How to effectively grow your email list with Facebook

But don’t be blinded by the new kids on the block.

With 2.9 billion monthly active users and 1.9 billion people visiting the social media platform daily (Facebook, 2022), Facebook is by far the most popular social network globally.

With the power of Facebook, you can grow your email list faster than you can say "cat video." Just follow these simple steps and watch your Facebook email list (and ego) balloon in size. 🚀

Though Facebook’s targeting capabilities are overwhelmingly impressive, almost every marketer struggles to maximize their visibility due to the ever-changing algorithm. 

Savvy marketers, therefore, know that when their promotion is being presented to potential customers, it’s best to lock them in on the spot. Not through Facebook, but somewhere away from the algorithm where the chances of having someone’s undivided attention are a lot higher.

This brings us to email marketing.

According to Statista, the number of people using email is expected to reach 4.48 billion. Even as the oldest one of the bunch, this marketing channel still manages to surprise everyone. Even today, email marketing should undoubtedly be part of your marketing strategy.

As a business owner, you’ll want to combine email marketing with Facebook marketing. In fact, you want to make email marketing and social media work together for good.

The idea is to leverage Facebook to find new leads and then use email to establish relationships and turn leads into long-term customers. With email marketing, the chances of your message being seen are significantly higher. Plus, your efforts are easy to measure and optimize by analyzing your reports.

Before we get into all of our Facebook email list growth ideas, let's first make sure you’re pages are set up properly.

Step 1: Check whether your Facebook page needs a refresh

When was the last time you updated your Facebook business page? As the digital business card of your company, you have to make sure everything looks picture-perfect.

Quickly check whether your Facebook page elements could use a refresh.

• Profile picture

• Cover image

• About section (are the opening times, phone number, etc. all up to date?)

• Photo album

Step 2: Create a signup landing page (with a lead magnet)

The signup form you created in the previous step is good to have, but not ideal for promotional purposes. The sharing URL can’t be changed and the design possibilities are very limited. 

Therefore, it’s better to create a separate landing page for people to sign up. Before you create one (with MailerLite’s landing page builder), think about:

• The audience you’re targeting

• What narrative would convince them to sign up

• Is a lead magnet necessary to convince them?

• Additional information to put on your page

With your ideal target audience in mind, you can create a strategy and write better targeted copy.

One way to motivate people is through lead generation. This strategy entails offering things like a lead magnet, also called freebie. It’s like a small present that people receive as a thank you for signing up. It could be anything from a checklist, a downloadable guide or access to a recording or course. If you’re not sure what your freebie can be, check what others in your sector are doing or simply ask your existing audience what they need from you.

Step 3. Link the call to action button to your form

As a last step, don’t forget to link the call to action (CTA) button to your signup landing page URL. This button will appear directly underneath your cover picture on the bottom-right corner.

Now let’s talk about the thing that you came here for: Email list building with Facebook.

There are paid and organic strategies to grow your Facebook email list, and we’ll cover tactics for both of them.

Groups and online communities

When you find a group filled with people that match your ideal audience, this can be a great place to promote your newsletter or offer. Depending on how targeted the group is, you might just see all your potential customers gathered in one place. But, don’t get too excited. This approach needs effort and patience. You can’t barge into a group and shamelessly promote your landing page. 

To find Facebook groups, enter fitting keywords in the search bar. Then check for the number of members and activity rate (how many posts are published per day). It’s also worthwhile to check comments, both for engagement and to get a feel for the group’s vibe.

Make sure to engage with people, build meaningful connections, and then promote (only when it’s relevant to the discussion). When in doubt, state this in your message (“I’m not sure if this is allowed, so please feel free to remove this message”) or contact the admin beforehand for approval.

Giveaways

Who doesn’t love a good giveaway? It’s the oldest trick in the book, but it still works—as long as the prize is enticing enough for people. If you’re using a Facebook giveaway to collect email addresses, make sure that people have to sign up (and not, let’s say, only share or like the message to win).

Learn more about growing your email list with giveaways in the article below:

Online events

Facebook is a great tool for people to find events in their surroundings, and for you to promote your event and get in those search results. If you create an event on Facebook, make sure to require a signup via URL, not merely a Facebook RSVP. Otherwise, you’ll miss out on email signups.

Additionally, you can promote the event in a Facebook post and add the link in the description. Keep the link short and sweet.

Below, you’ll see an example of Alicia Keys promoting her event on her Facebook page (note the “Tag a friend” engagement booster). After the event, the landing page template changed into a signup page where people can register to rewatch the session.

Newsletter previews

You gotta try it before you buy it. Oh wait, that only counts for paid newsletter subscriptions. 

Anyway, to convince people that your newsletter is worth it, show them a preview. Give visitors an insight into what’s in store for them by posting a newsletter web URL or redirecting them to a landing page. 

You can also use this Facebook strategy as a teaser for upcoming newsletters. Below you can see how Laudes Foundation does this with a video teaser.

Partnerships

This strategy isn’t necessarily Facebook-only—it works well in general. By partnering with a brand that has a different or bigger audience than yourself, you can successfully gather new leads. Partnerships can be anything from a mention in a post to a joint webinar, event or giveaway.

Paid Facebook advertising

Digital marketers love Facebook because of the advanced ad targeting possibilities in the Facebook ads manager. Facebook's massive database makes it possible to find potential new customers no matter how niche they might be.

Before you start creating audiences and experimenting with paid ads, try tweaking and optimizing your organic Facebook posts. You can even A/B test different versions to see what works best. Once you see that an organic post is performing well, you can promote it via Facebook ads. This is the safest way to start with paid ads.

Once you’ve found a strategy that works, you can take advantage of these advertising features to take your paid ads to the next level.

Attract new customers with Meta lead ads

Lead ads allow you to find people who may be interested in your products or services and collect information from them. When people click on your ad, they'll be prompted to fill in your form. 

Using a feature called “Instant forms”, you can reduce your bounce rate on mobile devices by pre-populating form fields with visitor data (i.e name, email, mobile, etc). The goal of this feature is to overcome your lead’s apprehension to complete the form.

Another great benefit is that Meta ads integrate with MailerLite. Simply use Ads Workbench to send your new leads directly to your MailerLite subscriber list. That way, when the leads start flooding in, you can be there ready to nurture them.

Stand out with video ads

Facebook video ads allow you to promote your products or services using video content. These ads are shown in the Facebook news feed and are designed to grab the attention of users and encourage them to take a specific action, such as making a purchase or visiting a website. 

Video ads can be created using a variety of formats, including short videos, live videos, and 360-degree videos.

There are several benefits to using Facebook video ads, including:

1. Increased engagement: Facebook videos are more likely to be watched and shared than other types of content, which can help to increase engagement with your ads.

2. Higher ROI: 74% of marketers say video has a better return on investment than static imagery.

3. Better targeting options: Facebook's targeting options allow you to show your video ads to the people who are most likely to be interested in your products or services, which can help to improve their effectiveness.

4. Easy to create: Facebook makes it easy to create and publish video ads, even if you don't have any experience with video production.

To learn how to use video ads to grow your list of emails, check out the article below.

Sync your email list with Facebook Custom Audiences

A Custom Audience on Facebook is an ad targeting option that lets you find your existing audiences across Meta apps. This includes existing customers and people who have previously visited your website or clicked your ads.

By syncing your email list with Facebook Custom Audiences, you can include your subscribers in your ad campaigns. Now, I know what you’re thinking… Displaying ads to existing subscribers isn’t going to grow your email list—but I haven’t gotten to the best part yet.

After you’ve synced your email subscribers with Custom Audiences, you can create a Lookalike Audience: A list of people who match certain data points with, or “look like”, your email list. This gives you the power to reach people you know have a high chance of being interested in your offer because they’re similar to those in your existing audience.

Allow Noya to show you how to sync your MailerLite email list with Facebook Custom Audiences in the video below.

There are many strategies you can use to grow your small business and increase your reach with Facebook. The social media channel is great for discovering and reaching new customers, whether that’s organically or via paid advertising. 

By redirecting these potential customers to your email contact list and asking them to sign up, you can start building real relationships—without needing to worry if Facebook’s algorithm will deliver your content or not.

For more tips on growing your email customer list in general, check out our ultimate guide.

What’s your go-to tactic to grow your list using Facebook? We’d love to know in the comments below.