You’ve probably heard the expression “If you want to get more viewers, become a celebrity.” That’s certainly good advice when it comes to getting on television, but it doesn’t necessarily translate to generating more email addresses for your marketing campaigns.
If you’re struggling to figure out how to make more email addresses for your marketing campaign, you’re in luck because we’ve got you covered. Here are some tried and true tips for attracting email addresses from social media users.
1. Make An Email List
If you’re not already doing so, it’s time for you to start creating an email list. You can do this by using a tool like ConvertKit or MailChimp, or by using your own platform to collect subscribers’ email addresses. Whatever method you choose, make sure that you’ve got a robust list in place before you begin your email marketing campaign.
Why is establishing a list so important? Well, you might have noticed that email marketing is one of the most effective ways to communicate with your audience. If you’ve got a list of subscribers, you can send out regular newsletters to keep them up-to-date with your latest articles and events, or you can even send them special offers or discounts as a thank-you for being on your list. In the era of fake news and clickbait, having an actual list of real-life subscribers who’ve opted in to receive your emails is what separates you from the pack.
2. Post Regularly
Posting frequently and frequently enough are two very different things. To keep your audience interested and engaged, you’ll need to post frequently enough for your audience to feel included but not so often that you turn off potential subscribers with excessive amounts of content.
What’s the best way to do this? Two thumbs way down. Always.
The point of this guideline is to keep your audience engaged with content that’s valuable and informative, but not so often or so frequently that your subscribers stop taking you seriously or question the value of your content. Naturally, this varies from blog to blog and from niche to niche, but the overarching principle is the same.
3. Have A Clear Call-To-Action
Every piece of content you publish should have a clear call-to-action (CTA). This could be a link to a specific product you’re recommending, an invitation to sign up for a mailing list, or it could be as simple as asking your readers to leave a comment below.
The key is that the CTA should be easily accessible and something that will encourage your readers to take the next step. If you’re using email marketing to promote your blog or website, the CTA should be an email address that you can send your newsletters to, or it could be the name of a specific product you’re recommending, like a new pair of running shoes.
4. Customize Your Subject Line
When someone receives an email it usually looks something like this:
Hi Nick,
Thanks for signing up for my mailing list. I look forward to sharing lots of valuable content with you in the future!
To get more subscribers, you’ll need to customize your subject line to draw in some more interested customers. Using a tool like Hootsuite, you can easily find the right messaging for your specific campaign.
Why should you customize your subject line? Well, the truth is that most email marketing platforms give you limited flexibility when it comes to the subject line. Plus, it’s always better to tailor your outreach to the person or group you’re emailing rather than using general language.
5. Personalize Your Email Content
Aside from your subject line, the next most important factor in getting someone to open and read your email is the actual content within it. To grab someone’s attention, you’ll need to use a few tricks.
One way to do this is to personalize the email. Take a look at the screenshot below. As you can see, I’ve replaced the standard “Dear [recipient]’ with a more personalized salutation:
“Dear [recipient],
Thanks for signing up for my mailing list. I look forward to sharing lots of valuable content with you in the future!
The key is to make sure that the content is relevant to your audience, and personalizing the email will make it more relevant. Of course, this could mean exchanging the occasional “Dear [recipient]” with “Hi [recipient],”, but for the most part, you should use your full name or a professionally-sounding title.
6. Use Presentation Templates
Blogs and other content creators can use special presentation templates to make it easier for readers to take action. For example, if your blog post focuses on product reviews, you could include a few line items where someone can click a button to take the next step, like so:
But if your blog post focuses more on news and trends, you could use a different template where the action awaits at the end:
Why is this important? Presentation templates make it easy for someone to follow your advice or advice found in your blog post, whether they’re interested in your topic or not. So, the template you use can influence which action your audience takes. For example, a blog post about SEO might contain a few links to reputable SEO firms, while a blog post about budget management might contain a few links to frugal blogs or websites.
7. Promote Your Blog On Social Media Channels
Blogs and other content creators can use social media channels to promote their content, both directly and indirectly. Directly, you can put out great content and gain accolades for your efforts, which may lead to more subscribers for your mailing list.
But if you want to get the most out of social media, you should promote your blog or website on the various channels, and not just one or two. For example, if you have a fashion blog, you might want to promote it on fashion-related channels like Pinterest and Instagram, as well as general social media channels like Twitter and Facebook. The more places your content is seen, the more attention it will likely receive.
8. Utilize Call-To-Actions Within Your Content
Even in cases where you’ve got a standalone CTA at the end of a blog post or website article, you should still incorporate other call-to-actions (CTAs) into your content. Incorporating CTAs into your content not only makes it easier for someone to take action, but it also makes it more relevant. You can also use the space above a video or image to incorporate a CTA.
The key is consistency. CTAs should not be seen as isolated events, but rather as a part of a larger pattern that is established throughout your content.
9. Measure The Success Of Your Email Marketing Campaign
To determine the success of your email marketing campaign, you’ll need to measure a few different things. First, you want to measure the number of email addresses you’ve acquired, as this will give you an idea of how many people you’ve reached with your outreach. Then, you can measure the number of emails that were opened by your audience and the number of conversions (ie. when someone clicks a CTA or buys a product after being on your list).
Now, it’s important to note that one of the major differences between online and offline marketing is the ability to track results and manage growth. With online marketing, you can see exactly how many people you’ve reached, how many people are opening your email, and how many people are converting. The upside is that you can continue to refine your strategy and adjust as you go along, while the downside is that you need to establish ground-truth factoring for any growth you see.
10. Keep Emails Strictly To Marketing
Last but not least, we want to keep your emails focused on marketing material. Ideally, you want to keep them clean of any content not related to marketing. This means that if you’ve got an e-commerce store or blog, you shouldn’t send promotional offers in your newsletters. Keep your emails clean by only sending out marketing content that’s relevant to your target audience.
Now, we’re not saying there’s anything wrong with promoting your products or services in your emails. After all, everyone needs products and services, and many businesses have thriving affiliate programs where they promote relevant products and earn money from sales.