How to Reach 80-90% of Your Audience — Spoiler: it’s not Just Posting on Social Media
If you’re a Small Business Owner or a content creator who uses social media to market your business, chances are you’re wondering why aren’t Your followers seeing your posts
If you’re you frustrated that your Instagram posts barely reach your audience, you’re not alone. The average Instagram post only reaches 5% of your followers—meaning if you have 1,000 followers, only about 50 people see your content.
Why Instagram Reach is So Low —And How to Reach 10x More People
Meanwhile, email marketing has an 80-90% deliverability rate.
Email delivery is comparable to Instagram Reach. It means your email showed up on someone’s inbox, whether they opened your email or not, whether they read it or not. The difference being that when your social post show up on someone’s scroll, there’s a big chance they will just scroll past and not take the time to look, watch and read your content.
Now an email in our inbox, we always see who sent it and the subject line. So we have a bigger chance for people to also open, read and click. It’s no wonder email outperforms social content so much. It’s very common for small business owners to see more sales from email than social, even with a fraction of an audience.
Even with a much smaller email list, you can reach more people, get higher engagement, and make more sales than social media alone.
So if you’re always asking yourself:
“How do I grow my followers”?
“How do I go viral on Instagram?”
“How do I jump on the latest TikTok and Reels trends?”
Maybe it’s time to start shifting some of that energy into growing your email list and emailing your audience consistently. Trust me, your business will thank you!
In this post, I’ll break down exactly why your email list is your secret weapon for growth and how to start building one today. Plus, grab my FREE Email Marketing Starter Kit to get started!
Instagram vs. Email: The Reach Showdown
Most small business owners are pouring all their energy into Instagram, but the numbers don’t lie:
📉 Instagram reach: ~5% of your followers see your posts. 📩 Email reach: 85% of your list receives your emails in their inbox.
Even if your email list is 5x smaller than your Instagram following, you’ll still reach more people with email than social.
Why Does Email Outperform Instagram?
No algorithm blocking your content – Your emails land directly in inboxes, while Instagram decides who sees your posts.
People check email daily – The average person spends 2.5 hours per day in their inbox.
Better conversions – Email marketing converts at 3-6%, while Instagram struggles to hit 1%.
You own your list – Instagram can delete your account anytime. Your email list? Yours forever.
If you’re only using social media and Instagram to market your business, you’re leaving money on the table every day.
The good news is that if you’ve been frustrated because you’re struggling to grow your revenue, you have this whole untapped marketing gold mine to leverage: emails and newsletters!
How to Start Your Email List and Reach More People Today
Most small business owners hesitate to start an email list because they think it’s complicated. It’s not!
Before anything, you need to pick an email marketing platform and create an account, if you’re not using one yet. If you want to skip the guessing game, we recommend Flodesk. Flodesk has beautiful templates, is easy to use and fairly priced. Try Flodesk for FREE here.
Here is how to get your first 100 email subscribers (or your next 100!):
Step 1: Create a Freebie That People Actually Want
The easiest way to get people on your email list? Offer them something valuable for free—this is called a lead magnet.
What Makes a Good Lead Magnet?
✅ Solves a problem – It should provide an immediate win.
✅ Simple & digestible – Checklists, guides, and templates work well, you want something that is easy to use and not too long, complex and long — people are less likely to put time into something free.
✅ Easy to access – No complicated tech—just a simple download and on a platform that everyone can easily use. Google Docs, Canva Docs, Canva Designs and PDFs work Great to deliver your lead magnet to your audience!
💡 Pro Tip: Not sure what to offer? Look at your most saved Instagram post and expand it into a free guide!
🔥 Grab my FREE Email Marketing Starter Kit to get started today!
[Download the Free Guide]
Step 2: Promote Your Email List Like a Pro
Once you have a lead magnet, you need to tell people about it- many many many times!
Here’s how:
📲 Instagram Strategies
Add the freebie link to your bio and direct people to it from comments and DMs
Post about it in Stories weekly—most people need many reminders to finally subscribe and get it. Plus new followers won’t know about it!
Create a Reel that highlights the problem your lead magnet solves.
Create a FREEBIE Highlight and add a simple story with the link to it.
DM new followers and invite them to grab it.
Add the link to Instagram Story Q&As, mention it in Instagram Lives and captions.
🤝 Leverage Other People’s Audiences
Offer your freebie in Facebook Groups related to your niche.
Be a guest on podcasts and link your freebie in the show notes.
Do a promo swap with another business owner where each of you do a story with each other’s freebie link.
🖥 Optimize Your Website & Blog
Add a signup form to your homepage.
Set up a marketing pop-up that offers your freebie to website visitors.
Promote and link your freebie in your blog posts.
🚀 SEO Tip: Name your lead magnet’s landing page the complete name of your freebie instead of just “freebie” for better Google rankings.
Step 3: What to Send After Someone Joins Your List
The key to email success isn’t just getting subscribers—it’s keeping them engaged. Here’s what to send after they sign up:
📩 Your Welcome Email (ideally automated as soon as they join!)
✅ Thank them for signing up.
✅ Deliver the freebie link.
✅ Give them a little gift or a tip that allows them a quick win related to their problem.
💌 Weekly Emails That Keep Subscribers Hooked
Week 1: A quick win + actionable tip.
Week 2: A behind-the-scenes look at your business.
Week 3: A success story from you or a client.
Week 4: A special offer or extra freebie.
🔥 Struggle with writing emails? Our Email Marketing Templates Membership, Your Inbox Team gives you text and image templates for weekly done-for-you emails every month—so you never ghost your lost or stare at a blank screen again!
How to Get Your First (or next) 100 Subscribers (Fast!)
Want to grow quickly? Try these easy strategies:
✅ Put your freebie link in your email signature – Every email you send is a chance to get a new subscriber.
✅ Post in Facebook Groups – Find communities where your ideal audience hangs out.
✅ Run a $5/day Instagram ad – A small ad budget can bring in steady signups.
✅ Create a referral incentive – Offer a bonus freebie to subscribers who share your list.
Final Thoughts: Get More Reach Without Fighting Instagram’s Algorithm
Instagram reach is shrinking every day—but you don’t have to let it frustrated you and kill your business. By combining your social media efforts with email marketing, you can reach more people, make more sales, and stop feeling like you’re shouting into the void.
🚀 Want to grow your business with email? Download my FREE Email Marketing Starter Kit now and start reaching more people today!
[Get the Free Guide]
P.S. If you’re tired of writing emails from scratch, check out Your Inbox Team Membership and we will send you all your emails to you! Your Inbox Team is your shortcut to high-converting email content every month!
The Best way To Grow Your Reach, is adding email Marketing to complement your Social Media efforts
We want you to stop chasing algorithms, and really connect with your audience through email marketing!
Download our FREE guide teaching you exactly how to start and grow your email list for your business!
Manu Muraro is the founder of Your Social Team, which helps small entrepreneurs grow their business through content marketing, especially email and Instagram.
In 2021 Manu launched Your Template Club, one of the first Canva Template for Instagram subscriptions in the world to provide social media managers and small business owners with content templates designed for engagement.
Manu has also more recebtly started the first Instagram Reels Award Show, The Reelies Awards and an email marketing membership, Your Inbox Team.
Born and raised in Brazil, Manu moved to the U.S. in 2000 right out of college to work for Cartoon Network, where she made an award winning career in creative and strategy.