It might shock you when you hear other bloggers talking about growing their email list. Why worry about emailing people when there are endless Instagram feeds to fill and Twitter chats to attend?
Would it make more sense if I told you that those smart bloggers know that email is 40 times more effective at getting them new customers than social media? Probably.
But, really. Email? Like that thing everyone says they dread checking every day? How is it possible that email can impact a business more than social media? People love social media!
Yes, our minds are flooded by social media every single day. There are more social media platforms than ever and the information flows out of them at a breakneck pace. It’s easy to click a “like” button or re-tweet something and move on. So if only half of your stuff (at best) is making it anywhere on social, are you just spinning your wheels there? What options do you have to get your work in front of your ideal readers and customers?
Email.
No matter how much we loathe checking our inboxes, email is not dead . In fact, when it comes to having a greater impact on the people you want to reach the most, email is the answer that allows you to do less and impact more. Here are three ways you can make the most of your days with email :
Take Control
Have you ever posted something you were excited about to your Twitter or Instagram to only see a few likes or comments and even fewer clicks through to your blog? You are not alone, my friend.
Growing an email list to 700 or 7,000 or 70,000 IS possible and can seriously make all the difference when it comes to reaching your revenue goals. When you’re focused solely on social media, you’re stuck with something you ultimately can’t control.
Yes, social media is essential to connect with your audience, share relatable pieces of your life, and drive traffic back to your blog, but if Instagram, Pinterest, Facebook, and Twitter all decided to shut down tomorrow (or, maybe worse, start charging you for every single post you make) what options do you have for staying in touch with all of those followers you’ve built up?
An email list is something you can control. You get to talk to people directly and your emails land in their inboxes when you want them to. They get your most important updates, they get to know you like a friend, and it has a direct impact on your revenue.
Save Time
Look, I know you’re a busy person. You have your blog, your friends, your family, your Netflix… who really needs another thing to add to their to-do list? Adding email marketing to your list of things to do might not sound like something that will save you time, but it actually is.
Spending an hour loading up your Twitter queue might feel productive, but when you imagine the power of an email that is up to six times as likely to be clicked on as a single social media post , you might want to consider spending that hour writing a well-crafted email instead.
Email is also incredibly personal and an inbox is essentially a digital living room. While someone might quickly skim by an Instagram post, that same person is less likely to skip over an email in their inbox, especially when it’s personalized for them. Personalizing an email (adding a first name in the greeting, subject line, or body of the email) saves time. It fast forwards the relationship you have with that subscriber by getting more, well, personal sooner.
Create Happier Customers
It’s unfair, but not everyone who visits your blog is actively interested in your content.
Some people are lucky enough to find you in a Google search. Others could land on your blog after following a Pinterest pin or Facebook link. And other people might check back occasionally to refer to a post they’ve found helpful and find some new stuff.
Personal emails create happy audience members… happy audience members become happy customers. By sending emails you can speak straight to what they need, all while saving them from remembering to come back to your blog to get it.
When people subscribe to your email list, they are showing a high level of interest in you and your business. They’re inviting you into their inbox because they want to know you better, to follow you, to get your content. And when they’re actively interested in you and your content, they’re more likely to be interested in your services and products. Every subscriber is a potential customer.
By emailing your subscribers regularly, you build on that all-important trust and also get a backstage pass to share what you’re working on directly with them – right in their inbox.
Do Less, Impact More
So while social media and other forms of community engagement are a valid way to connect and expand your reach, don’t skip over email. In fact, I’d encourage you to start building your email list today. This is why I wrote this free guide , to walk you through exactly what you need to know, read, and do to make the most of your email game plan. Yes, you can do less and impact more. And email is how you’ll make it happen.
