11 Ways To Expand Your Social Media Contact List

Social media platforms are part of an online community where individuals come together to communicate, engage, entertain, connect, and exchange knowledge. With people spending more time on these platforms, businesses have a great opportunity to increase social media followers by posting content that people like.

But is posting good content enough to expand your reach and convert leads into customers?

Posting good content is important but without a good following on Social Media it takes time to reach the desired goal. Now, the main question is - how to expand your social media contact list to reach out and convert these potential leads into customers.

Let’s dive into this article to understand 11 ways to expand your contact list using social media.

What Are Social Media Contacts?

Social media contacts are users that people meet, interact with, engage, and connect virtually. Depending on the platform and the account, these contacts can be subscribers, connections, followers, or even friends.

Businesses, especially, look for ways to get more social media followers as it will increase their contact base. There are many ways in which these contacts can help businesses; some of them are:

• An extensive contact list ensures content reaches more audiences, increasing visibility.

• Increased followers and contacts mean more collaboration and networking opportunities.

• A varied social media contact list may increase social media engagement and help businesses generate more revenue.

How To Create And Expand Your Social Media Contact List?

By increasing your social media contacts, you can boost Social media presence, find potential clients, and generate more revenue. Listed below are ways to grow your contact list:

1. Define Your Target Audience And Strategy

You must define and understand why you want to use social media to grow your contact list. A clear strategy will help you maximize your efforts in the right direction, thus helping you expand your contact list.

Thus, you must Ask questions like:

• Who are your target audience? 

• Do you wish to attract new clients? 

• Would you like to increase website traffic?

It will be simpler to design a plan after you know the answers to these questions because different social media platforms call for different tactics for approaching audiences. For example, Facebook and LinkedIn will have different ways to deal with, interact with, and contact customers.

2. Set Up Special Sign Up Landing Pages And Opt-In Forms

There are many ways to grow your SMS contact list with social media platforms. You may route leads to your landing page, where they can subscribe, by adding a Sign up button to your profile page.

You can also add opt-in buttons, like join my community on platforms like Facebook with a link to your shop, email list, or any other social media account. 

Almost all online platforms allow you to pin posts, and you can pin your SMS opt-in post for users to remember and act.  

3. Use QR Codes To Direct People

Once you have your landing page set up for sign-ups, you can make a QR code that points to it to take advantage of in-person encounters and entice people to scan the code and subscribe to your list and expand your contact.

Some places where you can add these QR codes are receipts, invoices, packaging, product tags, storefront displays, event signage, tabletop placards, business cards, and point-of-sale signage.  

4. Add Specific CTAs In All Your Social Media Posts

One of the effective ways of building an SMS contact list is to include a CTA or call to action button on your social media posts. This will motivate your fans to subscribe to your email lists.

You do not have to sound sales-sy or pushy with a CTA button. Alternatively, you could just provide a link to subscribe to your newsletter or read other articles of this kind to be informed about your latest deals.

5. Offer Free Downloads As Lead Magnets

Lead magnets are used mainly for B2B, content creators, and service businesses, and they are very common. A lead magnet is an ebook or other helpful material you give in return for a contact's phone number and opt-in.  

It ought to be something that appeals to readers' interests. Moreover, you must have all the T&C for SMS opt-in when your audiences sign up. There is no better place to promote lead magnets than Social Media, and can be shared via posts or ads.

6. Host Giveaways In Exchange Of Email Sign Ups

Hosting a giveaway or a social media contest can be a great way of asking people to sign up for your email and building your contact list. The key to giveaways is offering something relevant to your business and target audience.

You can even provide these freebies in collaboration with a nearby company. This can benefit both you and the local company in increasing your followers. You can provide a free product, gift card, or service in exchange for sign-ups.

7. Leverage Targeted Advertising

Social media advertising should be used to expand social media presence with effective strategies. Although PPC advertising may be an effective strategy for small businesses, audience development is rarely the main priority of entrepreneurs.  

On the contrary, targeted audience ads can help businesses build their contact list using data-driven insights, such as an ideal customer's behaviors, interests, and demographics. It will create a database that can be nurtured for future conversions.

Your advertisements don't have to promote only goods or services. If your newsletter or lead magnet has a value your audience can purchase, consider promoting it.

8. Collaborate With Niche Influencers

You can always collaborate or partner with other influencers or brands to cross-promote email lists on social media platforms. You can work together with a person in your expertise to expand faster. 

It will further help you to reach more satisfied customers by communicating with each other's audiences.

9. Promote Gated Content In Exchange For Email Sign Ups

Most people spend time on social media to know what others are doing. They are scouring social media for trends and information on topics influencing their sector. 

Many followers would be eager to read your thought leadership articles if you produced them on essential subjects your audience finds interesting. Many will comply if you gate that material in exchange for their email address to access it. 

10. Add Social Media Handles In Email Signatures

We already have a vast number of contacts that are not on our social media contact list. It's either because they cannot locate you online or they are unaware you are active on which social media platform.

Thus, a practical tip to add your known people to your social media contact list is to add your social media handles to your email signatures. Adding these links will not take much time and can also be used for new email contacts.

11. Host Webinars And Live Events

Organize a live webinar or Q&A session on social media and urge attendees to subscribe to your email list for updates and more content. Business experts highly recommend weekly live sessions, which may be effective if you have the time.   

For most company owners, once a week is a stretch, but if you can commit to one every month, you will still experience benefits. The secret is to start your sessions when you have enough followers to know you will have an audience and then to keep going regularly.

Final Thoughts

Multiple threads working together beneficially is optimal for digital marketing. Simple interaction numbers shouldn't be the only thing your social media postings offer. 

Adding those followers to your email list lets you communicate with them in a whole new way and encourage them to buy from you. This article's tips for growing your contact list are just the beginning.  

You can choose any of these or try implementing different strategies for different platforms to determine which yields more results for your business. You'll be shocked to learn how quickly the number of people on your social network contact list grows.