Use Instagram & Pinterest to Kickstart Your List

Social networks are a great way to drive traffic back to your website and start building your mailing list. Two of the best sources of apps for doing this are Instagram and Pinterest. Both sites focus on images and videos to send people to your website. Here’s what you need to know to harness these social media tools…

Create a Landing Page

When you have a freebie or gift that you give subscribers, make a separate page on your website for it. This page should be a landing page template. Many WordPress themes come with this template.

If you aren’t using WordPress or you want another landing page option, you can try using a service like LeadPages or Optimize Press. Or use a tool like SoloBuildIt to build your website, since these have landing page templates. Both websites will allow you to create landing pages and will guide you through the process so it’s simple and easy.


Link to Your Landing Page

Both Instagram and Pinterest allow you to place a link in your bio area. Some online business owners link to their home page. While this may drive traffic back to their website, doing this make it harder to grow your mailing list.

When you send your followers to a landing page, they’re more likely to sign up for your free offer. That’s because they don’t have as many choices that could potentially distract your visitors.

Make an Opt-In Board

Once you have your landing page up, it’s time to add it to your Pinterest profile. Start by making a custom board for your opt-in gift. Then create 10-15 images that show off your freebie so other users will clickthrough and sign up.

Creating these additional images doesn’t have to be hard. Just think about how you can display some of the content from your gift. For example, Keri wanted to send traffic back to her opt-in, which was a 7-day keto-friendly eating plan.

She created 10 meal images. Then she pinned each image to her board named “Keto Start: 7 Day Meal Plan”. Every image was linked to her landing page. This brought her a flood of visitors that were interested in joining her list so they could access the menu.

Link Your Instagram Stories

Instagram Stories are videos that are under 60 seconds. Not only are they wildly popular, they’re great for sending traffic to a website. However, there are a couple of hurdles you may run into.

While any user can create an Instagram story, you can’t make it link to a website of your choosing unless you meet two requirements. First, you need a business account (they’re free and it’s easy to upgrade to one) and second, you need 10,000+ followers.

If you’re just starting out, getting 10K followers isn’t that easy. So, when you create a story in Instagram, tag yourself. Then when users click on your Instagram story, they’ll be taken to your profile. From there, they can click the link in your bio. It’s not the most elegant solution but it gets the job done.

Using Pinterest and Instagram can be a fun way to drive traffic. Make sure you study what techniques are getting you the most engagement so you can duplicate your success again later.

Using Video to Grow Your List

My friend Keri has started her very first list. But she wants to grow it quickly so she asked me for suggestions on what to do. And I recommended she post videos to social networks.

But each network is different in the types of content that your viewers expect as well as how long your videos can be. So I'm sharing some tips with you…

Facebook Live for Discussions

Facebook Live is one of the best social networks for getting engagement in the form of likes, comments, and messages. It’s also the social network where viewers stay the longest. That means followers are more likely to watch your videos all the way to the end, rather than abandoning them halfway through.

When you start a broadcast (live video) on Facebook, the social network begins letting your friends and followers know that you’re on video. This notification system boosts the number of viewers you get. 

But Facebook doesn’t start telling your followers about your video until you’ve been recording for around 10 minutes. Many of your viewers will expect a longer video as well. So you’ll want to plan to be on Facebook Live for at least 15-20 minutes.

Instagram Stories for Behind-the-Scenes

While Facebook Live is great for discussions, Instagram Stories are designed to feel a bit more personal. That means they’re perfect for behind-the-scenes moments and quick check-ins.

Keep in mind that Instagram Stories are limited to sixty seconds or less. That makes it easy for you to create a lot of content but it also means you need to keep things brief. If you have a large amount of information to share, try to break it up over the course of several stories.

YouTube Videos for Search Results

When it comes to videos, don’t overlook YouTube videos. YouTube is considered the second most popular search engine in the world. That means you can send a lot of traffic back to your website or blog by simply posting videos to YouTube.

But YouTube video content is different from Facebook Live or Instagram Stories. The content on YouTube tends to be educational in nature. 

It’s also expected to be more polished and less “off the cuff” than other video sites. For this reason, you’ll want to use YouTube for tutorials, product demos, DIY content, and tips or “hacks” that your audience would find helpful.

Have a Link Ready

In your video, you’ll want to invite your viewers to check out your website. But take it a step further and provide a link. This link should be a landing page with an offer for a free gift with a sign up option. When visitors fill out the form, they should be automatically added to your email list so you can contact them in the future.

Video can be a wonderful way to reach your community and grow your list. But before you press record, make sure you have a few content ideas and a landing page prepared. This will make your videos flow much smoother and be a more enjoyable experience for both you and your viewers.

How Did My Business Survive?

You may have noticed my absence lately. I admit - I did sort of drop out of site for the past few months. The anniversary of my dad's death hit me hard. I miss him more than I thought possible - especially if you remember how I used to complain about having to take care of him.Then Dearl's health problems cropped up again and that has just taken my full attention. And just when it was beginning to even out, God saw fit to provide me with not 1 but 3 distractions to care for. 3 new grandbabies in the last 4 months. To say I've been a bit preoccupied would be an understatement.

Now, I would love to say that I am independently wealthy and that I didn't have to worry about such mundane things as mortgage payments or grocery bills or putting gas in the SUV. But, unfortunately, that is not the case. I have to make a living just like everyone else. I obviously was not functioning at full capacity business-wise through all of this, though. So how did I manage to hang on? The answer is - automation.

My primary sources of income all operate pretty much on autopilot. So, while I can't neglect them indefinitely and expect to thrive, I can take a couple of months to focus on other priorities when necessary. My business may not grow (although Traveling Bob still managed to net some new customers!) but it won't die either.

Is your business automated? Can you take a break and generate some passive income while on vacation? Not sure? Answer these questions to see where you might need to make some changes.

1. How do you build your mailing list? Do you have opt-in pages on your sites that capture email addresses and names of visitors? This is the first step in automating your business. When visitors come to your site, have a enticing offer such as free special report or free trial to get them to subscribe to your newsletter. Once they enter their name and email, it is captured and placed in your database, automatically adding names to your mailing list every day.

2. Are you using autoresponders? If you have a mailing list, but don't have a way to automatically stay in touch with your contacts, then you are still not taking full advantage of automation. With an autoresponder, you can program a series of emails that will be delivered to your subscribers consistently for months or even years. So even when you aren't able to follow-up personally, your autoresponder is delivering content, offers, and reminders to re-visit your site over and over again. There are lots of great autoresponders available. I use AWeber and have been very pleased with the results.

3. Do you take orders and payments online? It has never been easier to do this than it is now. Services like PayPal make it a breeze to accept online payment, even if you aren't set up to take credit cards with your own merchant account. Combine this with a simple online shopping cart, and you're ready to make sales 24/7, rain or shine, whether you're available or not.

So - I am back now and trying to catch up from neglecting everything for so long. Fortunately, it won't take me long to just go in and update things. But it's good to know that if necessary, I can step back from actively building my business for a short time, and it will still be there when I get back. Can you do the same?