Building your Newsletter Community

In a timeframe long enough, everyone starts a newsletter. But it's the publications with high-quality and engaging content that survive the brutal unsubscribe button.

Now, we can trust you with the quality part of the equation, but engaging your audience is a whole different ball game.

So, we decided to break it down into 5 simple tactics that will help you build a community around your newsletter:

1. Us Versus Them

When writing to your audience you want to establish yourself as one of them. The simplest way of doing that is by replacing the word "you" with "we" & "them" with "us."

With this simple change in your language not only will your audience find your content more relatable but also they are more likely to accept and implement it.

How to find your tribe if you have a niche newsletter? Read about it here.

2. End with a Question

Every time you end your newsletter with a "See you next week!" you're missing out on crucial engagement potential.

End your newsletter by asking your audience something personal:

• Whether they've seen XYZ topic play out in real life?

• What they are up to this weekend?

• What they are working on?

Take an interest in their lives, wait for their replies, and make sure to follow up. The more interest you show in their work, the more they will show in yours.

3. Ask for Feedback

It's hard to improve your newsletter when you don't know what's working. And the best way to learn that is by asking your audience directly.

Nathan Baugh does a great job of this in his newsletter World Builders:

By simply clicking any of the links you'll be redirected to a feedback page:

Then all you have to do is implement their feedback (and let them know that you did)! Listening to reader feedback is one of the best ways to show them that you care.

P.S. With beehiiv’s in-built polling feature you can now collect feedback in an email or on the web - without making your customers leave the current page.

4. Add a Video to your Welcome Email

Reading your words, no matter how smooth, is only level 1. If you want to truly connect with your audience, hearing your voice and seeing your face could be beyond helpful!

So, to hone in on this, all you have to do is take a quick video (through software like Loom) introducing yourself and what you're going to write about.

Then embed the GIF in the welcome email, and link to the entire video in the body. It's just a couple of minutes of work, but it will drastically improve your onboarding process.

5. Add an Audio Recording

We get it, not everyone loves to record a video. But if you still want to engage your audience you can start by recording audio with each newsletter edition.

This tactic can be especially valuable in today's environment, where everyone is on the move and busy listening to podcasts.

If you're a beehiiv user wondering how to get it done, here's a guide to get you started