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

 The entire collection is available as an ebook >

The big six social media channels: Facebook, Twitter, Instagram, YouTube, TikTok, LinkedIn. Select one or two channels on which your audience lives and where you are most comfortable interaction. Participate on those channels 5 days a week. 80% of what you share should be beneficial as well as entertaining for your viewers, with less than 20% of it being for marketing. Thus, 1 of 5 social media actions must have the quality of "salesy," that's it. No more, no less.

Your social strategy should tie in seamlessly with your content marketing strategy. In other words, if you have a monthly topic or theme within the membership you have, your content marketing (remember that you require the free vs. paid content strategy in order to make this work) should also align with the monthly theme. Not surprisingly, the social media strategy you choose to implement must promote and be connected to your free content each month. Do not reinvent the wheel. Improve your content marketing and social strategies by piggybacking on what you're doing behind the paywall, and with the members you pay.

Facebook is the best option to advertise on paid for membership sites as there are 2.3 billion active users. Infinite customizations are allowed, but it's not the ideal site for your activities on social media unless you've got Established Facebook Group.

We won't do a thorough look at the benefits and drawbacks of each platform, since it's not within the boundaries of this document. We do recommend Instagram, Pinterest, and/or YouTube when your group's activities revolve around an emphasis on visuals as well as Twitter and LinkedIn when your membership is B2B (business to business). A social media scheduling tool, like Buffer or Edgar can help you organize your social media shares and alleviate the burden of being present on the social media platform every single day. In reality, you should show up frequently and interact with people that are paying attention, however, it's probably not a good idea to add every day social interaction with everything else you have you have to do as a site's owner.

Each week's once-weekly promotion, which is more salesy, and engaging on social media should absolutely have a call-to-action (CTA) that is the same as the steps your followers across all platforms might be ready to take towards joining your group. This could include participating in a fun contest, taking a quiz or registration for a webinar visiting your website or landing page as well as the downloading of your lead magnet.

If you're in need of an email address in exchange for the content you've created, that piece of content is referred to as a lead magnet. A lead magnet is something of high relevance and value that you offer to your potential customer in exchange for the email addresses of those who sign up. If someone enters their email address should be able to immediately get the content promised via email and be added to your email list. However, don't let them be on your email address for periodic newsletter emails or something similar. Make sure you have a method in place for converting that new lead into becoming a paid member of your site! It is done by preloading an lead nurturing email sequence which automatically starts off when the person downloads your lead magnet. It's true that this is time-consuming work, but this is by far the most efficient set-and forget marketing tool available to you. Make it a habit to check your nurture sequence at least every six months.

Your primary goal for your social CTAs is to get an email address from a potential customer so that they begin to receive your automated nurturing email sequence. Similar to all forms of marketing activities, social interaction is required to be deliberate, contextually appropriate, and easily quantifiable. If you don't have accurate information regarding click-throughs conversions, likes, shares and retweets as well as lead captures and more., you might be wasting your time. Are you?

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

Organic influencer marketing

Working with people who hold the interest of a large bulk of your targeted audience is the fastest path to growth for a membership site. It is possible to do this organically, or go straight to 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. And people love to hang out around them. Engaged is the most important measurement to consider when seeking out influencers in your area. Some people have hundreds of thousands or more followers. But it doesn't matter for those who overwhelmingly remain inactive and disengaged from the person they follow.

It's been reported that there are instances of influencer marketing paid for when celebrities are hired to be the spokesperson for the brand they represent. Bootstrappers and entrepreneurs have applied the same concept to niche markets and put it into specific niche markets.

There influential people in your business. Have they written an article on the topic of your membership? Who organizes conferences that appeal to your target audience? What are the top three blog, podcasts and YouTube websites that your customers pay an attention to? They are your influencers. It is important to recognize them, locate, and begin to be helpful to them. This is how you can be the best you can in order that, with time, you'll be able to build real relationships with influential people to work toward collaborations that are mutually beneficial and collaborative.

Offering value to the industry's influential people by being friendly and helpful is the best method to be on their notice. Your overarching goal with this marketing channel is first to establish authentic connections (to make a friend and befriend) with these influencers. Then, in time create mutually beneficial strategies to get in touch with each other's audiences. Take care to treat these relationships like kid gloves. Take care, be thoughtful, and mindful that influencers are often able to wield the ability to influence buying decisions of their audiences. It is important to have this working in your favor, not against you.

It is easy to become a more helpful person by consistently doing things such as: connecting with them through social media (retweets and likes, or comments or likes. ) and reviewing the book(s) at Amazon, leaving a review on their podcast on iTunes, consistently leaving valuable comments on their blog articles, sharing their content to your followers and tag their social networks with a quick thank you as well as other such actions. Include these activities in your schedule as a regular event to ensure your organic influencer plan stays on track.

If you send an email or send an initial outreach on social media for introducing yourself, it's smart to have a quote from the influential person from a blog article or interview on a podcast, or the most recent appearance on stage with an insightful comment from you on the way their guidance or expertise helped you, and/or to ask them a follow up inquiry. It shows that you've completed research and aren't coming in from the blue, with a goal to achieve.

You can then say that you've been long-time fan of their work (because they're a part of your life their work and providing support to them for quite a long time you know? ) In addition, you've posted their material to your readers multiple times and that you're also in the same industry and you thought it could be helpful to make connections. In the next step, ask them to introduce them to anyone within your circle who could benefit them (great if you have some specific people in mind you're certain they're not already buddies with). It's key that you don't ask for anything in this initial outreach. If they're positive proceed slowly but slowly and continue to provide an opportunity to the person. Work at their pace however don't be afraid to ask for collaborations if you think it is logical.

If your working relationship progresses, it should be natural to collaborate on material when appropriate, participate on each other's podcasts or cross-promote service, bundle offers for services, and pursue other creative collaborations for audience sharing.

If your organic influencer efforts fail or aren't on time, don't fret and try the option of paid influencer marketing!

Marketing with influencers paid

Similar to natural influencer marketing first you'll need to identify the influencers within your field, however you can speed up the entire process by reaching out to them with paid promotion possibilities.

The most well-known influencers may have a media kit of sorts on their website when they've conducted paid influencer marketing on behalf of others previously. If you're not sure if you've paid them for collaborations or access to their audience previously it's possible check first if they would even consider the possibility. 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.

Examples of paid influencers opportunities can include: a sponsored mailer to their email list or a blog post that is sponsored, a guest spot on their podcast, paying them to be the guest speaker on webinars and/or paying them to do an interview and allowing them to speak at your next event or conference or any other thing which is appropriate for your area.

It is the fastest and often most cost-effective way to grow. Don't overlook the power influencer marketing could have in your acquisition and marketing strategy.