5 Tips to Capitalizing on Social Media to Build Your Email List

Your website is bustling, your email list is growing, and you’re capturing contact information from every interested visitor. That’s great-but what about your social media presence? Facebook, Twitter, LinkedIn and Google+ are popular with many demographics, and if your audiences find a particular social media platform especially worthwhile, you’re missing out big time if you don’t have a presence. Social media is more than just another way to communicate with existing customers; it’s one of your most powerful email list-building tools, too!

Here are a few tips and tricks for capturing leads through today’s most popular social sites:

Pick the Right Platforms

Are you marketing to businesses or consumers? Different audiences congregate on different social channels, so choose which sites to spend your time on wisely. In general, Facebook is excellent for B2C marketing, while LinkedIn can work wonders for B2B companies. Don’t neglect Twitter for B2B, though! Despite its informality, it’s highly popular among professionals.

Start ASAP

Nobody wants to see a sparse Facebook page or Twitter account, but rapid-fire updates will seem contrived. Building a high-ROI social presence takes time, so develop your social media strategy and begin establishing your brand on the platforms you’ve selected as soon as possible. Once you’ve created your accounts, make a point to engage with audiences and other brands to build relationships and attract more visitors.

Share Calls to Action

It should be easy for viewers to jump from your social pages to your landing pages where they can turn into leads. You don’t need to explicitly write, “Click here to join our mailing list” on every post, but you should include links to your landing pages in most updates. Mix and match high-value promotional posts with educational content relevant to your offers.

Increase Website Content

To engage social media followers (and convince them to sign up for your list), you’ll need to churn out new content on your website to link to in your updates. Creating a company blog is an excellent way to consistently publish new content. Additionally, you can send out your newsletters-just be sure to archive old newsletters for all to see. Nobody likes to be forced into giving up their contact info just to view old material, and you might turn off potential subscribers if you make sign-up a requirement. They should be joining your list because they don’t want to miss out on updates!

Stay Active

As powerful as social media can be, you’re not going to have much luck without regular posting. Static pages rarely attract new visitors and often lose existing audiences, so make sure you’re making updates daily or weekly, depending on the platform. Put up a variety of content: promotions, polls, open-ended questions, news stories and educational pieces.

Don’t sit back once you’ve posted, either. Engage with your readers by answering questions and praising insightful comments. Engage in discussion as often as possible, and spend far more time offering advice than promoting your products. People will follow you for your expertise; they’ll become customers out of loyalty.

Social media is fantastic way to connect with prospects, but there are plenty of other tools for gaining new subscribers, too. Leave no stone unturned in your quest for customers. Check out our helpful eBook to learn 20 more methods for growing email your list!

Photo Credit: Dan Machold