Category: Email MarketingCategory: Email Marketing

I was sick last week, so it’s taking me a minute to get back into the swing of things around here.

From ‘Leaving Social Media?’ by Lachrista Greco:

“My lit agent advises I keep the account active and I understand why. But I also know there was a time before social media. There was a time when none of us relied on this shit. There was a time before the tornado of “content creation” and “influencers” and “doomscrolling.”

Yes, “there was a time when none of us relied on this shit.”

I started my first music blog in 2001, five years before Twitter showed up (it was called Twttr back then).

Dillinger Escape Plan didn’t go viral on a social media platform, they just put on such an insane show that people had to talk about them. The old-school viral, I guess.

Music blogs, record stores, local venues, groups of friends, email lists – those things worked, and they still do.

It’s getting harder to say the same about social media.

Social media accounts are easy to make, which then makes it easy to impersonate official accounts and rip people off.

Big time jerks are pretending to work for Rolling Stone and taking money from artists in exchange for coverage.

We know this not just because someone from Rolling Stone Tweeted about it (could that be a fake account maybe?!?), but because it’s on the Rolling Stone website. And apparently it’s happening to Billboard reporters, too.

Metallica had to issue a statement back in December because scammers were streaming on, “fake YouTube channels posing to be ours and all pointing to websites that we do not run. Please remember — all of our official social media channels are verified.”

Then this weekend Avenged Sevenfold announced some festival appearance cancellations:

Metal Injection published it as a news piece, which makes sense, since the news came from the band’s official social media accounts.

But oops – it wasn’t true, at least according to the two festivals involved.

Bummer for the Welcome To Rockville and Sonic Temple social media teams to have to handle something like this on a Sunday afternoon, but hey – social media sure keeps you on your toes, right?

The posts on the A7x social media platforms have been removed, but as of writing this post (Feb 27, 2023 around 11am ET) no official explanation has been posted either on the band’s social media nor their official site.

Be sure to review all online security procedures, friends. And make sure you have an official website where you can publish announcements when shit like this happens, so your fans aren’t left in the dark!

I don’t care what sort of team you got, what gear you roll onto stage, or who took your band photo – you still gotta write a good song.

Same goes for this email marketing thing – your 10,000 subscribers don’t count for much when no one is opening them.

Write better songs.
Send better emails.

Check your social media feeds – what gets more likes? The most comments?

Make a social media post the start of your next email, like Church Road Records did back in December:

Make sure your writing and imagery are a reflection of your creative spirit:

We can see this in the heavy metal world in terms of sameness – same looking websites and social media feeds.

For a genre with such imaginative artwork, tour posters, and shirt designs, we can be pretty bland when it comes to actually promoting these things in creative ways.

Putting it all together into an email shouldn’t be difficult, as you’ve got an archive of material to work with, content you posted on social media over the years.

Remember, not everyone who follows you on social media will see every post. Hell, people who subscribe to your email newsletter won’t open every email, either.

Re-purposing the content you’ve already posted means less time thinking about your next email newsletter, and gives you a jump on the creative process.

Work on writing great songs, and turn your best social media content into an email newsletter that people look forward to and want to open.

Are (email newsletters) a temporary solution? An early bird gets the worm type scenario?

If I subscribed to an email list for every band that I would want to see on tour / buy a record from, then I would be getting TOO MANY NEWSLETTERS.

It’s a full time job to keep up with all the new songs, videos, and tour announcements from bands everyday. I ran Noisecreep for a few years, I know.

There was too much in 2009, there’s too much today. It’s impossible to keep up.

You also got newsletters from TV streaming services, clothing stores, Spotify, and Bandcamp when a band uploads a patch or sticker.

But you still announce your upcoming tour, even when Guns N’ Roses announces a bigger tour.

You still announce your tour, even though Furnace Fest just announced their line-up and everyone will be talking about it today.

When we post something on IG, send a press release, or upload to a DPS or YouTube, it’s lost in the shuffle the second it’s live.

So write a good subject line for your next email, use a good photo, and send it out.

And though I can’t promise anything, I can promise this; your first newsletter is gonna suck.

Garbage.

Just like the first song you ever wrote, the first show you ever played, the first tour you ever booked.

But the second one is slightly better, and the 10th one is okay, and by the 100th you’re a fucking pro.

So start today, while you can still reach some of your fans on social media, and tell them to sign up for your email list.

Our minds are twisted because we’re all “social media pros,” all because we’ve been on these platforms like Twitter since 2009. That’s 14 years (I’m one of the first 3000 people to sign up back in 2006).

But when Twitter goes away (and someday it will), kiss all those followers goodbye. They’re gone.

And if you’d been running an email newsletter for 14 years, and “only” signed up 1,000 people a year, you’d be able to reach 14,000 people the day Twitter goes offline.

I started my “Social Media Escape Plan” with this newsletter back in 2021.

I write about the nerdiest, most niche thing ever, but today I’ve got over 300 subscribers. If Twitter disappears tomorrow, I can still reach those 300 wonderful readers.

Social media is sexy, absolutely, but email is the long game.

See, people still visit websites.

Maybe not your website, but that’s because your website hasn’t been updated in four months and probably loads sideways on mobile.

But hey – websites are cheaper and easier to make than ever, and you don’t need to reinvent the wheel when it comes to band websites.

Seth, how does this relate to email lists?

Just like you don’t propose on a first date, you don’t usually get someone’s email address on the first visit either.

Especially if your website is boring.

Put some interesting stuff on your website, then eventually (hopefully) someone gives you their email address.

Load your site with exciting content like behind the scenes photos, stories from the road, a glimpse into the song-writing process.

You do know you’re already doing this right?

Those are all the things you share on social media every day that probably 90%+ of your followers never see (like how 94% of Fear Factory’s audience didn’t see their recent social media posts about an album anniversary).

Tease stuff on social media.
Put more of the exciting stuff on your website.
The stuff that fans won’t want to miss.
Let people sign up to get notified when you post new stuff.

As time rolls on, it will get harder to connect with your fans through social media.

Set up an email list. Repurpose your social media content. Send emails that people want to read. Send updates to your fans who are probably missing most everything you post on social media anyways.

Figure out your Social Media Escape Plan today, because these platforms can disappear tomorrow.