How To Expand Your Email List Using Facebook
By Ben | Oct 2, 2013 (5 min read)
If you want your business to grow, gathering emails and contacts is a good way to start. If you’re looking to expand your email list but don’t know where to begin, try using Facebook for lead generation. Being one of the most popular social media outlets with over 2 billion monthly users of varying age ranges, Facebook allows you to take advantage of promotions that can help you grow your list of email contacts.
Here are some ways that Facebook Promotions can help your Orange County marketing:
1) Sweepstakes
When you create a sweepstakes promotion, you give people the chance to enter without much of a hassle. Usually, there is a simple form that people will fill out and through this you can obtain their email address. A lot of people sign up for sweepstakes because it doesn’t require much time or thought. What can work against you, however, is that people can likely enter more than once with several email addresses. People may also enter just to win something, not because they fall within your target audience range. Even so, this is a great way to collect emails for your business.
2) Contests
The great part about creating a contest through Facebook is that there is more room for creativity and fun. You can create a photo contest, a writing contest, or even a video contest! You can even formulate your own set of guidelines and rules for people to follow when they submit. Through this method, you can gain the email addresses of people who are likely more interested in what your business has to offer, too.
3) Promote and Follow the Rules
Two other forms of Facebook Promotions are Quizzes and Coupons. Though these can be helpful to spread the word about your business, they may not be as successful in gaining email addresses. (But hey, taking quizzes and getting discounts can still be engaging and fun!) When you create your Facebook Promotion, make sure that you make a clear and ideal set of guidelines and rules. Be sure to follow all Facebook regulations, too.
Remember that if you want to gain more email addresses, you have to get creative; people aren’t usually on their toes waiting to share their email addresses. So start taking advantage of Facebook Promotions to help you grow your email list today!
4) Include a Call to Action
One of Facebook’s newest and most useful features is the call to action button for business pages. The call to action will show up near the like button on your cover photo and is perfect for encouraging newsletter sign-ups. Simply add the “sign-up” button and link it to your online sign-up form.
5.) Utilize Cover Photos for Promotion
You can update your Facebook cover photo as many times as you want, which makes it a perfect platform to promote your website, events, contests, sweepstakes, webinars, and anything else you want your audience to know about. You can also include a link to wherever you want to send your potential subscribers. Sadly, your link won’t be clickable, so make sure to clean it up with a tool like bitly.
6.) Pin Lead Generating Posts
When you pin a post it will stay at the top of your Facebook feed. If you have something tangible to offer this can be a gold mine for lead generation. Now all you need to do is create a post outlining exactly what your newsletter has to offer and why your audience should subscribe. If you can offer exclusive content that’s even better!
7.) Host an Online Webinar
Hosting an online webinar is an immersive way to connect with your audience. By including an email form in the registration process you’ll have plenty of new subscribers who are more than likely interested in and excited to digest your content.
8.) Share Newsletters
Sharing your newsletters on Facebook is a great way to show your followers what they can expect from your content. Most email marketing platforms like MailChimp and Constant Contact offer a share option for Facebook, Linkedin, and Twitter making it easy to distribute your newsletter across all of your social channels.
9.) Run a Paid Facebook Campaign
If done right, paid Facebook Ads are cost-effective and produce fast results. Consider promoting a top performing newsletter and include a sign-up CTA.
10.) Facebook Groups are Your Friend
Getting familiar with Facebook groups frequented by your target audience is a great way to find out what kind of content your audience wants. Look around for people asking questions and think about how you can answer those same questions in your newsletters. Offering relevant information is the best way to keep people engaged and subscribed to your content.
Remember that if you want to gain more email addresses, you have to get creative; people aren’t usually on their toes waiting to share their email addresses. So start taking advantage of Facebook Promotions to help you grow your email list today!
