My Clever Assistant
Social media and email marketing can be integrated together to create impact, get more eyeballs focused on your brand, and grow your business.
Here are some ways to craft an irresistible promotional offer and build your email list using effective methods.
Amazing Opt in Offer
Depending on the nature of your business, you will need to craft a promotional offer that focuses on providing an incentive to people to make them want to subscribe to your email list. Some ideas for an offer include a free downloadable e-book, a video course, a White Paper (or case study), a WordPress plugin, a discount coupon for your product, or perhaps free consulting.
The main points to remember are: it’s got to be interesting and valuable to your audience and you need to give it away as opposed to selling it. If you make the mistake of offering fluff content (redundant, dated, or just not interesting content) as your opt in offer, you’ll soon discover only a few people are signing up to your list or they are not opening your emails and are unsubscribing from your list.
If your offer is perceived as valuable, it will accomplish two major things:
- it’s a great way to intrigue those you are targeting to take action; and,
- it can showcase your top-notch content, product or service that will provide you with credibility as an expert on the topic.
Always Offer Targeted Incentives
A common mistake that some marketers commit when creating their offer is choosing a reward that doesn’t match your brand. For instance, a prize such as an iPhone or iPad will appeal to a broader audience, for sure. But you’ll get a lot of untargeted people on the email list. The list will not be responsive and your unsubscribes rate will go high, making your efforts pointless. A much better option would be to give away smaller prizes that are related to your brand, such as:
- A high-end product that would appeal to your niche;
- Books related to your field of expertise; or,
- Software that’s useful for your audience.
Run Contests To Build A Following
Contests have proven to be an excellent way to raise the conversion rate of opt ins, and make the participants feel good about your brand. To create a buzz in the marketplace and grab some extra attention, run contests on a regular basis that will entice your audience and make them want to subscribe to your email list. Every contest that you run will bring in a flow of new subscribers, which will help you build a snowball effect as a result of the momentum.
Integrate Social Media Into Your Email Marketing Strategies
Social media has become the tool with the most potential for making new connections, building relationships and promoting your product and services to a large crowd. But, social media alone cannot deliver the results you expect from online marketing. That’s why it’s great to use it with your email marketing efforts to achieve the target ROI.
You can use your Twitter profile to regularly send out updates regarding new offers, contests and pieces of interesting content that speak about your business. Along with Twitter, promote your Facebook page through an ad by integrating an email signup form on your Facebook page. You can also choose to place social media sharing icons on your signup page and on your newsletter so your existing clients and loyal fan base can endorse it to their network.
Another crucial element of marketing via social media channels is video marketing. Video can be an essential tool for delivering the content that solves the problems of your audience and make them trust you. You can launch webinars to maintain your email list and to attract new subscribers looking for useful information.
The heart of any email marketing campaign lies in the list, and that’s where the money is. Combining email marketing and social media is a good formula for marketing success.
To simplify everything, consider using the services of an experienced VA who can assist you with your email marketing strategies and tactics from developing ideas for your “Amazing Offer” as well as setting up your email campaigns, to creating your autoresponders and newsletters. An effective email list can bring in a constant flow of high quality leads that will convert into cashflow.
Build, grow and maintain a responsive email list by leveraging the strategies that will generate real value to skyrocket your business.
