50 – A Dozen Ways to Turn Your Social Media Followers into Email Subscribers – Without Buying Ads
Today’s episode is the final installment in our 3-part mini-series.
In Episode 48, we focused on techniques for converting people who follow your blog, vlog, or podcast into subscribers. I introduced you to two surefire methods that make it easy for people to receive an alert whenever you publish fresh content.
In Episode 49, we reviewed 5 important differences between social media and email marketing, and discussed which of those two tools will give you the biggest bang for your time investment as you grow your business.
Today, I’m going to share a dozen tips for turning social media followers into email subscribers – enticing them to join the community that YOU own and you control. This is a partial transcript of the episode. Listen to get all the details.
What NOT to do
Never, ever subscribe someone to your email list without getting their permission.
- You cannot harvest email addresses from Facebook groups, chat rooms, discussion forums, blog comments, or social media followers and add them to your email list.
- You cannot meet someone at an in-person event and assume that since you’ve communicated once, you have an open invitation to sign them up for your email list.
These things are illegal and if enough people complain, your email address can get blacklisted and you won’t be able to email anyone.
What you can do, when you meet someone at an in-person or virtual event, is ask them if they’d like to subscribe to your list, and if so, to jot their email address on a form reserved for that purpose.
What you can do, if you host a Facebook group, is to ask people who are requesting to join your group to enter their email address – as long as you inform them that they’re agreeing to join your email list when they supply their email address.
You MUST get consent from a subscriber BEFORE adding them to your email list.
How to encourage signups
The most popular and highest converting method of encouraging your social media peeps to subscribe is to offer them an incentive.
Another caution about what NOT to do:
Never use this call-to-action: “Sign up for my email list and get the latest updates.”
I can almost see your eyes drooping. When people see this call-to-action on a signup form, they think, “So what? Why should I care? What’s in it for me?”
Why would this weak call-to-action motivate anyone to join your list?
It wouldn’t.
Instead, offer your social media peeps an incentive – in exchange for their email, you give them a gift they will find valuable. In the marketing world, this gift is called a lead magnet.
(See information below on my free course, Email Marketing for Writers, as well as my premium Email Marketing Starter Package.)
8 places to promote your lead magnet on social media
(Note: The following information is in outline form. For a detailed explanation of each point, listen to the episode.)
- Cover graphic and description – Facebook Page, Twitter, LinkedIn
- Call-to-action button – Facebook Page
- Pinned or Featured posts – Facebook Page, Twitter, LinkedIn
- Customize your bio – Twitter, Instagram
- Use a third-party tool to add multiple links to your Instagram bio
- Create a Pinterest board dedicated to your lead magnet(s)
- Pin promotions for your lead magnet – Pinterest
- Add to About section and Featured Posts area – LinkedIn
Promote, promote, promote
In addition to those areas, you also want to make promoting your lead magnet a regular, routine part of your posting schedule.
A lot of writers promote their lead magnet once on social media, or once a quarter, and they think that’s enough.
It is not.
Add promotion to your monthly content calendar. Open your calendar and mark the dates when you’ll promote your email signup lead magnet.
How often you promote it on how often you post to a particular social channel in the first place.
Rule of thumb: limit promotional updates to 10% of the content you post.
Plan your promotional posts well in advance. Create a variety of graphics and craft several promos, each with different wording. Don’t forget to include a direct link to your signup form in every promotional post!
Another way to get new subscribers is to share the link to your actual e-newsletters or eblasts. Whenever you create a campaign (eblast or enewsletter) inside your email marketing platform, they’ll provide you with a unique link to that specific campaign. You can share that link to your social channels.
Non-subscribers can open the newsletter in their browser and see what it looks like and what kind of content you include. In the social media post where you share link to your newsletter, remember to invite your fans to subscribe if they like what they see, and tell them where they can go to subscribe.
4 additional ways to convert social media followers into email subscribers
(Note: The following information is in outline form. For a detailed explanation of each point, listen to the episode.)
- Custom Chatbots
- Text-to-Join
- Leadpages (affiliate link)
- Partner with someone else
- Run a contest
Links Mentioned in Episode 50
Create Landing Pages, Popups, Websites, and More
Leadpages free 14-day trial
Email Marketing Starter Package
You might also consider signing up for my Email Marketing Starter Package. I customize this premium service to meet your needs.
In addition to setting up your RSS feed for you inside either Mailerlite, ConvertKit, MailChimp, or AWeber, I can help you:
- Plan your email marketing strategy and develop a content calendar
- Craft a compelling lead magnet and welcome message(s)
- Design a professionally-designed, branded template for your emails/newsletter
- Design a custom form(s) for your website
- Import existing subscribers to MailChimp, Mailerlite, ConvertKit, Flodesk, or AWeber
- Receive one-to-one coaching with Laura on how to use your new setup
Free eCourse: Email Marketing for Writers
Whether you’re starting from zero or seeking to skyrocket your signups, Laura’s 7-day video course (delivered via email, of course), will help you master the basics. Click here to request the free training and cheatsheet.
How to Keep Up With the Show
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https://bloggingbistro.com/podcast
Thank you!
Laura