Every week, hours are spent putting together the Songwriters Association of Canada‘s “Songwriters Update,” our weekly email newsletter. We want to stay connected, and we know that even though we are constantly updating Twitter, Facebook, and our website, landing in someone’s email inbox is still the most powerful call to action. This is the same thinking behind Chapter 7 of Ariel Hyatt‘s “Music Success in 9 Weeks,” the book that is guiding participants in the Canadian Songwriters Social Media Challenge.
Let’s recap what we’ve done thus far:
Week 1: Setting Goals – We defined personal goals, which in turn personalized each person’s experience of this challenge.
Week 2: The Pitch – We came up with branding statements to define who we are. These statements were then sprinkled throughout all our online communication tools.
Week 3: The Website – We built online home fronts for ourselves.
Week 4: Social Media – We extended our online homes to social media platforms to connect with even more people.
Week 5: YouTube – We built YouTube channels.
Week 6: Blogging – We built our own blogs and reached out into the blogosphere to connect with other bloggers.
And now, we’re at week 7. Whereas all the previous weeks were about reaching out to the masses and hopefully acquiring fans, the newsletter is about engaging and keeping your fans interested. Building the infrastructure to email newsletters is not necessarily a creative or fun process. But once you have an established system, you will have an outlet in which to pour your creativity…keeping in mind that ending with a call to action is key.
Some people may struggle to find a call to action, especially if you do not have a product to sell yet. Herein is the beauty of this challenge and the social media ecosystem that is built in the process. If you are regularly creating new content, on your blog, YouTube channel, or Facebook fan page, you will also be creating new calls-to-action to place in your email newsletter. No matter where you are in your creative journey, you will have something to share because you are already regularly sharing!
On that note, we look forward to sharing the progress of our Challenge participants this week. (With only 2 more weeks to go!)
Okay Challengers, please post the following:
1. Link to this week’s blog post.
2. Name of Newsletter Provider you have chosen (eg. FanBridge, Reverbnation, Vertical Response, Mail Chimp, etc.,) and why you chose it.
3. Link where people can register for your Email newsletter.
Songwriters Association of Canada 