With Instagram garnering over a billion monthly users (and counting), it’s evident that the platform is on the rise.
According to recent surveys, more than 44% of businesses (including nonprofits) say that they’re active on Instagram. And with Instagram on the rise as a social media powerhouse, more businesses will flock to this platform to get more people to, at the very least, sign up for their email lists.
You heard right! Marketers can use Instagram to not only gain more followers, but also to boost eCommerce sales and get more traffic to your website through a successful emailing list.
So, how can Instagram be useful for collecting people’s emails?
Here are 5 ways that you can grow your email list by using Instagram:
Contests And Giveaways
“Everyone on social media loves contests and giveaways,” says Lola Schey, a lifestyle blogger. “So, why not hold contests and giveaways on Instagram? This allows you to grow your email list, since you’ll be asking people to enter their emails to participate. You can also share your link on Instagram when holding these events, and get more email sign-ups and participation that way.”
With this strategy, we recommend using Gleam.io as a platform to run these contests and giveaways. Gleam is a popular and user-friendly tool for creating and managing Instagram giveaways, contests, and other promotional campaigns. With Gleam, you can use their Subscribe action to automatically send users to over 30+ email providers in an instant, all whilst engaging your users and growing your email list.
Add CTA In Bio
You can actually use your Instagram bio to not only explain what your business does, but also to do the following:
- Highlight new offers
- Announce new campaigns, AND
- Promote newsletter signups
These can serve as your call-to-action (CTA), since the bio is telling people the “what” and “why” of what you have to offer.
By creating a bio that speaks to people, you’re encouraging people to leave Instagram and see what else you have to offer. This is how you can make a lasting impact on the people that find you on Instagram. And, if you want to sweeten the deal, you can direct people to a mobile-optimized landing page, which will act as their official welcome to your site.
But remember, you only have a few seconds to grab their attention and have them click the “follow” button — so, be sure your CTA is to the point.
Promote Newsletter On Stories, IGTV, Etc.
When first starting off on Instagram, you may want to start promoting your newsletter anywhere possible:
- Feed posts
- Instagram Stories
- IGTV
- Instagram Reels
With options to choose from, you can have people sign up for your newsletter. Thus, you’ll not only generate clicks, but also swipes (especially when promoting a link via Stories). As you take advantage of these strategies, not only will you get subscribers for your newsletter, but also generate leads and sales.
Create A Custom Landing Page
When you ask your followers to leave Instagram to sign up for your newsletter, you’ll want to make sure that it’s easy for them to do so, because the last you want is for someone to click a link and be redirected to something else. With that said, directing people to your home page isn’t recommended, because you don’t want them to have to search for where they should sign up. Understandably, they’ll eventually get frustrated, and then quickly leave your site.
That’s why it’s important to have a custom landing page, so that it can be easy for people to click a link and be redirected to the sign-up. Make sure that the link to this custom landing page is visible in your Instagram bio. Also, make sure to add UTM parameters to your newsletter URL, so that you can track how many signups you’re getting from Instagram. Be sure to add the following parameters:
- Source
- Medium
- Campaign
- Term, AND
- Content
For tracking parameters, you can use a URL generator like Google’s Campaign URL Builder to track newsletter signups from Instagram. Just set your medium as “Instagram,” and make sure that your campaign is labelled “newsletter-signups.” These labels allow you to keep better track of your parameters.
Google Analytics also plays a role in tracking parameters. When a user clicks a referral link on Instagram, the parameters you add are sent to Google Analytics, and that data will be available in the Campaigns report.
Lead Magnet/Free Download Incentives
“People love to get free stuff, especially on social media,” says Jorja Bowles, a professional content writer. “You can offer exclusive, impossible-to-resist download on your website through Instagram, to which all people have to do is enter their email addresses to get the ‘free’ stuff.”
Incentives can come in the form of any of the following:
- Discounts and coupons
- Access to special reports
- Event announcements
- Other perks
BONUS TIP: Provide Customer Support
Sometimes, consumers will experience the following scenarios whenever they’re interacting with your brand:
- They’re having problems on your site.
- Checkout process
- Payment method issues
- Error messages
- They have inquiries about a certain product or service.
- They simply want to learn more about your brand.
Therefore, it’s more convenient for customers to communicate with brands in-app via comments and direct messages (DMs). However, you can still convince them to take advantage of the emailing route to get customer support.
So, make sure to have your email address provided in your Instagram business profile, so that users can see that they have that option to email you. In turn, you can respond to people’s requests directly and, perhaps, gain more traction from them emailing you.
Plus, this strategy is great for brands to strike up a conversation without pressuring followers to start talking. And, there’s still that option of inviting users to send you an email on whatever it is that they’re needing. In that case, that opens another window for offering customer support, in case the comments section and the DMs get flooded with inquiries and requests.
Conclusion
So, there you have it!
Promoting email newsletters might not seem easy at first. But don’t panic! Instagram is there to help, when it comes to expanding your email marketing!
Instagram can actually grow your email list, and build deeper relationships with your followers (both on and off of Instagram). Thus, Instagram would definitely make a great marketing tool to have at your disposal!
Kristin Herman is a writer and editor at Boom Essays. As a tech enthusiast, she blogs about the latest trends in technology, computers, and social media. And, as a project manager, she has overseen many writing projects nationwide.
