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Email Lists Grow Faster and Better With the Help of Social Media

Email is where the money is. Disparaged by many marketers as passé, those in the know will admit—if grudgingly—that email still rules for lead generation.


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James L Katzaman

2 years ago | 6 min read

Putting in time and effort gives great returns for little investment

Photo by Brett Jordan on Unsplash

Email is where the money is. Disparaged by many marketers as passé, those in the know will admit — if grudgingly — that email still rules for lead generation.

Return on investment rests heavily on which social media platform works best to produce leads. The shortest and best answer is to go where your target audience lives.

Public relations expert Gigi Peterkin attests to email’s continuing power to attract customers. Through her AMPLIFY PR agency, her goal is to lead the PR revolution for women entrepreneurs and traditionally marginalized leaders.

“I’m in hard-core growth mode — meeting new people and forging new relationships,” she said. “Honestly, I love it, and I love connecting.”

Treat your most powerful tool with massive care
Email marketing is a huge connection venue for bloggersblog.markgrowth.com

Peterkin talked with marketers Ivana Taylor and Iva Ignjatovic about how to grow your email list with social media.

Taylor owns DIYMarketers, a company “committed to helping small business owners get out of overwhelm.” Ignjatovic is a marketing, strategy, leadership and business consultant.

From the start, Taylor has three favorite questions:

  • Who are you being?
  • What are you committed to?
  • What can people count on you for?

“Your emails should exemplify the answers to these questions,” she said. “These are the only three branding questions you need to answer. I love them because they are specific enough and flexible enough to set you apart and allow you to grow around them.

“Most emails make me want to vomit,” Taylor said. “I’m desperate for some levity without being — I don’t know — icky. I love it when businesses don’t take themselves so seriously.”

Expand as Broadly as Possible

Peterkin prefers to cast a wide net.

“My email list is my community, not just clients,” she said. “They get us as we are. If we’re not for them, then everyone knows pretty quickly.

“Email lists are part of your owned media, which is crucial to building a community, testing and owning your message, and understanding the needs of those you’re serving,” Peterkin said. ”It’s your own online dinner party.”

That is one reason why small businesses should grow their lists.

“Emails lists are critical to the success of your business because they are potential buyers,” Taylor said.

Email Delivers Valuable Messages Better Than Ever to Curious Consumers
Reports of its demise are greatly exaggerated as profits roll inmedium.datadriveninvestor.com

Lists are also easy on tight budgets.

“Having an email list is relatively cheap to build and maintain, compared to other marketing channels such as paid search or social media advertising,” Ignjatovic said.

Taylor has been rebuilding her email list — about 1,700 so far and working to grow it.

DIYMarketers has an article, “How To Create Easy Email Marketing Campaigns For Your Business on MailChimp.”

“My email list is very small because my business doesn’t need a big one,” Ignjatovic said.

Each marketer has a favorite email list growth technique.

“I love building lists from the stage,” Peterkin said. ”I love speaking on other people’s stages to add value and get exposure to new audiences. Social audio apps have been amazing for this during these pandemic times.”

Taylor prefers co-marketing with experts using her masterclass series.

According to business tools site Constant Contact, 72 percent of customers prefer email as their main channel for business communication.

Keyed to Clients

“I build email lists for my clients,” Ignjatovic said. “Usually it’s a popup on the website. Whenever my clients get a new contact, we invite them. We include a link in social media posts or LinkedIn articles.”

One group of marketers thinks it’s better to grow an email list first while another believes it’s better to focus on building a social media following.

“They’re pretty symbiotic, assuming your social media presence reflects your business,” Peterkin said. “It’s all relationships, teaching and engaging. For people with a large social media presence I’d encourage bringing people into an email list and vice versa.”

Growing her email list is Taylor’s priority.

“Social connections are nice, but I don’t ‘own’ those,” she said.

Email’s power surges from data
A list represents people extending you their hand of friendshipmedium.datadriveninvestor.com

Taylor noted the uncomplicated, “powerful” example of comedian and actor Kevin Hart. He grew his list from a piece of paper people could put their email on if they wanted to hear about his next show. Hart used that to get booked in bigger venues and beyond. 

“That’s the perfect example of emails I want to get,” Taylor said. “If I like a product, service or entertainer, I want to know where they are going to be. Most business emails are just too much of nothing — or selling and pushing.

“It depends on what I would want or expect,” she said. “That’s key. If you have a restaurant and I sign up for an email to get notifications about dinner specials, then that’s what I want.”

Multiple Promotions

Taylor added that she had been promoting three events.

“I gave people the option to not get certain emails and still get others,” she said.

DIYMarketers has posted an article, “5 Email Marketing Tips That Will Skyrocket Conversions.”

“For me, focusing on social media and growing my audience there was way better for my business than any email list,” Ignjatovic said.

Taylor contends that having an active email list is a priority compared to a strong social media presence.

“Social media is great for presenting and engaging,” she said. “An email list is more of a personal relationship and an opportunity for selling. A consumer survey has shown that people want deals and discounts in their emails.”

Lead generation starts from Day 1
Marketers need to know who they are and what they stand formedium.datadriveninvestor.com

Content Marketing Institute has found that email marketing is mostly used for lead generation, 85 percent; sales, 84 percent; lead nurturing, 78 percent; and customer retention, 74 percent.

“From my experience, a strong social media presence is more important,” Ignjatovic said. “That’s probably why I never moved on with the email list.”

Social media works well to grow an email list.

“Social audio has been great,” Peterkin said. “The ability for people to hear my message and dialogue has made for quicker connections. The link to join the list is always in my profiles and shared from the audio stage if I’m moderating.”

Go for Quality

Facebook ads have been good for Taylor.

Generally, email works best when you stress quality over quantity.

“I use social media for pretty much anything, including growing email lists,” Ignjatovic said. “One thing, though, you need to have really good content for that — and a good website if you want to grow it relatively fast.”

Preferred social media platforms for lead generation tend to shift as they fall in and out of favor with audiences.

“Throughout 2021 it was Clubhouse for lead generation, hands down,” Peterkin said. “I’m not getting the numbers I got since then from Clubhouse from any one site this year.

“When Clubhouse went public — not invite only — it lost some of its edge,” she said. “The people I know who made it exceptional quietly left. Now, while it’s still a valuable channel, it doesn’t have much to differentiate it from the others.”

No Brand or Publisher Out There Can Afford to Ignore Facebook
The social media platform still stands unrivaled above the restmedium.datadriveninvestor.com

While not her favorite platform, Taylor grudgingly admits that Facebook gets her the best results.

Databox reports that 50 percent of marketers claim that there is no perfect time for sending email campaigns because every person and business is unique.

“Based on the data I have, every email list has the best time,” Ignjatovic said. “It’s very individual. I’m not sure why people would expect some cookie cutter ‘best time’ solution.

“As for social media, I get the best results on Twitter and then LinkedIn,” she said.

More Than One

Focusing on one social media platform might not be as good as growing an email list on multiple platforms.

“When it comes to growing an email list on social media, it’s all hands on deck,” Taylor said. “Use the platform where your ideal customers are.”

Being strategic also helps. Good strategies lead the way to more business and profits.

“Consider your target audience, the content you plan to share, the time you have to devote to social media and the budget you have available for marketing efforts,” Ignjatovic said. “Then decide on one or multiple platforms.”

Fish for people willing and eager to be your partners
Lure customers with the right baitmedium.com

Businesses might be pressed for time to devote to growing their email lists with social media.

“My recommendation to grow your email list is to form many partnerships with complementary experts,” Taylor said.

Work with objectives and goals in mind.

“Make sure your efforts are well-organized, efficient and have a solid plan,” Ignjatovic said. “It may take longer to see results this way, but it will be worth it in the long run. It’s quality over quantity.”

That will help to avoid big mistakes businesses make when trying to grow their email lists using social media. For Taylor, that would be not matching the lead magnet to the platform.

“When asking people to sign up for your list, you need to give them a reason why they should do so,” Ignjatovic said. “Provide valuable content they can’t find anywhere else. Then they’ll be more likely to subscribe.”

About The Author

Jim Katzaman is a manager at Largo Financial Services and worked in public affairs for the Air Force and federal government. You can connect with him on Twitter, Facebook and LinkedIn.

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James L Katzaman

Jim Katzaman is a charter member of the Tealfeed Creators' program, focusing on marketing and its benefits for companies and consumers. Connect with him on Twitter, Facebook and LinkedIn as well as subscribing here on Tealfeed.


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