How To Increase Email Newsletter Subscribers Using Social Media and Send with a Top ESP

Email newsletter publishers see constant churn in their subscriber lists. As people drop-off your list, you need to constantly add new subscribers to maintain and to grow your list. All publishers of email newsletters need a robust subscriber acquisition program. Here are eight ways to use social media to continuously add subscribers to your email newsletter program:

1. Create a Corporate Facebook. You can create a Facebook page for your company. As you develop a following of fans or people that “like” your company as a favorite, you increase your visibility. On the fan page you can place a “subscribe to our newsletter” box.
2. Add Opt-in Box to Facebook Profile. On your individual Facebook profile add an email newsletter opt-in box. This way you can capture new subscribers directly from your profile.
3. Post links to your email newsletter sign-up page on Twitter.
   Twitter can be a great tool to build a list of subscribers. Use this channel to get your message out and re-tweeted to hundreds of like-minded individuals. Caveat: just make sure you do not violate Twitter’s policies or you risk being banned. Only send valuable messages that followers welcome. Send some of your tweets to a landing page, which includes a sign-up to your email newsletter.
4. Start a LinkedIn Group. On LinkedIn, you can start a group for your industry or target customers. In your profile section, include a link to your email newsletter landing page. When you are working on an interesting email newsletter article, send an update status to your LinkedIn contacts.
5. Conduct a Survey on Your Blog. On your company’s blog conduct topical surveys and offer an email subscriber box to those that complete the survey.
   
6. Participate in Forums. Participate in online discussions and use a signature that promotes your email newsletter. You can also use a signature line promoting your e-newsletter in all of your corporate email accounts.
   
7. Create SlideShare Presentations. Take your best articles and create SlideShare presentations. In the summary slide, include a sign-up to your email newsletter.
   
8. Post Past Issues Online. Organize your articles by topic and place them online. Put a “subscribe now” option on each page of articles. Make it easy for viewers to share an article with their social networks. For example you could add an “add this” or “share this” widget. Visit this hub to find Internet marketing tools to improve the traffic to your email newsletter online pages.
   

By using an outreach campaign through social media, you make it easier to grow a list of interested recipients to your email newsletter.

You can also use your social media network to help you develop content for your e-newsletter. Read about how to create email newsletter content using social media.

Sending Your Email Newsletter

After you have acquired many subscribers, you will need a robust tool to use to send out your email newsletters.

You can send your email newsletter to a few recipients directly through your desktop computer’s email system. When you grow your list, the desktop system is not ideal for sending email to a large list.

When you need to send your email newsletter to a large subscriber list you are better served by a third party system, rather than your own desktop email program. These third party systems are called email service providers or ESPs.

The market place is chock-full of ESPs. Look for an ESP that provides the following:

• An easy to us interface for email list set-up and email sending
• A solid process to handle hard and soft bounces and to process unsubscribes (required in the US to meet the CANSPAM Act)
  
• A set of features that help you build your list (such as “forward to a friend”)
• A strong set of design features, including a great HTML editor, which allows you to add your own images and links
• A robust reporting features giving you good information on the number of views, forwards, etc.
• Top-notch support with the ability to reach a live person via phone or chat, responsive email support, a good library of online tutorials, an online knowledge base

Three of the most popular ESPs (with all of the above features) are Vertical Response, Constant Contact, and iContact. These three ESPs offer a good balance of

• dependability --- with a strong record of up-time and email delivery
• pricing -- with a relatively low cost per month per subscriber per email sent
• flexibility -- with a variety of management options and a good template library
• reporting – with good reports and easy handling of bounces, unsubscribes, spam, etc.
  

All three offer an extensive knowledge base and solid customer support. These ESPs also offer robust online support communities where users can interact with other users and share their opinions on the service.

Each offers a unique set of features and benefits and you should select the one that best matches your needs. Based on industry ratings, use the following to guide your selection:

Select Vertical Response if you are new to e-newsletters and email marketing. Vertical Response provides excellent support.

Vertical Response has the following noteworthy features:

• Great customer support with a deep community forum
• A free 30 day fully-functional account to use as a test drive
• Full integration with Google Analytics for enhanced reporting
• A large 25MB of online image storage for your newsletters (compared to 1/2 MB for Constant Contact and iContact)
• Direct mail programs to send post cards by surface mail
  

Cost information: Free trial. Costs to send 500 contacts $10.00

Learn more about Vertical Response.

Select iContact if you are experienced, want to send surveys and have concerns about getting past SPAM filters. iContact has a good deliverability track record.

iContact has the following noteworthy features:

• A great SpamCheck capability that increases the likelihood that messages will get past recipients’ Spam filters
• Exceptional white-listing features, which also improves deliverability
• No additional charge for archiving newsletters
• Great Blogging and RSS feed tools to help improve your email newsletters reach.
• Online surveys that can help you engage your readership and even create content (link to hub article on creating email newsletter content)
  

Cost information: Free trial. Costs to send 500 contacts $14.00/month

Learn more about iContact.

Select ConstantContact if you want a wide range of design options and you don’t mind spending a little more. ConstantContact has s superb design template library.

ConstantContact’s has the following noteworthy features:

• A very deep library of templates, which makes it easy to the right look
• An interface that is easy-to-use
• Great customer support
  

Cost information: Free trial. Costs to send 500 contacts $15.00/month

Above all else, make sure you follow the best practices for publishers of email newsletters. When you set up an email newsletter program the right way, it’s a great channel for building solid reputation and for engaging your target audience.

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