From using a creative “journey” technique to creating channel-specific content, here are 12 answers to the question, “What tips do you have for converting social media followers to email subscribers?”
- Use a Creative “Journey” Technique
- Tease Upcoming Relevant Content.
- Have a Well-crafted CTA
- Offer An Irresistible Lead Magnet
- Focus On Delivering Value, Then Create Fomo to Convert
- Make Sure They Are Interconnected in Some Way
- Host a Giveaway
- Make Sure Your Content is Unique
- Access Online Community Groups to Gain Subscribers
- Be Loud and Proud About the Perks of Subscribing
- Paid Lead Form Ads Are the Cheapest Way to Grow a List
- Create Channel-Specific Content
Use a Creative “Journey” Technique
One tip for converting social media followers to email subscribers is to get creative with how you promote your email list. For example, you could use a “journey” technique where each week you are building up the story as followers receive emails. This uncommon approach can help make it more interesting for potential subscribers, as they will likely be intrigued and willing to follow your journey from start to finish. Taking an active role in engaging potential customers and showing them why they should subscribe will never fail to produce good results.
Tasia Duske, CEO, Museum Hack
Tease Upcoming Relevant Content
One powerful tip to help convert social media followers into email subscribers is to tease upcoming content. You can post quick previews of what’s coming next, such as a sneak peek of the next blog post or what your newest product looks like, and then link directly to your email sign-up form. This allows people to get a glimpse of what they can expect if they become an email subscribers, and makes them more likely to take the plunge. With this tactic, you can also use compelling visuals that will draw attention and intrigue potential subscribers.
Aviad Faruz, CEO, FARUZO
Have a Well-crafted CTA
A great way to convert followers of your social media accounts into email subscribers is with a well-crafted call to action. You should provide a clear and concise message that outlines the benefits of subscribing to your email list and why it is beneficial for the user. Additionally, it is important to make the process of subscribing as easy as possible. Offer links and forms that are simple to fill out and make sure they are easily accessible. Finally, incentivize subscribers by offering exclusive content, discounts, or other rewards that make it worthwhile to sign up.
Brenton Thomas, CEO, Twibi Digital Marketing Agency
Offer An Irresistible Lead Magnet
“Subscribe to our newsletter!” doesn’t quite work anymore as an email list-building strategy. Today, people need a reason to sign up for your email list, so give them one!
If you’re looking to convert social media followers to email subscribers, offer an irresistible incentive that they can’t say no to. Here are some ideas: design a free download such as a template or course, offer a free trial or sample, create a quiz or poll, host a webinar, or do a giveaway.
Once you’ve designed your lead magnet, you can add the offer to your Instagram bio, post about it on social media, pin it on Pinterest, or promote it through paid ads.
Chelsea Evans, Owner, Scott Social
Focus On Delivering Value, Then Create FOMO to Convert
Hone in on your content. Create super-valuable bite-size content for social that sees high engagement. Once you’ve gained their loyalty and established your value, ask them to sign up to get the full story. Tell them if they like the posts, they can’t miss the newsletter where you really unpack things. Use social proof if possible (“Join our newsletter list of over 20,000 product marketers who get our insights each week”) and create FOMO to convert.
Mike White, Co-founder, Universe
Make Sure They Are Interconnected in Some Way
If you want your social media followers to subscribe to your emailers, it helps to make sure your posts and newsletters are interconnected. Leave something out in your social media posts and specify that they can find the rest of this information in your newsletters. That said, for this to work, you need to make sure that you’re enticing your customer base with interesting posts that keep them engaged.
Asma Hafejee, Senior Marketing Executive, CMR Surgical
Host a Giveaway
Hosting a social media giveaway is a great way to engage with your current audience and build your email marketing list. Be sure that the terms and conditions consist of a social media follow and an email entry to enter the giveaway. It’s a great two-for-one deal that allows you to expand your social media and email marketing outreach.
Randee Machina, Director of Marketing, Simpli Pleasures
Make Sure Your Content is Unique
If you’re including the same exact content that you push out on social media in your newsletters and email campaigns, there’s no incentive to sign up. If your content is exclusive to your email subscribers, you can capitalize on that exclusivity by giving them a teaser on your social accounts. For example, if you have a great post that goes over helpful tips for your customers on LinkedIn, mention that you dive into deeper detail in your newsletter. If someone has a preview of what they can expect, and they want to know more, they’ll be signed up for your newsletter in no time!
Whitney Blankenship, Content Marketing Manager, Drip
Access Online Community Groups to Gain Subscribers
Many times, business owners will limit themselves to their own platforms when it comes to marketing, but you can access other social media platform followers to acquire email subscribers by promoting to online community groups.
Community groups offer an advantage in that they are a concentrated target audience and provide an excellent opportunity to reach potential customers and guide them towards subscribing. Therefore, participate in online community groups and forums, engage with members, use hashtags and invitations encouraging them to visit your website, and then continue to guide them to become subscribers once they visit your page.
By not limiting yourself to only followers of your own platforms and accessing online community groups related to your industry, you can create an effective strategy of turning social media followers into email subscribers.
Mackenzie Whalen, Marketing Director, E1011 Labs
Be Loud and Proud About the Perks of Subscribing
Be loud and proud about the perks that come along with subscribing to your email list. Do you send out frequent discounts and exclusive offers? Do you share unique content they won’t find anywhere else? Essentially, we’re living in a world where attention spans are short, spamming is all too common, and inboxes are flooded. Every email has to fight for its place in the customer’s inbox.
Nabeel Abdullah, CEO, Sapphire
Use Paid Lead Form Ads as a Cheap Way to Grow a List
Once trust is established with your social media followers, it is time to prompt your audience to take action, such as joining your email list.
Keep in mind that organic posts may not reach all of your followers, but paid ads can target your entire audience, and be shown multiple times to each audience member.
I highly recommend using lead form ads to offer a free gift or email course in exchange for an email subscription.
This method can be effective and extremely cost-efficient in converting social media followers to email subscribers; its cost-efficiency comes from limiting your audience to a warm audience, and lead forms are the cheapest converting ad style available.
Timmy Brown, Agency Founder, The Asset
Create Channel-Specific Content
Once you’ve mastered sharing content across various channels, the next great challenge is tailoring that content to be channel-specific. In order to make your newsletter of value, it needs to offer ideas, resources, or content that they can’t otherwise get on your social channels. That focus on unique value is essential to engage audiences; if your social media channel just becomes a promotional outlet for gated content, you’ll lose your audience before they even get to your sign-up form.
Kevin Doherty, Senior Manager, Content Marketing, Alma
