As a small business owner, you already understand the importance of optimizing your marketing budget. And while there's no denying that Instagram and other social media sites can be excellent platforms for marketing your small business, what many business owners don't realize is that they can actually use these tools to grow their email lists as well.
So, what are some of the advantages of Instagram as a marketing tool and how can you harness its power to grow your email list? We've got you covered with some marketing tips and tricks geared specifically towards small business owners like you.
Why Instagram is a Valuable Marketing Tool
If your business isn't already on Instagram, you're missing out on some excellent marketing opportunities. Consider, for starters, that there are more than one billion active users currently on Instagram; this means that with the right marketing strategy, your reach is essentially limitless.
Instagram also makes it easy for you to engage directly with your customers (or prospective customers). By creating fun posts, generating likes, and using hashtags, you can interact with your target audience in ways that simply aren't available through other marketing platforms. And, strategic and creative hashtags can be used to boost your visibility and grow your brand awareness on Instagram.
Compared to other social media platforms (including Facebook and Twitter), Instagram also allows for a high level of creativity. From interactive videos to Instagram's "stories" feature, there are plenty of opportunities for creative marketing.
Why You Need an Email List
Instagram is great not just for your standard social media marketing, but for growing your email list as well. After all, there are many benefits to expanding your email list.
You Own It
First and foremost, your email list is the only communication asset that your business actually owns.
With social media alone, you have to rely on the platform's algorithm to show content to your followers. With an email list, you decide exactly what goes out to your list.
That content then shows up directly in your customer's inbox. And of course, you can even use segmentation to send out different marketing messages to different groups within your list.
It's Targeted
If somebody has signed up for your email list, they have already shown at least some interest in your company's offerings. This makes it easier to target your future email messages and tailor them to your audience's interests.
The more personalized nature of email makes it extremely effective, whether you're trying to make a sale or even get a potential customer to contact you for more information.
It Works
Simply put, email marketing is extremely effective. With more than four billion active email accounts across the globe, the potential for reaching new customers and clients is far-reaching with a great email list.
Strategies to Move Instagram Followers to an Email List
Now that you have a better understanding of how Instagram and email marketing can be an effective means of growing your business, you may be wondering how you can use Instagram to grow your email list.
There are plenty of simple and practical (yet effective) steps you can take to encourage your Instagram followers to sign up for your email list, if they haven't done so already.
Run a Contest
Contests, drawings, and giveaways are all great ways to use social media to its full potential. Not only can a contest be used to encourage more sign-ups to your email list, but they serve a dual purpose of increasing your number of social media followers and boosting your online presence.
Just make sure that it's clear to your followers that they need to subscribe to your email list (and include a link) as part of the contest participation requirements.
Offer Something Exclusive
Another option to get your Instagram followers signing up for your email list is to offer exclusive discounts, content, or other promotions.
Post on your Instagram page that followers can sign up for your email newsletter to receive free downloads, other exclusive content, and possibly even a one-time promotional code.
See how Ben Cummings of Blog With Ben offers his Instagram followers an exclusive coupon code to access his brand new course. This is a great strategy to drive social followers into subscribers (and even into customers).
Include a Link in Your Bio
Don't forget to include a link to sign up for your email list in your Instagram bio. You might also include a specific call-to-action along with the link, encouraging your followers to subscribe.
Don't assume that a simple link to your sign-up page will suffice; a distinct call-to-action will greatly increase your chances of converting Instagram followers to email subscribers.
Take, for example, Social Media Coach Brenda Ster — Brenda uses freebies to encourage her Instagram followers to join her email list. Including a link in her bio that takes visitors directly to her freebies makes it easy for visitors and followers to take the next action.
Take Advantage of Stories
Depending on how many followers your business page has on Instagram, you can also use the unique "stories" function to promote your email list. Specifically, if your page has more than 10,000 followers, you'll have the ability to add links to your Instagram stories. This poses an excellent opportunity for you to market your email list by including a direct link.
Even if you don't have 10,000 followers, you can still create a unique story that encourages your followers to head over to your website and sign up for your email list without a direct link.
The Final Word on Growing Your Email List With Instagram
Instagram is an excellent marketing tool for small and growing business. Not only does it offer some creative marketing opportunities, but it can also be used to grow your company's email marketing list with the right strategies. One thing to keep in mind when trying to grow your email list with social media, however, is that you should be mindful of how much you're promoting your email list on platforms like Instagram. If you're pushing it too much, this can come off as "salesy" and could actually be a turn-off to some of your followers.
In general, there's nothing wrong with including a link to your email list in your Instagram bio and using one of the above strategies to promote your email list once every week or so. Just try to be mindful of how often you're mentioning it and try not to go overboard; at the end of the day, you know your followers best.
With a little careful research and creative effort, you can use your Instagram page to grow your email list. From there, your marketing can reach new levels of success!
Convert social media followers into subscribers
Want to convert your followers into subscribers — across your social channels? Then you need this guide.
Get everything you need to know about converting social followers into email subscribers and take back control of how you communicate with your audience.
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