No matter your views on social media, when it comes to marketing, there’s one platform you can’t ignore: Facebook.
Off all the social media platforms, Facebook has, by far, the largest number of active users in the world. Here’s a screenshot of the world’s most popular social media sites ranked by the number of users:
Source: Statista
Facebook has more than 2.36 billion active users in the world.
Due to the massive amount of people on the site, Facebook is a great tool for marketing. From lead generation to making actual sales, Facebook can help you achieve it all.
Read on to learn how you can use this social media channel to build an email list.
What is an email list?
An email list is a collection of contacts (email addresses and recipient names) that you collect for the purpose of sending informational and promotional emails. You need to make sure that you have express permission from these contacts to do so, and the best way to ensure this is to have them subscribe to your email list.
An email list is a powerful tool that you can use to achieve your business goals. Built well, an email list is a pool of warm leads that are ready to buy into your product.
Facebook is one of the best platforms to help you build an email list.
How do you measure the value of Facebook?
With more than 2.3 billion monthly users, Facebook is a goldmine when it comes to lead generation. Plus, this behemoth of a network is still growing at a rate of 500 users a minute.
Aside from its impressive audience statistics, Facebook has the advantage of having a powerful algorithm that helps in running targeted campaigns, including building an email list. One advantage you’ll definitely appreciate when it comes to list-building is the versatility that Facebook affords.
How to create an email list on from Facebook
Optimize your page
Treat your Facebook page like all your other digital assets by optimizing it. Although the main point is to connect to your fan base and share information, you can also use your page as a lead-generation machine.
Some of the ways in which you can optimize your Facebook page include adding a link to a landing page in the About section. You can also do the same for your cover image by including the link in the description or you can add a call-to-action button for people to sign up for your list in your cover photo.
Promote your offer
Post updates of your landing page and offer in your timeline. For greater impact, you can also promote it as a sponsored post.
Use Facebook’s lookalike audience feature
This is a feature that allows you to hyper-target a specific audience that will be interested in your offer. In order to create a lookalike audience, you will have to create a source audience upon which Facebook will build a similar audience by pulling profiles that are similar to the profiles in your source audience.
Because this lookalike audience has traits similar to your audience, they are more likely to take you up on your offer and sign up.
Run contests
Everyone loves contests. This is why running a contest on Facebook is a great way to get people to sign up for your list. Again, promoting the contest will help you reach a wider audience.
Does it really matter?
Lead generation is the lifeblood of every business, so being able to mine leads from the world’s biggest social network does matter. Despite the negative talk surrounding Facebook in recent years, it’s still the most popular social network, and it’s a fact that warrants your attention as a marketer.
What now?
These simple tips will help you create an email list on Facebook quickly and without spending a lot of money. No matter which side of the fence you belong to when it comes to Facebook, one thing is certain: You can’t ignore the wealth of opportunities it presents to marketers.
For more tips on how you can harness the power of social media in your marketing, check out our post on how to integrate your email marketing with social media.