How to Grow Your Email List With Facebook Promotions

Are you looking for ways to grow your email list?

Can email list-building and Facebook promotions work well together?

In this article I’ll outline the potential synergies of email marketing and Facebook promotions.

Included will be a dive into example Facebook Page promotions and how companies can use them to build their email lists.

Why Email?

Email marketing continues to be a strong method digital marketers use to inform, educate and push information to opt-in recipients. It is a universally used tool that everyone sits down to check at work or home.

As outlined in a past interview with Mike Stelzner, Christopher Penn notes that email is an important “push medium.”

Email serves as one leg of a three-legged marketing tool along with a blog and social media. Within this three-pronged strategy, email is the distribution mechanism, while a blog is the content center and social media is the conversation mechanism.

When new content is posted on a blog, email can be a method of distributing notice of the new article, while social media offers a conversation mechanism for users to talk about the content.

For many companies, their email list is really the foundational marketing piece. It’s a jewel of great value containing the names and direct contact method of customers and would-be customers that enables them to “get in front of” these people regularly.

The Facebook Advantage

Facebook, with over 1 billion users, including over 680 million daily active users, has the broadest age-range diversity of any social platform.

Because of the active user base and penetration across key purchasing power demographics, it’s a very important place for companies to have an active presence.

When Facebook Pages use app promotions on tabs, the tandem of Facebook and email can help marketers reach people where they are (Facebook) and engage with them.

This adds value to their social media efforts, while—when done with intent—also builds their email list.

List-Building Facebook Promotion Examples

Facebook promotions offer marketers a powerful way to boost engagement and extend the reach of their Facebook Page. There are numerous types of Facebook promotions that can be run on Pages. Below we’ll outline a number of examples of ways a Facebook promotion can be used to grow your email list.

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All of the types of promotions mentioned below must use third-party apps displayed on a Facebook Page tab. This is necessary to comply with Facebook’s promotion policy.

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#1: Sweepstakes Promotion

A sweepstakes is a chance-based promotion that can be hosted on a Facebook Page tab and typically has users complete a simple form to enter. After a set date, winners are then drawn randomly from all entries.

With the form for entering the sweepstakes, those setting up the promotion can outline in the terms that submitting their email address also is their agreement to opt-in to the associated email list. Users must click the box to accept the terms to enter.

Below are two examples of sweepstakes apps that could be used as part of a Facebook engagement strategy and email list-builder.

#2: Trivia Promotion

Another chance-based Facebook promotion that can be used to engage Facebook fans and their friends as part of an email list-building strategy is a trivia promotion. With a trivia tab, users typically must complete basic entry information, including their email address, and submit their answers to the trivia questions.

Users are intrigued by the trivia itself or the prize offered and are willing to complete to enter.

The opt-in would either need to be outlined with a checkbox to agree in the terms or upon submission an opt-in email could be sent for the user to agree to. Best practice is always to make this clear up front to ensure the greatest opt-in percentage.

Below is an example of a trivia app by the NBA’s Minnesota Timberwolves that is being used as part of a Facebook engagement strategy.

#3: Facebook Contests

Contests come in all variations from photo, caption, essay or video submission contests. Each offers a great opportunity to draw entrants and voters to a Facebook Page.

A contest can also be a great way to build your email list! The key is to make sure you know and focus on your primary goal. Since the primary goal of a Facebook contest typically will be engagement and expanding Page reach, the email opt-in should simply be a natural part of the entry process and not something that draws undue attention to itself.

A helpful way to incorporate email opt-in as part of a Facebook contest is to include information about the email list in the terms of the contest. Facebook fans then enter the contest and receive a follow-up opt-in email from your business inviting them to confirm being added to the email list.

So there you have it!

Yes, you can run a great Facebook promotion that boosts your social engagement and builds your email list at the same time.

By thinking through the possibilities of your promotion, you can make the email list-building flow seamlessly with it.

Make sure you don’t overlook the opportunities with Facebook promotions to build your list!

What do you think? Are you making the most of your Facebook promotions to grow your email list? Leave your questions and comments in the box below.

Images from iStockPhoto.

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