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Build Your Email List Using Social Media: 8 Surefire Ways

04 2009 Friday

By Christine Gallagher in Web 2.0

When you are doing business online, it is important to build a list of targeted subscribers to market your products or services to. You want a responsive list and your job is to provide consistent value to them. Whether you have a blog or a website, you should definitely have an opt-in form to capture a visitor’s name and email address in a prominent location.

Two big components of effective marketing are reach and frequency. Reach refers to the number of people you reach with your message; while frequency refers to the number of times each person is reached on average. Frequency builds trust and drives your particular message home.

More people than ever are using social media tools so more of your target market is reachable there today than even just a few short months ago. Take advantage of these top ways to add subscribers when using social media sites so that you can begin communicating regularly with more potential clients and customers.

1) Create an effective profile. What do I mean by effective? Use a real photo of yourself and your real name. Include your location and a good bio–complete, up-to-date and with all contact information.

2) Offer events. A great way to add targeted subscribers is to hold an event such as a teleclass. Invite your followers and friends and direct them to a sign-up page specifically for the event. Let them know that in addition to signing up for whatever the event is, they will also receive a complimentary subscription to your e-zine or other valuable information.

3) Join a Ning network or create your own. Ning is a platform which allows people to create their own social networks online. Anyone can create a network for free around a specific interest. This is a great tool for getting in front of your niche or target market.

4) Sync your newsletter broadcasts with Twitter. If you use an email list service such as AWeber, you have the option to automatically tweet a link to your newsletter when the broadcast is sent out. Just choose Syndicate and Twitter Update.

5) Place an opt-in box on your Facebook profile. This is something I explain how to do in detail in my free e-course. The Profile HTML application in Facebook allows you to add your opt-in box for collecting names and emails very easily. This way you can capture new subscribers right from your profile.

6) Use social bookmarking sites. Social bookmarking is a way for internet users to search, organize and store bookmarks of web pages. Have a way for readers to submit posts they enjoy to bookmarking sites (Digg, Delicious, StumbleUpon, etc.) right from your blog. This is a nice way to drive traffic to your site when others come across your bookmarked site.

7) Feed your blog posts to sites automatically. Facebook, Twitter and LinkedIn all have tools that will post your latest blog posts on their sites as soon as they are published. This keeps you consistently on others radars.

Be helpful and participate often. The best advice I can give for spending time on social sites is to give, give, give. You do not have to spend exorbitant amounts of time there, but when you do use them, offer suggestions, advice and tips. Create conversation as well as join it. People will get to know you this way and want to seek out more information about you.

Take action on several of these tips as soon as you can. It has never been simpler and more fun to build your list online than it is now!

About the Author:

Christine Gallagher, MLS, MSIS, founder of CommunicateValue.com, teaches solopreneurs and small business how to boost their business and their profits by using online marketing and social media tools to communicate effectively and authentically. For F.R.E.E. tips on how to build profitable relationships, leverage technology and create your own successful online business, visit http://CommunicateValue.com

Tags: email marketing, list building, social media

2 Responses to “Build Your Email List Using Social Media: 8 Surefire Ways”

Christine, excellent article, I think that social media is so overwhelming to most business people it is hard to remember that the same rules you use for offline networking also apply for online networking. Be real, relevant and regular.

I also suggest people start by slotting a 1/2 hour twice a week to get involved in social media. Just do what you can within that slot – but keep at it.

Jan Riley

April 6th, 2009

Thanks Jan.

Exactly, the authenticity is key. And your advice is good. Some of the most common issues I see with new social media users are overwhelm and getting caught in the “time suck” of it. Small steps are best at first and though it may seem funny to tell people to “schedule” social media time, it really can help make it more manageable.