5 Ways to Incorporate Social Media into Your Mailing List

Want to get more mileage and benefits from your mailing list? Then be sure to socialize your updates and newsletters. The following tips will help you simultaneously grow your list and your social media audience.

1. Add social profile links to each newsletter.

Want to increase a particular social media audience, such as your Facebook fans or Twitter followers? If so, include a link to to it in each of your e-mail updates and newsletters. You can try focusing on building each audience one at a time or include both.

When it comes to the verbiage, be specific. Include a link or image that says “Become a fan on Facebook” or “Follow us on Twitter” in order to increase the likelihood that people will do just those things.

2. Encourage social sharing.

If your mailing list service provider allows it, include social sharing options in your newsletter itself. As people share your latest newsletter with their friends, their friends will be tempted to sign up to it as well.

Also be sure to encourage that people forward the newsletter to their friends. To increase the odds of people signing up for your newsletter when it has been shared, include a link to the signup page for your newsletter.

3. Share your newsletter on your social profiles.

Take the web-based version of your best newsletters and share the link to them on your main social profiles. For example, if you have a great deal for mailing list subscribers, be sure to tweet about it so people can jump on your mailing list to get it.

Another great way to share your newsletter on social media besides tweets and Facebook posts is to pin an image from your newsletter to Pinterest. Then, you can capitalize on Pinterest traffic to your newsletter and hopefully convert it into subscribers.

4. Add ClicktoTweet to tweetable quotes.

People love to tweet little snippets, quotes, and facts. ClicktoTweet allows you to create a custom status update that people can share just by clicking on the link provided by the tool. So if you have a tweetable bite in your newsletter, make a quick “Tweet this” link so that people will share the text and a link to your newsletter.

5. Direct e-mail readers to discuss on your social profiles.

Don’t let your e-mails become a one-way street. To increase the chances of mailing list subscribers becoming Facebook fans, create a discussion on your Facebook page and include the link to that post on your wall in the newsletter. This way, you not only gain fans and boost the engagement on your Facebook page, but you also show your subscribers that you care about them and what they have to say.

Last But Not Least, Don’t Forget to Measure Your Results

If you’re using MailChimp, Constant Contact, or SendGrid, you can sign up for a free trial account on SumAll and connect your mailing list service provider along with your social networks.

This way, you can measure the boost in fans or followers after your mailing list goes out. Or, if you encouraged engagement from your newsletter to your social profile, you can correlate the change in advocacy.  

Kristi Hines is a freelance writer, blog marketing expert, and social media enthusiast. You can follow her on Twitter and Google+.