Facebook is constantly changing.
Changing its news feed algorithm, its design, its rules, its ad units...
And you can't blame them.
In the world of tech, you either adapt and innovate or you die.
Where does this leave businesses trying to market themselves on Facebook?
In the same position actually -- you also must adapt or die.
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And more and more you must pay -- ie. devote more of your budget to Facebook ads to make sure you're reaching fans.
That's fine -- and buying Facebook ads should bring you good results if you do it right.
But before you start pouring too much money into ads, I'd advise you to first build relationships with your fans outside of Facebook.
That way you can insulate your business from the volatility and change mentioned above.
What's the best way to build relationships with your fans outside of Facebook?
Simple. Create an email list and collect their email addresses.
In this blog post, I'll show you 5 clever ways to do that.
5 Smarty-Pants Ways to Collect Emails from Facebook Fans
1. Add a Standard Sign-Up Form Tab
My first tip is the most basic.
Use your current email service provider (Mailchimp, Constant Contact, Aweber, etc.) by connecting your Facebook tab.
Here are some providers that can help you get this set up:
Once you've done that, you'll add a tab to your Facebook profile.
Use this method to promote your business's newsletter on your Facebook page. Here's how Peg Fitzpatrick does it.
2. Offer an Incentive
The 2nd method encourages your fans to exchange their emails in return for something valuable -- like an ebook, video, white paper or infographic.
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Check out how Mari Smith uses ebook on her Facebook page to incentivize fans to share their emails.
It works too! I actually subscribed to this one.
You can also use your Cover Photo to promote your incentives!
For example, check out this neat trick we did recently.
When you click on the cover image, we provide a link to subscribe to the ebook.
If you’re selling a product, you can also give coupons to fans in exchange for their emails.
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This helps entices them to share their emails while also incentivizing them to buy your products.
3. Run a Contest
Running a contest is also a great way to collect emails from Facebook fans. But you'll need to use an app to run it.
Timeline contests are free and easy to organize -- but they don't allow you to collect email addresses.
However, when you use apps, you can. And if you make fans compete for something they want, they're much more likely to hand over their emails to enter the competition.
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Malaysia Airlines ran this contest to collect emails from Facebook fans:
Here's another example.
Pro Tip: Try to incentivize fans to promote your contest to their friends.
You can do this by increasing their chances of winning (allowing more than one entry, for example) if they share the contest with their friends.
4. Run a Co-Promotion
This Facebook marketing technique involves partnering with another person or business to co-promote some kind of giveaway.
Gary Vaynerchuk crushed it with this method while promoting his book.
He basically partnered with other companies and gave them a chance to get exposure while also promoting the book and providing prizes for fans.
So it's a win for Gary, the partner company and the audience!
5. Drive Traffic to your Website
My last tip involves driving traffic away from Facebook to your homepage or blog.
With the new news feed algorithm update, link posts have better reach than ever.
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This means you have a better chance than ever to drive fans back to your website and capture their email addresses.
The best way to do this is to share well-written, valuable blogposts -- and then have an email opt-in on your blog posts:
- in the side bar
- in a lightbox pop-up
We use this method on the Post Planner blog and get thousands of new subscribers every month!
Pro Tip: In order to maximize the success of your link posts and get the most engagement on them as possible, be sure to include a relevant, eye-catching photo along with your link.
If you need help finding photos to post on Facbook, we recommend trying the Viral Photos feature within Post Planner.
There you will find thousands of photos to choose from. It's predictive content (already proven successful on Facebook) so you will be setting your posts up for success right out of the gate!
Each photo is ranked with 1-5 stars, and you can choose the ones that best fit your audience. You can also create folders of content from your favorite Facebook pages.
You'll have it all at your fingertips ready to post!
Wrapping Up
Email marketing is one of the most powerful ways to build online relationships. Don't miss out on the opportunity to develop trust and credibility with your audience.
Are you using any of these 5 methods to collect emails from Facebook fans? If not, how else are you using your Facebook page to capture email addresses? Please let me know in the comments below.
Now that you know the ins and outs of capturing email addresses on Facebook.. what's next?
Ready to up your Facebook game?
Grab your copy of our free infographic below and learn 12 secret Facebook features you're going to love!
You'll be glad you did. :)
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