Brought to you by: ExtremeDigitalMarketing.com 10 Ways To Use Social Media To Build Your Email List When email, the Original Social Media slams into the new social media you have a unique and powerful combination. By Lon Safko Author of The Social Media Bible www.lonsafko.com
10 Things You Should Know About Using Social Media T Build Your Email List 10 techniques on how to use the different social media tools that you are already familiar with to drive traffic to your web site and email sign-up list Social Media is more than just a fad, it s here to stay. Why, because it is such an incredibly effective set of marketing tools. Social media as with every other form of marketing, still requires human resources almost every social media tool is free to implement. So when email, the Original Social Media slams into the new social media you have a unique and powerful combination. Social media is so effective is because it s using media to be social. Being social is an intrinsic human need. We need to be part of a group or a network of other like-minded people to share our thoughts, ideas, and connect. Social media provides those platforms where we can connect with our customers and our prospects, to share those connections. Whether you are using Twitter to share short 140 character bites of insights, using survey tools to hear what your customer is thinking, social networks, to form communities around a common interest, email, to communicate directly to your customer or blogs to convey larger concepts you are always building relationships and building trust. In this guide, I will show you 10 techniques on how to use the different social media tools that you are already familiar with to drive traffic to your web site and email sign-up list. Everything you do on your social networks should be designed to build your email list.
ExtremeDigitalMarketing.com Tip #1 - Use Your Social Networks To Drive Email Sign-Up 1. Put Your Email Sign-Up On Your Web Page And Blog Page If you want people to sign-up, you have to make it easy for them to find it. Be sure your email sign-up is on your home page. Whether you drive people to your home html web page or to your blog page, be sure your email sign-up box is conspicuously displayed in the upper right hand corner of your page. The upper right hand corner is where we have become accustomed to looking for email sign-up. If you want people to sign-up, you have to make it easy for them to find it and do it. Constant Contact provides you with a wizard that will create the code for you. Just follow the wizard, copy the code, and paste it into your web page html code or tour blog template.
Tip #2 - Use Your Social Networks To Drive Email Sign-Up 2. Offer Value On Your Facebook Group or Fan Page There has to be strong WII-FM (What s In It For Me) content. Offer valuable downloads to the people who frequent your social network pages; Facebook, Myspace, Ning, others. Give them a link to where they can sign-up for your updates. Be absolutely sure that your downloads and updates have value. Even though your customers aren t paying for your content, they are spending something; time. And today, time is often more valuable than money. So, be sure there is strong WII-FM (What s In It For Me) content. After they read your updates, the response you re looking for is I didn t know that! Cool!. If that s the feeling they come away with, they will remain your valuable customers and will refer others. Be sure the links on your social sites take them directly to a page where they can sign-up to get your content. Use the survey tool on Facebook to ask your customers questions such as; what did you think of our last ad campaign or, How many would prefer more links to video communications or, What would you put in our FAQ s or, If we discounted product X, by Y%, would you be motivated to buy or, How often should we connect with you or, how many use Twitter or, Would you like us to send constant updates through Twitter? Feedback is the most valuable form of user generated content!
Tip #3 - Use Your Social Networks To Drive Email Sign-Up 3. Use Microblogging, (Twitter) To Build A Following Tweet messages such as If you like my Tweets, then you ll love my email updates. Twitter is an excellent way to drive to your email list. If you want people to follow your tweets or sign-up for your email updates, you have to have good content even though you are restricted to only 140 characters. When you have built a trusted following on Twitter, tweet messages such as If you like my Tweets, then you ll love my email updates, and Sign-up for my email updates, they re more than 140 characters, and Imagine what I can deliver with a full page. If working on your Tweets is too difficult to schedule, set your Tweets up to send out at regular times, for example 10:00 AM on Tuesday. Use Hootsuite (hootsuite.com). Just download Hootsuite and type or paste in your Tweets. Tell Hootsuite when you would like it to send those Tweets for you. In an hour, tomorrow morning, at 10:00 AM on Tuesday, Hootsuite will schedule your Tweets and send them while you are busy working the other nine tips in this paper. Hootsuite is free and offers a lot more tools!
Tip #4 - Use Your Social Networks To Drive Email Sign-Up 4. Be Sure To Use Your Blog To Drive Traffic To Your Sign-Up Just remind your readers that If you like my blog postings, be sure to sign-up for my email blasts. Remind people who are reading your blogs that you have more great content in your email blasts, they just need to sign up! Just remind your readers that If you like my blog postings, be sure to sign-up for my email blasts (with a direct link into your sign-up). Put the link right in your blog and make it easy, one click away from signing up to your email list.
Copyright Lon Lon Safko Tip #5 - A Social Media Interactive Email Signature 5. Make Your Email Signature Social Media Interactive Use your emails and email list to drive and build traffic to your social networking sites. It s not just about using your social networking sites to drive people to your email sign-up, it s about integrating these two forms of marketing to create an incredible synergy. Use your emails and email list to drive and build traffic to your social networking sites. When you email your current list, be sure you are using an effective social media interactive signature. You need to include all of your social networking sites that you participate within your email signature. This is what I prefer. Some prefer putting all of their social network site links in their Google profile and driving their customers there. Put your Facbook and your LinkedIn links in your signature. Add your Twitter account, your YouTube videos, and Flickr photo links under your signature. Make them http so the reader can simply Click on the link and open your page. Be certain that your email signature is correctly displayed in your template.
Tip #6 - A Social Media Interactive Email Signature 6. Insert a QR Barcode Into Your Email Signature QR Barcodes for your URL web addresses, SMS text messages, and even your elephone number. Go Directly To My Web Site My Office Telephone What if you actually made it easy for your customers and prospects to find you! What if you inserted a QR Barcode into your email signature? Use QR Barcode or Quick Response Barcodes. It s the little square images you are now seeing in magazines, on billboards, and other printed materials. I put QR Barcodes into everything. With more and more mobile phones being web enabled, QR Barcodes are becoming more and more valuable. They work by downloading any of a dozen free apps on your iphone, Blackberry, Android, or other web enabled mobile phone like the one I use; Barcode Scanner.. Then just click the app, and point your cell phone camera at the barcode. That s it! In a few seconds your mobile phone takes you immediately to that web site! Cool! To create as many free barcodes with your information just go to: qrcode.kaywa.com. You can create QR Barcodes for your URL web addresses, SMS text messages, and even you telephone number so you client can point and dial. Try these different types! An SMS Text Message Or Tweet Sign-Up For Constant Contact Sign-Up For My Email
Tip #7 - Utilize File Sharing To Build Your Email List These audio files are relatively small, can be inserted and played on your web site, your blog, your social network, and be linked from your email. 7. Create Audio Podcasts Audio Podasts are really easy to create and the software and hardware is already built right in your PC. In most cases, audio editing software is there too and it s free. Just turn on the recording software, tell your customers (and most importantly, your prospects) something you want them to know, something they should know, something they would want to know, then hit stop. These audio file are relatively small, can be inserted and played on your web site, your blog, your social network, and be linked from your email. Audio is easy and much more effective than plain text. Your podcasts will make your emails much more interesting. When creating your podcast, be sure to remind your customers to sign up to your email list for more of your audio updates. Audacity is an awesome piece of free audio editing software. Another winning free software package I use is Levelator, which levels out all of the audio so the volume is consistant. audacity.sourceforge.net conversationsnetwork.org/levelator
Tip #8 - Utilize File Sharing To Build Your Email List 8. Add Photos and Photo Links To Your Emails Photos build trust. And, trust sells. You ve never bought anything from someone you didn t trust. When creating your emails add images and links to the photos of you, your customers, your products, trade show, presentations, roll-outs and employees on your favorite photo sharing web site such as Flickr. Put one photo in your email as a teaser then put a link to lots of your photos on Flicker or other photo sharing sites. People (especially customers) love to look at other peoples photos. Photos create a persona and personalizes your company with your customer; which builds trust.
Tip #9 - Utilize Files Sharing To Build Your Email List 9. Add Video Links To Your Emails Photos build trust. And, trust sells. you ve never bought anything from someone you didn t trust. When developing the content for your next email think about adding a link to a specific video to add some additional interest. Put links in your emails to videos on YouTube, Vimeo and other video sharing sites. Use your email to get your customers to visit you where you can post a personal video message designed just for them. People would much prefer watching you, your expressions, your tone, your body language, than reading something about your new product. Don t make them work for it, show it to them! And remind them at the end of each and every video, If you aren t signed up to receive my email blasts, be sure to go to www. Post your videos on YouTube, Vimeo, and other video sharing web sites. If your prospects are cruising and surfing videos and come across one of yours, make it easy for them to find you and sign-up!
Tip #10 - Utilize Files Sharing To Build Your Email List 10. The Five Steps To Social Media Success They say You can t manage what you don t measure. This is absolutely true. Here are five of the most important steps you can perform for your company; The Five Steps To Social Media Success. Step 1, Analyze Your Existing Media. In this step you need to list every marketing plan, strategy, and campaigns you are currently executing. I want you to look at expenses and the number of new customers that strategy generated. Then divide to determine your Cost of Customer Acquisition. Step 2, The Social Media Trinity. Push aside all of the social media noise and hype and focus on the three most important categories of social media; blogging, microblogging, and social networks. Get into the weeds with these three. You will quickly see the payoff. Step 3, Integration. You need to completely integrate The Social Media Trinity into your existing marketing strategy, in detail. Step 4, Resources. Where do you find the resources to implement this totally new strategy? Look internally, there are people all around you who love to write, can t put the mobile phones down, guide them to developing your blog, social sites, and Twitter. Step 5, Implement & Measure. Once you implement your successful social media strategy plan be sure to include a very important part of that step, measurement. They say You can t manage what you don t measure. This is absolutely true. If you don t measure your marketing campaign s success, how will you know what the ROI (Return On Investment) is or what the CCA (Cost of Customer Acquisition), is? How will you know what you should keep doing and what you should stop doing? How will you know where the most effective use of your limited resources are?
10 Ways To Use Social Media To Build Your Email List - Conclusion When email and social media are combined they become an extreme digital marketing system. 10 Ways To Use Social Media To Build Your Email List - Conclusion - Email, when executed correctly is a very effective form of trusted marketing. I have seen email campaigns average 17% conversation with a high of nearly 30%! Just like email, social media is about connecting and communicating WITH your customers and prospects, not communicating AT them. Email allows for a comfortable and friendly exchange of information on a trusted platform that allows you to stay in front of customers so that when they are ready to buy, it s you they think of first. Social media is about being in places where your customers gather in a trusted environment and share ideas, thoughts, reviews, and other conversations. By adding social media to your email marketing you can build trust, build relationships, build your email list, build your Facebook Fans, build your LinkedIn links, build your Twitter followers, and ultimately build your bottom line. When email and social media are combined they become an extreme digital marketing system. Email, The Original Social Media!