Content written by Rodney Alsup and published by the MBA News Digest.
Many graduate management education websites have visitors play a guessing game as to what a particular Twitter button will do when clicked. In most cases, there’s one button style on the page. More often than not, it looks like this button:
Sometimes the button’s location is with other social media buttons with guidance such as “share” or “follow.” But, most times there’s no guidance, leaving the visitor to guess what the button will do when clicked. Adding action triggers corrects this website design issue.
What is an Action Trigger?
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An action trigger is something you put in place to help website visitors do something you want them to do, such as clicking the Twitter button to share a press release posted on the B-School’s Newsroom page. Naked Twitter buttons imply you want them to take action, but in many cases the button does may not register with the visitor and trigger the desired action. In this context, two types of action triggers, embedded and text based may be useful.
Note: The authors of Switch describe “action triggers” as an element for finding ways to help people build new habits which align with a desired change. In this context, the desired change is to have the website visitor click on the Twitter button to follow, tweet, etc. rather than ignoring the button.
Twitter Button Embedded Action Triggers
Twitter provides Twitter account holders a way to create buttons with embedded action triggers. Here are examples:
Words on the button suggest to the visitor they need to do something. In these examples, it’s to follow the MBA News Digest or Tweet or share the information on a page. Also, notice that one version shows the number of followers for the MBA News Digest.
Twitter provides support tools for creating embedded action trigger buttons. Here are two places to start:
One word of caution, Twitter support tool documentation can be challenging to follow. For example, the second reference opens to a page that wants you to “Enter a Twitter URL.” Scrolling down to the bottom of the page to browse the options available is easily overlooked, yet the options are much easier to use.
Text Based Action Triggers
Using text-based action triggers combines Twitter buttons and text not embedded into the button. For example, the following is an example that explains to a visitor why they should follow the MBA News Digest.
Twitter buttons no longer need to be naked, leaving the visitor guessing what will happen when the button is clicked. Be creative and add action triggers to your webpages.
Join the Conversation!
Question: Do you have Twitter action triggers on your website? Click here to share your response or email me at RGAlsup@MBANewsDigest.com if you prefer to respond without sharing.
Rodney
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