Why you need call-to-action in your videos

Let me paint you a picture of why call-to-action (or CTA) is a crucial part of making videos. 

It’s an important piece of making a professional promotional video.

You’ve hooked the viewer. He clicks on your video. He watches it completely.

Perhaps, he’s intrigued and WATCHES YOUR ENTIRE PLAYLIST! 😲

Perhaps he gives you thumbs up on all the videos, leaves a few comments and clicks away…

Congratulations – your duration metrics will skyrocket to the roof. Victory right?

WRONG!

You just missed out on an opportunity to convert a hot prospect. If he didn’t click to your website or at least subscribe to you, then you missed out on a possible conversion.

Someone who watches your video completely AND proceeds to watch the entire playlist of your topic is more than interested in what you have to say.

He’s likely willing to take out his credit card and give you his money!

But do you know what’s the first step? You have to ask him!

In whatever video you produce, it’s crucial to let your viewer know what to expect from the video and from the ad (if you’re making advertising videos).

Then make it clear what you want them to do if they find your content interesting.

It could be any or all of the following:

• Click the link at the beginning or end of the video to redirect the viewer to your website.
• Subscribe to the channel.
• Hit the bell button for notifications.
• Share the video on a social media platform.
• Check the description below for your affiliate links or product offerings.

Although the odds are low, you have a chance to convert a prospect into a paying customer whenever he or she clicks on your video. 

If you’re retargeting a warm prospect, it’s even more important to have CTAs sprinkled in your video or you’re just wasting time and money – both yours and the prospect’s.

Here are 3 CTA ideas you can implement right away in your videos:

• Say it out loud.
• Use animation to highlight your call-to-action.
• Add a call-to-action in your description.

Deeper dive into how to implement CTAs in your videos

First, there’s a caveat. These CTA ideas are for videos you directly upload to Facebook or YouTube but don’t run ads.

With ads, the instructions will walk you through how to setup a call-to-action button.

Make sure you follow it correctly!

The worst thing you can make is an ad with no CTA. That’s like making lemonade without lemons. What would be the point?

So CTAs are clearly made when making paid advertising videos.

I’ll be talking more about the vLogs or educational videos you make (for organic views) for IGTV, Facebook and YouTube.

Say it loud, Say it often!

When making videos, understand you’re connecting with the viewer on two levels:

• Eyes.
• Ears.

Video is a visual medium so whatever you’re showing the viewer will be seen with the use of his/her eyes. When you talk, the viewer will be able to listen with their ears.

Most people watch videos by watching and hearing, but there is a small population (like myself) who actually likes to listen to videos.

One of the things I enjoy doing is taking a 1 or 2 hour long walk in the middle of the day. During this activity, it’s very hard for me to both walk straight and watch a video with my eyes.

The only way to multitask while walking is to use my eyes to navigate my walk and use my ears to listen to content. This is why I enjoy audiobooks and podcasts, as well as listening to interesting videos.

Other people listen to music while they’re walking or running.

Multitasking walkers or runners all have 1 thing in common. They use audio content to keep themselves from thinking about their 1-hour or 2-hour walk. It’s a damn long walk!

For me personally, I get fully engaged in my audio content so I don’t have to think about my tired legs.

As a content creator, this is a perfect opportunity for you to engage someone like myself.

Since I’m not watching your video, waving your hands or pointing a button on the screen (with a link to your website) won’t do the trick. Instead, you need to tell me what I need to do.

Say something like —

“Make sure to hit the subscribe button and the bell so you get notified when I release new videos.”

Or…

“Make sure to check out the description below for links to my $997 course that’s practically a steal.”

State your call-to-action in the beginning. Say it at the middle (when it’s appropriate). And say it at the end. Say it as much as possible whenever it makes sense.

It sounds so obvious, and I personally make this mistake all the time. But many people forget to say their call-to-action in their videos.

In my case, since I often forget to state my CTA in my videos, I often will resort to —

Use animation to highlight your CTA

Personally, I use a simple subscribe animation –

The animation pops into the screen and an arrow (mimicking a cursor) clicks both the subscribe button and the bell icon.

This simple animation of about 3-5 seconds is a visual reminder for the viewer to subscribe and hit the bell the button.

The cards (my profile picture and the playlist) are features on YouTube that can be added. 

For most of my videos on YouTube, I want the viewer to either subscribe or watch more videos. I’m not particularly interested in sending them to a landing page to sell them stuff.

My intent is to educate the viewer and hopefully, catch the attention of a business owner who has the budget to hire my team of video professionals.

So I have multiple CTAs at the end of this video. And I’m okay with viewer choosing any of them.

If you have a more focused goal (think 1 goal), then I would not have all these buttons on the screen. Perhaps, just highlight your website URL or tell the viewer to —

Add CTA in your video description

Since you can’t add a clickable link to your website on your videos, you’ll need to add the links in the description. I usually add my links at the bottom:

Ideally, you will want your CTA buttons at the top of your video description. 

I add them at the bottom (which are links to my website) because my goal is for the viewer to keep watching my content or to subscribe – not necessarily to visit my landing pages. But the links are there if they are so inclined.

Finally, don’t just drop links in your video description. Make sure to include a minimum of 250 words to describe your video.

This will help explain to the viewer the context of the links and to better understand what the video is all about. A properly fleshed out video description is also good for SEO.

The YouTube AI uses the video description to understand the nature of the video. It will then use that information to push your video to the right viewers.

So don’t skimp on the video description!

Final Word

Call-to-actions are crucial for all your videos. If you get a viewer who truly loves your content, then he or she is one CTA away from taking out their credit card and giving you all their money.

Don’t waste the opportunity to convert a hot prospect. Sprinkle your videos with CTAs!

I’ve already explained the power of true fans in this article. And if a viewer watches the entirety of your video, there’s a good chance you’ve earned a new true fan.

Take advantage of this opportunity and provide them a call-to-action.