I think Social Media is the Best Way to Grow a Newsletter
Hi all! I previously had great success with growing my newsletter through Instagram and Pinterest. I've been pretty active in the Substack community and notice that most writers are not fully taking advantage of what just getting their content onto social media will do for their growth.
I decided to share my thinking behind my project Newsletter to Socials and really break down why this worked for me.
Here are my 5 reasons why social media is a great idea for any blog or newsletter writer:
1. Finding where your Target Audience Hangs Out
It is pretty known that Google is the most commonly used search engine in the world, but did you know that YouTube and Pinterest are the next most commonly used search bars on the internet? Maybe an audience of home-cooks are hyper-active on Pinterest and are already searching for your content, and it’s just not there! Or perhaps there is a niche subreddit about the exact cryptocurrency you are writing about this week. Wouldn’t they like to know about your content?
The point is, it is important to try many different forms of social media. For some reason, your content may resonate with people who view Instagram stories or LinkedIn articles, but not Facebook comments. I guarantee that there are untapped groups of subscribers out there for any niche, you just need to reach out to them on social media.
2. Compounding Growth
If you were able to brute-force your newsletter to 1000s of subscribers, chances are there would be some form of organic growth from your readers. Word-of-mouth is the most effective form of growth and has the highest rate of retention. We trust what our friends tell us!
This compounding growth does not just apply to newsletters. Once your social media accounts hit a certain size, they will also continue to grow. As your Instagram or Pinterest presence expands, your posts also receive exponentially more views. Why only have one compounding channel of growth?
⏱ It can take quite some time before your social media growth compounds, but it is certainly worth it! Hang in there!
3. A Platform to Connect and Engage
Email newsletters are a great way to start a conversation in readers’ minds, but they aren’t as effective as continuing that conversation. From DM’s to comment threads, social media is a great place to give your readers the chance to discuss and further engage with your content and with each other. It can also help you get to know them better and tailor your newsletter to their exact interests. Make getting to know your audience a top priority.
4. Alternative Income / Collabs / Opportunity
A well-established social media account is not just a growth channel, but also an asset. You can leverage your social media accounts to help bring more attention to your newsletter. For example, the social media version of guest writing could be exchanging shoutouts on Twitter with another writer or relative account. There are many creative ways to leverage a social media following for your niche.
If your goal is to live off of your publication, a large following on Instagram or YouTube can land you additional income streams from promotion deals, affiliate links, or increased exposure to your own info products. Social media takes time to build and is a must early on if your goal is to live off of your publication!
5. SEO
There is a lot of low-hanging fruit when it comes to SEO for newsletters. One easy-to-take step is to ensure that there are backlinks to your content across the web. Social media is a great place to start, especially when others repost your content. Having several different social media accounts pointing back to your publication will help increase your SEO.
Many of these concepts may be quite familiar to the Indiehacker community. I think there are many writers out there who would value greatly from hearing this.
This was the inaugural issue of my newsletter dedicated to newsletter growth tips. (it's super meta, ikr)
Let me know if social media has worked for growing your publication! And if so, how?
