“Exciting features that social media managers and pages can’t miss!” – wasn’t that a statement that caught your attention instantly? Clickbait is something like that. On social media, clickbait is a term widely used. It means a statement, headlines or thumbnails that catch the attention of the people instantly.
A lot of times the thumbnails of videos, and the exciting offer messages on your social media with links are clickbaits. These are basically meant to grab your attention and make you watch their content for longer and also go on websites to generate more views and website traffic.
For example, “The offer posted by the skincare brand in the post caption was just a clickbait, on their website the prices are entirely different.” Here we can see how the website click-baited the users into opening their website with just one offer line.
Clickbait can be negative as well as positive. For example, when a brand has posted an offer or discount, then they can use attractive captions, thumbnails and story headlines to catch attention. This way people will know that there are offers and will instantly open the link and purchase if they are up for it.
For instance, “Buy 1 get 1 offer side-wide.” This was a clickbait and if the brand genuinely ha the offer then attention was gained positively. But mostly click baits are considered manipulative and attention-seeking strategies for website owners.
We have all seen ads on Instagram and how they begin. They are always catchy so the user sees the ad completely. Again, this is an example of click-baiting. For example, “Two hours master-class on weight loss at just 5$, go register below.” A lot of people might feel it’s cheap and go for the clickbait and open the website.
Headlines, thumbnails and catchy content are great ways to convey a message or offer to a larger audience. On Instagram, YouTube and Facebook, it generates more views and profile visits generating better insight for the page. You can also utilize it like, “Fenty Beauty has a sale going on for Women’s day and there is up to 50% off.” Here the 50% off is the clickbait and a lot of people will tend to open the website, or social media page even though they might not actually purchase any item. This is generally to grab audiences’ attention and make sales with the ongoing views and insights enhancement.
Next time if a clickbait shows up online, you’ll know exactly what it is!