Category: MarketingCategory: Marketing

Tara McMullin wrote a great piece about self-promotion, which you should read.

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I posted something on Substack Notes about the subject, and since it resonated so well, I figured I’d share it again:

Years ago, “self-promotion” meant posting something on a social platform, and most of your followers saw it.

It was great when it worked!

Then came algorithms, and now self-promotion feels like a constant battle.

It’s not you, it’s the system.

You can’t post just once, because 90% of your audience won’t even see it. This is why I’d always tell people, “Promote your new song a few times a week, at different times of day!”

But then having to post, plan, and schedule starts to feel like screaming into the void.

Oh, and then Instagram says it wants videos. Twitter removes links. Facebook and LinkedIn limit your reach when you include a link. Also, don’t say “link in bio!”

It’s not even self-promotion at this point – it’s tap dancing, juggling, or card tricks in the middle of Times Square, along with 900 million other creative people doing the same.

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There were many great comments:

• “It’s not self-promotion. It’s called persuasive technology and it’s used to increase user engagement. We are social media puppets, working for free to increase stakeholder share value.”
• “Honestly, it has just become shouting into the void for me now.”
• “It’s a game of ever changing rules, that’s for sure.”
• “It’s clear that if you’re (on social media), you’ve gotta play the game. It’s kinda no different to the office politics I endure on a daily (workday) basis in this way.”

I was asked a few times what the solution is, and my belief is this:

WE ARE THE SOLUTION.

Do cool things with your friends and put it on the internet. That’s it.

Make interesting things, tell your interesting friends about those things.

Here’s how I grew my newsletter…

One, Ryan J. Downey recommended me to his subscribers of Stream N’ Destroy. I’ve known Ryan for well over a decade, and we know (and work with) many of the same people.

I didn’t ask Ryan for the recommendation, but he did it, and I owe him a dinner, that’s for sure.

I couldn’t make that happen. I would never ask. But hey – make cool things and sometimes people will share the cool things you make with people they know.

Second, Laura Kidd and I had a chat about email marketing on her YouTube channel, which led some of her fans to check out what I’m doing. We were just two cool people talking about a super nerdy thing (email newsletters), but it resonated with some people, and that’s what matters.

Third, I trusted my gut (because I have a cool gut, just like you!) and changed the name (and direction) of this newsletter. What started out as Heavy Metal Email became Social Media Escape Club in October 2023.

I leaned more into what makes my blood boil (social media) and found even more of an audience for what I write about.

Do cool things, and cool people might find them interesting and tell their cool friends about them, too.

You can wait for Spotify rates to increase, or a new benevolent social media platform to debut, or you can realize you’ve already got a great “social network” of people and fans and friends around you.

Focus on the people who are right in front of you. Delight them, focus on them, and self-promotion will be a breeze.

I had a wonderful chat with Raziq Rauf and friends last week (Raz writes Running Sucks, and it’s great), and got to continue screaming this message from the rooftops:

Don’t ask social media followers to subscribe to your newsletter; tell them what they’re getting.

And don’t just say “an interview” or “new music,” sell it!

“Make it easy for your fans to say “yes, I want that.”

Do you want free donuts? Yes.

Do you want more of my art? Yes.

Do you want more photos of my travels? Yes.

Do you want more music? Yes.”

Get fans to your site (or newsletter).

If they subscribe, great.

If they don’t, they don’t.

Sure, with a zillion followers, you can ask for the subscribe and see some success, but explaining what fans will be getting is a lot more fun.

Many of us in the creative world have a choice in how we tell people about our work.

It’s not just picking which platform to use but also how much time we devote to each. Do we make videos? Static images? Long captions or short?

And now, after years (for some of us a decade or more), we’re faced with the unique challenges of using (or even supporting) the platforms that are deemed so vital to our success.

This is why I changed the name of this newsletter to Social Media Escape Club – because people are being more intentional about how they use these platforms. Some people even consider not using them (gasp), like Robyn Hepburn Illustration said in our recent Zoom Club Meeting:

We’re not crazy for thinking there has to be a better way.

As I wrote last week, Bryan runs the As The Story Grows podcast with zero social media presence.

Softer Sounds podcast studio isn’t on social media.

I say all this as we’re barreling into the holiday season, where we’ll be drowning in marketing messages, commercials, and various media blasting in our faces.

The name of the game is interrupting everyone all the time, grabbing any bit of attention with ten thousand other bright lights and flashing messages.

BUT… in the middle of all that, it’s nice to get a call from an old friend, right?

A DM from someone you love hearing from—an email from someone you always have time for.

As artists, photographers, musicians, DJs, writers – that can be us, you know that, right?

Now, if you only show up every time you have something to sell, that’s not as endearing.

It’s hard to fall in love with mail-order catalogs.

It is far easier to have a pleasant exchange with the jovial mail-person who shows up daily with a smile and a bit of small talk.

Social media is about interruption, noise, and reaching only a fraction of your followers.

But with an easy pace of telling stories, showing up regularly, and earning the trust of your fans, you win the social media game of attention roulette by not playing.

Artist Louise Stigell says, “just because other businesses (are super annoying, and sales-y, and in people’s face, and really eager) in your inbox does not mean that you have to behave that way.”

Many creative folks send boring emails.

It’s mullet marketing, and you have my permission to do way better.

“You can totally do email marketing in a way that is authentic to you, that feels genuine,” says Louise, “that doesn’t feel pushy. Or sleazy.

You can have your entire personality and your integrity intact and you can still make a living doing what you love – because that’s the point.”

We started creating art to break away from the norm. Yet, when trying to get the word out, we conform to what everybody else is doing.

The technology of algorithms, the labels, the gatekeepers, the publishers, the media – none of them can stop you from connecting directly with a fan today via a simple email.

Show up fully in your email marketing.

Make your website as wonderful and impactful as your art.

The opposite of boring and safe isn’t “sign up for TikTok and make dance videos.”

It’s showing up 100% as your true self, and giving fully who you are as an artist.

Had a fun Social Media Escape Club Zoom hang this week (become a trial member and come to the next one).

This week I got us started riffing from Seth Godin’s recent quote, “Your (current) customers need to bring you your (new) customers.”

Through our 30 minute conversation we got on the subject of hyping new projects, and asking our fans to click to check it out, or subscribe. You know how it goes.

And well, sometimes the “check out my new thing” don’t resonate with our fans, as Robin Yang talks about here:

“Seth and I were in a LinkedIn class,” says Robin. “It’s about providing value, right? People aren’t going to do the thing that you want them to do unless they understand what they get out of it, right?

And so if it’s like, “oh, I have a new Substack over here.” But it’s like, why does that matter to me?

And some people have enough of a fan base that inevitably some people will follow them. Like, I’ve always loved whatever Seth’s doing, I’ll follow him till the end of… which like, I think we all will have those “true fans.”

But maybe the majority of your audience is like, well, “yeah, he’s like a good guy, I really value the content that he delivers in his new newsletter here. Why would I… what is he doing with his new social network?” Right? Like, why would I follow him on TikTok? (laughter ensues)”

This is why if you need to have a plan if you’re looking to get away from social media.

Telling your social media followers to sign up for your newsletter won’t get you far.

Sure, like Robin said above, some of your true fans may subscribe, but you’ve got fans at so many levels.

Remember to ask yourself, “what’s in it for them?”

Put yourself in their shoes,

Say, “follow our adventures as we leave for tour in a month. Sign up so you don’t miss a single photo of our adventures. Sign up so you, you don’t miss out on all our crazy tour stories.”

There’s a reason media outlets ask, “got any crazy tour stories?”

It’s because stories sell. Stories are what make movies!

Tell stories, not updates.

If you get engagement from a certain type of photo you post on social media, tell your followers they can get more by visiting your website, and subscribing to your newsletter.

If you get great feedback from your Twitter rants, consider putting more of them into your newsletter. Ask people to subscribe so they don’t miss any.

Maybe you stream tutorials online for everyone for free. That’s awesome, but remember, you’re making money for Zuck and Musk with each on of those! Ask your fans to subscribe to your email newsletter, and then link folks to your own video stream that corporate dorks don’t get to monetize it.