those posts out!

Relating your stories to your business and real life is a great way to get responses and be relatable.  One of my recent “hooks” was as simple as “So I was at Target and…”.  If that’s where your audience shops too, it’s great to share real life.

Ask a question.  

This is a great way to give your audience a chance to talk about themselves! We ALL love to share our experiences and maybe a bit of advice.  So, starting out with a question gives your audience an opportunity to share what they know or care about.  This is a great way to start (or continue) building connections and community with your followers.  These can look like:

• “When was the last time you…fill in the blank with your question”
• “Have you ever… done or felt something?”

Seriously, asking your followers to share is golden!

Inspiration! 

Sometimes we need someone else to help us remember that we’ve changed!  Or even just have the ability to make a difference.  For example - “Remember when writing great captions was only a dream?”   And a question like “Remember when…” can create that kind of feedback… which builds amazing community!

Inspiration may not fit every business, but it usually does to some degree.  After all, we all need a little encouragement! 

Plus, putting yourself and your sales aside for a moment to really focus on your audience’s experiences, skills or growth in your posts creates a powerful connection.  We really like people who see and listen to us.

Call Your Audience to Action

Maybe you’re thinking… “Don’t people just KNOW they should respond?  Why do I have to ask them to respond?”  Or I’ve also heard… “But what if I ask them the wrong thing?  Wouldn’t it be better to give them options?”

Both of these are such common reasons that people avoid using CTAs, and they do seem like common sense for social media.   But just think about the number of things that you just scroll by every day!

And that’s not even considering a whole other common sense we know soooo well as teachers!  We know that we need to ask students to do something specific.   People on social media also need to be told explicitly what you want them to do!  

As teachers, we’ve all seen the amazing amounts of nothing or really odd somethings that happen when you assume students know what to do.  And more importantly, how well they respond when you give them specific directions or multiple choice options for what you’d like them to do.  

People on social media have a lot in common with those students!  When you make things super clear for people and define what it is that you’d like them to do so they feel more inclined to actually do that.

And that’s why you don’t want to ask for more than one thing in any one post.  Too many options just means that they end up doing nothing!  Choose just ONE thing you want your audience to do FOR THAT POST.  

You can and should have different CTAs for different posts because there ARE multiple kinds of CTAs that you want to use.  If you’re always asking the same thing, it gets boring for you and your audience, and you’ll get much less response. But remember that it is only one request for each post! 

Ask your audience to do something or take an action

This is probably the most common CTA, and there are so many things you can ask them to do:

• Comment below.  
• Check out a link, resource or website.  
• Share the post.  
• Leave a specific emoji.  

Asking your audience to drop an emoji is a great way to give them a quick way to engage.  This can look like “Let me know what you think!  Drop a red heart if you are totally prepared for the school year, a yellow heart if you’re going to be ready but still have a few things to do, or a purple heart if you can’t believe it’s next week and you feel totally behind.”

It is also ok to have that action be “buy this resource” or “check out this resource in my store… link in my bio!”... sometimes.

For those of you who are worried about being salesy, keep in mind that when you do post about your resources, you want to focus on highlighting the pain points of your followers so that the resource is just a natural part of having a conversation.  

Ask your audience to give feedback

This is such a win-win kind of CTA.  Your audience is actually involved and engaged, PLUS it can help you improve your content or develop a new resource.  And it’s not just for resources.  Any kind of content that matches your ideal audience can end with a quick question like “Tell me your thoughts.”  

This is great for posts with a list of tips or a few inspirational thoughts.  You can find out what your audience identifies most with by asking “Which was your fave?” or “What would you add to this list?”

Ask for an opinion

This option works for a CTA as well as a hook.  Inviting your audience to share their thoughts and expertise is a great way to get a response.  We all like to be asked for our opinion!

The fun part about asking for opinions is that you really get to know your audience from their answers.  Building that connection and community is what we’re after!  And there are so many ways to ask for an opinion, depending on the content of your post:

• “Can you relate?” 
• “Have you ever…?”
• “What do you think?”

Add It Together For More Effective Marketing

Marketing with Instagram really does become more effective when you take these 2 actions!  Start with a good hook, that first line that people will see… so they want to keep reading and engaging.  Share your excitement, hint at the story, ask a question, or inspire!  Then make sure you end with a clear call to action so they know exactly how you want them to engage… Ask for an action, some feedback or their opinion.  

And once you start getting the interaction you’ve been hoping for on IG, you’ll have the momentum you need to start asking your audience to do other things, like join your email list, follow you and buy from you.  It can be an intimidating thing at first, so it’s ok to start with the simpler requests… like dropping an emoji or sharing an opinion.  And in a little while, you’ll have so much practice it will seem natural!  

I’d love to hear which hook or call to action you tried first.   Share your brilliance with us in the Thriving Teachergram Tips Facebook group!