13 Feb How to get More Email Signups with Instagram Marketing
With over 3.5 billion social media users worldwide, it’s no doubt that the popularity of social media platforms is on the rise. More and more people use these platforms to keep in touch with friends and family, find out more about new products, and connect with brands.
However, email marketing is still the most preferred way to receive updates from brands. According to Hubspot’s Ultimate List of Email Marketing Stats, 99% of people check their email every day and 73% of customers want businesses to contact them via email.
As you can see, modern customers are active on social media, but they want brands to contact them via email. What is more, social media marketing and email marketing can go hand in hand, and using Instagram marketing can be a great way to get more email signups.
Why Should You Use Instagram Marketing for Email Signups
With the growing popularity of Instagram, it’s no wonder that more and more companies use Instagram for business promotion. When done right, Instagram helps to reach your target audience, build brand awareness, increase brand loyalty and trust, and boost ecommerce sales. However, here are three main reasons why you should use it for email signups, too:
- Your target audience is on the platform: As of June 2018, Instagram reached over one billion people on the platform. No matter what your business niche is, whether you’re a B2C or B2B company, your target audience is definitely on Instagram.
- Instagrammers are highly-engaged: Having a great following means nothing unless your followers are engaged. Since Instagram has the highest engagement rate, it’s more likely you can start a conversation with your target audience on this social media platform.
- People are ready to connect with brands: Believe it or not, Instagrammers want to interact with their favorite brands on the platform. In fact, 90% of users follow at least one business on the platform which means people are open to conversation with brands on Instagram. In other words, they can share their emails with your brand if needed.
Now that you know Instagram is a perfect place to find your target audience, start a conversation with potential customers, and encourage them to share their emails, let’s find out actionable ways to get more email signups.
5 Ways to Get More Email Signups with Instagram Marketing
1. Promote Lead Magnets in the Bio
No matter how many Instagram followers you have, every account can add one clickable link in the bio section. For brands, this means a great opportunity to drive website traffic and gather email signups with ease.
Moreover, an Instagram bio is a visit card that helps users decide whether they want to follow your business or not. And if you want to get email signups, it’s important to find out creative ways to grab the attention of your visitors (and followers) with lead magnets.
Here’s how Little Extras Lifestyle uses its bio section to encourage Instagram visitors to sign up to the email list:
And here’s another example from FabFitFun. The company has developed a membership that allows people to get a curated subscription box quarterly. To get more email signups, FabFitFun promotes its box in the bio section with the help of a strong call to action:
To get more email signups, use your bio section to explain to your Instagram visitors and followers why they should be on your list. And if you offer something valuable to your potential customers in exchange for their email addresses, it’s more likely they will sign up. Thus, keep your target audience in mind when thinking about the best lead magnets for growing your email list.
2. Add an Email Contact Button
The popularity of social media platforms has changed consumer behavior. Today, more and more people use social media to get in touch with brands. According to Sprout Social, 46% of consumers have used social to “call out” brands and 55% of customers contact brands to get a resolution or response.
Simply put, your customers may want to contact you on Instagram, and it’s important to give them an opportunity to do it fast. For example, if you run an Instagram business profile, you can add contact information (phone number, email address, and directions). To grow your email list, you can include your email address so that customers can get in touch with you via email, like how Forbes did it:
Once you get an email from an Instagram follower, listen to your customer and solve his or her problem. However, don’t forget to upload new contacts to your email list.
3. Share the Benefits of Being on Your List
Here comes the ugly truth: spam emails are irritating and time-consuming, so modern people are careful when subscribing to email lists. To encourage your followers to become subscribers, it’s important to share the benefits of being on your list.
Most people love free stuff, so sharing exclusive offers to your email list subscribers is a proven way to grow your list fast. For example, I Am They band encourages its Instagram followers to join the email list for news, updates, new music, and more:
And if you have a loyal following, you can write a post to promote your newsletter so that your followers can be the first to know more about your company. Just check out how Van Gogh Museum did it:
Whether you share time-limited discounts or let your email subscribers be the first to learn more about your company, it’s important to offer something valuable for your customers who are doubting whether they want to join your email list or not.
4. Run a Giveaway
People love interactive and engaging content, so it’s no wonder that Instagram giveaways get higher engagement rates than other posts. Thus, running a giveaway is a great way to encourage your followers to share their email addresses as it’s you who decides on the prize and the participation requirements. After all, most people are happy to submit their contact information in exchange for a chance to get something valuable for free.
Let’s take a look at an example of this strategy in action from Pet Con Official. To spread the word about the giveaway, the company collaborated with Louboutina, a pet influencer:
Doubtless, the above-mentioned example targets a niche-specific audience. But if you want to get more participants, you can choose gift certificates as the prizes to let your potential winners decide on the gifts. Not only can you provide your followers with the flexibility of choice that helps to attract more participants, but you can also understand your target audience better by analyzing what products they choose.
5. Collect Emails via Instagram Stories
Over the last few years, Instagram Stories have gained in popularity, and over 500 million people create or watch this ephemeral content daily. With a short lifespan of 24 hours, Instagram Stories create a sense of urgency that keeps people engaged.
Want to know the best part? You can interact with your engaged followers and collect emails via Instagram Stories. Look: Once you have 10k+ followers on the platform, you get access to a valuable Instagram Stories feature, the swipe-up link, that allows you to add one clickable link every time you create Instagram Stories.
If you want to grow your email list, link back to your landing page that includes a signup form, just like Tailwindapp did it:
If you’re just starting out on Instagram and you don’t have access to the swipe-up feature, collaborate with brand ambassadors who have over 10k followers as they can spread the word about your email list and provide their followers with solid reasons to sign up for your email.
Conclusion
Today, Instagram has a great variety of business-specific features that allow brands of all sizes and niches to achieve business goals. And if you want to grow your email list, there are many ways to turn your Instagram followers (and visitors) into subscribers.
Need more help getting email signups with Instagram marketing? Contact us.
Hugh Beaulac is a content strategist behind the MC2 website who has over 7 years of digital marketing experience. Being fond of social media, Hugh provides SMM services freelance and helps businesses of all sizes and niches achieve business goals when promoting their products on social media platforms.
