Embedding Call To Actions in User Generated Content

We've all experienced the same dilemma as the guy in the header image. Trying to make a decision between two very similar items. Whether it's a pair of shoes or a travel destination, sometimes it's hard to base our choice simply on the information provided by the seller. This is why user generated content is so valuable for e-commerce and travel destination websites. It's an effective way to highlight actual users enjoying the product and providing real feedback.

But how can you translate those user photos into actions on your website or product sales? This is where "Call To Actions" can be utilized to further drive user actions towards your business goals. Incorporating call to actions in your social media wall helps drive user engagement numbers towards your goals.

Call To Action

The question and need often arises to annotate the content in your social media wall with additional information and action. This maybe something as simple as additional information for certain photos, or adding buttons and links that users can follow to perform some desired action.

Some examples include:

• A travel destination website which includes user photos of the local attractions. Embedding call to actions on certain photos that gives more information on visiting those attractions can be immensely helpful
• A fashion brand that incorporates real photos from customers wearing its clothing. Linking each user photo to the actual purchase page of the product(s) in the photo.
• A news organization that has a section for user generated reporting, might embed call to actions to sign up for subscriptions. Or embed links on certain user posts to more in-depth, long form reporting by the site's journalists on the same topic.
• A non profit running an awareness campaign shows supporters comments and posts. The organization wants to embed information into the posts so visitors who engage with the posts know how to follow up and join the cause.

Spotlyte makes these types of integrations extremely simple.

Creating Call To Action

There are several options to creating call to actions. The Call To Action dialog allows you to create them globally, individually, or at a category level.

• Global: Any post that the user sees will contain this call to action, unless there are category or post level ones which take precedence
• Category: All posts that are within this category will take this same call to action. These are quite useful when you have several different types of call to actions, or categories of products, or destinations that you want to direct users to. Post level call to actions will take precedence if they exist
• Post: Only this post will have this call to action

Another powerful way to use call to actions is to create call to action templates, and then add them onto Posts. The way to do this is to essentially create a new Category, then create a Call To Action on the Category. Then whenever you want to add this call to action onto a Post, just add the Post to the Category and will automatically take it on.

Displaying Call To Action

Call to actions on your social media wall have a couple display options. Call to actions will show in full detail, with all the various elements when a user clicks on on a post. The pop-up will show the details of the post including the call to action you added to the Post. This looks like the image shown below:

Showing the call to action in the pop-up is a great way to show user a lot of detailed information about the Post, and your added information and desired action. However, often times your user is just scanning through the social media wall in the main display, in this case you'll also want the call to action to show. For certain themes, the call to action will display accordingly like so on the main social media wall grid:

Having this show on the main display is configurable through the display editor. By default this is enabled, however you can disable this option and hide the call to action on the main display and only have it show when the user clicks on a post.

Are you creating a website employing user generated content? Have you added a social media wall to your campaign or webpage? Take the next step towards your organization or business' goals and embed call to actions in your social media wall to direct your web visitors towards your goals.

Follow us on Twitter at @getspotlyte to find out how Spotlyte can help take your social media walls to the next level.