….did I say repurpose?

It truly is great to know that your blog has a shelf life much more than just the original posting… one of my big “take a ways” after listening to a presentation given by Melissa Galt, of  Melissa Galt Inc, at High Point Furniture Market, and happy to give her credit here.

There are many many portals out there to do just that, and I would  like to remind you of the basics, as well as reinforce one which isn’t considered part of “social media” , that being the online newsletter…

As I’ve mentioned previously, I’ve been putting out an online newsletter since 2004…one in which the “meat”, or my business updates,  were couched in personal antidotes…. See some past issues here…thus making my newsletter not just a venue to give company updates, but also give people a chance to get to know who is behind this business and at same time staying close to those who have done business with me. 

When I started dipping my toes into the blogging world, and as stated in my very first blog, I intended to reverse that and couch the “personal” side of my business with the meat of my business, that of selling Chinese antiques online.

And what I’d like to propose here is that the merging of these  two mediums, your newsletter and your blog, is a great way to maximize your output/reach.

OR, if you’re having a hard time engaging as a blogger, and aren’t touching your customer base, prospects and past, by way of an online newsletter, I would encourage you to start with that first…if a choice is to be made….for the following reasons:

1. Knowing your audience knows you, or is at least is familiar with your company, is a much easier writing experience, ie less intimidating, than trying to draw a new audience in.

My logo is very recognizable and is front stage on my newsletter and blog header…and, btw, is my name in Chinese.

2. You can use this online newsletter as a way to warm up to the discipline of blogging, as output for a newsletter is good monthly, whereas to make any impact with blogging you need to put out at absolute minimum once a week.

3.  It simply is good form to touch regularly those who know you, simply to remind them that you’re  there, ….for when they need what you have again…and to give those who haven’t decided to shop with you yet, a place to get to know you. These people need to hear from you and the online newsletter is unobtrusive and inexpensive.

…AND also is a place to show that there is a PERSON behind the business. My face is pretty familiar by now as well 🙂

And, with this online newsletter in place you have a wonderful place to imbed your blogs, sharing with a defined audience/your mailing list, what you are writing to a non defined audience….especially since you can now easily SHARE your newsletters of choice  on Facebook, Linked in and Twitter. LOVE it how these are all so connected for us!

Yes, I consider your newsletter as a primo place to re purpose your blogs. And I’ve taken to this and love merging these two forms….

1. As part of the text…giving a lead in to what is fleshed out in the blog, thus reducing, but at the same time increasing, my information put out in the newsletter…example here in my Thanksgiving missive.  I like to have at least 3 blogs worked into my newsletters like this.

2. By listing  of all blogs posted in 2 month span. This gives my mailing list an introduction to my blogging …example here… particularly as there’s a pretty good chance they wouldn’t otherwise find/read my blog…so nice unobtrusive way to invite them in as readers, follow my output.

3. And/or by pulling  together several blogs that represent a particular topic, to bring attention to…such as blogs which have as part of their content, applications of Chinese Antique Furniture…example here. Matter of doing a sort for them.

I have given precedence  to this specific venue to repurpose as I feel it is not commonly considered and not as obvious as what I am simply going to list below…

Twitter, Facebook and LinkedIn…

1. When you set up your blog you can have it that your blog will automatically post on Twitter and Facebook. IE, you post your blog and off it goes…

2. By adding  a SHARE button on footer of each posting, others can readily post your blog to their audiences. Also, this is the way I share on my LinkedIn groups.

3. AND, lastly, I often embed past blog postings into current ones….as I did at the beginning of this post.

If you’re already doing an online newsletter, good on you for having  in place this platform to further repurpose your blog. If I’ve incited you to think about  doing an online newsletter, as a preface to doing a blog, great…

I use Constant Contact and love it. Some friends swear by Mail Chimp as well, although I’m not familiar with it.

I so KNOW of the value not of only putting out an online newsletter, but the value of being REAL within that form, that I simply want to encourage others to consider the same, and let this venue of staying  in touch with your customers/prospects work for you, and further to have this platform serve your blogging efforts as well.

Do let me know how you’re doing either in producing a newsletter and/or a blog.

Ruth

HINT: When  you gather your names/email addresses of your customers, I advise putting them in excel format, as by doing so it is really easy to add them into constant contact mailing list, share your list with others, or use in other formats…. IE, repurpose said list once compiled 🙂