Instagram. We all faff around with it. But can you actually leverage your Instagram following to make sales? You certainly can. But only if you're clever about driving people to your email list. So if you want to find out how to use Instagram to successfully grow your email list, Helen Perry spills all the secrets for us today.

You just don't want to miss this episode (and Kennedy's mind explosion!).

Ready to become Insta famous?

Well, we are!

SOME EPISODE HIGHLIGHTS: 
(2:45) Two lies a truth. Did someone say something about STIs?
 (4:50) Is Instagram still a place where you can grow an engaged audience?
 (6:32) Why you can't afford to 'abdicate' on your audience.
 (9:50) Where and how you should tell your audience on about your email list.
 (10:48) The type of Instagram content that gets people's attention.
 (12:28) The mindblowing truth about the Question Sticker.
 (14:17) How to properly use your link in bio to grow your email list.
 (15:30) How to create urgency for people to join your email list (and Kennedy's mind explosion!)
 (17:28) How often you should ask for people's email address on Instagram. (19:22) Subject line of the week - Helen style!

Are Instagram and email marketing a match made in sales heaven?

With close to 14k Instagram followers, former BBC Radio One Helen Perry helps people build an Instagram following and make money from social media. Because guys, it's really not just about looking lovely and having your ego stroked. It's about selling, right?

The great news is that if you have an Instagram audience it's absolutely possible to leverage it to support your business. But, Helen says, you've got to be intentional about what you do and have realistic expectations. Because the platform has its limitations when it comes to how well people are going to get to know, like, and trust you, and how much of your content they're going to see.

But the place where you can really get your audience's attention is their inbox. Once people give you their email address, they're more committed to you than someone who just follows you on Instagram. These are the people who will spend money in your business.

So drive your Instagram audience to your email list. And keep plugging on and working on this because the minute you start neglecting your Instagram community, your engagement will drop. And you don't want to undo all your hard work, do you? We love that Helen even has a name for this – ‘social media abdication'.

How to use your Instagram profile to grow your email list, Helen Perry style

First thing first, create a great offer for your audience.

Simple, right?

What does your audience love about what you do? What are they interested in? And what do they want more of?

For Helen, it's her weekly newsletter, which she sends out every Friday, packed with tips and inspiration for people who want to build an online profile to promote their business. And because the newsletter goes out every week without a fail, Helen gets the chance to talk about it all the time – to create that sense of urgency that prompts people to join before Friday so they can get all the good stuff in their inbox.

Isn't that pretty great?

So create a lead magnet or some sort of incentive to encourage people to give you their email address. But remember – it has to be valuable to them!

How to drive your Instagram audience to your email list

So how and where do you ask your Instagram audience to give your their email address?

The best place to do this, according to Helen, is Instagram Stories. Here's where you can share a few slides about it is that you're offering and talk people through it, rather than making them read lots of text. Be fully transparent about what people are signing up for and invite them to DM you and give you their email address with their permission to add them to your email list.

You can also do this with a feature called Question Sticker. And of course, once you reach 10k followers, you unlock the Swipe Up feature, which allows you to send people directly to your email sign-up form. Brilliant!

But another obvious and easily accessible place to promote your email list is the link in bio. So use it wisely! Don't just dump your website address in there. Don't make people do the hard work of navigating around your website to find out where they sign up! Instead, change your link in bio often and have your email sign-up form link in there.

How often should you ask for people's email addresses on Instagram?

Helen says we could probably ask more than we do because at the end of the day only a small proportion of our audience sees the content we share. So ask people to join your email list at least 2 or 3 times a week, and if you're selling things all the time, then every day.

But don't forget to alternate that with behind-the-scenes content, storytelling-type content, and news update on what's going on with your business and what you're offering, for example.

Oh, and if you want to check out how we'll be implementing Helen's advice, come and follow us on Instagram!

Subject line of the week with Helen Perry

Helen's subject line of the week is about being the opposite of a perfectionist.

That's right. Helen shared the story of when she sent out a really rubbish email telling her audience she was launching a course but didn't give them any of the information they needed to make a decision.

In Helen's words, it was a truly useless email. But lots of people replied asking for details and expressing an interest. The next day, Helen sent out a message apologising for her rubbish email and gave people what they needed. She sold more courses at the back of that email than she did with any others.

So there you go – honesty for the win. Again! 

Useful Episode Resources

About Helen

Want to find out more about the awesome Helen Perry? Go and connect with her on Instagram (obvs!)

Related episodes

Twitter for List Building with Madalyn Sklar.

17 No Cost Ways To Build Your Email List.

How To Grow Your Email List Using Facebook Pages (Without Ads) – Rachel Miller Moolah Style!

FREE list of the top 10 books to improve your email marketing

Want to write better emails? Come up with better content? Influence and move your readers to click and buy? Well, you can do that with this list of our Top 10 most highly recommended books that will improve all areas of your email marketing (including some underground treasures that we happened upon, which have been game-changing for us). Grab your FREE list here.

Join our FREE Facebook group

We know your business is different, so come and hang out in our FREE Facebook group, the Email Marketing Show Community for Course Creators and Coaches. We share a lot of training and resources, and you can talk about what you're up to.

Try ResponseSuite for $1

This week's episode is sponsored by ResponseSuite.com, the survey quiz and application form tool that we created specifically for small businesses like you to integrate with your marketing systems to segment your subscribers and make more sales. Try it out for 14 days for just $1.

Join The League Membership

Not sick of us yet? Every day we hang out in our amazing community of Email Marketing Heroes, where we get to share all of our training and campaigns and a whole bunch of other stuff. If you're looking to learn how to use psychology-driven marketing to level up your email campaigns, come and check out The League Membership. It's the number one place to hang out and grow your email marketing by applying everything we talk about in this show.

Subscribe and review The Email Marketing Show podcast

Thanks so much for tuning into the podcast! If you enjoyed this episode, which was all about how to grow your email list with Helen Perry, and love the show, we'd really appreciate you subscribing and leaving us a review on your favourite podcast player.

Not only does it let us know you're out there listening, but your feedback helps us to keep creating the most useful episodes and get discovered by more awesome people like you.