Instagram List Building, How to Build Huge Responsive Email Lists
Instagram is a powerful social platform that can be used to build huge inexpensive email lists in a relatively short and timely way. Using Instagram in this manner to build large laser targeted email lists is a marketing method that is severely underused and overlooked. Instagram list building is a cost effective marketing strategy that you should really consider using. Just like a media list with journalists’ contacts, an instagram list can also help with marketing efforts.
The reality is that Instagram has the potential to deliver large numbers of cheap double optin email addresses in vast droves. As with any sourced list if you manage it efficiently it can result in huge revenues at a low acquisition cost. Follow these killer Instagram marketing strategies and email list building techniques to discover how it can be done.
Traditional List Building
If you have ever run a newsletter on your blog or received one the process is pretty familiar. Most websites including DesignBump have some kind of email capture mechanism. Typically these consist of modal style popups, sliders, ribbons, light boxes and so forth. They are moderately effective.
These email capture techniques work by interfacing with autoresponders such as MailChimp, Active Campaign, Aweber and so on. WordPress sites can use third party plugins such as OptinMonster or Thrive Leads to interface with the autoresponder via their API.
With good copy, call to action and engaging integrations these optin boxes can build a list fairly fast and they are great for building site wide general style lists. After which a site owner can send out email sequences or one off email campaign broadcasts to their subscribers as they see fit. This method and variations of it are tried and tested and generally work fairly well.
However to build a large list you need a large amount of semi-interested traffic hitting your blog. You also have to contend with the churn rate, this is the rate of unsubscribes versus new members signing up. To grow an email list the rate of new email optins must exceed the rate at which they unsubscribe. This is known as the art of balancing content and value with money making promotions. 80/20 in favor of content is a good place to start, lists are all about relationships unless you are a spammer.
If you don’t operate a web site then some of this will be familiar also. How many times have you received an automated email asking for permission to send you email. Usually after making a store purchase or reading an interesting article we end up subscribing. Spammers of course will just email you anyway but that is another topic entirely.
Even rapid Instagram list building still requires that the other components of list building are understood and in play. Building rapid scaleable Instagram email lists is not much good if you have no proper plan to use the list. So many people lazily just add email optin forms to their pages. Then simply collect email addresses and do little with it besides the one off broadcast. This is leaving money on the table. Remember even if you can gain email addresses from Instagram and other sources for cents. This is no good unless the data is put to work.
Build Large Email Lists With Paid Traffic
Email lists that contain interested prospects are high value commodities. In that you can email them regularly and build a ongoing relationship, they start to trust you. Send them useful material but also send them offers and generate money from the results. It can still take a lot of time to build a big list this way. The solution to a bigger, faster growing list is quite simply paid traffic. Hence as mentioned, an amazing source of paid traffic is Instagram which is a fast growing social media platform owned by Facebook.
Not only that but with paid traffic you can segment lists from the outset. Lets say you run a blog for pets and your general newsletter captures visitors who are into all kinds of pets from dogs to cats and hamsters to rabbits. This is ok but wouldn’t it be better to have a list that is segmented, or have separate lists for each interest? So one list for cats and another for dogs and so forth.
The value in segmenting data this way is in the targeting. Segmented lists offer laser precision and paid traffic can enable these lists to grow at scale. Targeted lists can then be used to build LLA audiences in Facebook and custom audiences and have all sorts of additional revenue friendly benefits. With segmented or niche centric lists the engagement and open rates will always be higher than with a general list.
Adwords, Bing, Display Ads? No Thanks
So how do we build our segmented list with paid traffic? We could go to Adwords and try and bid there. Or perhaps Bing or one of the many display networks. Chances are that just gaining one email address will cost a fortune and then they go and unsubscribe on you, not cool right!
There is more than one way to skin the cat, consider using Facebook PPE ads or video ads to list build. On Facebook engagement is king and gaining new subscribers here can be fairly cheap. Another technique is Instagram sponsorship, Instagram is a social media platform which owned by Facebook. Yet there are no paid ads on Instagram you cry. Not true as you can advertise on Instagram via Facebook Ads but that is not the direction that we are heading in here.
It is fair to say though that trying to work with Instagram on a desktop computer can be really hard work. You need your phone to upload images and its just all a bit cumbersome. So how can we list build with Instagram without going near Facebook and without setting bids and targeting and designing ads and all that irksome stuff.The answer to list building cheaply with Instagram is not at all what you are expecting.
Growing Your Business With Instagram Marketing Techniques
Growing your business with Instagram isnt limited to gaining new followers and getting more likes and comments to posts on Instagram. In fact, one of the best ways to grow your business using Instagram is to take your relationship with your followers and the followers of other pages off Instagram and directly into their highly engaged inbox.
Building Large Email Lists With Instagram
Even in the age of social media, email marketing is still one of the best ways to establish an ongoing relationship with your audience because it is based on relationships and adding real value. Email is the most direct contact youll have with potential customers. Heres why (and how!) you should use Instagram to build your targeted email lists. Instagram email list building is scaleable. Once you have perfected the Instagram list building technique the grind can be outsourced to a VA.
The Instagram List Building Technique
To start working with inexpensive list building on Instagram understand that there is no adcenter, no account manager, no self service ad exchange or anything like that. Instead you will absolutely need these skills and an eye for detail:
- Niche audience research
- Basic communication skills
- A mobile friendly optin landing page
- The ability to edit images
- Decent copy and CTA design
What you will be doing is spending time identifying other pages in your niche or using your own page if it has a large user base in order to prepare these pages to send you traffic. If your email list and blog is about cats then the first stage is to conduct audience research and identify ten or so high usage cat themed Instagram accounts that have contact details listed. Put these accounts into a spreadsheet and email the owners with an approach. Wash, rinse and repeat the process.
Instagram Prospect Hunting
In your email or message you compliment the account holder on their images and impressive community, massage their ego. Explain that you run a related blog or service and that you are interested in building your audiences. Enquire as to whether they would be open to sponsorship. If they are then you suggest sponsoring their bio link, something like this:
You see Instagram is limited in the places that can take any form of sponsorship or advertorial unless that is you are advertising directly on Instagram via Facebook. A bio link is the most visible and therefore valuable real estate on the page by a long mile.
Instagram Bio Link Sponsorship
So stage one of this killer Instagram marketing technique is in identifying the prospect account holder. You may actually have to send out 10-15 approaches to gain one good response so do not be discouraged if you gain a series of flat refusals. If you find it irksome then shoot over to Upwork and train a VA to do it for you. This process is all about building relationships remember.
Next you need to get them to structure the bio link as you see fit. Some account holders can be fussy but explain that you need a CTA ( Call to action ) and a hyperlink url. For the url use a link shortening service like Bit.ly to save space and use graphical arrows to point to the link.
Wait there is more, where does the url go? Certainly not to your homepage, no the link must point to your email squeeze page. This is the email optin form that will build your list. A pro technique is to use a redirect so you can split test this form without having to change the url in the Instgram bio link.
The main tip to appreciate however is that this optin must be totally mobile responsive. So you need to check it properly on smartphones. Most Instagram users will be on their mobile device so it needs to be fast and easy to use over 3g and up.
More Instagram Marketing Strategies
Using the bio link technique alone you will gain many many cheap subscribes from a highly engaged page. Most page owners have no easy way of monetizing their pages so for a page with a hundred thousand plus audience start with a $25-30 USD pitch and go from there.
Pro tip, avoid contacting corporations and brand names. They are either too stiff and uppity or have too many editorial processes or will be too expensive. You should laser in on fan style pages, individuals, students and other non commercial style pages, these will yield the best results.
Wait There is More
To build your highly targeted list with Instagram take the process further. To compliment the bio link also ask the page owner to post a engagement image on the page. This engagement image will be about you, your brand or product.
By all means match the style of the page, find a compromise with the page owner. This whole technique is about relationships remember. Ensure that the image resembles a regular image post and has a CTA. The call to action will direct the viewer to click the link in the bio, magic right!
This optimized Instagram list building technique creates real buzz and user engagement. Now as your offer and the page theme are well aligned people should go click crazy. It cannot be any clearer, without the engagement post they would still have clicked in the bio.
However with the engagement image acting as a catalyst the clickthroughs should now rocket sky high to your offer. Images like the offer example shown above can easily be built with cloud based graphics systems like Canva.
One problem that crops up is when your page owner doesn’t really get the list building concept. A good strategy is to send them a basic infographic that explains the process in black and white. Then all they have to do is follow it and set your links and images.
Optimizing the Instagram List Building Technique
There is more work to be done optimizing the Instagram list building technique. Negotiating with the page owner may yield an offer to book their page for say $150 a week or $75 per day or something like that. Here is the problem with that, your engagement image will drop off the page and/or lose steam and interest.
Instead thank the page owner and counter with an offer to book the slot for 2-4 hours depending how many followers they have and how frequently they post. Suggest that if the campaign works you will simply repeat the campaign later in the week. Consequently your costs are reduced and your ad runs for the optimal time.
Add Campaign Variations
This is the best strategy, sit back observe the results and then rebook the campaign a few days later. Be sure to use a slightly different engagement picture and/or CTA in the bio, this keeps it fresh. Wash, rinse repeat and apply the technique across five or six different pages or as many as you want to work with.
With this Instagram list building technique it is possible to build highly engaged Instagram driven email lists of significant size in a relatively short period of time. Obviously once you have a list you should have a email sequence setup or some kind of strategy for monetizing it and this is a separate topic.
However you can send subscribers to CPA offers, to your Ecommerce store or to ad monetized blog posts. Strike the right chord between adding value and offering product so as to keep unsubscribe rates low. Always add value and readers are less fussed when you send them an offer. I find that 5-1 or 4-1 in favor of content to offer is a good ratio.
Scaling the Instagram List Building Technique
This Instagram list building technique is also fairly elegant and a VA ( virtual assistant ) can easily be trained. Have them help to perform some of the grind such as locating new prospects and designing images etc. Do not be afraid to experiment, some Instagram pages are more focused than others and will yield a higher response rate.
Some page owners can also be a bit tight about allowing sponsorship on their pages, that is ok also just move on, the world is full of takers and Instagram is no exception here either. There are thousands of pages to choose from in all major niches.
Bigger campaign budgets can apply this same Instagram list building technique to celebrity endorsement. Namely capitalize on the popularity of a star or celeb to list build for email marketing or to sell a service. This strategy is known as influencer marketing and can work well in some niches. Of course the price rises with this influencer marketing strategy. This feature article is all about building inexpensive targeted email lists with Instagram.
Get out there and try this Instagram list building technique. It will work with any autoresponder and if you already have email sequences prepared it should work extremely well indeed. Happy hunting for leads and prospects; now go out and build big lists on Instagram.
