Take a minute to think about where the largest chunk of your following is.
Do you have thousands of followers on Instagram? Hundreds of Twitter, Facebook, or even LinkedIn followers + connections?
Good job—but what happens when the Big 4 (IG, Twitter, FB, and LI) go Xanga + Myspace on you? In other words—what are you going to do if these social media apps lose their cool-factor or shut down and you lose all those followers?
You don’t think these social platforms will actually last forever, do you? For the sake of all the brands and business putting all their eggs in to one basket (like Instagram, for example,) I hope the sites do last a long time. But also for the sake of owning your following + not being left in the dust, I hope you have a solid email list or have at least began growing one.
Why an email list? Here’s why:
YOU DO NOT OWN YOUR SOCIAL MEDIA FOLLOWERS. (If I could make this statement any bigger and bolder, I totally would.)
IF ANY SOCIAL MEDIA PLATFORMS BECOME EXTINCT, SO DO YOUR FOLLOWERS ON THOSE PLATFORMS.
Let’s dive deeper into the benefits of having an email list, why you need one, and how it can help you tremendously when it comes to growing your brand (and your income.)
- It’s Direct Communication
You don’t have to rely on social media to get in touch with your followers. You can communicate with them anytime you want to with a direct email—and you don’t have to fight sneaky algorithms to guarantee your people see your content. Whether someone on your list decides to open your email is ultimately their choice, but at least the opportunity of them seeing what you sent isn’t controlled by a social media algorithm. You also don’t have to rely on people checking your blog or going to your Instagram profile to see what you’re sharing—that’s what you hope they do, but you can’t control how your followers spend their time or how often they get on social media to scroll. But almost everybody checks their email daily (or multiple times a day!) I personally leave my email open on one of my 3 displays all day to keep an eye on what’s coming in—this behavior is what you can take advantage you to reach your audience.
- You OWN your list
Newsflash—your followers aren’t yours. They don’t belong to you. You don’t own them. Twitter, Pinterest, LinkedIn, Instagram, Facebook—they own your followers.
Your followers simply… follow. And even if you have thousands of followers, only 0.01-2% of those people are actually being shown your content. Unfortunately, all the social media apps have algorithms that determine who sees what, and it’s all based on various factors. Or they make you pay for social ads just to get people to see your content—not cool.
But if you have an email list + get subscribers, you own those email addresses. No matter what email service provider you use—ConvertKit, MailChimp, etc.… You can take your email list with you anywhere, the email service provider does not own those email addresses. You do. And that’s a huge advantage.
- Getting personal = more conversion = more money
FACT: Email Marketing is Proven to Be More Effective Than Social Media (by almost 40%) – McKinsey + Company
Another positive about growing an email list is the opportunity to get personal + build a relationship with your list. It’s powerful because when someone subscribes to your list, they want to see your content—they are exclusively inviting you into their inbox.
Email marketing is one of the highest-converting strategies out there. This means that if you have a service or product you’re selling and you make a post on Instagram, write a blog post, and send out an email to your list about the product, you’ll receive a higher percentage of buyers from your email list. This is because those subscribers like you enough and trust you enough to live in their inbox and share your valuable content.
Your homework:
If you don’t currently have an email list, find a reputable email service provider + sign up to get started. Stop depending on social media.
If you do have an email list, make sure you’re nurturing it + building relationships with your subscribers. Don’t leave them hangin’. They want to hear from you.
I hope this post helped the lightbulb come on for you + realized you currently do not own your social media following.
Don’t get left in the dust, start building your email list.