How to Use Social Media Marketing to Get More Emails

Email marketing is one of the oldest yet most effective forms of marketing.

According to research, 99% of users check their email each day, 73% of millennials prefer email for business communication, and 44% of people expect to receive brand deals.

Having a solid email list is a great way to spread the word about your company, deliver your brand message, and interact with your potential customers. When it comes to running email marketing campaigns, practically every company aims at adding more emails their list.

But here’s a deal:

Since 733 million email addresses were stolen in 2019, it’s no wonder that people are afraid of sharing their contact information.

Thus, brands should choose channels where people are more loyal, which also means they are more likely to sign up.

The solution? Use social media marketing.

Why You Should Use Social Media Marketing to Get More Emails

At first glance, social media platforms aren’t the most obvious source of gathering customers’ email addresses as most people use social media to keep in touch with their friends and family, share their photos, and simply read updates.

However, those days are far behind us. Modern users spend a considerable amount of time on social media, so it’s no wonder that it’s more convenient for customers to communicate with brands on social media.

Here are three main reasons for that:

• The number of social media users is growing: No matter what your business niche is, your audience is definitely active on social media. According to Statista, 3.6 billion people use social media today and this number is predicted to reach 4.41 billion users by 2025.

• People are happy to interact with brands on social media: More and more people follow brands they love and support on social media platforms these days. When following businesses on social media, 47% of users want to keep up with the company’s news. This means your followers are ready to interact with your company and they are more likely to share their contact information when done right.

• A great variety of features for collecting emails: With a great number of businesses on social media platforms, most channels offer business-specific features that help brands communicate and interact with potential customers. For example, most channels allow businesses to add clickable links, polls, and lead generation ads that help to collect emails on platforms.

When choosing the right social media platform for growing email lists, it’s important to be active where your audience spends much time—those with the strongest followings are also your ideal source of customers’ emails.

Top Social Media Platforms for Collecting Emails

Unless you’re a big company with a great number of in-house marketers, being active on all social media platforms can be daunting. Thus, it’s important to focus on platforms that can bring value to your business.

Most brands use Facebook, Instagram, and Twitter (X).

If you have a brand presence on Facebook, Twitter, or Instagram, chances are that you can turn your social media followers into email subscribers with ease. If you’re in B2B, you should also consider Linkedin as your primary way to generate leads.

Still, not convinced? Using the right email marketing services, you can track your list growth rate and therefore see the number of email subscribers who come from social media.

Once you’re ready to learn more, here are 9 proven ways to get more emails with social media marketing.

Show Benefits of Being on Your List

Emails bombard modern people from all sides. Just imagine: an average user receives 120+ emails per day. As a result, people unsubscribe from mailing lists and they don’t hasten to sign up for new ones.

But if you want to grow your list, it’s important to convince people to become your email subscribers.

Since most people follow businesses they love and support on social media, they are more likely to listen to you. This means you can tell your following about the key benefits of being on your list.

One of the most effective ways to do it is to use the bio section as it’s the first thing people see when they visit your social media profile. Moreover, it gives you an opportunity to tell more about your business, so you can explain what advantages your email subscribers have and help your followers (or visitors) sign up for your email list with ease. Check out how OmieLife did it on its Instagram page:

To spark interest and get emails, consider offering one of the following benefits:

• Discounts

• Exclusive offers

• Early access to product launch, demos, sales

• Free digital downloads

• Branded freebies

Make the Most Out of Clickable Links

The easier it is for people to sign up for your email list, the easier it is for you to get more email subscribers.

So, would it be great if you could redirect your social media following to your email capture landing page?

To learn about the most effective ways to coordinate social media with email marketing, use clickable links. Most social media platforms–Facebook, Twitter, and Instagram–allow users to add at least one clickable link to any URL in the bio, caption, or stories.

When writing posts for Facebook or Twitter, you can add your link in the caption, just like in the example below:

If you use Instagram for collecting emails, not only can you add a clickable link in the bio, but you can also create clickable Instagram Story links to encourage viewers to take action faster.

Check out how Bali Body did it:

Write Strong CTAs in Captions

To attract more email subscribers, you need to tell more people about your mailing list.

The best way to do it is to write social media posts and include strong calls to action in captions that steer users to take the desired action like joining your mailing list. With a clear CTA, it’s easier for readers to do what you want them to do which also means more leads.

Here’s an example from Gustwines. Not only did the company explain to readers how to sign up for their email list, but it also told followers about the key benefits of being on the list.

Here’s how to write a strong CTA for your social media post:

• Keep your caption short yet sweet

• Use command words

• Explain the benefit

• Create a sense of urgency

• Show readers how to take the desired action

Share Lead Magnets

Most people discover your business social media profiles during the research phase.

This means your visitors and followers are less likely to buy anything for you on the first visit. Thus, it’s important to grab the attention of your potential customers, spark interest in your products, and give them a solid reason to share their email addresses.

To get emails from social media, consider promoting highly-converting lead magnets.

When you share something valuable in exchange for contact information, your visitors are more likely to sign up for your email list. Why? People put themselves first, so they seek out handy solutions for their problems and lead magnets can help them.

Here are several lead magnet ideas to use:

• Educational: Free ebooks, e-courses, webinars, tutorials.

• Useful: Reports, checklists, toolkits.

• Community-building: Premium membership, free shipping, gift wrapping, samples.

• Entertainment: Giveaways (here are 10 giveaway ideas for you), quizzes, and quotes.

Provide Social Media Customer Service

People spend a considerable amount of time on social media, so it’s no wonder that they reach out to brands on social media platforms to share their customer experiences and get customer requests resolved.

Having a social media presence, it’s important to provide social media customer service as it helps to increase brand loyalty and trust. As specified in the GetVoIP report, 56% of customers are more loyal to brands that understand their needs and 37% of people who use social media for customer service expect brands to respond in less than 30 minutes.

Also, you can include action buttons on social media profiles so that interested users can contact you via email with ease.

Organize a Contest or Giveaway

People love free stuff and entertainment content, so social media contests are extremely popular among users. Moreover, social media users are happy to take necessary action for a chance to win something valuable.

For most brands, organizing a giveaway is a proven way to raise brand awareness, increase social media following, and drive user engagement fast. Since 33% of participants are open to receiving brand information, it also means an opportunity to collect customer emails.

The secret to growing your email list with social media contests is to write the right participation requirements. For example, you can put ‘sign up for our newsletter’ or ‘share your email address’ as the entrance requirements.

Here’s how one company collects contact information with a social media giveaway:

However, it’s important to keep in mind that not all users share valid email addresses. Thus, it’s important to use an email address verifier to ensure that all emails are real before adding them to your mailing list.

Collaborate with Niche Influencers

No matter how many social media followers you have, it’s more likely that not all of your potential customers follow you. To enter an already-established community and reach your target audience with ease, collaborate with niche influencers.

Influencer marketing is growing exponentially as people trust word-of-mouth recommendations more than branded content. When an influencer recommends a product or a company, people pay close attention to these endorsements as they trust influencers as much as their real-world friends.

For example, you can ask an influencer to tell about the benefits of being on your list. Check out the example below:

Obviously, not all brands can afford to work with influencers. Luckily, you can turn your loyal customers into brand ambassadors and spread the word about your mailing list if you have customer loyalty programs that reward consumers for recommendations.

Host a Twitter Chat

Living in the digital era, when it’s easy to gain knowledge online, it’s no wonder that people join online discussions around particular topics to keep in touch with like-minded people and obtain knowledge. As a result, the popularity of Twitter chats is growing.

If you host a Twitter chat, not only can you increase user engagement and build brand trust, but you can also collect customer emails.

For example, you can ask participants to join your chat club email list like Social Media Today did it:

What is more, you can contact your participants directly and ask them to share an email address so that you can provide them with relevant information on a discussed topic. Since people join twitter chats to get knowledge, they are more likely to join your mailing list.

Run Lead Generation Ads

In the last few years, the number of brands who use social media for business purposes has increased. It’s getting harder to cut through the noise and reach your target audience.

But if you want to reach the right people and convert users into email subscribers, run lead generation ads. For example, you can run effective Facebook ads, just like LeadPages did:

No matter what social media platform you choose, whether Facebook, Twitter, or Instagram, social media retargeting can help you redirect interested users to your email capture landing page and encourage them to share their email addresses.

Conclusion

With the growing popularity of social media platforms among users, brands get a new and creative way to collect customer emails in an interactive way. Moreover, Facebook, Twitter, and Instagram have a great variety of features that help to encourage users to share their personal email addresses without leaving apps.

Looking for more unique ways to get more emails? Create email popups that help to convert visitors into email subscribers.