You're watching this video on the new Social Media Escape Club.
A minute ago we were HEAVY METAL EMAIL, but now it's Social Media Escape Club.
I thought long and hard about that, and I realized no one cares. I could name this thing Zip Zorp and you're gonna either read it or you're not gonna read it.
No one's thinking about this stuff as much as I am.
So - welcome to the Social Media Escape Club. Make yourself at home.
I had a nice conversation in my DMs recently (you can always reach out with thoughts and pontifications and questions about what you're doing in your online marketing efforts).
One particular thing, and I hear this a lot, is “I wanna give more value in my emails, but I'm not always sure how.”
CHECK YOUR SOCIALS
The cheat code for this is to take your social media posts, and look at what's getting comments and likes. You can use that as a barometer to see what is providing value.
I bet that if you post a long, heartfelt caption about whatever it is that you do, and what you create, and what you put into the world, I bet that provides value for some of your fans.
It doesn't need to be all of your fans, just some.
And most likely they’ll be your biggest fans and biggest supporters.
So I would advise that you don't water down what you're doing in an attempt to please everybody on your email list, on your website, in your music, in your art, because that's not who you are, and that probably does not make your heart sing.
Go full in with your story, find out what has been resonating, and heck, you put it out here in the first place, so I'm sure there's a reason why it resonated.
SHARE YOUR TRUTH
I found this today actually, and it’s one of the reasons why I made this video, ‘cuz the two things connected.
This post from Alex Dobrenko, from his newsletter called Both Are True. The post is ‘6666 tips on how I reached 6666 subscribers on Substack.’
This lies in what I'm about to show you as far as like, what should I write about? How should I provide value?
Alex says people will ask him, “how do I get past my woes and get to woah?”
It's an entertaining read, not a super serious thing.
So, ahem… how do I get past my woes and, and get to woah?
How do I provide this value? How do I really make this resonate with my audience?
And, Alex says, “what if you wrote about that?”
Write about “the thing that's in your way about what's stopping you from writing the thing that you want to write.”
Then the person counters with, “uh, but I don't know. I guess I didn't think it'd be that interesting.”
I spoke to another artist recently who does amazing animation work, has a sizzle reel that really sizzles.
I follow this person on Instagram, and they’re always going to cool shows, doing cool stuff, hanging with cool people.
And this person said to me, because we've talked about setting up a newsletter, they said, “uh, well, I don't think what I do is that interesting.”
And I'm like, are you kidding? No, NO! You're so interesting!
I think about that for artists, for musicians all the time; what you do is interesting TO YOUR FANS.
Not just the story behind the songs, but the stories that got you to a place where you could even write about those songs, where you even came up with the words and the language and the technique.
GO DEEP
See how thick and heavy you can get with this stuff.
Like I said, I struggled for a while to rename my newsletter, and just had to do it.
Do I fear that I've lost my whole heavy metal contingency? Sure, I think that, but it's just a name. I'm still me, and that's the truth. This is the truth.
How can I stay in a space - HEAVY METAL EMAIL - that is not who I am anymore from two years ago?
That's where I was at the time, and now we're in Social Media Escape Club, and you are watching and reading, and hopefully enjoying this, and you haven't closed this tab yet.
So that's some ideas about truth, about providing value with your newsletter.
A don't let that trip you up, about a newsletter.
It's not, “oh, now I have to make a newsletter.”
No, it’s your truth that you communicate with your fans. The newsletter is the medium, the mechanism.
It shows up in an inbox. It's an email.
Or it's an Instagram post.
It's a YouTube video.
It's a post like this.
What really resonates - the biggest truth, the biggest value - is you showing up 1000% you in whatever format and medium you choose.
So do that.
I’m Seth Werkheiser.
I help creative people escape the social media rat race, reach their fans directly, and earn a living.
Support this holy errand and become a paid subscriber (subscription prices going up in 2024).
Email: seth@closemondays.com
Web: closemondays.com
THE BEST VALUE YOU CAN GIVE YOUR FANS IS YOUR TRUTH