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How to Improve Your EmailMarketing With Social MediaBy Kristi Hines
Published March 30, 2015
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Are you using social media to support youremail list growth?
If you’re thinking of marketing tactics suchas email and social media as two separateentities, you’re missing out on a lot ofbenefits.
In this article you’ll discover tips for using social media to improve your emailmarketing.
Discover how to improve your email marketing w ith social media.
What You Need to Get StartedThere are two things you ideally need to make most of the tips in this article. Ingeneral, both will help you grow your email list.
A Lead Magnet
A lead magnet is a freebie you offer people in exchange for their email address. Thefreebie can be an ebook, whitepaper, report, access to a tool, template, video,presentation, course, etc. You can see a lead magnet in action on the homepage ofSocial Media Examiner.
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Example of a lead magnet promotion at the top of Social Media Examiner.
You should create your lead magnet with your ideal email subscriber andcustomer in mind. For example, if you want CEOs interested in social media tosubscribe to your email list, create lead magnets about social media geared towardsCEOs instead of people who work for them.
If you decide to use more than one lead magnet, you may want to create aresources section, learning center or another similar area on your website tohelp people find all of your freebies.
Visual.ly, for example, offers several lead magnets in their content hub. When youdownload one of their lead magnets, you’re taken to a squeeze page—the next thingyou need for your own email marketing.
A Squeeze Page
A squeeze page is a landing page dedicated to converting visitors into emailsubscribers. Ideally, your squeeze page should include some information aboutyour lead magnet and an opt-in form to capture your visitors’ information andemail.
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Example of a squeeze page for email subscriber opt-ins.
If you need to qualify leads for your products or services, you may want toinclude a couple of questions to find out who the subscriber is and what hisor her needs are . But if your main goal is simply to grow your email list, fewerquestions will lead to more subscribers.
Armed with the URL to your latest lead magnet squeeze page(s), here are some waysto use social media to grow your email list.
#1: Facebook Promotion OptionsFacebook Page Short Description
You have the opportunity to share URLs in two places on your Facebook page. One ofthose is in the main website field for your page and the other is in your page’s shortdescription. This is a great place to share the URL for your lead magnet.
The short description field is limited to 160 characters, so use them wisely to describeyour business and get people to your lead magnet.
Facebook Page Custom Tabs
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Custom tabs are applications you add to your Facebook page to create a specificfunctionality. For example, the Convince & Convert Facebook page uses a custom tabto house an opt-in form for their email newsletter.
Example of an opt-in form on a Facebook page custom tab.
Find out if your email marketing software provides a Facebook app to createan opt-in form on a Facebook page custom tab or you can use an app likeWoobox Static HTML to display an opt-in form on your own website.
Facebook Page Call-to-Action Button
The Facebook call-to-action button can also be used to direct people to your squeezepage. Simply use the Sign Up text option and link it to your squeeze page.
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How to set up a call-to-action button on your Facebook page.
To encourage people to click on the call-to-action button, you can create a customFacebook cover photo that promotes your lead magnet and points to thebutton.
Facebook Page Cover Photo
Speaking of the cover photo, you can also use the cover photo’s description tolink to your squeeze page like Mari Smith does.
Example of a Facebook page cover photo promoting a lead magnet.
Even if you don’t use your cover photo to promote your lead magnet, you should at
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least update it to include a link to your website so people can click through to it.
Facebook Advertising
Facebook ads are a perfect way to promote your lead magnet and get your idealsubscribers signed up to your email list. Formstack‘s ad is a perfect example ofpromoting a free ebook, using a great image and a download button as the call toaction.
Example of a Facebook ad promoting a lead magnet.
Be sure to use the interests and demographics targeting options to go beyondage and location targeting to qualify the leads who see the invitation to your
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email list. The more qualified your leads, the better your email marketing will perform.
How to use targeting options for a Facebook ad.
You can also upload your current email list as a custom audience and create alookalike audience to target people similar to your current email subscribers.
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How to create a lookalike audience from your email list.
Choose Lookalike Audience in your ad’s targeting options in the Custom Audiencesfield to promote your lead magnet to them.
Only use this option if you feel that your current email list is fully qualified for yourbusiness. Otherwise, you simply attract more unqualified email leads.
#2: Twitter Promotion OptionsTwitter Bio
Similar to using the short description on your Facebook page, you can use yourTwitter bio to promote your lead magnet and leave your website field for yourmain website URL.
Example of a link used in the Tw itter bio.
Placing the URL of your squeeze page in your Twitter bio is particularly useful
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because only the link in your Twitter bio shows up in places like Twitter search results.
Example of how a link in a Tw itter bio appears in Tw itter search results.
For maximum effectiveness, avoid including hashtags and other Twitter profile@username handles. That makes certain there’s only one clickable item in yourTwitter bio for people to act on.
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Twitter Lead Generation Card
The Twitter lead generation card is a feature that lets you collect email addressesdirectly from within Twitter. You’ll find it in the Twitter ads section and the setup willlook like this.
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How to set up a Tw itter lead generation card.
Additional configurations for specific CRM software (like Salesforce) can be found inthe Twitter Help Center’s guide to setting up a lead generation card.
Otherwise, you download the list of email addresses from users who opt infrom your card and upload it to your email marketing service . You can find yourleads by going to your cards and clicking on the Download Leads icon (the one withthe right arrow).
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The location of your Tw itter lead generation card submissions to export.
To get exposure for your Twitter lead generation card, simply tweet it to youraudience or promote it using Twitter advertising.
Twitter Advertising
To promote your Twitter lead generation card or tweets with links to your latest leadmagnets, you can use Twitter advertising. Just like Facebook ads, you can targetqualified audiences. On Twitter, you do this with interests and followers ofother Twitter accounts (like your competitors).
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How to target specif ic audiences for a Tw itter ad campaign.
As with Facebook, you can market to custom audiences on Twitter. Start byuploading your current email list to Twitter’s audience manager. Choose youremail list as a tailored audience , and then check the box for targeting userssimilar to your tailored audience . Then select your email list as a tailoredaudience again to exclude these users from ad targeting (since you don’t needthem to sign up again).
You can also create a tailored audience from your customer list to ensurequalified subscribers by targeting your ad to a similar audience .
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#3: LinkedIn Promotion OptionsLinkedIn Publications & Projects
On your personal LinkedIn profile, you can add a Publications section that allowsyou to link directly to your ebooks, whitepapers, etc. You can also use this to linkdirectly to your lead magnet squeeze pages.
Example of the LinkedIn Publications section linking to a lead magnet.
If your lead magnet is a tool, like a free calculator, add a link to your tool in theProjects section of your profile .
Where you can f ind the Publications and Projects sections to add them to your profile.
You can add both of these sections to your profile by using the guided profile editingoption.
For more visibility, add your best lead magnet to the website links in your
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Contact Info. This adds it to the top of your public profile so visitors who aren’tlogged into LinkedIn can still see it.
LinkedIn Advertising
For businesses looking to target specific professionals as email subscribers,LinkedIn advertising offers the best professional ad audience targeting options to helpyou get the ideal email subscribers on your list.
How to target specif ic audiences w ith LinkedIn advertising.
Additional Opportunities on Social Media
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Additional ways to promote your lead magnets and grow your email list with socialmedia include the following.
Pin a great image of your lead magnet to your Pinterest profile and linkthat image to your lead magnet squeeze page .
Share a great image of your lead magnet to your Instagram profileand tell people to click the link in your bio. Temporarily (or permanently)change the link in your Instagram profile to point to your lead magnet squeezepage. Be sure that your squeeze page is responsive, since most people fromInstagram will be viewing it on their mobile device.
Create videos on Vine and Snapchat telling your fans to downloadyour latest lead magnet. Make sure your URL is short, easy to say, andeasy to remember, like yourdomain.com/freereport.
#4: Make Sharing EasyYou don’t have to rely solely on your own promotion tactics to get more people to yoursqueeze pages. You can enlist the help of people who’ve already downloadedyour free ebook or report.
Let’s say you offered a free ebook as a lead magnet. Simply create a landing pagethat thanks people for reading your latest ebook and add social sharingbuttons that allow them to share the squeeze page for your lead magnet with theirown audiences.
To get people to share on Twitter, pre-populate a Twitter Share button withcustom text and the URL of your squeeze page. Make sure the URL being shared isthe squeeze page of your lead magnet. Otherwise, you’ll end up with people sharingyour thank-you page.
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How to set up a Tw itter Share button for your lead magnet squeeze page.
Now, the tweet automatically points to your squeeze page!
Sample tw eet configured in Tw itter Share button setup.
You can configure a Facebook Like button in much the same way.
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How to set up a Facebook Like button for your lead magnet squeeze page.
Add a LinkedIn Share button.
How to set up a LinkedIn Share button for your lead magnet squeeze page.
Include a Pinterest Pin It button.
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How to set up a Pinterest Pin It button for your lead magnet squeeze page.
Put It All TogetherOnce you’ve begun collecting your high-quality leads, there are a number of ways youcan use social media to impact your email marketing campaigns.
For example, you can use your Twitter audience to split test email subject lines.If you send your experimental tweets through Buffer, you’ll get the following analyticsfor each tweet.
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Buffer analytics for a tw eet.
The tweet with the most engagement can be considered the best headline, and thebest headline should be used as the best email subject line.
Or you can get more traction for current email campaigns by targeting youremail subscribers with social ads on Facebook and Twitter. Make sure thecampaign and your social ads use the same images, call to action, etc., so yoursubscribers are presented with a similar message no matter where they see it.
What do you think? Have you learned a few ways social media can help growyour email list and reach your email subscribers? Do you have additionaltips? Please share them in the comments!
Related Posts
Tags: ad targeting, collect customer inf ormation, customize share button, email lead, f acebook ad, f acebook call to action,
f acebook cov er photo, f acebook custom tab, f acebook promotion, kristi hines, lead collection, lead generation, lead generation
card, linkedin promotion, twitter ad, twitter lead generation, twitter promotion
ABOUT THE AUTHOR, Kr is t i Hines
Kr is t i Hines is a f reelance w r iter , blogger , and ghos tw r iter w ho
develops high-quality content f or bus inesses . She is also a
HubSpot Inbound Marketing Cer tif ied and Google A naly tic s Qualif ied
Prof ess ional. Sign up f or her new s letter ! Othe r pos ts by Kr is t i
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14 Comments Social Media Examiner
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• Reply •
GoPromotional • 15 hours ago
Very helpful! With email marketing, you can successfully reach a much larger audience for substantially less moneythan with traditional marketing campaigns. Making your campaign effective depends entirely upon how aggressivelyyou attract new clients, how you treat existing clients and how you brand your company as a loyal, trustworthybusiness that values its clients.
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• Reply •
Kristi Hines • 15 hours ago> GoPromotional
Thanks GoPromotional! :) △ ▽
• Reply •
Shai Geoola • 13 hours ago
Great article and tips Kristi. Thanks for sharing! Cheers △ ▽
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• Reply •
Kristi Hines • 11 hours ago> Shai Geoola
Thanks Shai! :) △ ▽
• Reply •
Audrey Gotto • 11 hours ago
This post is a KEEPER! △ ▽
• Reply •
Kristi Hines • 11 hours ago> Audrey Gotto
Thanks Audrey! :) △ ▽
• Reply •
Sara • 11 hours ago
Great ideas! How do you put a link in your Facebook cover photo? Does FB automatically hyperlink a URL? △ ▽
• Reply •
Kristi Hines • 11 hours ago> Sara
Hi Sara! You just add it to the photo's description. If you type in domain.com/yourlandingpagebe hyperlinked automatically. :)
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• Reply •
Hunter Boyle • 10 hours ago
Another great post, Kristi (as always). The social ad how-to's are super helpful for list building. Hope you're doingwell. Cheers!
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• Reply •
Kristi Hines • 9 hours ago> Hunter Boyle
Thanks Hunter! I am - I hope you are too. :) △ ▽
• Reply •
Alice Fuller • 9 hours ago
Great tips Kristi! Indeed email and social media marketing go together like peanut butter and jelly when usedcorrectly. Unfortunately, I think most people see them as totally separate tools and miss so many opportunities toreally get targeted in their efforts. I'll definitely be sharing your great post.
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Kristi Hines • 9 hours ago> Alice Fuller
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• Reply •
Kristi Hines • 9 hours ago> Alice Fuller
Thanks Alice! :) △ ▽
• Reply •
Ozzie Ohl • 3 hours ago
Can you pin a pinterst pin on a Facebook page,Can a like s on Facebook icon be created and inserted into the signature line of an email?
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• Reply •
Salman Sharif • 3 hours ago
Nicely explained Kristi :) it could be more awesome if you included Pinterest in the list too △ ▽
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