How To Build An Audience

“Rome wasn’t built in a day”. Remember that the next time you think of creating an audience.

Veselina Gerova
Revue

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A lot of people tend to struggle with creating an audience, especially when it comes to newsletters. With social media there are countless tactics that can help you build a decent following. With newsletters though, the situation is different. How do you get a substantial mailing list? Where do you start? Since some of our users have requested an article on that issue numerous times, it’s time to help out with what we’ve seen works. We’ve noticed that some users stop sending out digests due to lack of subscribers and knowledge how to acquire such a following. And that’s a pity!

Don’t forget that your newsletter doesn’t have to be something that sits in the back of your mind and feels as if you have massive weight on your shoulders. Don’t get discouraged because there are not enough people on your mailing list yet! You just need to employ specific tactics and see which one works best for you! You don’t necessarily need a large audience, you just need the right one: an audience that is actually engaged. So how can you attract the right crowd?

“Rome wasn’t built in a day”. Remember that the next time you think of creating an audience.

Become The Smartest Person In The Room!

The best way to build an audience is to write about a topic you know a lot about. Or are you super passionate when it comes to a specific subject? Don’t be afraid to begin with your digest even if you don’t know enough about your theme or if you think you’re not a good writer! Just start, that’s all it takes. Slowly you’ll build up on your knowledge and hey, who knows,eventually you might even become a thought leader in that particular area! I really want you to know that there will be people out there who want to read what you have to say and they will be ecstatic to hear you have a newsletter.

One of our lovely users has done just that with her chosen topic, which happens to be Snapchat. Some of our users have even said that focusing on one topic tends to make them better readers, curators and enables them to learn so much more! Your success with that strategy will depend on you staying up to date with the current happenings in that particular field. Shouldn't be that hard, right?

Yes, It’s All About Quality Content Again

The second sure way to build a good audience is to provide your readers with quality content every single time. That means content that they will find interesting or important enough to sign up for. Also, try to make it clear to people what they are getting by subscribing for your newsletter. Your digest can even consist of pictures only, articles only, videos only. There’s plenty of ways you can go about this. You don’t have to spend hours on thinking what to put in and write something completely different every week. You can simply collect your materials and then drop them in one place, organize them, express your thoughts and your newsletter can be on its way to people’s inboxes. This is how you can do that easily in Revue.

Some reading this might think “Oh that is not real curation” or “Hey, this sounds sloppy”. Is it really though? Don’t you agree that working smarter is better than working harder? We’re talking about productivity, value and consistency here. Revue is indeed perfect for that.

The quality of your newsletter doesn’t necessarily correlate with the amount of time you spend on it. The quality depends on how much thought and personality you put in it. We like to call that a recipe for success.

Sign up forms and pop ups

This is something that everyone with a website and a newsletter should have! Make your signup form a pop-up with an appealing CTA and a pretty visual. Don’t overdo it though. There are plenty of tactics to make your CTA as irresistible as possible. If you think that this option might be too annoying for your readers, just put an elegant signup form somewhere visible on your website.

Spread the word!

Talking to your friends, colleagues and family is always a great way to get the word out that you are starting a newsletter and they should read it. Get them to tell or show their friends and so on. Plus, since those are somewhat close people to you, you don’t have to completely go out of your comfort zone and promote your newsletter to strangers immediately. That way people closest to you can give you honest feedback.

Promote Yo’ Self

If you have a newsletter, there’s a big chance you also have a Twitter account. That means you probably have a Facebook account as well. And maybe a blog? Am I right? In that case, use those channels to promote your newsletter! Get people excited about what you have to share with them, explain to them why they should sign up. A good way to go is emphasizing on the quality content that your audience will be getting straight to their inbox. That’s content they will not be able to see you post randomly somewhere. Use the power of social media to your advantage! You can potentially gain loads of great exposure that translates to new subscribers. Even cooler, you might get noticed by other thought leaders in your field. Awesome, right?

A Tad More Tech-y Solutions

Let’s begin with Twitter cards. They might not be the easiest tools to set up, especially if your tech skills are limited. But they are so worth it since it makes it super easy for your followers on Twitter to just subscribe to your newsletter without them having to even leave their feed. You can check out here how to install them!

Same goes for embeddable forms. They are really effective in building your subscriber list. Some examples for useful tools when it comes to that are Hello Bar, Mailmuch or Sumo Me. If you use Revue, we also have our own embeddable form and WordPress plug in!

Finally, if you track your newsletter statistics properly and you notice people who are not really opening or engaging with your newsletters, you can just do both of you a favor and unsubscribe them! It will be a little bit like spring cleaning! Fun stuff.

The Extra Mile

So far so good. Let’s say that you’ve created your newsletter and you’ve managed to grow your audience at least a little bit. Hey, that still counts! Another important element that should not be disregarded is the extra value that you can give to your readers. Presenting them with the gift of your knowledge is neat but imagine how happy your followers are going to be if you go the extra mile for them! Maybe create a personal video, a whitepaper or an eBook for them? Yes, that’s right! It will definitely take time (especially if you want to do it right) but the end result will be so rewarding! This effort will show that you care enough to spend your time and resources for them, thus you will be that much closer to a relationship built on trust with them!

Say Thank You ❤

It’s just as important to keep your readers happy as it is to gain new ones. That’s why you should take a few moments out of your busy day to thank the people who gave you feedback, regardless of it being good or bad. That way you are engaging with your readers and you are showing some well-deserved gratitude to them. You can do this by giving them a proper shout out on Twitter or saying thanks in your newsletter! That might provide you with constructive feedback that can be used later to alter your newsletter if necessary. After all, the entire newsletter is for your audience so don’t forget you are aiming to make them happy and involved.

Timing

Try to send out your newsletter at the same time regularly. Gathering data from our users showed that what time you send out your newsletter does not matter as much as whether you are consistent with it. If you send out your digest on Monday evening, then stick to Monday evening. This creates a habit, a momentum that should be followed.

Use Revue!

At Revue we aim to be more than just that tool you use to easily create your personal newsletter. We are a network of curators and we want to help you build an audience! Of course you can also wait for others to sign up for your newsletter, that is how most people do it :) But we want to do more than that for you. We want to help you connect with your fellow curators and get you discovered by people that might be interested in the things that you’re sharing. How?

When someone signs up for a digest, they’re presented with three other cool profiles that might match their interests. Also, we handpick awesome newsletters on our Explore page and share more in our bi-weekly newsletter. Plus, we are really proud of all our creative users and that’s why we tend to share some of their digests with our Twitter following quite often. And to top that off, in the future we will offer even more ways to discover people’s newsletters.

We hope that this article helped you in some way and gave you practical tips on how to grow your audience. Now the question is: What are you waiting for? :)

Got any other tips or ideas you want to share with us and the rest? Please do so below in the comments or drop us a quick line at support@getrevue.co. We’re always super happy to hear back from you! If you liked this, please click the ❤ below!

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Writer for

(Social) media fanatic. Previously content & social @revue; @iampopin. TNW contributor. @vdgerova