026: 5 EASY WAYS TO PROMOTE A FREEBIE & GROW YOUR EMAIL LIST
Today’s talking point:
The main thing I’m working on at the moment is growing my audience & building an email list. Strategies on how to expose your content to more people & get them to opt-in would be super helpful.
Today we’re flipping the script: instead of creating new content 90% of the time and marketing it 10% of the time, we should be working less and marketing more. Last year I created over 50 new opt-ins. I created a lot of new material that honestly didn’t need to be made. Today, I am going to show you, from start to finish, how you can continuously share one opt-in.
This year I’m working on prioritising working smarter not harder & creating a plan to get the most out of my existing content. Today’s episode is going to walk you through 5 ways to promote your opt-ins.
P.S. If all of this is exciting to you but you don’t know where to begin, I’ve got a FREE guide on how to get your first (or next) 100 email subscribers. Download it below!
WHAT ARE OPT-INS?
Before we get started I want to make sure that we are all on the same page. Opt-ins are also known as freebies or or lead magnets… but simply put: it's free, highly valuable content that your target market is interested in and willing to exchange their email address for in order to receive it.
Why is it important? When we create content that the people we want to do business with are interested in, it attracts the right people to us and captures their email so that we converse and ultimately sell to them in the future. Check out episode number 13: why you need an email list and how to master email marketing for more information on why creating free content is so important.
Too many people create an opt in, share it once, and move on. We want to make sure we get this free material (we worked so hard on) in front of as many people as possible. So here is exactly how I promote each opt in.
HOW TO PROMOTE YOUR OPT INS
#1| Blog Posts
The first and most obvious place to share an opt-in, freebie or content upgrade is on your blog. This allows you to talk about a topic that your audience is interested in and then a freebie allows them to go deeper into that topic when they opt in. To dig deeper, I have a pop up generate about five seconds after someone has arrived on that post, with a freebie that's aligned with the same topic.
Many business owners complete this step and then move on. One of my most popular freebies appears on over 10 different blog posts. Yep, 10. Keep a freebie library that you can easily scan when you're creating your content calendar and writing new blog posts to see which might fit with whatever topic you're talking about that week. Every time you are promoting something on your blog, you should have some sort of content upgrade available. Start with looking at which blog posts are getting the most traffic to your site, go back in the vault and then make sure you have a way for people to opt in on those pages.
Create something for all of the facets of your audience so that when people click through to your blog, they have this opportunity to get more information.
If you’re reading this and you're thinking: “well, I haven't blogged in three months,” start being smart about creating content. Ask yourself:
What is a topic that your audience is going to click on to read more about?
What is a some sort of upgrade or freebie or resource that you can pair with that that will capture those people and get them onto your list?
My blog is not just a place to have readers, but it's a place to capture those readers and show up more intimately in their life. So when you can put strategy behind it like having the same popular freebie on 10 different blog posts, you can remove the overwhelm and really get the strategy excited about it. Again, get yourself ready to think from a strategic standpoint so that you're not just creating content to create, but you're creating content that converts.
#2 | Instagram
Number two is sharing via Instagram and Instagram Stories (bonus if you have the ability to swipe up).
Remember: different types of people will consume your content differently so you want to make sure that you hit all of your channels and then share it again and again and again, because not everyone is seeing it the first time.
For example, set up a direct link in your bio to a specific freebie that you've talked about in your caption and story. Target the link so when someone visits the link in your bio, it's the only option available for them to take. If people have to hunt for something, they're going to get distracted, disinterested and click away and you are going to miss out on the opportunity.
Does the freebie have to be new for you to talk about it on social media? Not at all. Anytime you are inspired to talk about a freebie, do it. You could say something like: “I was just working on this in my business and wanted to make sure you guys had a chance to download my guide to x, y, z” or “I've had a lot of questions recently on this topic and wanted to make sure you've got access to this guide.”
Only 4% of our audience is even seeing what we're sharing. So if you're feeling redundant, good! People are not seeing what you're putting out there and they're likely not opting in the first time they hear about it, it takes a little bit of time to gain traction. Make sure you’re thinking about sharing it and sharing it often. Even if you just have three opt ins that you use, if you consistently share them, you're always going to get new people. You're always going to get new followers. You're always going to show up in different feeds. You don't know what posts the algorithm is going to favour.
#3| Pinterest
How many pins can we get out of one piece of content? You should have to started to notice a theme here. Of course, you're going to pin your freebie, but don’t stop there.
Create two pins that are solely dedicated to your freebie with different designs and test different description copy for each of those pins to see what your audience responds to better. Include different searchable keyword terms.
Pin these to all of the relevant boards on your account. I love a site called Tailwind to schedule these and spread them out a bit, so two pin designs multiplied by five or so boards, that's 10 pins for one freebie right off the bat.
Now think about putting this in 10 different blog posts as well. So if we created two designs per blog post and pinned them to five different boards, that's 100 pins. Schedule those out throughout the course of a year, and your freebie is going to be consistently generating new leads for you.
I know there are a few of you out there who probably aren't even using Pinterest in this way and I want to let you know this: Pinterest is my number one traffic generator to my site. Number 1! I wasn't even using it strategically a little over two years ago. I now get around 90% of my social traffic each month just from Pinterest. But the truth is, traffic alone is not going to change much for your business. You have to have a plan for that traffic. I use things like pop-ups or different ways that people can opt in at different times that allows me to capture their email address and get the most traction. So I don't just want you to focus on traffic, I want you to focus on the strategy behind the traffic.
#4 | Email Lists
Number four, push it to your email list. I don't want you to forget about the people who have already chosen to sign up for your email list. Think about new opt ins as a way to serve your existing list.
Even though the purpose of creating them was to attract new followers, there is zero reason that you can't use that content to better serve the audience that you already have in order to continue to build the know, like and trust factor. If you're creating great content, why would you hold it back from your number one fans? We want people to think: “if she's giving this away for free, how amazing most her paid content be?!” A freebie is a great way to achieve this.
Always think about: how can I continue to serve my email list? Not sell, but serve, add value and can create more tools that are going to help them. And so you constantly want to be serving them and creating content that's not just going grow it, but that's really going to meet your email list where they're at, whether it's 300 people or 300,000 people. It's really fun to say, “Hey, I created this new tool. You might like it. Here's where you can get it.”
Don’t forget to download your FREE guide to getting your first (or next) 100 email subscribers!
#5 | Facebook
Post into your Facebook groups. Is there a topic that you wrote about in the past that is relevant? If you're focusing on growing your following and your list, there are a lot of people who haven't seen what you created last year, last week, or even yesterday.
Having something like a Facebook group is an amazing way to share a content upgrade because the group members have already opted in in a sense. They've said, I want to know more, and I want to learn more.
Not every post is (or needs to be) a winner. You could have three amazing pieces of content that could really help. Here are a few other ideas, if you're still wanting to wrap your head around this:
Create a Facebook ad pointing to your freebie. Spending money on free content to get it into more people's hands is just the heart of impact.
Gear up for a launch and put a fresh push on freebies to target, and serve, your audience before selling to them. It's really good to have launch specific freebies that you're going to promote just to warm people up and make sure that anyone that's interested in what you're launching is already on your list.
Post on someone else's blog, do a podcast interview or a social media takeover. As a podcast host, I'm going to be more than happy to help my future guests get their free content into the world because I know if they're genuine, it's going to be good.
The point is that you have to get creative about sharing your content. Instead of being so excited about content, I want you to think about how you can share it over and over and over again, because if we're really working smarter and not harder, that's exactly where we are putting our time and our energy.
RECAP
So to review, you can:
Share an opt in on your blog
Share popups and get really strategic using Google Analytics as your guide
Share via Instagram and Instagram stories
Create (so many) pins out of one piece of content
Promote to the people who are already on your list
Share it on Facebook (ads, posts, groups)
Be bold, because you're sharing content that if you've created it right, it's going to help other people. Really think about how you can get the word out, how you can create and test different titles, different descriptions, different images. Make sure that you are consistently pushing out to your audience, acknowledging the fact that only a small percentage of your audience likely saw it the first time. I hope that this episode is helping you to see how you can promote an option without creating all kinds of content, but with using the strategy.
Resources Mentioned In This Episode:
Want access to a library full of online marketing resources plus weekly bitesized breakthroughs to help you boss your online presence? Find it here.
What did you think of the show? Leave a review on iTunes and become the Breakthrough Blogger of the Week!
Subscribe to the show and get notified when a new episode goes live.
Come join my free FB group.
Apply to work with me 1:1 in the Busy To Boss Method here.