90+ Ways To Build Your Email List
Since the dawn of social media, so many moons ago, we’ve all had a slight obsession with getting more and more (and more and more) followers.
And there’s no arguing that having a nice, big, engaged following can do wonders for your business… but what happens when that platform closes its doors?
You lose those contacts, that’s what.
It may seem unlikely that we’ll ever see the back of giants like Facebook, but we once felt that way about MySpace. In this past year alone we’ve lost Vine and Blab, who knows which platform will be next.
To keep hold of those followings you’ve so carefully nurtured, you need to own them. Well not ‘own them’ as such, these are people we’re talking about. But you need to OWN the platform that connects you to them.
That means moving your social media tribe over to your email list (which isn’t as tricky as you’d think).
Here are my top tips for leveraging your favourite platform to boost your list:
- With your favourite image editing tool create a Facebook cover image that promotes your big juicy opt-in. And don’t forget to make that graphic clickable by adding your sign-up link to the description.
- Add a sign-up form to your business page — your email marketing system will have a step-by-step tutorial on how to do this.
- Use Twitter Lead Generation Cards to make it easier to subscribe — followers will be able to opt in with a simple tap.
- Create a striking visual promoting your biggest, brightest opt-in and pin it to the top of your feed — it’s the first thing people will see upon “discovering” you.
- Create a board on Pinterest especially for all of your downloadable freebies — and pop it in the prime “first board” position.
- Repin your freebie graphics to all relevant boards, including any community boards you contribute to.
Automation
- Automate a series of updates for each channel, encouraging followers to join your list. My favourite tool for this is Buffer.
- Create a batch of graphics promoting your content upgrades, and regularly share them across your favourite social platforms.
Personalisation
- What problems can your freebies solve? Search for those questions on Twitter, and respond to questions with a link to your opt-in page.
- Each social media profile allows you to add a link to your bio. Leverage that space and send followers to a bespoke landing page that includes a relevant welcome and freebie, instead of pointing everyone towards your general homepage.
There are so many simple things you can do to boost that email list of yours — just remember to nurture those contacts once you’ve got them. And if you think those are good, I have another 85 tips for growing your email list. Yes, EIGHTY FIVE! Just signup here and they’ll be in your inbox pronto.
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Gemma Went is an Online Business Consultant with more experience than you can shake a stick at. She’s had two successful businesses of her own (the first I won an entrepreneur of the year award for), she was social media director of at two London agencies, the first to create a social media strategy for the BFI London Film Festival, the first to put fashion bloggers on the red carpet at the WGSN Global Fashion Awards, launched numerous successful businesses and products, has run 15 Crowdfunding campaigns (all of them funded) and currently mentors small business owners to reach their goals.
A psychology graduate and a digital native, she applies psychological theory to all she does. She understands what people need, want and desire and combines that with her digital knowledge to deliver it in the most effective way possible.
She’s worked with hundreds of small business owners and learnt what works and what doesn’t. And THIS she shares inside her Simply Smart Business Academy. From water-tight strategies that deliver, to nailing the implementation. Go here for more and to join.
