In a world where social media plays an important role in marketing, business owners often forget to build an email list. For some reason, they understand they need to be on social channels, but when I ask them about email lists they are lost.
Here’s where the problem comes in. You need to build an email list if you want to make it in business and there are several reasons why you should.
You don’t own social media.
Just last week, Facebook announced that it was doling out yet another algorithm change. In this change, Facebook said it would be prioritizing content from personal pages on newsfeeds (among other things).
This means business owners who don’t have the money for pay to play are up the creek without a paddle. It’s hard enough to get attention for free on business pages, now it will be practically impossible.
This is just one example of how you don’t own social media. Twitter and Instagram can make changes whenever they want as well. About a year ago, Pinterest was working great for me and then the algorithm change killed me.
So if you don’t want to get killed every time a social media company decides to make a change, build an email list. Even when you use social media, use it in a way that helps you build an email list by letting people know they can join one.
The money is in the list.
The majority of my sales come from my email list. Period. Sure, I have a few that come from social media, but people mostly buy from you when they know, like and trust you. Those who are on your email list are more primed to purchase because they have opted into hearing from you.
On a similar note, if you already have an email list but you aren’t actually emailing them, now would be the time to start. Remind them that you exist.
It’s the easiest way to market.
I personally believe that emailing your list is easier than coming up with social media copy all the time. Emails are easy to write and they tend to be more effective when it comes to getting your market to move.
The problem is most people make it more complicated than it actually is. All you need to do is write an email about mundane things that happen in your life and somehow relate it back to a service or product of yours.
For more information on how to do this successfully, I highly recommend reading Dot Com Secrets by Russell Brunsun.
It’s more effective than social media.
Although social media users are climbing, people with email accounts far surpass that of social media. Additionally, according to data from OptIn Monster, most people check their email first, not their social accounts.
This means that if you want to reach customers so they actually buy from you, the way to do it is to get them on your list.
Final Thoughts
If there’s only one thing you get from this article let it be this: Build an email list so that you have an asset you own.
