How to use Facebook video ads to grow your email list

And if you’ve ever tried to grow a healthy list, you know how hard it can be.​

Traditionally, people grow their subscribers using signup forms on their website and blog. But relying on your website traffic alone to grow your list can be limiting, especially if you don’t have a lot of traffic. 

To broaden your reach, there are several other ways to build your email list, including using Facebook, Instagram and YouTube. And if you don’t have a large social following, you can still use these channels through advertising. 

In fact, Facebook Lead ads are one of the best ways to build your email list, especially when you combine them with video content. Let’s take a look!

Why use Facebook Lead ads with video to grow your email list?

Facebook ads are so successful because you can accurately target your perfect market with an almost spooky level of detail. If you want to target mothers in their 30’s who drive SUVs and buy only organic groceries, you can do that with Facebook ads. 

There are many types of Facebook ads but one of the best for email list building is the Facebook Lead ad which allows leads to sign up to your newsletter right from the ad itself. Here’s exactly why Facebook Lead ads work so well for growing an email list: 

You can use video which is the most powerful type of ad content

Video ads are proven to build trust and boost conversions. Videos tend to engage people more than static images and almost 60% of advertisers see a large improvement in campaign performance when using video ads. You can also explain a lot in a short amount of time and use video to stir up emotions that entice people to act now. 

You can reach your ideal customers through Facebook’s robust targeting

You will have all the demographics and data elements you need to build the perfect customer profile and target them precisely. There will be no need to waste ad dollars targeting a wide net that includes many people who won’t be interested in your product. 

Stay top of mind with relevant Facebook retargeting

Retargeting allows you to reach out to consumers that showed interest in your product in the past. Maybe they visited your website or liked an image on your Instagram page. Now that someone is warming up to you, Facebook will show them your ads the next time they log in. 

Warm leads increase conversions and this goes for both direct sales and for enticing people to sign up for your email list. 

Use lookalike audiences to find people who are ready to buy

Speaking of warm leads, Facebook has a targeting feature called “lookalike audiences.” These are people who look like customers you already have. If you supply Facebook with your current list, it will find people similar to them and serve up your ad to those people. You can also build audiences that look like the ones that shop from your competition.

Facebook Lead ads integrate easily with MailerLite

Another great benefit is that Facebook ads integrate with MailerLite. Simply use SyncSumo to send your new leads directly to your MailerLite subscriber list. This is important because when the leads start flooding in you want to be sure you are ready to put them to work for you. Please note that only new Facebook leads will be added to your MailerLite list.

Success stories and strategies you can learn from

A friendly, personable video can help entice a viewer to take action right now and sign up for your email list. That’s what these companies below did. Let’s take a look at how they did it.

Volkswagen UK

Volkswagen filed a 5-month gap between announcing their new T-Cross model and the actual launch of the car where people could buy it, by building interest with Facebook Lead ads.  

Their Lead ads campaign contained exciting videos of the car and of people driving the car, and it gathered lead information on those who were more likely to purchase. When all was said and done, Volkswagen confirmed that 45% of their pre-launch leads came from Facebook Lead ads.  

Unit 1

This wearable tech company used Facebook Lead ads to capture intent signals to strengthen its lookalike audiences. Their exciting ski videos gave them peak performance with 4,700 leads in just 14 days and a 2x return on ad spend.  

Pap-Deco

This Polish interiors business took a chance and made its first ever Facebook ad campaign. They wanted to reach their target audience and engage with them on Messenger conversations. Pap-Deco used a mobile-friendly brand video in their Lead ad. It worked: customers started conversations on Messenger that resulted in increased sales and mailing list subscriptions. 

Best practices for Facebook video ads

Not all video ads are created equal and not all will be successful. Luckily, video ads have been around long enough that Facebook has compiled a lot of research about best practices. You can use this data to create Facebook video ads that work. 

Here are the top seven tips for video ads:

1. Make it short

Facebook allows you to upload video ads of up to 240 minutes long. Why? We have no idea since the average person will watch, at most, up to 3 minutes. The more engaging your ad is, the longer it will get watched. 

2. Highlight your brand early

You need to grab attention fast and sometimes you only have as little as 3 seconds before your audience looks away, so make sure to put your value proposition first. 

3. Design for sound off

85% of Facebook users scroll through their feed with the sound off. Don’t forget to add subtitles or other visual elements to make your video easy to understand even without sound. 

4. Use user-generated content

User-generated video is the most personal and most appealing type of video campaign. It generates 6.9X the engagement of brand-generated content. You can get a user-generated video for your product at Billo platform. Consumers are tired of celebrity endorsements and are looking for real people who look and act like them to speak to about product recommendations. 

5. Segment your audience

Product marketing is getting more and more personal, so make sure you segment your audience and deliver the right message to the right people. You can use multiple videos within the same ad campaign and split test which works best.  

6. Use native placements

Place your video right in the newsfeed, these are also known as native videos. When people scroll their newsfeed your ad will show up just as if a friend of theirs posted it. 

7. Think mobile-first 

In April 2020 over 92% of active users accessed Facebook via mobile devices. It would be a waste of money not to adapt your video to a mobile-friendly format. To achieve this, you should choose a square or vertical video for your ad. 

Wrapping up

If you’re looking to grow a new email list from scratch or strengthen the one you already have, Facebook Lead ads with video is a great option. While it will require a financial investment, if the ROI makes sense, you’ll attract a group of highly-engaged subscribers for your newsletter that will pay off in the long-term.