FOUR THE WEEKEND: ALL HOPE IS NOT GONE
There's still a tried and true method of reaching your fans
Hi, it’s me Seth Werkheiser.
Small change to HEAVY METAL EMAIL - moving to one free post every Friday (FOUR THE WEEKEND), filled with things you can do in a weekend to help reach your fans, and one paid post every Monday (ANTISOCIAL), which is a nice vulgar display of social media hostility.
If these newsletters have been helpful, consider becoming a paid subscriber; it’s $6/mo, or $60/yr to support HEAVY METAL EMAIL.
If subscribing ain’t your thing, just buy me a cup of coffee via Ko-Fi, Venmo (@Seth-Werkheiser), Cash App ($ethwerkheiser), or PayPal. You can also support bands and labels and buy me something from my Bandcamp Wishlist.
I’ve been seeing some depressing posts from all sorts of creative folks lately, grieving about their miserable social media “reach.”
And it’s not just independent folks selling shirts, jewelry, and design services.
Earlier this year I wrote how Fear Factory posted about the 13th anniversary of ‘Mechanize’ to their 780,300 total followers, and around 6% of their fans saw it.
So just like major bands with massive social media followings, smaller creative folks can’t reach their full audience and they’re losing sales. They can’t reach new customers, and they can’t reach their existing customers.
AHEM.
So what’s our Social Media Escape Plan, friends?
It ain’t gonna get any easier to reach our fans on socials.
It’s only gonna get harder in 2023, so time to think about email newsletters again!
FOUR THE WEEKEND TASKS
Due by Monday.
If you sell music on Bandcamp, you can reach people who already bought your music. Who’s more likely to buy your new album? Someone who bought your last record. We covered email marketing with Bandcamp data in my interview with Matt DeBenedictis from Mailchimp.
If you have an online shop, make sure you have a “subscribe to my newsletter” option at check out.
While you can still reach around 5-10% of your social media followers, ask them to sign up for your email list by offering them a discount to your store, a free download, or a special video. Read ‘STICK THE LANDING PAGE’ for some ideas on this.
If you do client work, DO NOT add anyone to an email list just because you’re worked together in the past - that’s a big no no. Instead, send a nice personal email instead, with a sign up link. If they want to sign up, they’ll do it themselves. For more on this, check out ‘What Is Opt-In Email Marketing,’ ‘The Beginner's Guide to Opt-In Email Marketing,’ and ‘Opt‑in Email Strategies Every Marketer Should Know’ from Mailchimp.
As a bonus, I dare you to post a newsletter sign-up link to your socials just once this weekend. Email me a link to the post (seth@closemondays.com) by Monday, March 27, 2023, and I will pick someone at random and send them a $10 Bandcamp gift card.
LISTEN UP
This album from RLYR is big and expansive, perfect for driving towards a boundless horizon in the distance with the windows down.
Get in touch: seth@closemondays.com
-Seth