How Good Is Your Email List?

An email list.

You have one, right?

Lemme guess, its either an Excel spreadsheet or a pile of business cards right?

Let me start out by saying that an email list is one of your two most important social media assets with the other being your blog.

You own own them and no one can take them away from you.

Your email list is especially important as it grows with you and is a measure of your success in whatever your field happens to be.

Lets talk about this!

At a minimum your email list should have enough information to be able to connect with its members on a personal level.

This means that you have the first name, last name, title (if appropriate), and the email address for everyone on your list.

(Why? Don’t you just hate receiving emails that have no sense of familiarity with you?)

IMHO, the two best email automation tools to use that are on the market today are:

1. Mailchimp
2. Constant Contact

The one I use and that I recommend to my clients is Mailchimp.

Both products have similar functionality and are very good when starting out with email lists.

My big reason for going with Mailchimp is that it is free for the first 2,000 email addresses on your list while Constant Contact only offers a free trial.

For those on a tight budget when starting out this is a key differentiator.

Once you start to go down the path of working with an email list, consider some best practices for working with it:

1. 1. Maintain and grow it! Don’t just let it sit there!
   2. Personalize it! First names and joint experiences are just a couple of ways to do this
   3. Use it but don’t abuse it, don’t become a spammer!
   4. Ways to properly use your list:
      1. Stay in contact periodically when you have something of value to say
      2. Newsletter, stay in touch with your list on a regular basis
      3. Drip campaign, automate your responses for each time a member of your list interacts with you

Now, a critical watch out for working with email lists!

The CAN-SPAM Act of 2003!

This US Federal legislation was introduced back in the day when we all thought the Internet, not to mention our inboxes, would choke on unsolicited emails (AKA spam).

You run afoul of this law at your own peril.

Tools like Mailchimp and Constant Contact have the functionality built-in to help keep you in compliance with the CAN-SPAM Act.

Another very good reason to use one of these options!

Email can be a very important part of your social media program if done correctly and can help you build and stay in contact with your community.

But, best of all its yours!

That’s it for now!

Please check-out my 8 step approach for developing a social media program to get some more ideas on how to use social media.

Also, never forget to reach out to either ask questions or to ask for help from someone like myself!

In the meantime, thank you for following and reading my blog!