One of the best ways to drive traffic back to your website, and ultimately your sales page, is through a strategy known as Social Media Marketing. Social Media Marketing (SMM) can be one of the most powerful ways to boost your email list. However, you have to tread carefully because many new marketers to SMM are quickly swept away by the sheer power of social media sites. So below are six guidelines to boost an email list using social media marketing.
1. Make proper use of major social media sites.
First, you need to learn how to properly use each of the four main types of social media sites: Twitter, Facebook, LinkedIn, and YouTube. You want to make sure that you only communicate with those you would want to hear from. For instance, if you are a retailer and you send out emails to people you would like to do business with, don’t send the same email to a bank where you intend to do business. This will just end up creating more clutter and turning off potential buyers. So use each site in a manner in which will help grow your email list.
2. Craft a well-thought-out marketing plan.
To be truly successful at any form of SMM, you must have a well-thought-out marketing plan. Your plans should include what type of information you wish to provide, how often you wish to post to each platform, what specific market or niche you wish to target, and how much traffic or sales you are expecting to generate. Again, social media marketing will help you achieve all of this, but it will be easy to forget without a clear plan in place beforehand. Plan ahead. Create a schedule and stick to it. Make sure that your marketing strategy is something that will continue even after your initial spike in traffic has subsided.
3. Don’t overspend.
In today’s tough economic times, most marketers are cutting down on costs to save money. Nevertheless, if you want to see immediate results from building your email list, you need to invest minimal money in your efforts. Start with a small budget. Build up steadily, and you will reap the rewards in your list-building efforts. Spending an excessive amount of money without seeing great results is a losing proposition.
4. Stay away from social media that is not related to your business.
If you are an internet marketer, for instance, then you should steer clear of the newest social media channels like Facebook and Twitter. These are considered “non-essential” and a waste of time for an email list builder. Stick to the tested methods in building your list through content and direct sales.
5. Never discount free offers.
One of the greatest email list-building tips out there is getting customers to opt-in to your list by offering them something free. Whether it’s a free report or ebook, they will be more likely to buy from you later if you can build trust with your prospects. This goes back to not overspending on social media. If you are giving something away, make sure you give it away for free, and you will get results.
6. Understand that social media takes time to gain traction.
Once you have made one or two social media efforts, it takes time for your efforts to really begin to take off. This is especially true with the younger crowd. Do you think that you can throw together an email list and make a sale in 24 hours? It just does not work that way.
Besides the above guidelines, use the following actionable tips to grow your email list with social media:
1. Connect with like-minded users through Twitter chats. Thereby share information about your lead magnet.
2. Create LinkedIn Groups and target at least 1000 members that belong to your niche.
3. Add call-to-action to all your social media profiles.
4. Promote your lead magnet through Facebook ads.
5. Create tutorial videos and post them on YouTube. Thereby, encourage your audience to join your email list.
6. Promote your landing page link through Instagram stories.
7. Use social media platforms adequately to share details of your webinars.
Wrap up
When it comes to social media, follow the lead of your heart. Although you might think of a particular social media strategy as cool or corny, if it doesn’t connect with your customers, ditch it. Social media is about people and emotions. If you are not emotionally inclined towards a product or service, you will not spend money on it or recommend it. Use the guidelines and actionable tips shared in the blog to make the most of the social media strategy and thereby grow your email list.
