6 Ways Social Sharing Can Grow Your Email List

Crafting great content isn’t enough to get your content to go viral. In a world where sharing is social currency, social engagement is more important than ever if you want the world to see your content.

And it could be the key to getting more eyes on your emails (more sharing = more website visitors and exposure to your email sign up forms).

However, shareability is a skill that requires a lot of strategy and iteration. So we teamed up with our friends at AddThis to talk about social sharing. (After all, they are the experts.)

Read on to see what to share, when to share, and how to measure its success.

Sharing is the key to successful content

Sharing can help distribute your content to new audiences that it may not have reached before.

Think of it this way: People share things they find relevant and cool. Content that fits their own personal brand. If you wouldn’t want to see it in your own Twitter feed, is it even worth sharing?

It helps to know your customers. Do your research and identify the things these people are sharing and use this as a basis for developing your content.

Ask yourself:

• Will my audience find this useful?
• Is there a unique point of view?
• Does it make the reader feel something?
• Would you want to share it?

They’ll be more likely to share it and your content will get seen by people like them.

Q1 Why is sharing so important for content? #EmailChat http://pic.twitter.com/EvpMqAtNP2

— AWeber (@AWeber) November 3, 2016

A1 Sharing helps distribute and expose your content to new audiences, which'll drive more traffic. #EmailChat

— AddThis (@addthis) November 3, 2016

A1 Sharing shows that your audience finds your content useful. It's a good indicator of engagement and relevance. #EmailChat

— Olivia Dello Buono (@oliviadello) November 3, 2016

@AWeber #EmailChat Sparks conversations. Comment sections are dead. The good discussions happen over social.

— Really Good Emails (@reallygoodemail) November 3, 2016

Creating shareable content is a skill

The average American spends nearly 20% of their time online browsing social media networks. And during that time, they’re being inundated with content. Content that is competing for their attention alongside your own.

So how can you make sure your content is better than the rest?

For starters, it needs to be easy to share. This means adding sharing buttons, interactive elements like Click-to-Tweets, or simply including a note at the end of your content to pass it along to a friend.

It’s also worth noting that the types of content that get the most shares are relevant and timely. Take note of trending topics and hashtags and deliver content that works in the moment. (A great way to repurpose your content!)

Q2 How can we make content more shareable? #EmailChat http://pic.twitter.com/s5g1ZtMZ3O

— AWeber (@AWeber) November 3, 2016

A2 First, you need share buttons. Second, you need great, timely, and relevant content. Third, a great brand. @AWeber #EmailChat

— AddThis (@addthis) November 3, 2016

A2 It's so helpful when the content is relevant to what people are talking about in the moment. We call it trend jacking @AWeber #EmailChat

— AddThis (@addthis) November 3, 2016

A2 Well-written and unique content that solves big problems makes people want to share. Share buttons make it easy to share. #emailchat

— Liz Willits (@lizwillits) November 3, 2016

THIS is the best place to put share buttons

Now that you have a better understanding of the types of content to create, where is the best place to put your social sharing buttons?

We use AddThis on our own blog – those buttons over to your left. We love that they follow the reader as they scroll, so there’s no searching around. They aren’t intrusive either, which is a plus.

You can also add contextual sharing buttons throughout the content experience. These work best when they feel natural, like when the reader has that “a-ha!” moment.

Q3 Where should we put share buttons? #EmailChat http://pic.twitter.com/JyFjoOgLoO

— AWeber (@AWeber) November 3, 2016

A3 You want them to be interspersed into the reading experience. @AWeber #EmailChat

— AddThis (@addthis) November 3, 2016

A3 I like share buttons that follow you down the page as you scroll. You never need to search for the share buttons. #emailchat

— Liz Willits (@lizwillits) November 3, 2016

A3 They should be noticeable, but natural. Where do they feel contextually relevant? When is the reader most likely to share? #EmailChat

— Olivia Dello Buono (@oliviadello) November 3, 2016

Here’s how to measure the success of your shared content

Likes, shares and retweets are important.

But if the goal of your content is to drive traffic and get more eyes on your content, clicks matter. Bonus points if you can measure the time people spent on your page.

Q4 What metrics are important to content sharing? #EmailChat http://pic.twitter.com/r39vVXRX5z

— AWeber (@AWeber) November 3, 2016

A4 Likes, shares, retweets, upvotes. As algorithms change – looking at you, @Facebook – engagement in all forms matters. #EmailChat

— Olivia Dello Buono (@oliviadello) November 3, 2016

A4 It's not just shares. It's clicks. You want those shares driving traffic back. @AWeber #EmailChat

— AddThis (@addthis) November 3, 2016

A4. Clicks & time spent on page if possible. Reach is cool but you want to make sure people are engaging w/ your content! #emailchat

— Kristen Dunleavy (@KristenWritesIt) November 3, 2016

Social sharing can help build your email list

Now that you know that the goal is in the click, how can you utilize that traffic to build up your email list?

Teasing your email content on social is a great start. Letting people know that the best stuff awaits their inbox generates the buzz your list needs.

Make sure that there’s a prominent sign up form on the page you’re driving traffic to, as well. Just like with social sharing buttons, don’t make your reader work too hard to find it. Or better yet, serve it up at an opportune time.

Q5 How can content sharing help build an email list? #EmailChat http://pic.twitter.com/BuDDcgEeE3

— AWeber (@AWeber) November 3, 2016

A5 Sharing should drive inbound traffic. The goal is then to leverage that traffic to become new email subscribers #EmailChat

— AddThis (@addthis) November 3, 2016

A5. Tease your email content on social & let people know they need to sign up for your list to access aaaalll your best stuff. #emailchat

— Kristen Dunleavy (@KristenWritesIt) November 3, 2016

A5. Sharing drives more traffic to your site and then you can convert that traffic with emails sign up forms on your site. #emailchat

— Liz Willits (@lizwillits) November 3, 2016

The way we share has shifted in the past decade

Online content has changed significantly over the last 10 years. Brands have to fight more than ever now to get their content in front of the eyes of their target audience.

And people are being more selective about what they’re sharing, favoring substance over click bait.

As Really Good Emails put it, brands need to know their audience more than ever in order to serve up great content.

Q6 How has sharing changed over the last 10 years? #EmailChat http://pic.twitter.com/g9gO3Bs19N

— AWeber (@AWeber) November 3, 2016

A6. I'm calling it: I think click-bait-y content is over. People want to share vetted, trusted content that has actual substance. #emailchat

— Kristen Dunleavy (@KristenWritesIt) November 3, 2016

@AWeber #EmailChat A6 Brands now need to know more about their audience and how/where their content is being shared.

— Really Good Emails (@reallygoodemail) November 3, 2016

A6 It's just going to grow. It's consolidated around specific social networks. @AWeber #EmailChat

— AddThis (@addthis) November 3, 2016

Mark your calendars

We’re ending the year with a bang! Join us on Thursday, December 1 at 12pm ET for a very special #EmailChat. We’ll be joined by our friends from Litmus, Movable Ink, MailCharts, Really Good Emails, AddThis (and more TBA) to talk about the Best of Email 2016.

This is the one chat you won’t want to miss.

The post 6 Ways Social Sharing Can Grow Your Email List appeared first on Email Marketing Tips.

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5 Tactics for Short Emails that Pack a Punch

Sometimes, less is more. And when it comes to your email marketing strategy, this can absolutely be true.

While some audiences love to receive a long, descriptive email, others may quickly become bored or overwhelmed by messages that contain a mountain of text.

For these subscribers, a short, snappy, attention-grabbing email is both more engaging and more effective. And as you deliver content your audience wants, it can also mean higher open and click-through rates for you in the long run.

If you’ve tried long-form emails and aren’t seeing results, it may be time to try a short-form email (an email with not much written content) instead.

To help get you started, here are five tactics and examples for writing and designing short form emails your subscribers will love.

1. Convey meaning with images instead of copy.

Instead of using words to convey meaning, you can use images to create connection, feeling and meaning. This is also an easy way to shorten the length of your message.

In this email from Paypal, they use an image to show one of the benefits of their service and to create emotion:

Subject line: STOP! Don’t enter your info repeatedly

 

Notice how the image demonstrates a benefit of faster checkout times: more family time. And the fall background adds a nice nostalgic touch that can connect with readers.

Challenge: In your next email, try using an image or two instead of additional copy to convey meaning, feeling and product/service benefits. The copy you do choose to include should still be concise, meaningful and relevant.

2. Use powerful words that create mental images.

One of the secrets to writing a great short-form email is to get your reader to mentally engage with your email immediately. Creating mental imagery is a great way to accomplish this. When your reader begins to picture in their mind what you’re writing about, they start to engage personally with your email in a powerful way. And this can get them to click on your call to action. 

In this brief email, Airbnb includes words such as “sumo wrestlers,” “up and coming musicians” and “imaginative chefs” to help the reader picture the kind of people they’d meet while using their service:

Subject line: Elisabeth, you have an exclusive invite from Airbnb

They chose these words because they create imagery the moment you read them. How can you think of a sumo wrestler without picturing their iconic outfit? Or a chef without his uniform and bustling kitchen?

These powerful words also create the feeling that the reader will be meeting new and exciting city dwellers, which might be a stark contrast compared to their usual travel adventures. Instead of writing that you’ll “meet new and exciting people” when using the service, they use specific examples to encourage the reader to envision this experience.

Challenge: Experiment with words you wouldn’t normally use in your next email, and be specific about the benefits a reader would gain. Use words that create mental pictures, and don’t be afraid to try ones that are unusual.

3. Use humor in your content.

What are you more likely to fondly recall years later? A college lecture on American history or a comedy show with Kevin Hart?

Unless you’re a history teacher or fanatic, you’ll probably recall Kevin Hart’s best joke over the year George Washington was born (1732, in case you were wondering).

Humor connects with people. It sticks in their memory, lightens their mood and often creates a sense of admiration (especially for a witty joke). And best of all, humor can be a powerful way to convey meaning in fewer words and get people to engage with your emails.

In this email, Really Good Emails adds a witty, humorous tone that simply draws in readers:

Subject line: Announcing our new series—Exploring the magic behind emails

I mean really, who doesn’t sit and wonder at the magic of “David Copperfield, bacon, and ligers” (bacon especially)?

Challenge: Use humor in your next email’s content to connect with your subscribers quickly. Your first sentence can be humorous while your second and third can set the context and encourage people to act. By using humor, you can grab your reader’s attention quickly and create positive vibes that encourage them to click. Which means you’ll need less content later on trying to convince them to act.  Just make sure that your humor is relevant to your message and that it’ll make sense to your unique audience.

4. Show off your products.

If you’ve got a great product, let it speak for itself. Instead of writing long descriptions of your products and their benefits, try using images in your emails that’ll show off your product’s benefits with visuals instead of words.

In the below email, Etsy writes very little – just a subject line and brief sentence about how you can find the perfect gift with Etsy. But they include tons of images of their sellers’ products fitted into categories that will help readers find what they’re looking for:

Subject line: The perfect gift does exist

This email needs very little written content, because the images demonstrate the benefits of the products, instead of words.

Challenge: If you have pictures of your product, try sending an email to subscribers that includes those pictures. If you offer a service, try incorporating pictures that demonstrate it in action. For example, if you’re a personal fitness trainer, try including images of you demonstrating a workout routine or guiding clients during a workout. Using pictures can save you from writing a lot of extra content and catch your subscribers’ attention right away.

5. Evoke the senses with descriptive words.

We experience the world with our five senses. So when you incorporate the senses in your emails, you can turn an email into something your reader can feel, smell, see, touch and hear while sitting at their computer hundreds or thousands of miles away. By engaging your subscriber in this way, you can encourage them to act with less written content.

Blue Apron does a great job of using descriptive language in their email below:

Subject line: The apple of our eye? This special Guest Chef recipe & $30 off!

By using powerful adjectives, this email transports the reader from wherever they are to a quaint, charming home. Their headline “Cold Nights, Warm Kitchens” allows readers to envision and feel the warmth of a cozy kitchen during winter.

The words “crisp apples to sweet butternut squash” helps you also imagine the taste of those foods, and the background visuals of this tasty produce evokes the sense of sight to bring it all together.

Challenge: Create an email that appeals to the senses by using adjectives and imagery in your content. You don’t needs lot of email content if your language can engage people right away, and using the senses is a great way to do this. To see if this encourages subscriber engagement, be sure review your click-through rate to see if it’s higher than usual.

Challenge Yourself! Write Short Emails

Although the perfect email length depends on your business needs and audience, keep in mind that you don’t need to write a 200-word email to convince people to act.

With the right words and images, you can get people to engage with just a quick email.

Ready to try one of the challenges above? Get started today and tell me about your experience in the comments section below – I’d love to hear about it!

The post 5 Tactics for Short Emails that Pack a Punch appeared first on Email Marketing Tips.

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51 Open-Worthy Subject Line Ideas

They say don’t judge an email by its subject line, but let’s be honest: We’re always keeping an eye out for the best of the best. After all, the subject line is one of the first impressions your message has on its recipients and can help you improve your opens and clicks.

That’s a lot of pressure for a seemingly short line of text.

While there is no secret to the perfect subject line, there are a few words and phrases that we turn to time and time again to get more eyes on our emails. To add some bling to your subject lines , check out these tips and tricks you can use today.

Create a sense of urgency

Stop everything and read this.

Got you, didn’t it? Getting people to take action from your email can be difficult. There’s a lot that goes into getting more opens and clicks. Urgency is one of those things that can have a big impact on whether or not your email gets read.

Here are some examples to get you started:

1. Back in stock, so don’t miss out

2. This is your *last chance* to shop our sale

3. Tick, tock! 30% off sale ends soon!

4. Going once, going twice!

5. Members get first dibs.

6. We couldn’t wait ‘til Friday!

7. When it’s gone, it’s gone.

8. You might want to hurry…

9. A little (limited-time-only) present

10. Available for 24 hours only

6 Types of Subject Lines That Will Improve Your Open Rates

Have a strong call-to-action

When it comes down to getting your emails opened, experiential verbs (like “celebrate” and “love”) perform better than functional verbs (like “spend” and “grab”). That’s not to say these words won’t work – it’s really all about context.

The thing that everyone can agree on is that if you don’t ask, subscribers won’t take action. So try throwing some of these high-performing words in your next subject line:

11. Celebrate with savings!

12. Act now for friends and family savings!

13. 3 DIY Frame Hacks You Need to Try Now

14. Trust me, you need this…

15. send some. get some.

16. Don’t Let These Get Away

 Get personal

Personalization. When it’s done right, it’s AWesome! But when it’s done wrong? It can be borderline creepy. Here are a few examples of how to do it the right way:

17. Because you need this…

18. Join me for a marg, Olivia?

19. You deserve a treat

20. Special delivery for Olivia

21. The jeans you don’t have (yet)

Repeat yourself

Being redundant pays off, especially when it comes to your subject line. That’s because it keeps you, the sender, top-of-mind. And being top-of-mind helps build trust, which can lead to more sales. It’s a win-win!

Try including your name or your company name in the subject line, à la these brands:

22. Welcome to the Away family ✈️

23. New and exclusive to Kaufmann Mercantile

24. The Madewell essentials

25. Did somebody say new Glossier?

26. The Giant Weekly Newsletter

27. New and Exclusive to Sephora

Quick Tips Video: 6 Tricks to Help You Create an Engaging Subject Line

We don’t mean to brag, but…

Just kidding, we totally do. And that’s because adding key superlatives to your subject line can help strengthen your core message and make it more effective.

Just check out these example subject lines to see what I mean:

28. new favorite dress, hands down

29. Here’s a special treat, just for you!

30. This is big, huge, gigantic, amazing, incredible…

31. Our latest styles have just arrived

32. The PERFECT Facebook Ad

33. Best of the blog

34. A little luxury at a great price

Pose a question

A question is a great way to spark some curiosity around your email, but it’s the type of question that matters. Yes or no questions perform better than open-ended questions. And don’t forget about sentiment: Questions with a negative association (like don’t or can’t) are the worst-performers.

35. What do you think?

36. Do you like prizes?

37. Can you keep a secret?

38. How could you top this?

39. Today’s the day! Are you in?

40. Best gift ever?

41. Details, please! Did you like your purchase?

Punctuation and capitalization matter

Punctuation can completely change the tone of your subject line with one simple character. And that can impact how your subscribers respond to your message. Even the lack of punctuation can change the gist of your subject, keeping things casual.

Capitalization also has the same effect. Take notes.

42. MAJOR announcement!

43. Extra 30% off sale styles (!)

44. *permission to brag*

45. It’s giveaway time again…

46. T.G.I.SAAALE!

47. we’re melting

48. alert! today only

49. And the winner goes to…

50. N-E-W

51. Flash. Sale. Alert.

Try these out for yourself

We’re big proponents of trying out tricks and tactics to see what works best. While you can’t predict results by looking at how past subject lines performed, you can use them as a basis for future iteration.

Try adding some of these words and phrases in your next few subject lines and watch your open rates skyrocket.

Have a tried-and-true subject line trick of your own? Let us know in the comments!

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How Personalization Can Help You Connect with Subscribers

Hello [name],

I’m so happy you found us! [The place you signed up] is really a great place to get started, but you’ve come to the right place. Our blog is a wonderful resource on [your interests].

Look familiar?

We’ve all received that kind of email before – where you’re addressed directly in a way that doesn’t quite sit right. The information you’ve just entered into a form is spat back at you in an attempt to connect on a deeper level. But it still feels robotic…and disingenuous.

To send personalized emails that truly resonate with your audience, it’s all about sending targeted content to those who want it most. Learning more about the people who sign up to your list can help build stronger relationships as well as target subscribers based on their interests. According to a study from Pew Internet & American Life Project, personalized emails on average receive a 14 percent increase in click-through rates and 10 percent increase in overall conversions.

But the results don’t stop there – beyond increasing engagement, you can also use personalized emails to delight your subscribers and nurture connections that build trust.  

To help you personalize your emails for your subscribers and start seeing these kind of results, let’s take a look at how you can gather the information you need to begin personalizing, as well as practical tips you can apply to your own email strategy today.

Gathering information about your subscribers

Just like any relationship, the best ones are established when you get to know one another. As you learn more about the people signing up to your email list, you can target them with the right kind of content to build your relationship.

To effectively personalize your emails, you need to collect information about your subscribers. Since your sign up form is often your first interaction with a subscriber joining your email list, it’s a great opportunity to get started.

In addition to asking for name and email, you can include custom fields that require subscribers to provide more information about themselves, such as the city where they live or favorite color.

Let’s say you own an animal rescue and want to provide potential new owners with information on what kind of care their pets will need. Setting up a form with selections for the type of animal, experience with fostering and current pets in the household makes it much easier to send relevant information to your subscribers.

With this information, you can then send relevant content based on the selections subscribers make. If someone who fills out your sign up form is fostering a new dog for the first time, you can send content with advice on adjusting to the new situation. If you were to send information on how to acclimate cats to their new housemates, however, that wouldn’t really fit that person’s needs.

Besides your sign up form, another great way to gather information about your subscribers is through customer surveys.

With a survey, you can learn directly from the people who are already on your list. What kind of content would they like to receive from you? At what cadence do they want to receive your emails?

When you reach out to to your customers directly, you not only get valuable feedback in return, you also show them you care about how they are doing.

As you hear from your audience, you can use your survey insight as you craft your next emails.

Using personalization to delight subscribers

By personalizing your emails so they solve your subscribers’ unique problems or give them content related to their specific interests, you’re able to immediately provide value. And the sooner you can do that, the sooner your subscribers will understand how important your emails are.

Your welcome message is your first opportunity to do this. In your welcome message, establish yourself as an expert in the field. Make sure to provide original content on a topic you know subscribers are interested in and they’ll be more likely to trust you when they’re ready to make a purchase.

Here’s a great example of a targeted, personalized welcome email from WeddingWire, a go-to resource for everything wedding related, which subscribers receive immediately after signing up for an account:

In the sign up form, visitors are asked to provide their expected wedding date. With that information, WeddingWire knows to send content related to where you are in the wedding process.

They use this message to congratulate you on your engagement and go the extra step to clarify what you’re likely to receive in the future. The checklist is also the perfect resource for couples during the early planning process.

As the wedding date gets closer, WeddingWire sends content based on other checklist tasks the engaged couple should be completing, such as choosing attire, picking out invitations and more.

By continuing to send content to your subscribers throughout your relationship with them, you can increase awareness of what you have to offer, show you care and keep your brand top of mind.

Another great way to show you care is by celebrating the big milestones together. It can be as simple as a birthday message to let your customers know you’re thinking about them. Facebook does a great job of this in their birthday celebration emails, like the one below:

They provide a quick and simple email that is totally contextual, and the goal is just to make you smile.

You can celebrate important business milestones as well. Kickstarter’s congratulatory emails are a delightful example of how they celebrate their users’ successes. Check out the message you receive when you hit 100 backers:

While these are only a few examples of how you can send personalized content, consider how you might be able to do the same for your own audience.

When someone purchases your product, are there any tips you can give that would help them get started faster? Do you have a tool that is underutilized? And are there subscribers on your list who could benefit from it? Segment them and send a quick reminder that you offer more functionality than they’re currently using.

Have your subscribers been clicking through to content on one topic more than others? Check into why that link is performing better than others, and use those learnings in your next message. You can see what kind of subject lines resonate with your subscribers by tracking message opens too.

Personalizing emails based on your subscribers’ geographical location is another great way to provide value to specific segments of your email list. If you’re running an event in their area, or want to reach out and let people know that your nearby store is open, you can collect their geographical information through your forms directly.

While all of these examples are contextually personalized emails, there are still effective ways to use a subscriber’s first name in your messages – aside from the greeting.

A fun example of this can be found in Weekly Coffee, a productivity newsletter created by AWeber’s Product Marketing Manager (and host of our Ask Me About Anything Podcast series!), Tom Tate. Check out what he does at the end of this message:

Not only does he call me out by name in a way that makes me feel like I’m his friend, but I also get a sweet little ‘P.S’ at the end as a thank you. Little details go a long way.

Personalizing your content, one email at a time

Building deep connections with your subscribers is what email marketing is all about – but it all begins with sending the right content to your audience at the right time.

As you get to know your subscribers and send them content based on their needs, you’ll not only see increases in engagement, but also positive feelings towards your business. 

Already personalizing your emails? Let us know what works for you in the comments!

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18 Tried-And-True Ways to Improve Your Email Content

Whether you’ve been sending emails to subscribers for 10 years or 10 days, it’s important to consider how you might be able to improve your content every now and then.

After all, things change over time; between your subscribers, your industry, and even your own business. As a result, it’s important for your emails to keep up with those changes, too.

And if you’re just getting started with email, you may feel like you’ve just been going with the flow, and aren’t really sure if you’re “doing email right.”

Wherever you are in your email marketing journey, there’s always time to recalibrate your emails. Let’s take a look at 18 different ways you can improve your content. 

1. Always deliver value.

Every time you create a new email draft, you should be asking yourself, “What will my subscribers get out of this email?” If you can’t answer that question, it’s time to close out of the draft and come back to it once you’ve figured out the value your subscribers will get from the email.

Why? Because sending content your subscribers are interested in and find valuable is the foundation of any successful email strategy.

If you’re not sure what your audience wants, their most commonly asked questions is a good place to start. If you run a fitness studio, for example, you can take questions your clients often ask and use that to inspire content for your emails or blog posts (which you can then send via email).  

2. Explain why your emails are relevant.

Sending valuable content is the key to creating engaging email content, but sometimes you have to also be clear about why it’s important. Professional writers often talk about the importance of writing “benefits-focused” copy instead of just listing a bunch of product or service features. I often find the same applies to emails, too.

When you send content to your subscribers, be clear about why you think it’s helpful to them; in other words, explain what they’ll get out of completing the action you’re asking them to take, whether that’s reading a blog post, watching a video or purchasing a product.

Check out this example from one of our Weekly Blog Digest emails:

Since our goal for the email is to encourage people to click through to read this blog post, we made sure to explain the benefit to subscribers.

The more you can justify the reason behind why they should take a specific action, the more they’ll understand how it’s relevant to them (and the more likely they are to take the action!).

3. Ask for feedback.

Have no clue what your subscribers want? That’s okay, too!

Asking your current subscribers what kind of content they’d be most interested in receiving from you can tell you a lot about how to improve your content. Not only does this eliminate the guessing game (which can take weeks, if not months to figure out what your audience likes), it also opens up communication between you and your community of subscribers.

To get feedback, you can try a few different tactics, including:

• Asking subscribers to reply back to your email
• Sending a Google Form
• Creating a survey using a survey platform, like SurveyGizmo, SurveyMonkey or Typeform

As you begin to hear back from subscribers, start implementing what you’ve learned right away. Share content that speaks to their interests, challenges and needs!

4. Add videos or GIFs.

Did you know that video in email can lead to a 200 – 300 percent increase in your click-through rate? Video is more powerful than ever, and people can’t get enough of it. (In fact, YouTube reports mobile video consumption rises 100 percent every year!)

As a result, consider how you might be able to improve your email content by adding in a relevant video. Whether it’s one you create or one that you’ve come across that would be helpful for your audience, be sure to share it via email.

If video isn’t your thing (or if it’s not right for your audience), consider how you might be able to feature a GIF instead. The benefit of using a GIF instead of video is that it’ll animate within the email itself, so you don’t have to worry about clicking through to get the full impact.

Whichever you choose to include, make sure it aligns with your brand.

5. Feature upcoming promotions and discounts.

There’s one thing consumers can’t get enough of, and that’s saving money.

Promoting product sales and offering exclusive discounts can go a long way in helping you reach email superstar status. According to Direct Marketing Association, buyers were most likely to make a purchase from an email rather than other channels like social and direct mail.

And when you get emails like this one from Loft, it’s easy to understand why this channel is so effective:

With email, you don’t have to worry about your fans missing content, like they might in their social feeds. Plus, you have the chance to create eye-catching email content like this.

So the next time you have a sale or discount, be sure to send an email to your subscribers about it!

6. Send personalized content.

Personalizing your email content is more than just adding your subscriber’s first name to the subject line (although that is one cool use of it!). It’s about sending targeted content to people on your email list who will find it most relevant.

Whether you send emails based on their specific interests, geographical location, native language or even favorite dog breed, you’re able to take communication to a new level.

From specific welcome emails based on different incentives to a promotional email that’s only available in a specific city, there are endless possibilities for how targeted you get with your email content.

7. Delight your subscribers.

Between all of the promotional emails, blog post updates and other messages you send to your subscribers, sometimes it pays to send an email with no particular goal other than to delight your community.

Just check out this email we sent to our customers last winter to celebrate the holidays:

The email was not only fun and creative, it also delivered a gift of GIFs (say that five times fast!) to our customers. And the response told us everything we needed to know about sending this kind of email: people loved it! Open rates and click-through rates were among the highest we’ve ever seen. And you can bet that we did something similar again.

While a package of hand-crafted GIFs may not be right for you, think about what you can give away to your subscribers. Or, consider other ways you can add little elements of delight into your regularly-scheduled emails.

Product Hunt, for example, does a great job of including a relevant and fun images and GIFs in their daily digests:

The Microsoft Paint-inspired visual brings humor to what would otherwise be just another email update. And their use of emojis adds another subtle element of delight.

8. Regularly clean your email list.

In some cases, your email content may already be stellar. But if your open and click-through rates are low, that could mean it’s time to do a little email list hygiene.

As your email list grows, some subscribers may become less interested in your emails over time – and that’s okay. Since email engagement is measured by the number of people interacting with your emails, these metrics can get thrown off by individuals who no longer wish to be on your email list.

As a result, you’ll want to give them the opportunity to stay on your list (which you can do by running a reactivation campaign) and remove email addresses who don’t respond back to you.

When you have a list of engaged subscribers, you’ll notice that your open rates, click rates and more will increase as a result.

9. Review your email analytics.

In order to maintain a healthy email list, you should regularly review the performance of the emails you send. Whether you review each individual broadcast email the day after you send it or make it a point to check your analytics every week, the main idea is that you’re seeing what’s working and what isn’t.

As you notice dips and upward spikes, you can use this insight to better inform the email content decisions you make moving forward.

Reviewing your analytics isn’t difficult, but here’s a helpful guide to read as you get started.

10. Pay attention to design.

The look and feel of your messages are just as important as the words you write. And if ignored, it can be a huge turn-off for your readers. As you consider the design of your emails, there are a couple of best practices to keep in mind.

First, embrace your branding. Between the color palette and images you choose, you want to make sure your brand is represented consistently in your emails. If someone signs up to your email list from your website, for example, the experience should be visually consistent so they can recognize you and trust you’re a credible business.

Second, be consistent. While you do have the freedom to be creative with your email content, the foundation of your emails should be consistent. This includes the color scheme, logo placement, and structure of the email.

11. Repurpose your best content.

When it comes to sharing content in your emails, you don’t have to solely rely on freshly published content on your blog or social channels. You can also reshare older, evergreen content that performed well for you in the past. This is the simplest and easiest way to craft an email you know your subscribers will enjoy reading.

For AWeber’s weekly blog digest email, for example, we recently added a section called #ThrowbackThursday, which allows us to highlight older blog posts that received a lot of traffic. 

(And how convenient, it’s about repurposing content!)

This is helpful for those who may want a refresh on the topic, or for new subscribers who signed up to the list after the post was first shared.

12. Give away a freebie.

Remember the “Delight your subscribers” tip from earlier? Giving away any free item is an easy way to boost your email content’s performance.

Freebies can give you more insight into what kind of content your subscribers are most interested in, and it makes them feel special.

Whether it’s an educational course, sample item, or trial of your service, freebies are perfect for delighting your audience.

13. Offer exclusive content.

Launching a new product or course soon? Or maybe you’re in the middle of planning a huge end-of-year sale? You might want to think about giving your email community exclusive, early-access. Or, consider other items you might be able to give away solely to your subscribers.

Why? Because when you make your subscribers feel like they’re part of an exclusive group, it gives them more incentive to stay on your list.

Here’s a great example from Jill Winger of The Prairie Homestead, who sends an email newsletter that occasionally features exclusive promotions in addition to the regular blog roundup:

In this snippet of the email, you can see how Jill highlights the exclusivity of the olive oil offer. 

14. Make it interactive.

If you want to improve your email content, sometimes all you need to do is spice things up a little bit. And if you’re interested in doing just that, you may want to consider making your emails a little more interactive.

Interactive content brings a fresh approach to email design as it gives new life to the typical static message. While this doesn’t necessarily make an email more relevant to your subscribers, it can make them more fun and interesting. When you give your subscribers a fun way to get involved with your email (beyond simply reading the text and clicking links), it can improve engagement with your emails, delight your subscribers and simply help your brand look really cool.

While interactive emails do require more effort and HTML knowledge, I encourage you to find an interactive element that would be achievable for you. Here are some ideas we’ve tried in the past, along with advice on how to get started.

15. Proof your work.

This may have been the mantra of your schoolteachers back in the day, but there’s a reason why they obsessed over details like grammar and spelling. And it all comes down to how these errors can be perceived by your readers: for many, it can make the writer appear sloppy and unreliable.

Before you send out any email, send yourself a test so you can review the content and check for spelling and grammar errors. You should test the links to make sure they work properly as well.

16. Keep your content focused.

In today’s busy world, it’s more important than ever to keep your emails brief and to-the-point.

Think about the kinds of situations and environments in which your subscribers are reading your emails. Chances are, they’re checking their emails when they’re walking down the street, waiting on the subway platform, waiting in line at the grocery store, etc.

The average attention span of a person is only three seconds – which is less than that of a goldfish! So make sure your email content is focused.

17. Write a compelling call-to-action.

Every time you send an email, there’s a reason why you do so. Whether it’s because you want them to read your latest blog post, purchase a product or simply download an exclusive freebie, it’s important to make it clear what action you want them to take.

While there isn’t an exact science to how you structure your emails, keep in mind your subscribers’ short attention spans and provide them with a way to take action early on in your email – and make it stand out.

To do so, there are a number of factors to consider, including the size and color of your CTA button, content and length.

Whether you prefer hyperlinking your text or using a call-to-action button with a color that pops, your goal should be focused on making it easy for subscribers to take action.

18. Be consistent.

As you discover the type of content that resonates best with your subscribers, it’s important that you keep your emails consistent. While it’s a good thing to try out new ways to make your content even more awesome for subscribers, I encourage you to do so over time.

When you set certain expectations for the email content you send to your subscribers, it’s important that you meet them. This helps establish trust between you and your audience, which can reduce unsubscribes and spam complaints.

Improve your email content today!

Now that you’ve read through 18 ways you can update your emails, it’s time to pick one and get started! By setting one small, achievable goal, it becomes a lot easier to improve your emails over time.

Just remember to keep your subscribers in mind, and your email success will follow.

Want more tips on how to improve your email content? Sign up for our free, 7-day What to Write in Your Emails course today! (You’ll also receive a bonus PDF guide filled with over 20 email copy templates!)

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10 Ways to Boost Your Email Marketing Engagement

Reviewing the performance of your emails (like open rates and click-throughs) can tell you a lot about your subscribers and the type of content that interests them. But if your open rates aren’t as high as they once were, or you’ve noticed a spike in unsubscribes, it’s easy to understand why you might ask yourself, “Why aren’t people engaging with my emails?!”

While email marketing is one of the most effective tools you can use to build relationships with your community and grow your business, there’s a science to keeping subscribers engaged with the messages you send them.

To help you do so, let’s take a look at the top 10 ways to fuel subscriber engagement.

1. Set expectations before people subscribe to your email list.

To set a good foundation for your emails (and help your engagement rates start off on the right foot), you’ll want to make sure subscribers know what they’re signing up for before they give you their email address.

Whether it’s a monthly newsletter, weekly do-it-yourself tips or seasonal exclusive offers, being upfront about the kind of emails readers will receive helps attract the right people to your list. Plus, it sets expectations as to what you’ll be sending them – as a result, there shouldn’t be any unwanted surprises.

On the following sign up form, the apparel company Tailor Stitch clearly explains the kind of offers readers get in each email, when they can expect them, and the benefit that comes with subscribing:

By including this information in the sign up form, Tailor Stitch does a great job of setting expectations for those who subscribe to their email list. 

As you set expectations in your sign up form, however, do note that it’s just as important that the content in your email lives up to the promise you made. Why? Because your emails are more likely to be marked as spam if you say you’ll send one thing and deliver another.

Managing subscribers’ expectations is critical to your campaign’s success, so be specific about the content of your emails from the get-go.

2. Engage subscribers with emails they’ll love.

Not sure what types of emails to send to your subscribers? While the sky’s the limit, there are some standard emails that can easily become the foundation for any strategy:

• Newsletters. Whether you choose to send on a weekly, bi-weekly or monthly basis, you can use this email to convey all kinds of updates, such as upcoming events, industry news, recent blog posts, new ways to use your product or service and more.
• Product releases and updates. Whenever you update a product or create something brand new, it’s worth announcing to your subscribers. Your email should get your audience excited about it, so be sure to communicate why it’s great, any problem(s) it solves, how people can purchase it, and when it will be available.
• Limited-time sales and promotions. If you have a product or service to sell, be sure to offer regular promotions and discounts to incentivize people on your list to become customers. To do so effectively, provide a clear timeframe for the promotion, what they’ll get if they act now, and a call-to-action to sign up or make a purchase.

3. Spend extra time crafting a subject line.

Your email could contain the best content ever, but no one will read it if your subject line is weak.

A strong subject line immediately grabs your subscriber’s attention and entices them to open your email. Since many people skim through their inboxes, it’s best to keep your subject line short and catchy; Litmus suggests creating subject lines that are no longer than 50 characters.

With modern inboxes overflowing with promotions, work emails and personal messages, your subject line needs to stand out. Fortunately, there are a several types of subject lines you can use to catch your subscriber’s attention.

Adding a special offer, asking a question, or emphasizing a sense of urgency, for example, can all be effective ways to create a compelling subject line.

Just take a look at this example of a promotional email from our friends at Social Media Examiner:

Here they’ve implemented two best practices for engaging subject lines: including a discount and creating a sense of urgency by referencing the end date for the promotion. They also do a great job using personalization to address me by name!

4. Provide social links.

Allowing your subscribers to share the content in your email can have a big impact on subscriber engagement. In fact, emails that include social sharing links have a 158 percent higher click through rate than those that don’t. 

And best of all? It’s super simple to set up. All you have to do is include social icons with links to your content so people can share it to their social channels. When you do, it can help you get even more eyes on your content, and potentially more subscribers on your email list.

To get the best results, make this step as simple as possible. These buttons should be highly visible and easy for your subscriber to click on. If it’s not the main action you want your subscribers to take, however, adding it to the footer of your email will work as well, like in this example from our blog email newsletter below:

5. Make your email visually appealing.

An email’s design should work together with the copy to delight your subscribers and help convey the message you want to get across. While you don’t have to be the next Rembrandt to create an effective design, you do need to think carefully about your email’s color scheme, layout and the images or videos you include.

To craft a visually engaging email, the copy and design should complement one another. Opt for a clean, intuitive layout that draws attention to your call-to-action (CTA). Make sure it looks great on all devices and screen sizes, and refrain from using too many graphics or pictures.

Let’s look at this email from Uber, which uses a cityscape graphic and short, skimmable copy to draw your eye to its CTA:

By putting white space between the graphic and copy, limiting its color scheme to three shades and building content around the CTA, Uber crafts an email that’s effective and visually appealing. (Plus, who doesn’t love a free ride from Uber?)

Even if you’re not a designer, that’s okay, too. To simplify the process of creating a visually stunning email, try using a pre-made mobile-responsive email template. This way, you get the email design you want without the hassle of hiring a professional or attempting to create one yourself.

6. Personalize your automated email campaigns.

Including a subscriber’s name in an email can make the message feel personal, but building a lasting connection with them requires more work. Personalizing emails according to your audience’s interests, location, activity or occupation can help you engage with them more effectively.

Personalization is the future of marketing; 94 percent of businesses believe it’s critical to their current and future success, according to Econsultancy and Monetate. Fortunately, you can start reaping the benefits of personalization by setting up an automated email campaign.

When you do, you can create a series of autoresponder emails based on specific actions your subscribers take or interests they select in your sign up form.

A professional photography blogger who has multiple email courses, for example, might write content that covers a lot of different aspects of photography. If they wanted to send targeted content to subscribers based on what they were most interested in, they could add custom fields to their sign up form and ask them to choose what they want to learn more about.

The blogger could then create automated email campaigns to trigger based on what people select in the sign up form. Or, he could send broadcast emails based on their interests. In this way, she’s able to send targeted relevant content to those who want it most.

7. Segment subscribers and send targeted messages.

When you segment your email list, you can divide subscribers into groups of like-minded people based on past purchases, geographic location, age, occupation, interests and more. When you do, it can increase the likelihood that they’ll open your messages and click your calls-to-action.

After segmenting, think about the content your subscribers want and use it to craft your next email. Send messages that answer your customers’ questions and address their pain points. The more targeted the content, the more attention it receives, which can increase your engagement and revenue over time.

In the email below, the home goods catalogue retailer Domestications used a voting system to gauge what customers were interested in:

  

The message lets subscribers choose items they would prefer to see on sale. When readers clicked through, they were directed to the sales page for that product. With the results from the voting system, Domestications could segment subscribers based on the products they chose.

8. Write an irresistible call-to-action.

After subscribers have read your email, do you want them to follow you on Twitter, sign up for a webinar or purchase your product? Whatever the goal is for your email, be sure to identify it before you start writing. Make that objective your call-to-action (CTA), and craft the content of your message around that purpose.

Your CTA should offer something of value to your subscriber — whether it’s an ebook download, a how-to guide, or a discount on your product or service. It should visually stand out and be easy to follow, so make sure you remove any content, images, or links that could distract your reader.

9. Experiment with the frequency and timing of your emails.

Depending on your target audience and the content they prefer, the frequency and timing of your messages could vary greatly.

For most businesses, a weekly email newsletter is a great place to start. Eventually, you can increase the frequency of your emails to promote your product, share content or break your newsletter into smaller chunks. There’s no magic number for how many emails to send, but you can always vary the send time to determine what’s best for your business. Or, ask your subscribers what cadence they prefer.

We also recommend experimenting with time frames to figure out when your audience is most likely to read your email. For example, if business people are your target audience, you may get the best results if you email them during work hours. However, some people only have time to check their emails during lunch or when they first wake up. You can use analytics to determine when people are most likely to open your emails and plan your campaign accordingly.

10. Track your results.

Once you’ve implemented these tactics, check your analytics to see what’s working and what’s not. With this insight, you can look for areas where you can fine tune your email marketing campaign for the best results.

To do so, you’ll want to look at your open rates, click-through rates, unsubscribes, traffic to your site and more.

If the idea of combing through data and using that to tweak your campaign sounds intimidating, no need to worry; understanding your email performance is easier than you think.

If your open rates are low, for example, that might have been the result of an uninteresting subject line. In this case, you can change your approach to writing subject lines (maybe using one of the tips mentioned above), and see if your open rates increase as a result.

Or if you find your click-through rates are high, that means you’re doing something right with your call-to-action. So to continue that success, you’ll want to replicate this in future emails.

Happy subscribers, happy life

If customers don’t respond to your emails like they once did, a few simple tweaks to your campaign can boost engagement and deliver the results you want. These ten email marketing tactics can send engagement through the roof, so be sure to test them out when crafting your next message.

What steps do you plan on taking to boost subscriber engagement? Tell us about it in the comments below!

For more tips on what to write in your emails, be sure to sign up for our free email course, What to Write in Your Emails!

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How We Created Personalized Campaigns for an Email Course

Personalization is everything these days. And no, I’m not talking about monogramming your clothes or etching you and your sweetheart’s name onto a picture frame.

I’m talking about the kind of personalization as it relates to the content you create for your audience.

When you send personalized (or contextual) email content the moment a person subscribes to your list, you’re able to kick things off on a really, really good note. Not only does this allow you to provide a relevant experience to your subscriber community, it also can have a powerful impact on email engagement – in fact, one study found personalized emails receive 9 percent higher unique open rates and 41 percent higher unique click rates than those that were written for a broad audience!

While there are a number of ways to send the right content to the right people at the right time, today we’re diving deeper into creating multiple automated email campaigns from a single sign up form.

Personalized emails from the moment you say “Hello”

Here at AWeber, we’re big fans of the phrase, “eating your own dog food” (or, the more more familiar idiom, “practicing what you preach”). We believe that if we’re going to tell others to try a specific email strategy, we should be able to implement it as well.

And that’s why I wanted to share with you the approach we took in order to personalize our own email campaigns.

When the team here at AWeber set out to create our “What to Write in Your Emails” course, we had one goal: to help people figure out what to write in their emails, whether they’re just getting started or want to improve what they currently have.

The more we talked about the concept, the more we realized this audience could be broken down even further into two groups: those who are AWeber customers, and those who had never even heard of us before.

We decided it’d be beneficial to create two different targeted courses for each audience. The course content would remain the same for both, but we would have the flexibility of addressing each group in different ways to make it feel more relevant.

Initially, we set out by outlining and writing the email content for the course with one audience in mind: our customers.

As we did this, we wrote the course content knowing that our audience would be familiar with our brand and product. When we encouraged them to put what they just learned into practice, we included a call-to-action that had them log into their account and get started.

When it came time to adjust the course for those unfamiliar with AWeber, we copied over the content and made small tweaks to make it relevant to this audience. This meant including more information about our service, adding calls-to-action for them to get started with their own email service provider, or to try AWeber free for 30 days.

Using Campaigns to set up the course

To make sure that our course functioned the way we wanted it to, we used our automation platform, Campaigns.

With Campaigns, we were able to quickly and easily set up the course and targeted campaigns. Plus, we knew that it would open up additional possibilities if we decided to expand upon our course in the future.

Once the content was complete, we were ready to build our two email campaigns from our one list in AWeber:

Within Campaigns, we were able to easily set up the functionality we wanted for our course, including time delays, subscriber tags and more.

After the campaigns were set up and ready to go, it was time to create our sign up form for the course. In addition to asking for a subscriber’s name and email address, we included a field that asks if they’re an AWeber customer:

By adding this, it ensured that the right email series was triggered for the right people.

(Try this yourself! Learn how you can use tags in Campaigns to create multiple campaigns from a single list.)

And with that, our course was all set up!

Not only were we excited to see the results of sending even more relevant content to our email community, it also sparked a ton of new ideas for future personalized campaigns, too!

Once we started promoting the course, for example, we decided to create additional campaigns based on ads that drove traffic to the course. As a result, we were able to create an even more contextual experience for our subscribers!

Creating your own personalized email campaigns

While this is just one example of how you can create multiple contextual campaigns from a single sign up form, there are a number of other ways you can get started. Here are a few more ideas to get your creativity flowing:

• An automated welcome email series
• Multiple email campaigns for different incentives you offer 
• Linked campaigns to move subscribers from one automated series to another
• Campaigns for conferences and events you attend that funnel into a single campaign
• An educational email course
• And more!

Is there a campaign you’d like us to write about? Tell us about it in the comments, and we might just feature it in an upcoming post!

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7 Ways to Create Share-Worthy Content

In this week’s #EmailChat, we teamed up with Express Writers, a copywriting agency known for creating epic content for their clients, to talk about the ways that modern marketers can optimize their content for maximum shareability.

From getting more likes, shares and retweets to increasing email opens and clicks, read on for your five-minute guide to share-worthy content.

When creating content, aim to engage

You can’t predict when or if a piece of content will go viral, but you can aim to make your content more engaging. And creating actionable, engaging content is a vital part of any marketing strategy.

A1. Shareability is the likelihood of your content getting, well, shared. #EmailChat

— Olivia Dello Buono (@oliviadello) October 6, 2016

Shareable content is – in it’s most simplest terms – content that has a likelihood to be shared. MovableInk calls it content that “makes you feel something.” It’s how you know you’re delivering a great experience to your readers.

A1. Shareable content makes you *feel* something. It's how you know if you're delivering a great experience. #emailchat

— Movable Ink (@movableink) October 6, 2016

A1b: If your content speaks to your audience enough that they want to share it, you know you've done something right. #emailchat

— Express Writers (@ExpWriters) October 6, 2016

Shareable content is not one-size-fits-all

We asked what the qualities of a share-worthy piece of content were, and we received quite the influx of tweets on the topic! Our guest, Express Writers, said, “Shareable content should provide value to your audience and speak to their interests. Give them what they’re looking for!”

A2: Shareable content should provide value to your audience and speak to their interests. Give them what they're looking for! #emailchat

— Express Writers (@ExpWriters) October 6, 2016

Others stressed the importance of relevancy.

A2. Shareable content is relevant content. You wouldn't share if you couldn't relate! #emailchat

— Movable Ink (@movableink) October 6, 2016

What is the goal of your content? What kind of feeling are you trying to evoke from your audience? It’s important that you answer these questions as you walk through the content creation process.

A2. If it's authentic, relevant, and evokes feeling in your audience, you've got a share-worthy piece of content! #EmailChat

— Olivia Dello Buono (@oliviadello) October 6, 2016

Some are more shareable than others

The content that sees the highest engagement really depends on your audience, but we have seen some stats that suggest that multimedia content has a higher likelihood of sharing.

Think eye-catching graphics, videos, and GIFs. List-style posts also do really well, as people love their quick and “snackable” format.

@ExpWriters People love listicles because they're quick and easy reads. (We call them "snackable" content.) #EmailChat

— Olivia Dello Buono (@oliviadello) October 6, 2016

Optimize for shares

You guys couldn’t stress it enough: When it comes to creating shareable content, you should make it easy for your readers to share! This means adding social sharing buttons to every post, ‘Pin It’ buttons on images, click-to-tweet links, etc.

We loved what @PamelaHughes shared about promoting her email list:

Oooh, I love Q4. We regularly debate sharing pieces from an e-mail vs. an e-mail in its entirety. (I lean toward the former.) #emailchat

— pamelahughes (@pamelahughes) October 6, 2016

Plus, teasing your email content is a great strategy for giving people incentive to sign up for your newsletter.

A4. Your email list = your biggest fans. Get your content in front of them for more shares! #emailchat

— Movable Ink (@movableink) October 6, 2016

A4. Provide a lot of ways for people to share content, & test different types of images, headlines, etc. to see what works best! #emailchat

— Monica Montesa (@missmontesa) October 6, 2016

Add these words to your email vernacular

When’s the last time you asked your followers to retweet your post? Or your email subscribers to forward your newsletter to a friend?

Sometimes the most obvious answer is something that gets glossed over, but telling people to simply “share” your content can have a big impact.

A5. This is the time when I like being blunt – a simple "Share" will do! #emailchat

— Monica Montesa (@missmontesa) October 6, 2016

A5: It's so obvious, but if you want a share, ASK FOR IT. Don't be afraid to tell people to share your content. #emailchat

— Express Writers (@ExpWriters) October 6, 2016

Keep an eye on your performance

The numbers don’t lie; if you’re serious about optimizing your content, analyzing your data is a must.

A6. For social, I like to look at reach, engagement % and CPC. If it's a video, duration watched is important, too. #EmailChat

— Olivia Dello Buono (@oliviadello) October 6, 2016

Whether you’re looking to increase your reach on social media or improve your open and click through rates, you need to get down and dirty with your data. Again, remember the goal and make necessary tweaks to continuously improve.

A6: Set goals for what you want your content to achieve. Track engagement, clicks to your website, and conversions. #emailchat

— Express Writers (@ExpWriters) October 6, 2016

A6. Traffic to the page can be really telling! #emailchat

— Monica Montesa (@missmontesa) October 6, 2016

TL;DR: Your share-worthy content checklist

A7: Make sure you're sharing your content regularly on social media. Include links to content in your email newsletters, too. #emailchat

— Express Writers (@ExpWriters) October 6, 2016

Before you hit ‘send’ (…or post, tweet, pin), be sure to consider the following as you review your content:

• Emotion – How does it make your reader feel?
• Relevance – Does this piece of content fit your niche?
• Design – Are you using the right colors and graphics to optimize for shares?
• Targeting – Does your content include the right words, phrases and hashtags to get your audience to interact?

A7. Promote useful, relevant content to your audience. #emailchat

— Movable Ink (@movableink) October 6, 2016

A7. Keep a regular content cadence and keep track of how your content is performing. Use that data to refine your strategy! #EmailChat

— Olivia Dello Buono (@oliviadello) October 6, 2016

Next month

Join us on Thursday, November 3 at 12pm ET for the next #EmailChat, featuring guest host AddThis. Spread the word:

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Save the date! @AWeber #EmailChat on Thursday, October 3 at 12pm ET featuring @AddThis.
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