Social media offers an excellent way to grow your business reach, and a strong following on the key social media platforms provides a powerful base. However, followers are a step removed from subscribers – representing early interest rather than committed signups. Converting your followers into subscribers is the next goal, bringing them closer into your sphere of influence, but how is it done? What are the best ways to move social media followers to email list subscribers and why does it really matter? Let’s explore.
Why Convert a Follower?
Why should you want to convert a follower into a subscriber? Isn’t it good enough that they’re already engaged with your content? Sadly, no.
I have nothing bad to say about followers – a growing list of followers shows a healthy social media presence and that’s great news. But in marketing, we’re not happy to simply stop at this early stage – ultimately, you want people to sign up for your service. You want to turn them from a passive follower into an active customer.
The Subscriber Stage
A subscriber is not quite yet a customer – not everyone who subscribes will sign up long-term for your service or buy your products. Instead, a subscriber can be seen as a middle stage, a step up from follower, but once they’ve made that step we gain the vital ability to interact with them directly – we can send them an email.
Adding someone to your email list means:
Control over contact
Follower engagement is out of your hands. You can put your social media posts out there, but whether they get seen is up to the various algorithms. You can optimise posts and pay for more engagement, but there’s still a limit to your control.
Subscribers on your email list have made the choice to receive your communications and you can send them information as and when you choose to. This change of control, from the platform algorithm to you, is one of the key differences with subscribers.
Data acquisition
Once someone is a subscriber it becomes easier to obtain additional data regarding their interest and engagement with your brand. This could be direct, through use of a survey or similar questionnaire, or it could be through general metrics such as open rates.
Segmentation
With a little data regarding the subscriber and their profile, it’s possible to put them into categories – part of the process of segmentation. Now, email content can be properly curated and targeted, making it more likely to be of interest to them.
Moving through the sales funnel
Subscribers are no longer nameless or faceless, they become a direct individual you are moving through the sales funnel towards the goal of them becoming a customer. Now they are on your email list, work can be done to gently pass them to the next stage.
How to Convert a Follower
Turning a follower into a subscriber requires:
Letting them know you’ve got a list for them to join – No-one is going to subscribe if they don’t even know there’s something to subscribe to. Automatic chat systems like ManyChat are great for this, engaging in a human-like way with those followers who comment, letting them know there’s more for them if they want it.
Making it as easy as possible – You don’t want to make it hard for them to join your email list, so it’s important that the actions needed are as simple as can be. If possible, that means a single link to a form that captures their email address. Adding a link to your bios is often the best way to do this – after all, it’s where they’re looking first.
Offering something in return – You’re wanting something out of them (their email address and attention), so what are you doing for them? Give them something back. This lead magnet should be something they can’t get elsewhere, that promotes your product or service: perhaps a discount voucher or some unique content. A good lead magnet will do a lot of work.
And Once You Have Them…
…you need to make it worth their while. It’s not enough just to turn your followers into subscribers – you need to keep them engaged once they get there. If you don’t, they’ll soon be unsubscribing and potentially lost. Make sure your email marketing has something to give and show them that they made the right decision sharing their email address.
Luckily, I’ve been writing articles on good email marketing for a while – why not explore some of my insights to give yourself a boost in creating quality emails?
Moving Followers Through the Sales Funnel with Nathan Littleton
If you’ve been doing the work to build up your social media following, I congratulate you – it’s not easy, and you should be proud of every follower. Now, with a little extra work, you can turn them into subscribers and move them one stage further down the sales funnel.
If you need help, why not speak to me? I’m Nathan Littleton, and I’m here to help you make the most of your email marketing. Together, we can grow your email list and promote your business to the huge number of people who will benefit from it.
