There are multiple Social Media sites that can provide you with new subscribers. Like all other Social Media sites their usefulness is double edged. On one hand, they can be an awesome place to find new prospects. You can build strong relationships with people on Social Media meaning you can build a fanatical following with some effort.
On the other hand you are constantly running the risk of losing your account to the whims of some faceless authority who deems your content to be in conflict with their intentionally vague terms of use.
Always steer your followers towards your email list. Give them a good reason to opt in so you will not get devastated if your account gets suspended…
In this post we will look at three more options for adding new subscribers using Social Media accounts.
There are way more options available than those mentioned here and in previous posts. Some of those options are traffic powerhouses in the right niche, but are too involved to include in a post of this nature..
Instagram is an child of Facebook’s where images and short videos make up the posts. Marketing and list building can both be very fruitful on Instagram.
The first thing you need to do is set up a business account for you or your brand. Instagram may belong to Facebook (FB), but the advertising opportunities are more like those available in the early days of FB advertising. Much more business friendly than big brother FB these days…
Instagram business accounts are the way to go as you have many more tools at your disposal. You can promote posts to increase your reach so scaling is no problem. Instagram advertising is more affordable than with big brother FB.
However you really don’t need to advertise if you prefer to organically attract prospects on Instagram.
Like any other Social Media outlet it’s providing value and engaging with your followers that will get you the most traction. Exactly what you need o be posting and how depends on the niche.
Start out by doing a search in your niche to find out who the big fish are in your niche. Look at what they are doing to gain their audience and how they are doing it. Then adapt the things that work for you and your personality into your campaigns.
Both images and short videos can be effective posts on Instagram. Your niche might be tilted in one direction so pay careful attention to the “influencers” in your niche and what medium they use.
Yes, going against the trend does make you stand out. But when everyone who is getting engagement off of say video posts there is often a good reason. Standing out is of no use if nobody is paying attention to the format you’re using. This is a rare case where following the herd is your only chance to get your message in front of the right audience.
The real secret to success on Instagram is to produce content that adds value to your niche. Do that often enough and you will attract the people in your target audience without trying.
It also helps to encourage your followers to share your content with their friends and colleagues in the niche. People sharing your posts on Instagram can be even more powerful than on Facebook and Twitter. Get Enough shares and you suddenly become viral without even trying.
Forums
Some people don’t consider forums necessarily a part of the social networking world, but they are. People go there to share information, ask questions, and engage in dialogue with one another about their niche.
The great thing about forums is, where Facebook, Twitter and other networks are not niche-specific, forums are! You have parenting forums, diet forums, success forums, and so on.
And within those forums, you can dig down and expose your expertise even further. For instance, in a parenting forum, you might have discipline, nutrition, education, and so on.
You can go to Google and type in your niche keyword and the word forum. Look for active forums – not stagnant ones. You want those where people are continually posting in it.
Join the forum and set up your profile just as you would on other social networks. People will often click through and look at your information to see what you’re all about, so be thorough about it and hyperlink to your squeeze page and blog if possible.
If you’re allowed to have a signature file, set that up to link to your squeeze page with verbiage about your free opt in offer. That way, every time you participate on the forum, and people like what you have to say, they can follow the link and become a subscriber.
Participate on the forum with threads that you start – thoughtful, motivational posts – and by answering questions and helping guide those seeking help and advice.
Some forums will have an area where you can place offers. Some do it free and some make you pay for the exposure. You can place a listing for your opt in offer but you can do it one of two ways.
The first way is to make them opt in to get the download. Some will complain that this isn’t truly free if you have to fork over your name and email address. Another way is to give the direct download link and inside the download, include something about how if they enjoyed this, they can sign up for more free gifts at your squeeze page, with the URL.
Now some people will wonder why they shouldn’t just open their own forum. You might in the future, but to start with, let someone else handle the behind-the-scenes drudgework of forum management while you leverage the participation factor (sans headaches).
Pinterest is a visual-based social network that works great for some niches, like cooking, fitness, crafts, etc. The premise of the site is viral sharing because when you post something someone likes, they “Pin” it to their boards, sharing it with all of their own followers.
You can sign up for an account and showcase different boards (dig down for niche topics) and Pin links to your site – your blogs, your squeeze page, etc., using memes and images that are visually enticing.