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Marketing Simplified

The Number that is More Important than your Fan or Follower Count

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One of the most common questions I get in digital marketing is, “How do I increase my follower or fan count?” I completely understand why I get this question—it’s easy to let such a visible number play with your head—but the real question behind this is, “How can I increase my conversions and how do my fans and followers play into that?”

As I’ve mentioned before, any fan, follower (or lurker) needs a clear path to follow in order to make a conversion. I’ve also mentioned that converting a fan or follower either organically or with ads on social media is a lot harder and more expensive than it is to convert a potential customer on your email list (this is why most of you will find this blog post via my email list versus one of my social media accounts). The reason for this has been proven through marketing research time and time again:  We see an email (believe it or not) as more personal than a social media profile. After all, you are the only one who sees your very personal inbox.

So– before you read any further– I want you to think about your email list. First, do you have an email list and an email marketing program? If not, that’s your next step! Second, how many people are on that list?

Now I want you to take 5-10% of your email list, and 1-2% of your followers. These are your most likely conversion numbers. As you can see, one email address is worth five times more than a fan or follower. Now that you know this, I hope the question on your mind is “How do I increase the size of my email list?” versus “How do I increase my fan and follower count”? This is so important that I devote a sixth of my entire digital marketing course to it.

Initial hints:

  1. Drive your fans and followers to your email list with landing page and timed pop-up opt ins, and then nurture them from there.
  2. Put email opt-ins on popular blog posts and other popular content.
  3. Look for complementary guest blogging opportunities that drive new people to your website and social media profiles (which hopefully are all optimized with email opt ins).

And before I go, I’ll remind you of the golden rule of digital marketing: One fan or email address who converts is a lot more valuable than ten who don’t—but it’s good to put your odds in the right places—happy list building!

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