Social media is huge. If you know where your people, your tribe, a.k.a. your audience hangs out, you can start to participate, get to know them better, and introduce them to yourself and your blog. And best of all, you can leverage all that social interaction and grow your list at the same time. Social Media and List building, that’s what we are talking about today.
The Benefits
Social media sites like Facebook, Twitter, Instagram, Periscope, Pinterest, etc., are great places to find your target audience and get in touch with them. Often we focus on building engagement with readers there and then work on getting them back to our blog. Social media sites however are also a great place to build your list. Having a list helps you keep in touch with your social network. A list makes it easy to get back in touch with your followers. Social media sites are always changing. For example, if your favorite social media site changed its algorithm and your audience suddenly no longer saw all your posts.
The benefits of pairing social media and list-building don’t stop there. Growing your list and getting them on there first, then allows you to direct your readers wherever you want them to go. Got a blog post that could use some comments, interaction, and social media love? Email a link to your blog post. Got a pin that could use an extra boost, send your readers there and encourage them to repin. Got a Facebook post that’s on the verge of going viral? Email your list about it and ask them to like, comment and share. It really is that easy, they’re already invested, and if you return the favor all the better.
The How-To
Now let’s talk about the list-building part of social media and list-building. What does it take to grow your list from your social media activity? The first step is to set up a dedicated opt-in page. It’s a simple page on your blog or website that’s set up with the sole purpose of convincing readers to sign up for your list. Note: If you don’t yet have a blog or website-no worries. Check out Part 2: Do You Have an Auto Responder Service Provider? I reviewed 3 different providers, 2 of which have a free version and the capability to create landing pages. It’s so easy you could get a little crazy setting up a different opt-in page for each social media page and customizing your content to those audiences. But let’s keep it simple for now and create just the one page you’ll use everywhere.
So, you’ve created your page and copied your URL to the clipboard, next log into your social media profiles and either add or replace your regular website URL with the new opt-in page URL. This one step alone will start to send a nice little stream of social media traffic to this page and grow your list. As readers check out your profile, the idea is that they click through to learn more about you and your blog and end up on your list.
Get the Word Out
Last, but not least, social media and list building requires a bit of work on your part. The key is to make it a habit of regularly inviting your social media followers to sign up for your list. You may need to try various different approaches. One week, you may highlight a particular benefit of being a list subscriber. Next, you may give them a glimpse of the email that will go out the following day, inviting them to sign up so they don’t miss out. You could even offer them an exclusive coupon or special offer that will go out to newsletter subscribers only. Try a few different types of posts until you find what works well on each social media platform.
Up Next…
Join me next time as we explore using eBooks and Kindle Books to grow your email list. This is a strategy that works particularly well if you’re selling at least some of your books to audiences outside of your own circle of influence.
Until next time…
All the Best,
Patricia
If you missed any of the earlier blog posts in this series Click here to catch up.
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