📣 Social media is changing
Welcome back! This week's issue features lots of news and ideas surrounding the shifting social media landscape, as well as some top tips about the latest features in Ghost. We hope you enjoy it!
💬 In this week's issue:
- Social platforms. Which ones should you focus on in 2023?
- A signup story. New ways to implement signup forms, and test their performance.
- Reaching out. How to send cold emails that actually get a response.
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How to navigate the changing social landscape
Social media is having a moment and going through a period of change, with Twitter declining, Threads rising, and short-form video content becoming more popular than ever. So how should we navigate all of this change, as creators?
Jay Clouse from Creator Science shared a tweet thread about this topic, ranking the platforms by order of opportunity. Here's the low-down.
Writing platforms:
- Threads
Jay argues that while Threads is new, which brings some risk, it also bridges the gap to Instagram, and it already has a fast-growing user base of 100M (Twitter has 400M). Meanwhile, LinkedIn shows steady growth, and Twitter is in decline.
Short-form video platforms:
- Instagram (Reels)
- YouTube Shorts
- TikTok
Gaining followers on Instagram is a 2-for-1 with Threads (sort of), and YouTube shorts can be a foot in the door for regular, long-form YouTube, whereas TikTok feels more risky, Jay explains.
The most important takeaway: Remember that all of these are "rented" discovery platforms. They're great for growth but don't forget to invest in relationship platforms, too.
Don't neglect Relationship Platforms (email, audio podcasts, SMS, private communities). That's distribution you own. Move people from discovery → relationship platforms. — Jay Clouse
Interesting stories & ideas 📚
- How to sell yourself, without being salesy
- Twitter has blocked links to its Meta rival, Threads
- Mastodon hits 2 million active users
- How Twitter's decline may birth a new microblogging ecosystem
- 5 creator flywheels you can use to leverage your business
More ways to get more signups
Where you place a subscription form on your website, unsurprisingly, impacts the number of subscriptions you receive. While you don't want to overwhelm visitors with a signup form at every turn, it's a good idea to implement several forms in well-placed locations around your website.
ICYMI, a few weeks ago we released a brand new editor card that allows you to grow your audience from any post or page on your publication. The signup card is the easiest way to add an email subscription form to your content whenever you need to call on visitors to consider becoming a member of your publication.
Here's three ideas of where you can use a signup card on your site:
- Half-way down a long-form piece of content
- On your about page
- On a dedicated signup landing page
For each signup card, you can choose a custom width, background image or color, button text, and you can completely customize the copy on each card. This means you can tailor each signup form — make it big, small, colorful, and on-brand. Or keep it simple. The choice is yours. The best part is you never have to leave the editor 😎
Each signup card is directly integrated with memberships in Ghost, so they'll only be seen by logged-out visitors on your site, making sure not to get in the way of your existing member's experience.
Don't forget to test how your forms perform, then iterate and improve! With each signup card, you can apply a label that will automatically be added to any members who sign up using that form, giving you real insights about which signup forms perform the best.
How to do cold outreach right
Cold outreach doesn't have to be so cold. In fact, when it's done right, it can be the most effective way to achieve your goals — especially in the early days of growing a newsletter.
Co-creator of MakerBox, Sveta Bay, shared the exact cold outreach template they use to contact founders to write guest articles for their newsletter, which gets an 80% response rate!
The template:
- Quality over quantity. Stop trying to reach 100's of people. Pick the most relevant people for your outreach, and make it personalized.
- Get to the point fast. No small talk, people are busy.
- Make a crystal clear offer. Describe exactly what you need and what you'll give them in return.
- Focus on stats. Back up what you'll give people in return with numbers.
- Close objections. Figure out what the main objections will be and address them directly.
- End with a question. This encourages people to answer.
Here's an example Sveta shared of this template in action:
Who says cold outreach can't wear a cozy sweater? 🧣
Curator's pick
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