Calls-to-action (CTAs) are a critical part of every social video strategy. The video CTA is your instruction for a viewer. It is meant to provoke an immediate response and typically use imperative verbs, encouraging acts like “follow us,” “share now,” or “find out more.”

With smart CTAs, you can turn passive viewers into active brand participants. But not all CTAs are created equal, and these days many CTAs seem stale.

Here are 3 steps you can take to freshen up your CTAs and make them more effective:

Reinforce your video CTA

Your CTA works best when it is reinforced in multiple places. Don’t just drop a button at the end of a video, also encourage users to take the action you want with a direct ask in voiceover. This makes a CTA feel more personal than a button alone, and is also an opportunity to let viewers know more about the action you want them to take.

Also be sure to Include your video CTA in any accompanying share text or video description, that way if users don’t watch the entire video or if they return to it later, they can click or copy the link without scrubbing to the end of the video.

Make it unique

Not every video CTA needs to be the same old “Learn More” or “Get Started.” These are okay in many cases, but not very inspiring. Instead, invite your viewers to do something more specific, and put the value proposition right in the video CTA.

For example, rather than “Follow Us” try “Be First to See New Videos!” Also consider including an offer to incentivize viewers to take action — entry to a contest, a free trial, or free content, like an e-book. These are just a few examples. Be creative and find one that fits with your brand.

On YouTube, don’t wait until the end

The easiest and most obvious place to drop a video CTA is at the end of your video. It makes a lot of sense — a viewer has stayed to finish the entire video, and you invite them to take a next step. But YouTube gives you the tools to smartly deploy them at other points in your video, and you should take advantage.

Hunter and bear’s 2012 birthday party

Don’t go overboard though — you don’t want to annoy viewers or distract from the main content. Focus on what could be throughlines between the current video and some other content, like a different video or a relevant article on your website. For example, a video about the presidential primary might include a pop-up click-through to a blog post about a particular candidate’s platform.

Video CTAs are key to maximizing the impact of your social videos, but you need more than a just good CTA to make your social videos a success. To learn the other ingredients, take 2 minutes to read our post: Doing Social Video The Right Way