Marketing on Facebook is a bit of a touchy subject. Overt advertisements, calls-to-action, and sales page links generally don't perform so well (and don't make your page very inviting). Marketers are well aware that Facebook should be a place to provide value and content that draws fans back again and again.
Though getting fans off of Facebook is really to whole point, the "jump" from Facebook to email list often feels like it's not congruent to the fun, social, content-providing standards of a good fan page.
Frankly, it doesn't have to be this way. In this brief article, I'll introduce two different ways to get "fans" to make the leap to being "subscribers" without the bite-back of pushy Facebook marketing.
1) Share Specific Content with Specific Capture Pages
One of the reasons that linking directly to a squeeze page can sometimes come across is aggressive is that content such as white papers don't really require an email address to read. People want educational / fun content to "snack" on when browsing Facebook, and (especially on mobile) they dislike a surprise opt-in request.
So, give them the content, and ask for their email address with a specific white-paper or webinar opt-in at the bottom of the article or post (Hubspot does a great job with this: http://blog.hubspot.com/). If you send fans to a post about sales strategies, you might have a free ebook or video course on sales at the bottom of the article. That way, the engaged readers who read your article get to chose whether or not they'd like to opt in or not.
Keep in mind, the more targeted you email sequences after your targeted white-papers, the better your relationship build will be. Nobody wants an automated sequence of emails about something different from what they opted in for in the first place (For more ideas about targeted email sequences: http://www.business2community.com/email-marketing/3-tactics-get-higher-roi-email-marketing-0856382#!OvZzk).
2) Justify the Opt-In with Content Format
Some content formats justify an opt-in better than others. Even in a B2B setting, asking for an email address for a white paper can seem aggressive, especially when it's compared to the pictures of kittens and whatever else is competing with your prospect's attention.
Here are three email opt-in calls-to-action that make asking for an email address more justified than, say, a white paper:
- Webinars - This is highly overlooked, but shouldn't be. A webinar requires an email address, but almost never comes across as aggressive (because it's necessary).
- A Free Video Series - A "mini-course" often justifies the email opt-in be delivering a sequential kind of short "training" over a week or two-week period. This kind of content should be framed as more valuable because it takes readers through specific mini "lessons."
- Specific Updates - If you have a section of your blog that has to do with, say, sales, you could have a call-to-action to opt-in for regular updates when new sales-related interviews and blogs go up on your site. Including a bonus (IE: exclusive expert interview) for new subscribers help incentivize the "update" call-to-action.
At the end of the day, the quality of your content and ability to engage your audience will dictate the largest part of your success with leveraging Facebook. If your material is solid, and delivers benefit to your readers is your foundation set properly. However, a few extra tips and tricks can help get that content out there, and bring your "fans" closer by reeling them into your world through email.
- Daniel Faggella