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It’s no secret that building up your email list is one of the most stable ways to construct a foundation of loyal fans for your business.
The problem is, building up your email list is no easy task. In fact, it’s a pretty damn difficult thing to do without the trust and attention of an existing, dedicated audience.
Lucky for all of us, social media is a fantastic place (if not the BEST place) to attain, nurture, and grow a dedicated audience.
So, on that note, here are 11 creative ways to use social media to beef up your email list:
Using Instagram Stories or Snapchat (since Snapchat allows for anyone to use links in their Stories now!), showcase some behind-the-scenes content. This could be about a new product release, exclusive feature, or anything else. In the story, make sure to include a link to your newsletter.
Make it clear to your audience why they should visit the web page. If you’re showing a new product with the Story, tell them how your newsletter will keep them up to speed on all product updates.
If you play your cards right, Medium is an awesome venue for collecting email addresses. Personally, I’ve gained over 80% of Arctiphi’s newsletter subscribers directly through Medium. To do this, write an article. At the bottom of the piece, including a call to action.
Within the call to action, there should be a link to your newsletter or to a free resource you’ve created related to the content of the article. For example, if your article covered how to run a 5 minute mile, the free resource could be a Runner’s Checklist.
Extra Tip: Take a look at Zdravko Cvijetic’s call to action for reference here (at bottom of the article) — this is actually who inspired me to model my call to action the way I did.
Extra Extra Tip: In an interview with Forbes, Benjamin P. Hardy discovered that his smaller freebies (cheat sheet, checklist, etc.) outperformed his more robust ones (ebook, email course, etc.) given the commitment is lower for readers.
Authenticity works. In an Instagram post, tell your audience how you’re trying to build up your email list. A fun way to incentivize them to sign up is to offer a joke, compliment, or fun fact in exchange for them sending their email address to you through a Direct Message.
Why would others be more willing to do this? Easy: it’s more intimate and fun than signing up for a newsletter.
While this wouldn’t be appropriate for all industries and businesses, it would work in more than you might think.
Try hosting a Facebook Live or Instagram Live show where you give actionable tips and strategies on a particular topic. Then, create a handout that contains all of the show’s information.
To be able to download this handout, your audience would give their email address in exchange for the content.
Building community is one of the best ways to build trust. In today’s social media landscape, one of the most effective ways to build community is through creating Facebook Groups, as well as LinkedIn Groups.
Once you build trust in your community by continually providing them with value, you’ll be in a good position to ask for your members to sign up for your newsletter.
YouTube cards are the little buttons that pop up on the screen when you’re watching a YouTube video. They allow creators to direct their viewers to outside web pages.
To increase email subscribers using YouTube, be sure to mention your newsletter in your video and include a YouTube card that links to it.
On your Facebook business page, you’re able to include a “Sign up” button that can direct your audience to your squeeze page, newsletter, or any other destination. This will allow you to capitalize on your Facebook Fans.
Sometimes, the best way to convince is to be persistent. By consistently promoting free products available for download to your audience, you could be increasing your chances that existing followers check out the content, and are certainly increasing your chances that new followers do.
Just don’t be too creepy or pushy here — it’ll turn your audience off quick.
To do this, use tools like HootSuite, Buffer, or Agorapulse to pre-schedule these posts a week in advance. This will save you time and energy.
A contest is a great way to beef up your email list. Who doesn’t like free stuff? Just be sure participants have to include their email in order to enter the contest.
Promote the contest on all your social media platforms and watch the emails start rolling in.
Using Instagram’s multiple image posts, highlight why your audience should sign up for your email newsletter. Then, include a link in your bio to the respective web page.
Using the multiple image feature, you can also tell a story that would compel viewers to sign up for your email list.
For instance, if you’re a yoga instructor who has a Weekly Namaste Newsletter, you could tell a story about how yoga helped fix a student’s back pain that unfolds as viewers swipe through each image on the post.
Running a social media advertising campaign to promote your email newsletter is one of the simplest, yet surprisingly underused, ways to build your email list.
In the ad, be sure to let prospects know about all of the value, tips, and insights they’ll receive in your respective topic. This ad campaign could be on Facebook, Instagram, Twitter, LinkedIn or Pinterest.
I hope you found value in these tactics!
In the comment section: What are some other strategies you’ve used to get email subscribers from your social media? I’d love to hear them 
If you enjoyed reading this article, please give it a share so others can find it!
If you want to put yourself in the best position possible to succeed on social media, check out my booklet titled: “The 7 Mindset Shifts for Successful Social Media Marketing”.
This article was originally published on Inc.com.
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