Influencers have taken over the social media landscape in recent years. They’re on every social media platform, and command the type of reach most businesses would kill for. It’s no surprise that engaging with influencer audiences is so tempting as a tactic, but most brands stop short of finding its full potential.
Sure, they bring influencers on board to give sales a bump, or to grow their own social media followers, but brands miss a huge opportunity—the chance to increase email subscribers with influencers and their following.
We’re talking influencer marketing for lead generation—a chance to get email subscribers through influencer collaborations. By finding the right partnerships with big names, you can build an engaged, entirely self-owned email list. With access to hundreds and thousands of leads and their data, and no fickle social media companies getting involved, a list like that is an extremely valuable resource.
Influencer marketing for lead generation isn’t a hidden art, or any form of marketing dark magic—it’s a set of underused techniques. Lucky for you, we here at ScoreApp are experts, and we’re here to pass on our expertise.
This blog post will break down everything you need to know to get email subscribers through influencer collaborations. We’ll take you through how best to engage influencer audiences, how to convert them into subscribers, and the tools you need to do it, including:
- Irresistible lead magnets
- Co-branded content and giveaways for engaging with influencer audiences
- ScoreApp’s interactive and simplifying tools, such as automation for lead nurturing and templates.
Let’s get started.
How to build an email list through influencer collaborations
If you’re going to increase email subscribers with influencers, you need to dedicate time to it. It’s not as simple as finding a voice in the industry with a lot of followers and hoping they’ll work with you.
There’s a fair bit of groundwork to do beforehand, not to mention a process and best practices for maximizing the results.
To start with, you need to find the right influencers for the job of email list building.
1. Find the right influencers for lead generation (not just reach)
When it comes to email list building, the size of the influencer’s audience is not the be-all and end-all. It’s understandable that brands would get hung up on follower count, but finding an influencer with a relevant and highly engaged audience is more important by far. Consider micro-influencers with a following between 10k and 100k.
Any influencer you work with should align with your brand values. They don’t have to have millions of followers, just a strong, attentive audience and a content focus that fits with your niche. That way, their audience is likely to be warm to you and interested in your offering already. It will make it easier to get email subscribers through influencer collaborations.
There are different types of influencers working across different platforms, but putting the options into a ScoreApp quiz will clarify which would benefit your business most.
Once you start email list building, ScoreApp will segment the leads that have come from engaging with influencer audiences.
2. Create an exclusive influencer-led lead magnet
If you’re going to take advantage of influencer marketing for lead generation, then it’s best to work together. Don’t just ask your chosen influencer to promote your email list—come up with something together. Create a unique lead magnet that will interest their audience and draw them to you.
Instead of asking an influencer to promote your email list, collaborate on a unique lead magnet. That’s how to build an email list through partnerships.
Here are some of the best collaborative lead magnet ideas to increase email subscribers with influencers:
- Set up a new ScoreApp assessment or quiz that gives personalized insights relating to your shared niche.
- Create a video mini-course that helps viewers reach their goals or solve their pain points.
- Host a webinar or a Q&A session (using ScoreApp’s webinar funnel) that draws on the influencer’s experience and expertise.
- Work together to generate an exclusive guide that uses your solutions to appeal to the influencer’s audience.
Once you’ve picked your lead magnet, it’s down to the influencer to promote it across their social media channels. Any lead who wants to get involved has to sign up to your email list to get access.
3. Use influencer giveaways to drive email sign-ups
Everybody loves the chance to win something. Done right, a giveaway can be a high-converting strategy, especially when you’re tapping into influencer marketing for lead generation.
For a giveaway to work, you need to find the right prizes. Generic prizes like cash might bring in a spike in engagement, but they won’t result in leads who will stay on your email list and be nurtured over time.
Instead, think of offering:
- Product prize bundles put together by you and the influencer.
- Discounts on your products or free consultations with you or the influencer.
- Access to premium content, such as a paid course of coaching sessions run by the influencer. Something their audience will covet.
These competitions will work best if you establish a landing page with sign-up as a condition to entry, and follow up with an automated email nurturing sequence. ScoreApp can help you set up both in moments.
4. Co-host a webinar or live Q&A with an influencer
Your influencer has the audience. Now it’s time to get them engaging with you via a webinar.
Webinars make it easy to increase email subscribers with influencers thanks to the valuable insights they bring. They’re also a way to demonstrate your synergy with the influencer and promote yourself to their followers.
While you’ll be using webinar registrations for email list building, you can also establish an automated, post-event email sequence. This will keep engagement high, and convert attendees into loyal subscribers.
5. Leverage influencer social media channels for email list growth
It’s tempting to think of engaging with influencer audiences as a one-and-done campaign. A short-term way to increase email subscribers before you go your separate ways. Instead, why not look at how influencer marketing for lead generation can run over time using social media?
With ScoreApp, you can create opt-in landing pages optimized for social media visitors, as well as lead magnets (quizzes/assessments) that offer instant value. You just need to get your chosen influencer onboard with promoting your lead magnet.
Here’s how to grow your email list with influencer marketing in the long term:
- Get your friendly neighbourhood influencer to use Instagram link stickers to direct their audience to your lead magnet. Even better, add the stories to a highlights section for future visitors.
- Make sure they add a CTA in the description of their videos on YouTube, pointing people in the direction of the freebie or quiz. And that they mention it at the end of the recording.
- Same goes for the pinned comments on their TikTok.
- Include a scroll-triggered opt-in on any blogs they share to their networks on Facebook or LinkedIn.
6. Run a ‘comment-to-subscribe’ campaign
It sounds simple, but a comment-to-subscribe campaign can be an incredibly effective way to increase email subscribers with influencers.
How does it work? Well, the influencer you’re working with will post about a high-value topic— something your audiences care deeply about—and encourage comments in exchange for a freebie. Who wouldn’t take the opportunity to receive an ebook or report that helps solve a common pain point or reach a specific growth goal?
It can be a simple one-word comment or even an emoji. What matters is it acts as a trigger to send a DM that links to the opt-in page.
Chances are there’ll be a deluge of comments, which will all need attention. That’s where ScoreApp’s automation comes in handy, responding to each lead instantly. You can even offer different lead magnets based on the type of engagement, and use them to enhance your audience segmentation.
How to grow your email list with influencer marketing and ScoreApp
Influencer marketing has huge potential for email list building, bringing your lead magnets and expertise to a new, broader audience. Using ScoreApp as part of your influencer marketing strategy, you stand a better chance of engaging those leads, and turning them into subscribers and customers.
- Interactive lead magnets such as ScoreApp quizzes and assessments are more attention-grabbing and convert influencer audiences at a higher rate.
- Video mini-courses and surveys bring value that is too good to ignore.
- Automation makes following up and sending personalized messages simple and immediate.
- Templates for landing pages encourage opt-in and track which leads have come from influencer campaigns.
Teaming up with influencers isn’t just about improving your visibility on social media. The right partnership lets you build a high-quality email list, both in the short and the long term, full of leads who are ready to engage and convert. ScoreApp gives you the tools to nurture those leads, as well as lead magnets that grab their attention in the first place.
ScoreApp is free to try, so give it a go today with influencer marketing for email list building.
