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I need to tell you about something I see constantly with new clients — and it gets me every single time because the fix is usually so simple.
They're posting consistently. Their Reels are racking up views — sometimes thousands of them. The content is genuinely good. But website traffic is stuck, ad revenue isn't budging, and they just cannot figure out why.
So we look at their captions.
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Nine times out of ten, the CTA is completely buried — three paragraphs deep, past the “more” cutoff, in text that most people never tap to expand.
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They worked hard on that CTA. It’s just sitting somewhere nobody ever sees it.
Here’s the reality of how people actually scroll: fast. They watch your Reel, maybe read the first line of your caption, and then they’re already gone. If your ask isn’t sitting right at the top — literally line one — a massive chunk of your audience misses it entirely. Full stop.
What Actually Works
The 3 CTAs We’re Seeing Win Right Now
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Top Performer
“Comment RECIPE and I’ll send you the link”
This one is huge right now. It fires up comment engagement AND drives people to your site at the same time. Instagram’s algorithm absolutely loves it, and so does your RPM. The keyword you pick (like RECIPE) isn’t random either. You want something obvious and intuitive that your audience already associates with what you’re posting — something they’re already used to responding to. People have seen this format enough that they know exactly what to do, which means the friction is almost zero. It feels natural to them, not like a weird ask. We use Grocer’s List to handle the automation behind it — more on that in the next issue.
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“Link in the first comment”
Keeps your caption clean and readable while still funneling people where you need them to go. Simple, low-friction, and it works.
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“Search [your site] + [recipe name] on Google” — and use your first comment wisely
Facebook is its own thing, but here’s what people get wrong — the “Comment RECIPE” approach absolutely still works there, and people respond to it consistently. You can include a URL in the caption too and people will still engage. The difference is that Facebook’s algorithm tends to suppress reach on posts where a link is the main event, so pairing it with the Google search method gives you a solid safety net. And here’s a bonus move specific to Facebook: your first comment is prime real estate. Drop the main ingredients and a quick summary of the instructions right there. It adds instant value for people scrolling fast and keeps them in the post longer — which the algorithm loves.
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We test all three with clients depending on the platform and the content, and we track what’s actually moving sessions — not just impressions or reach. We’re aiming for actual web traffic on this one.
Platform Guide
Where Each CTA Wins
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Best CTA |
Strength |
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IGInstagram
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Comment RECIPE + send link |
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TKTikTok
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Comment RECIPE + send link |
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FBFacebook
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Comment RECIPE + Google search method |
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Strength ratings based on observed session lift across client accounts — your results may vary by niche and audience size.
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Heads Up
Your Link-in-Bio Tool Might Be Hurting You
If you’re using Linktree, Stan Store, or any third-party link-in-bio tool, you are sending your hard-earned traffic to someone else’s domain. And that has real consequences:
✕ Those visits don’t count toward your RPM thresholds
✕ They don’t build your domain authority in Google’s eyes
✕ You’re actively growing their platform, not yours
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✦ We always recommend building a simple landing page directly on your own site instead. It takes a few hours to set up and the long-term payoff is real.
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Small change. Big difference.
If your views are strong but your clicks are flat, that is a completely fixable problem — and it’s almost always a faster fix than you’d expect. Hit reply and tell me what your current CTA situation looks like. I genuinely want to take a look!
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Work With Us
Ready to turn your views into real, lasting traffic?
This is exactly the kind of thing we do every day for food bloggers and content creators. From SEO to social, we handle the growth strategy so you can focus on creating.
No pressure! We’ll figure out what makes sense for you.
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Talk soon,
Alexandrea
Honeycomb Media
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