Links made the web great, so why are they missing from so many social posts where the person posting clearly has a book, or an event, or a course, or a product to promote? The category of post I’m thinking of may include a QR code or a lovingly crafted promo “poster” (sometimes with a URL embedded in the image) but not a simple link for me to click on if I’m interested?
Is not the point to make it as easy as possible for people to do the “right thing” by reading your article, signing up for your event, or considering your product?
How helpful is a QR code?
The QR codes mystify me as much as anything. To me, a QR code makes perfect sense as a way to direct someone to a URL without making them type in the address, particularly when conveying that message in a different medium such as print or TV. Wave your phone’s camera at a QR code and get directed to the right address for the promotion, or the registration form, or the restaurant menu. I’m reasonably technical, but I don’t know how to extract the URL from a QR code that pops up as an image in a social message stream on my web browser or my phone. It’s not immediately obvious. I’m told there is a way to do it, but wouldn’t it be simpler to include a link — in addition to the QR code, if not instead of it.
Missing Zoom links
A variation on this puzzle is the webinar / online event promo that includes the Zoom meeting ID and passcode as text embedded in an image. The experienced Zoom user knows they can go to the Zoom website and enter those coordinates, but how helpful is it to make them retype that information when it could be included in the text of the post? Better yet, why not include the Zoom meeting link in the text of the post?
Legitimate issues: preview images and screen real estate
Certainly, there are times when the programmatically preview image and snippet a social platform generates by default when you include a link is not ideal. So you upload a custom promo image instead of relying on the default. However, that doesn’t mean you can’t include a link also in the text of the post.
On platforms that limit the length of a post, there may also be cases where you want to focus the initial post — the one people are most likely to read — on text introducing your subject or concept, along with an attention-grabbing interest. Then, if you have an article that expands on the topic, that link can go in the first follow up comment in the thread.
Making them beg for more?
These are the pet peeves of a direct communicator. I should acknowledge that some social media marketing strategists talk about creating “curiosity gaps” as a way of creating greater engagement, in which case forcing users to reply to your post by asking how they can learn more might not be a bad thing.
If you’re withholding the link as a strategy, and that works for you, great.
Most of the time, though, if they desired action you want people to take is to visit a website, or a product page, or a registration page, why not make that as easy as possible? Why make people post a follow up query or a do a search to find their way to the resource you want them to find?
What’s wrong with a good, old fashioned link?
Image by Pete Linforth from Pixabay