Turning Social Media Followers Into Newsletter Subscribers
EPISODE SEVENTY TWO
We’ve already heard how having an email marketing strategy is essential part of converting social media followers into book buyers. But how do we actually get our ideal readers to subscribe?
Links
“How Authors Can Promote a Book Through Newsletters”
“How to Grow an Author Newsletter”
“Three Things Authors Need to Start Their Newsletter”
“Newsletter Vs Blog Subscribers - What’s the Difference?”
“How Authors Can Start Their Newsletter”
“Are You Making One of These 3 Book Marketing Mistakes?”
TRANSCRIPT:
Jenn Hanson-dePaula: Hello, and welcome to the Book Marketing Simplified podcast. I'm Jenn Hanson-dePaula.
Marcus dePaula: I'm Marcus dePaula. Jen, we've talked about newsletters before, but the hardest part with anything is just getting started, right?
Jenn: Absolutely. I think that that is one of the biggest hold-ups for authors, especially jumping into actually doing a newsletter. We have these preconceived notions that it's going to be this huge beast of a thing that we have to wrangle and do once a month and stuff like that, and it feels very intimidating. I wanted to break it down into a very approachable and doable process to actually help you start to get subscribers.
Marcus: This is already assuming that you've gone through the process of finding your ideal reader.
Jenn: Yes. It all works together within your marketing. Your newsletter is a part of a bigger marketing system that we will be addressing in future episodes and other resources. Getting everything set up and knowing, this is what I'm going to do to help grow and connect with my readers, it always stems back to what is my ideal reader wanting? What do they need to know? How can I further this experience for them? Yes, it's all seeped into what it is that your ideal reader is looking for.
Marcus: We'll link to the other episodes where we go deeper into why it's important to have a newsletter in the episode notes. Go to the website at jenndepaula.com to get those. As far as actually getting those first subscribers to your email list, where do we start?
Jenn: It all comes back to our overall strategy, meaning how are we getting eyeballs on us or creating awareness? 9 times out of 10, that is going to be on social media. Most people are on social media.
Marcus: That's where they hang out.
Jenn: Exactly. If you are doing a podcast interview, or if you're doing a blog series, or something like that, or you're doing another form of marketing to create attention for your book, you can always drive people to sign up for your newsletter. This isn't just exclusive to social media, you can use this anytime. The first thing that we need to remember is that we need some place where we're getting that awareness and using those connections like on social media to drive people to sign up for your newsletter. The best way to do that is with a newsletter incentive. A newsletter incentive is just a free download. It does not need to be something physical [chuckles] that you package up and mail to them.
Marcus: Right. That's way too much work. [laughs]
Jenn: Way too much and it's way too expensive. For example, if you write non-fiction, let's say you write a business how-to book, or if you are addressing a certain problem that people have, this isn't just for self-help, but it's just like any non-fiction, you want to give them a quick win. Something that they can go, "Oh, that answered my question, or this helps solve a problem that I have." That is a great incentive to get people onto your newsletter list.
Marcus: Checklists are a good example.
Jenn: Checklists are fantastic. If you have an overall strategy that you're trying to present, if you just address the first part of that strategy, what you're trying to do with that incentive with the quick win is to show, "I know what I'm talking about. I have the information or I've had the experience that you are looking for to help you with what you're trying to accomplish."
Marcus: It gets your foot in the door so that they want to come back for more.
Jenn: Exactly. Then on the other end with fiction writers, you can get very creative. I love when authors create a short story or something that's introducing people to what their book is about. If you don't want to give the first two or three chapters away, maybe preface it by saying, "This is a short story that's leading into the story that I'm going to be telling you in my book." I've had some other clients who have written, they call it a novella, where it's a very short story or a collection of short stories, or I've had some clients who have done extended synopsis of the book. It's something where you are giving them a taste of not only your writing style, but what they can expect.
Marcus: What about a teaser section, not necessarily from the beginning of the book, but wherever works best that leaves them on a cliffhanger?
Jenn: Absolutely. That's, I think, one of the best things to do for letting people into the story. What I see many publishers doing is only giving permission to give the first two chapters away. Many times it takes multiple chapters for people to actually get into the story. Two chapters sometimes isn't enough. You're getting them to a place where they are going to be hooked and they want to know what happens next.
Marcus: It doesn't even have to be a whole section of chapters per se. It could just be part of a chapter in the middle somewhere that just sets up a scenario that gives them a taste of what's happening in the story.
Jenn: If it makes sense and if they're able to understand what the character is, what the setting is, and all that stuff, that does make sense. It's not about just giving the reader something and checking it off the list. You need to have something that is going to draw them in, that makes them want to know more because there are so many times where you read a short section of the book and you're like, "Okay, what happens next? What happens next?" You are putting your credit card down immediately to get that book so you can find out what happens. You want to be mindful of that. It's not just let's give them two chapters and that's it, it needs to be deeper than that.
Marcus: All right. Once we have our incentive, what's the next step?
Jenn: The thing that we need to remember is that it takes a minimum of eight impressions in order for anyone to take action. This is not something where you just post it once and then you're going to get thousands of followers. You have got to be consistent with this. That's why I always tell authors that having three calls to action that we focus on within our social media posts, in the caption stating for people to go click the link in their bio or to go download their free short story, their free checklist to find out more, and doing that consistently. If you are posting every single day, I would do it at least two or three times a week at minimum.
You're, again, cycling through your other calls to action are engagement, asking questions, the second one is driving them to your website, and then the third is to specifically sign up for your newsletter. When you cycle through those three posts, you're giving them a variety of calls to action, but you are also being consistent in helping you grow your newsletter list and to actually get those impressions in order for them to take action.
Marcus: Obviously, we don't want to wear our followers out with things that we're asking them to do, so finding creative ways to include those calls to action, sprinkling them throughout the enticing content in ways that feel natural.
Jenn: You can have multiple incentives. If you have multiple ideas, you can absolutely do that to create that variety that you're looking for. Staying consistent with leading people to sign up for your newsletter and not saying, "Go sign up for my newsletter, " say, "Go to the link in my bio to download your free short story or your free checklist," leading with that because you want them to be receiving something, you're not asking them to sign up for a newsletter, that's a really important part. We also need to remember that we are filtering just mere window shoppers, which are what social media followers are to actually being in the store and ready to buy.
Your newsletter subscription list is going to be smaller than what your social media following might be. That's good because you're filtering them through. This does take some time. As early as you can start, the better because it will take some time to build up that list, and to build up that trust, and just to see what is working, what's not. This might take some trial and error in regards to the incentive, but offering some sort of incentive and always focusing on what it is that the reader is receiving in order to sign up for your newsletter rather than saying, "Just sign up for my newsletter."
Marcus: I personally see this progression from social media to newsletter subscriber as the newsletter subscribers are the people in my inner circle that are closer to me. Obviously, there's going to be fewer people in my inner circle. Those social media followers are the people on the periphery that I meet out in public and interact with on not a more surface level, but not as deep as the newsletter.
Jenn: That's a really great way to visualize it because yes, it is something that we equate, oh, if my newsletter subscribers are less than my social media following, then I must be doing something wrong or why should I even pay attention to the newsletter subscribers when those are the people that are actually interested in what you have to say. They, again, are in the store ready to buy, they want to know more.
Marcus: There's a whole other conversation we can have about once you send your emails out, what to expect as far as the interactions with those subscribers and how to use that information to continue to deepen that connection with those people.
Jenn: I just want to take this in chunks [chuckles] because--
Marcus: You don't want it to overwhelm you.
Jenn: No. This is something where I offer a lot of different incentive ideas and more information in the Newsletter Starter Kit, but you can begin to take these steps yourself. If you are ready to get a little more guidance or a little bit more instruction and just want a little more hand-holding, the Newsletter Starter Kit is a really great place for you to get more information. I share, I think, 40 incentive ideas.
Marcus: Wow.
Jenn: That's one of the many things that we offer in the Newsletter Starter Kit. That is there to help.
[music]
Marcus: Head on over to jenndepaula.com to get the links to the other episodes in which we talk about newsletters and also get the link to the Newsletter Starter Kit.
Jenn: Thanks for listening.
Marcus: We'll see you next time.