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This blog post is part an ongoing series, which is based on the ebook "Top 21 marketing methods for membership websites published by The Subscription Coach Amanda Northcutt.

 Download the whole series in a book

The 6 major social networks: Facebook, Twitter, Instagram, YouTube, TikTok, LinkedIn. Pick 1 or 2 channels on which your viewers are and with whom you enjoy interaction. Engage on the channels five seven days per week. The majority of the content you share should be beneficial or useful for your viewers, with just 20% of it that is promotional. So, 1 out of five social media activities ought to be "salesy," that's it. No more, no less.

The social strategy you choose to implement should be tied to the content marketing plan. In other words, if there is a theme for the month or theme within your membership, your content marketing (remember that you require the free vs. paid strategy for content to ensure this happens) should be aligned to the theme of your month. It's not surprising that your social media strategy will promote and tie in with the free content you're releasing each month. Don't reinvent your wheel. Streamline your content marketing and social strategy using the same strategies you're doing behind the paywall with your paying members.

Facebook is an excellent choice for paid advertising for most member-based sites, since there are 2.3 billion users and infinite customizations are allowed, but this isn't the most ideal place for your free social activities unless you've established an existing Facebook Group.

It's not my intention to take a deep look at the benefits and drawbacks of every medium since that's beyond the scope of this guide. However, we recommend Instagram, Pinterest, and/or YouTube if your membership centers around highly visual instruction or education, as well as Twitter and LinkedIn if your membership is B2B (business to business). A social media scheduling tool, like Buffer or Edgar can help you manage your social sharing and ease the pressure of having to be present on the same social network every single day. However, you should show up frequently and interact with people who are listening, but it's likely unreasonable to add regular social interactions to everything else on your plate as the owner of a membership website.

Each week's once-weekly promotion, which is more salesy, and engaging on social media must include a call to action (CTA) that matches the steps your followers on each platform might be ready to take towards joining the membership. It could be a fun contest, taking part in a test or signing up for a webinar, going to your site or landing page and the downloading of your lead magnet.

If you need an email address to send the content you've created the content is referred to as a lead magnet. A lead magnet is a piece of content that is of great value and importance you give to your prospective customer as a reward for the email addresses of those who sign up. Anyone who enters their email address will immediately receive the promised content via email and be added to your email list. But don't just let them join your list to receive periodic newsletter emails or something similar. Make sure you have a method to convert this new lead to a paying member of your site! This is accomplished by preloading a lead nurturing email sequence which automatically starts into action when somebody downloads the lead magnet. And yes, this is time-consuming work, but this is the best set-and-forget selling tool you have available. Start by doing it one time, then examine your nurture emails every six months.

The overarching goal with all of your social CTAs is to get the email address of your prospect so they can begin receiving your automatic nurture email sequence. Like all marketing efforts activities, social interaction should be intentional as well as contextually relevant and measurable. If you don't have the right information about click-throughs, conversions, shares, and likes and retweets as well as lead captures as well as other such metrics. It's possible that you're in the wrong place. Are you?

To learn more concerning Facebook Live, grab Hubspot's Ultimate Guide here.

Organic influencer marketing

Partnering with those who have the interest of a large bulk of your targeted customers is the most effective route to growth for a membership website. It is possible to do the process yourself instead of trying to pay for it.

For the purposes of membership sites, the term "influencer" is someone who has amassed a large, loyal, and engaged following online because they are the expert in their field, or just super funny/interesting/etc. People love being close to them. Engaged is the most important measurement to consider when searching for influential people in your area. There are some influencers with tens of thousands or more followers. But that means nothing when the vast majority remain inactive and disengaged from the influencer.

It's been reported that there are instances of paid influencer marketing where celebrities are contracted to act as spokespersons for an established brand. Entrepreneurs and bootstrappers have taken that concept and applied it to specific niche market.

Odds are, there influential people in your business. What author has published the book on the topic of your membership? Who hosts conferences for your target audience? What are the top three blogs, podcasts, and YouTube channels that your target audience is paying attention to? These are your influential people. They are the ones you must identify them, locate, and begin by helping these people. This is how you can put your best foot forward in order that, with time, you'll build authentic relationships with those who influence you in order to create collaborations that are mutually beneficial and collaborative.

Giving value to your industry's influencers through being nice and useful is the most effective way to get on their notice. The primary goal of this method of marketing is first to establish authentic relations (to create a friendship and befriend) with these influencers. Then, in time create mutually beneficial ways to reach the audiences of each other. Treat these relationships with kid gloves. Be cautious, aware, and be cognizant that influencers are often able to wield the ability to influence purchasing decisions of their followers. This should work to your advantage and not in your favor.

It is easy to become a more helpful person by consistently doing things such as: connecting with them through social media (retweets, likes, comments or likes. ), reviewing your book(s) at Amazon, leaving a review for their podcast on iTunes and leaving regular useful feedback on blog articles, sharing their content with your readers and then tagging the author on different social media channels by sending a simple thank-you as well as other such actions. Put these types of events in your schedule as a recurring event so your organic influencer strategy stays up to date.

If you email or make an initial contact via social media platforms to announce yourself to the world, make sure you have a quote from the person who is the influencer in a blog post or interview on a podcast, or recently held speaking engagement, along with an interesting comments about how their advice/expertise helped you, and/or to ask them you a follow-up query. This will show that you've done your homework and aren't just arriving from the blue, with a plan to follow.

You can then say that you've been time-long fan of their work (because that's what you've followed them and helping them for some time now, right? ) In addition, you've shared their content with your audience multiple times, and you're working in the same field and you thought it could be beneficial to establish a connection. In the next step, ask them to introduce them to anyone within your circle who could help them (great if you have some specific people in mind who you're sure they're friends with). Be sure to not ask for anything in this initial outreach. If they are positive proceed slowly but gradually and provide an opportunity to the individual. You can work at your own pace However, do not be afraid to inquire for collaborations if you think it is logical.

As your relationship develops the relationship should naturally to be able to share content when relevant, be on each other's podcasts and cross-promote services. bundle your services to get special deals as well as explore other innovative collaborations for audience sharing.

If your natural influencer efforts come up short or aren't on time, don't fret and try sponsored influencer marketing instead!

Paid influencer marketing

Similar to natural influencer marketing you'll initially be able to recognize the influencers in your sector, but you can short circuit the process by approaching the influencers about advertising possibilities.

Some recognized influencers could have a media kits of some kind available on their site when they've conducted paid influencer marketing with other companies in the past. If you're not sure if they've been paid for collaborations or access to their audiences previously it's possible to first see if they would even consider this. Regardless, you're better off if you've followed the relationship-building steps outlined in the previous section on organic influencer marketing so you're on their radar before you make that inquiry.

Some examples of influencers who can be paid could include: a sponsored mailer to their email list or a blog post that is sponsored, a guest spot on their podcast or paying them to be the guest speaker on webinars and/or paying them to do an interview or to give a talk at your conference or event or any other thing that makes sense in your area.

Borrowing someone else's audience is the quickest and usually most cost-effective way to grow. Don't overlook the power influencer marketing can have in your acquisition and marketing strategy.