If you have been following all 9 parts of Social Media House you may have noticed that I talk about Newsletters in every single one of them. This is because newsletters are the most important part of your online strategy.
While social media is key for attracting your crowd and building your numbers, email is still the most vital asset you have for generating revenue. You make relationships with fans on your social networks, but you turn those relationships into customers with email.
Choosing A Newsletter Service
If you do not already have a professional service to manage your email list, it’s time to get one. The main reason for this is that you want to be able to track your open rates and your click-throughs to gauge your effectiveness. The legal reason is that you need to be able to allow people to unsubscribe with one click. An email marketing service will handle deleting people who request to be unsubscribed. This is important, as you do not want to get reported as a spammer from overwhelmed people who no longer wish to receive your newsletters. After you have selected one, Action Sheet 8.0: 11 Things to Consider When Sending Your Newsletter will set the stage for you to successfully send newsletters.
A great newsletter is content marketing at its finest. It keeps your crowd engaged and connected with you emotionally, and if the rules on Facebook, Instagram, Twitter or any other social change (and they will) you will always have your newsletter list. This is gold.
The 3 G’s of an Effective Newsletter: Greeting, Guts & Getting
After you have a sense of what you want to share, create your newsletter using my “3 G’s” formula: Greeting, Guts, and Getting.
Greeting – make it personal. At the very top of the newsletter, sum up what is about to follow so people know what is coming in your newsletter. Share something non-music related in this section. Pull people in on a human level and make them care about you as a person. Some ideas: vacation, family time, whatever you are reading or listening to, TV and movies you are into, and so on.
Guts – the content of the newsletter. This is where you show off whatever relates to your current news. Remember, people love and connect to stories, so tell stories while you share your knowledge and your product, goods or services.
Getting – put readers into action. The Call To Action is the part of the newsletter that gets your fans to take action. It is the most critical part of the newsletter and increases your fan’s engagement with you and your project /upcoming show/ pre-release etc.
Creating a Rapport with your Email List
The final Action Sheet will get your head around how to improve your monthly newsletters. Start to think about ways to get fans to open and read your emails, and why they look forward to receiving them.
Action Sheet 8.1: Brainstorming – Creating a Rapport with your Email List will help you find out who your fans are, activities or /hobbies they resonate with, places they hang out and content they will love.
Watch part eight’s videos:
Introduction To Week 8 – Newsletter
Week 8: Newsletter