5 Ways to Grow Your Email List With Social Media

Do you want more email subscribers?

Are you looking for ways to move social media fans and followers to your email list?

In this article, I’ll show you 5 ways to use social media to build your email list.

Why Email?

At least 91% of consumers check their email every day.

One of the most heavily used communication channels to date, email marketing is considered the third overall most effective channel for lead generation for marketers in 2013, producing 13% of all leads.

To grow your email list, there are ways you can make use of the engagement you have with your social media audience to turn your followers into subscribers who’ll become long-term customers.

Here are five tips:

#1: Use a Simple Sign-Up Form

Businesses of all sizes should set up a simple email sign-up form on their social channels to make it easy for your most invested fans to easily subscribe to your list.

On Facebook, dedicate a tab at the top right-hand side of your page for an email form. Then, people simply have to click on the icon to visit the sign-up form.

Make sure to use an image and call to action in this tab to incite people to click and subscribe.

This tab can live at the top right of your Facebook page to make it easy for fans and non-fans to subscribe to your list.

There are many different app options to add and set up an email sign-up form to your Facebook page. Typically, email clients have a custom Facebook app that syncs with your list from Facebook.

Some suggested email sign-up apps are:

To add one of these apps to your Facebook page, visit the top right app banner and click on the drop-down menu indicated by a number with an arrow pointing downwards.

Click on this drop-down menu to view your other added apps and to install more.

From here, select the plus sign to reveal a drop-down menu. Then click on Find More Apps to search for an email sign-up form app to add to your Facebook page.

Once you’ve expanded your app banner to reveal other apps by clicking on the + sign, choose Find More Apps to add more email apps.

Follow the step-by-step instructions provided by most of the apps when you first install them on how to best integrate them on your Facebook page.

It isn’t possible to host a landing page with an email sign-up form on Twitter or Google+. To encourage your followers to subscribe, I recommend that you add a link in the bio and/or About section on Twitter or Google+ to the email sign-up form you host on your website.

Amy Porterfield is an entrepreneur and Facebook expert who links to her landing page and website from her Twitter bio to help drive more traffic.

Your Twitter bio has limited space, but there’s room to add a shortened link to your email sign-up form and a link to your website.

Your Google+ page has an extensive About section where you can include a shortened link to your email sign-up form at the top of your description.

#2: Preview Premium Content on Your Social Channels

Many businesses create premium content they offer for free once a person signs up for their email list.

If you have eBooks, white papers, infographics, long-form articles or other premium content you give away, gate each one with an email sign-up form landing page to generate subscribers from that content.

On their Facebook page, HubSpot posts engaging copy, a visually appealing image and a link to their eBook to help drive traffic to the resource.

Tweet, post and share excerpts of content from your premium resources on Twitter, LinkedIn, Facebook and Google+ to drive interest and traffic to the landing pages that gate them. Always include a visual component to these updates to ensure you’re receiving the most clicks, engagement and traffic possible.

Marketo uses Twitter to drive traffic to their premium content using relevant topics and hashtags that match the interests of their audience to help drive email subscribers.

Use concise, intriguing and informative copy in your social updates, as well as a link tagged properly with Google Analytics UTM parameters to track which social media networks drive traffic to your lead generation resources.

#3: Share an Incentive for Newsletter Sign-Ups

Incentives often help when it comes to driving more email sign-ups for your list. A little push is the only thing some people need to take action and subscribe.

Social media will draw further attention to your incentive.

H&M incentivizes its customers to sign up for email with an exclusive discount on their next purchase, which is engaging content to share on Facebook or Twitter.

Many ecommerce stores give shoppers 10-20% off a purchase when they sign up for their email list. A discount, exclusive content, a free sample, a special thank-you, a coupon, etc., are all things your business can share on social media to encourage people to subscribe to your email list.

Be sure to include an image and a strong call to action when posting about one of these incentives.

#4: Host Webinars to Gain Subscribers

Hosting a webinar about your business or industry is an engaging way to share the human side of your business by presenting a person from your organization to discuss a relevant topic with your audience.

One of the goals of a webinar for your business is to capture leads in the form of email subscribers.

Wildfire is a B2B company that uses both Facebook and Twitter to drive traffic to their landing page for their Google hangouts on air, as well as sign-ups for the hangout itself.

Similar to the tactic in #2, if you host your webinar on a Google hangout on air, be sure to share links to resources that have a landing page sign-up form to collect emails from your efforts.

Glamour magazine hosted a Google+ hangout to chat with their fans, encouraging them during the discussion to stay connected for future tips by subscribing to their email list.

If you host your webinar using a program like Any Meeting, GoToWebinar, PGI, Ready Talk or Join.me, many of them feature a sign-up form to collect emails from viewers before they enter the webinar.

Use social media posts to drive traffic to these sign-up forms and your email list will grow.

#5: Hold a Contest, Sweepstakes or Giveaway

One of the most effective ways to build your email list using social media is by using contests, sweepstakes and giveaways. Many marketers’ host contests and similar promotions to grow their following on Facebook, Twitter, Instagram and elsewhere, but one of the main goals of these promotions should always be to increase your email subscribers.

Facebook contests are the most predominantly used promotions in social media as compared to other channels, since the platform is the most customizable for promotions.

Sephora consistently uses Facebook contests with sign-up forms to build their email lists with quality subscribers.

Your business can host a Facebook contest either on an application tab or on your Facebook timeline. However, if you’re hosting the promotion on your Facebook timeline, it’s next to impossible to collect emails. Hosting your promotion from a Facebook app is the best approach for the purpose of increasing email subscribers.

Try one of the following Facebook apps to run your contest, sweepstakes or giveaway (some of these companies feature apps for other social channels as well):

Be sure to choose one that offers a sign-up form as a type of entry for participants. This is how your business generates emails from a contest on the Facebook platform.

Once you’ve chosen a Facebook contest app that’s right for your business, decide whether you’ll be hosting a contest, sweepstakes or giveaway and what messaging you’ll use to drive visibility and interest in it.

The prize you decide to give away to a select group of winners for your contest is important, and it helps incentive genuine fans, and therefore quality email subscribers.

Bon Jovi’s Facebook page uses engaging contests that allow fans and non-fans to sign up for email from their desktop or mobile device.

Similar contests can be run on Twitter with platforms like Offerpop, Binkd, Woobox, OneKontest and Wishpond that allow participants to submit their email as a form of entry.

Pinterest contest platforms like Piqora or Curlate also allow you to host a variety of different contests that generate emails for your list.

After you’ve published your contest, promote it on all of your social media accounts to drive new traffic to the contest and increase sign-ups to your email list.

Conclusion

Continued growth of your email subscriber list plays a vital part in the success of your business. The tips in this article will help you reach out to the people who already follow you on social media to increase the rate of new subscriptions.

What do you think? How do you use social media to build your email list for the long-term? Share your comments and questions in the comments box below.

by Brian Honigman