Using Facebook Lead Ads to Build Your Mailing List

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The Direct Marketing Association reports email marketing has as much as a 4300% ROI in the United States of America, so collecting emails is a smart idea for almost any type of business. Think about it – when you collect a lead’s contact information, this is a person who has already sought out your business in some way. This is highly targeted list building that allows you to reach out time and time again.
However, you may have exhausted all of the traditional ways to build your list, such as signing up people at trade shows and through your website. Enter Facebook lead ads – this is a new way for you to reach a highly targeted audience and get them to sign up directly for your mailing list. Once you get everything set up, it can run automatically.

Step # 1: Offer Something of Value

Your first step in building your mailing list is going to be figure out something of value you can offer to potential leads. For most businesses, this will take the form of a series of video lessons or an ebook guide of some sort. Think about what your target demographic most wants to know about. If you run an HVAC business, this might be something as simple as 10 Ways to Save on Your Energy Bills.
The key is to provide something in-depth that the user actually wants. It’s okay to offer something related to your target audience but not directly related to your business, too. At this point, you just want to pull in targeted leads for your list. So, if your target audience is homeowners, what are some topics homeowners most want to know about?

Step # 2: Set up Ongoing Campaign

Your next step is going to be tied into a mailing list platform. I personally use MailChimp and have for years, but you can do something similar with Mailerlite and a few other programs on the market. With these programs, what you’ll want to do is set up the welcome email so it immediately sends the subscriber their freebie. For example, with MailChimp, you can set it up to send a link to a file that has been uploaded to MailChimp.
You’ll also want to set up some follow-up emails to make sure the user got the download and introduce yourself and your company. Your goal here is to establish a relationship from the beginning. A minimum of three emails should be your goal. You can space them a day or two apart.

Step # 3: Place a FB Lead Ad

Once you have your email campaign in place, set up a lead ad on Facebook that lets your target audience know about your freebie. Here is the great thing about Facebook, you can very narrowly focus your target audience down to even a location. With the ability to seek out your specific type of client, you can reach people who are most likely to be interested in what you have to offer.
There are many different ways to create the graphics and the ad and to market to these people, but for now just know that targeting is your most important task with this ad.

Step # 4: Collect Email Addresses

Once you’ve set up your lead ad, the goal is to grab all of these interested parties and input them into a mailing list. The easiest way to do this is by paying for a service such as Zapier, where you can simply tie your Facebook lead ad into your MailChimp list. It is effortless and Zapier will automatically subscribe these people for you.
Alternately, you can log into your Ads Manager on Facebook each down and download the list of leads from your ads. You would then manually input these into your mailing list. This can be time consuming, but if you are on a very tight budget, it can save you a bit off the third party integration costs.

Step # 5: Market to List

Now that you’ve built your list, you’ll be able to market to this list. Since these are highly targeted leads that are already interested in the type of service you offer, you can start by sending out a special discount for mailing list subscribers who need service. Other emails you can send include household tips, info about local events, and anything else you think might be of interest. Don’t overwhelm your subscribers, but do stay in touch.
If you haven’t dipped your toes into Facebook lead ad advertising just yet, now is the perfect time to give it a try. You set the budget, you choose the target audience, and you reap the benefits of building your list over time.

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Posted In: Sales & Marketing, Technology