Facebook recently announced a change to its business page platform that will enable page owners to add a Facebook call to action button to their page for the first time. What this means in nutshell is that a Facebook user could traffic to a business page and click on a button to request service, book a table for dinner, or sign up for a newsletter. The call to action button will be visible directly on the page cover photo. Dollar Shave Club has been beta testing the call to action button on their page for over three weeks. Here is what it looks like: [caption id="attachment_606" align="aligncenter" width="854"] Dollar Shave Club's Facebook page was one the first to beta test the new "call to action" button for Facebook business pages[ According to Dollar Shave Club, which has been beta testing the call to action button, the impact on conversions has been significant, with a customer conversion rate 2.5X higher than traffic from comparable social placements. Facebook will be offering 7 default options for the buttons to start:

• Sign Up
• Shop Now
• Watch Video
• Play Game
• Use App
• Contact Us
• Book Now

Each option is designed to correspond to what the user will experience on the associated landing page with businesses being able to choose whether to direct traffic to pages on or off Facebook. It will be important for businesses to be aware of where the button is pointing, as you should not have a “Contact Us” button pointing to an ecommerce page with no inbound lead forms or contact information. From a marketing perspective, it is unclear what the long term impact of this change will be, but here are 3 tips to consider as the call to action button rolls out to U.S. business pages over the coming weeks.

1.  Install the button on your page. There is no reason to not use this feature as it can only help to increase referral traffic Facebook. If nothing else, set the call to action as “Contact Us” and direct it to the contact form on your website.
2. The call to button action will appear on your Facebook cover photo, so make sure you adjust your cover photo accordingly to accommodate the new button. Likewise, the test currently only applies to the desktop version of Facebook, not the mobile app, so keep this in consideration when designing a cover photo.
3. Facebook is rolling this feature out over the next couple of weeks, so be sure to continually check your business page to see when it is ready.

From a broader marketing perspective, if the Dollar Shave Club statistics prove correct, this will force organizations to reevaluate how they are leveraging Facebook in their marketing plans. Imagine a roofing company, a bakery, or a car dealership have a “Contact Us” button on their Facebook page. A prospective buyer traffics to their Facebook business page, reads reviews, looks at pictures, sees mutual friends who already like the page, and can instantly hit a button to reach the appropriate landing page. It will no longer just be about building a following, sponsoring content, or running display ads. Generating traffic to a page with strong content will become another important factor in maximizing Facebook. For more information on how AltaVista Strategic Partners can help your organization or business development team build and execute a LinkedIn sales strategy please fill out the contact form on this page, email us, or call us at 410-760-6680.