(? Rather listen then read? Click here)

A couple of weeks ago on Inbox Besties (my podcast), a listener asked “If podcasts were a good way to grow her email list”.  Which sparked  Taran of (undomesticatedmom.com) to ask if  I had any tips for How to Grow Your Email List Using Facebook Live. A platform all of us should be embracing.

Hi Kate, Taran Conwell here. I absolutely adore your podcast, it’s given me so much helpful, useful information when it comes to email marketing.

I do have a question that I’m wondering if you can answer, I’m wondering if you have any tips for using Facebook Live to grow my email list.

That is a platform that I have been using, I’m really enjoying it. I do throw in my opt-ins almost every live I do, if it pertains to the live subject. But it’s not giving that many more subscribers.

Growing your list with Facebook Live comes down to 4 things:

1. Topic

2. Ease & Flow

3. Views

Choosing Enticing Topics For Your Facebook Lives

When it comes to choosing a topic for list building Facebook Live  you need to remember 3 things

1.Is it something you’re truely excited to talk about? 

If you’re not talking about a topic you love & feel confident enough to open your mouth about for hours on end — don’t do it. 

Viewers can feel your energy from a mile away. They’ll forgive a couple of a public speaking jitters – you’re human – a total lack of confidence or “poser-ness” is unforgivable. So stick with topics that light you up.

2. Does your  topic crush a “yeah but….” question / compliant people have around the topic of your freebie or niche?

This one is easier to explain with an example.

Say your freebie is: 7 Day Meal Plan That Only Cost $100 to buy everything (Like Taran’s) 

Some “Yeah but….” questions/complaints people have around it are…..”

• Yeah but, I don’t have time to meal prep
• Yeah but, I bet she’s going to have me eat the same thing everyday
• Yeah but , the last thing I want to do on Sunday is meal prep
• Yeah but, my husband and I both work and either of us want to cook
• Yeah but, what if my kids don’t eat it 
• Yeah but, what if it looks weird
• Yeah but every time I meal prep by Friday my food is gross and soggy 
• Yeah but my family and have a big appetite I bet the portions are small
• Yeah but I don’t know how to cook…..(chicken, stew, fish etc)

This list goes on and on and on….

All of those could make great Facebook Lives topics.

3. Does your  Facebook Live have a scroll stopping headline?

Remember people don’t come to Facebook to learn, they come to be entertained and chat with friends. Which means your headline needs to be soooo compelling they stop spying on their ex’s and watch your live stream.

This video can help with that…

Ease & Flow Of Your Facebook Live

Make it ridiculously easy to sign up

Use Pretty Links:

When it comes to growing  your email list with Facebook Live you MUST make it ridiculously easy for people to get to your freebie’s landing page. This starts with having an easy to say & remember url.

For example: If I was a doing a Facebook Live about how to boost open rates – one of my points would be you need to email consistently. Which is perfect segue for my 2 years worth of quality newsletter idea freebie.

However it’s full url: https://kd.ritaester.com/2-years-worth-quality-email-ideas/ is hard to say & easy to mess up…

But using a free wordpress plugin call Pretty Links – I can create a simple url that redirects to that page (pretty links is also really handy for affiliate links.  Here’s how you can create pretty links with Square Space

[et_bloom_inline optin_id=optin_21]

Use “pinned” comments

Now that your armed with your easy url make it even easier for people to get to your landing page by adding the pretty link to a “PINNED Comment”. This is the first comment people will see when viewing your live stream.  Again…making it super easy.

Don’t wait till the end to tell people about your freebie!

People come in and gone on Facebook Lives.  Even if someone’s watching the replay, they don’t always end up going to the end because Facebook is a very sticky, busy place so people get distracted.

So you need to almost sort of reset your livestream as you’re going along, or feel free to mention it towards the beginning. I know that sometimes, we like to wait a little bit for people to hop on. But you also need to realize, if somebody is watching the replay, they’re very interested in you.

So literally, you want to come on and say, “Hey guys, what is going on?” Do yourself a little intro. And be like, “And guys, don’t forget to get to the special gift, which you can head on over to theundomesticatedmom.com/mealprep where I’m going to lay out absolutely everything for you, because I realize it’s the holidays/ summer time / Wednesday/ etc, and you may not have time to watch this whole video.”

Add a call to action right at the beginning of your session, somewhere in the middle (depending on how long it is) and the end.  Remember to include what’s in it for them. Don’t beat them over the head with features. 

Straight up ask people (by name) if they downloaded your freebie yet

If you have live viewers don’t be afraid to call them out by name, and actually ask them, “Have you gotten my [meal prep guide, list of 80 great kid’s game, free stock photos] yet?

Since your lives now related directly to your freebie, it’s a natural questions.

“Hey Sarah, do you actually have my free meal prepping guide?”  Pause. Then continue  your livestream, But actually read her answer out loud in from comments when she leaves.

So if she says, “No,” then you can literally just remind her, “Oh Sarah, don’t forget that, to head on over to, again, that landing page and grab it. I really think you’re going to like it, especially if you’re digging this livestream.” Most people are like, “Oh my goodness, thank you, I didn’t know it existed.”

And if Sarah says yes, chances are she’s going to say it’s amazing. Literally just read her comment. Like, “Oh thank you, Sarah, so much for saying that my meal prep guide is amazing, I really love making it.  And I know that’s been helping people slice their grocery bills in half.” 

Instant social proof. Instant curiosity from other viewers. Instant sign ups.

Increasing Your Facebook Live Views

I don’t want to rain on anyone’s parade, but even though Facebook is loving all things video right now –  if you do not have alot of likes or followers your Facebook Live won’t  get pushed into a lot of  newsfeeds.

Lately, with algorithm it seems to only be showing posts from  groups or pages a people have  viewed in the last 24-48 hours in their newsfeed.  So if your followers aren’t coming back regularly to your page Facebook Live won’t be shown to them. .Which means if you only have a handful of likes – say 300 – 500 only 20-120 people or so might see. And the likelihood of getting all 120-ish to watch it and subscribe is pretty slim… but not impossible. 

But since, I do think that video is really great for growing your audience & nurturing their wallets open., You want to make sure you get every eyeball on it you can.

Schedule Ahead

While I know it’s totally  tempting just to pop on a Facebook Live “real quick” while the kids are being quiet…if you want a higher live show up rate scheduling your Facebook Live ahead of time can to do wonders.  This gives you a change to build hype. Promoting it on other channels that you have and email you list about it.

Plus if you use a service like Ecamm to schedule your lives it will notify your followers that you’re planning on going live.

Make the most of your replay

You can actually download your lives & put them up on youtube.  Embed Facebook lives on blog posts. Get is transcript. Bam instant blog post.  Create some pins. Load it into Tailwind  and promote the crap out of it.

Don’t forget you can always email your list your about the replay!

Ask for shares & tags

I know it might seem tacky but chances are your views know other people EXACTLY like them so during your broadcast – encourage people to share your broadcast or tag 2 friend, they think will enjoy the broadcast.

Send personalized messages to 3 of your closes friends on FB and ask them to share our your broadcast directly. Make it super easy for them with your Facebook Live URL. You can do this before you go live or ask them to share the replay.

Open your wallet

So we could not have a question about Facebook without talking about Facebook ads. Now I’m not going to tell you, go spend a million dollars on ads and boost posts. But you really do think your people are on Facebook, and you just run a kick-ass live stream –  put some dollars behind it.

The lives turns ads that do the best tends to be shorter, succinct, have high energy &  some interaction. (No swearing though) 

Start following  Courtney Foster-Donahue creator the FB Framework or  Emily Hirsh, from Hirsh Marketing Podcast to learn more on Facebook ads.

The most important thing when it comes to trying to grow your list with Facebook Live is….

When it comes to utilizing Facebook Lives to grow your email list is, you do need to actually look to see, is it ultimately worth it for you?

Set 60 day or 90 day “testing” limit. Then get go balls to walls.

Keep track of your KPI’s (key performance indicators) are you getting  more subscribers, more sales, more traffic? Or are things slowing down? Are you still talking to no one? Is zipping your energy?

Now at the end of 60 days, your numbers might not be where you wanted them – but if you’re still having fun , then keep doing it. See where you can improve.

 

So are you using Facebook Live for your business or blog? Tell me what you’re doing in the comments below.

This blog post was originally episode 68 of the Inbox Besties Podcast – Listen here or on  Itunes // Google Play // Stitcher // Spotify 

Get 2 years worth of toe-curling email ideas perfect for your list