By Kelsey Johnson June 21, 2022
Do your fans know you just published something new? Now, when you publish a podcast, blog post, YouTube video, or Etsy product, you can send a notification email automatically — with no extra work.
Have you ever labored over a piece of content — whether it was a blog post, article, podcast, or video — hit publish and… nothing happened?
It’s even more frustrating when you talk with your biggest fans and they haven’t heard about your new thing because Youtube, Facebook, Twitter or others decided your post shouldn’t show up in your followers’ feeds. These are the people who want to know when you have something new to share.
Instead, let email automation do its job: Share your newest content with your fans via email and stop letting social media algorithms decide your fate.
Now, with Auto Newsletter, you can! An email is sent to your audience whenever you publish something to your:
- YouTube channel
- Etsy store
- blog
- podcast
- or anything that has an RSS feed
The email that’s sent can be designed however you like, and it will automatically include your latest content.
Want to send a weekly or monthly digest instead? No problem! Auto Newsletter does that, too.
How does Auto Newsletter work?
Auto Newsletter is an automatic email that gets sent whenever new content is added to an RSS feed.
What is an RSS feed? Essentially, an RSS feed is a web page that includes a website, YouTube channel, or podcast’s content — updated in real-time. But this web page is meant for computers to read, not humans.
So, for example, when you publish a new blog post, your RSS feed will also update with the post content and information about it like the title, images, and author.
Related: Save Time and Increase Productivity with RSS Feeds
Here’s how RSS feeds work with your Auto Newsletter:
- Check feed. You choose how often to check for new content (hourly, daily, weekly, monthly).
- Send email. When something new appears — a YouTube video, blog post, podcast, Etsy product, etc. — a new email is sent automatically.
- Subscribers get new stuff. The email will go out to your subscribers with your newest content.
- You do nothing. Yep, that’s right. You don’t even have to think about it.
Pretty cool, right?
You can offer weekly and monthly digests of your content with Auto Newsletter, too. The campaigns will go out on a set schedule with the newest content from that week.
Plus, any auto newsletter can be added to an existing campaign. So, say you have a welcome campaign. Include an email with your newest blog content on day 3 without having to update it manually.
What’s the benefit of sending automated newsletters with your new content?
Maybe you email your audience regular newsletters. Or, you have an awesome welcome campaign set up. And you’re wondering — why would I add a new content notification into the mix?
Well, there are five reasons to set up an automated email for your content.
- Get more views, downloads, and eyes on your content
- Get more value out of your work
- Get an early boost in the algorithms
- Control the connection with your audience
- Save time
1. Get more views, downloads, and eyes on your content
These days, marketing is a grab for people’s attention — even the people who know and love your content are regularly distracted by YouTube suggestions, advertisements, and pop-up ads. They expect you to let them know when you’ve created something they may like.
Most people won’t remember to seek out your new thing.
By remarketing to your current audience, you have the best chance of having someone click through to see your newest video, blog post, or podcast. And they’re also the most likely to consume it.
Don’t forget, it’s way easier and more affordable to market to current fans than to introduce yourself to someone completely new. Auto Newsletter allows you to do just that.
2. Get more value out of your work
Let’s face it — you work hard on your content. It’s time to get more back from what you put into it.
Don’t depend solely on an algorithm to put the thing you worked hard on in front of people. Just like you’d promote a YouTube video on your Instagram feed or post your newest blog post on Twitter — it’s time to send everything out to people’s inboxes (without adding yet another task to your to-do list).
There’s a reason larger companies promote their new stuff via Twitter, Instagram, Facebook, and email. Because it makes their investment of time go further.
3. Get an early boost in the algorithms
A big factor in the way algorithms rank your content is how many people watch, listen, or read in the hours immediately after you’ve published. (“Algorithms” = fancy word for computers looking at your stuff.)
It’s a real make-or-break time. And you can boost the algorithm by telling your fans about your new content first. With a bunch of people hopping on your content early, you can actually drive more attention and success overall when the algorithm decides “yes, this is something everyone wants.”
4. Control the connection with your audience
Whether you create YouTube videos, podcasts, or blog posts, you are dependent on an algorithm to bring in new viewers. Which is scary.
What if the algorithm changes? What if you get banned or dinged because of confusing rules? What’s the real risk of depending solely on one platform for your business to succeed?
By creating and growing your email list and regularly engaging with your fans, you can recapture some control and create a backup plan for your channel.
5. Save time
Auto Newsletter is fully automated: You set it up once, and it continues to send your newest stuff forever, with no extra work on your part.
If you wrote a short email and included your new blog or video, it would probably take at least 15 minutes. That doesn’t sound like too much, right?
Well, what if you put out two pieces of content per week? That’s at least a couple of hours a month, just on sending emails alone. That doesn’t include social media, responding to comments, or of course the time you spend creating.
The more you can do to automate tasks like this, the more time you’ll have to create, or to clock out early, or spend with your family and friends.
Okay, you get the general benefits of this email automation tool. But let’s talk specifics. There are a few types of content creators who stand to benefit the most. Anyone with a YouTube channel, a podcast, a blog, or an Etsy store can get a lot of mileage out of Auto Newsletter.
How to get more views on your YouTube channel with an automatic newsletter
The YouTube algorithm is tough. You can spend days, weeks, or even months recording video, hours editing, and then click publish and… nothing. A few views but not nearly enough to help you go viral.
But there’s a trick. If you get more views in the immediate hours after you publish, the algorithm will favor your videos. That’s why it’s easier for more popular YouTube channels to have their content go viral.
So, notify the fans who already like and subscribe to your channel about your new content! How? With Auto Newsletter.
Here’s what they’ll see:
With a pre-built signup page, it’s easy for your fans to opt into your email notifications. Once they do, you can send them automatic emails every time you publish a new video, so they can watch it straight away.
So what are you waiting for? Start collecting emails and send YouTube notifications today!
How to get more podcast downloads with an automatic newsletter
Creating a podcast is a lot of work. Between finding guests, recording, editing, and publishing, creating a podcast can take hours… days… weeks!
And then it’s live and you just hope your subscribers listen. But while some fans are refreshing their apps daily waiting for your newest episode, most aren’t. You usually have to wait for them to come across your podcast.
So, ask them to sign up for regular notifications. They’ll know what’s in your latest episode and — similar to liking and subscribing — fast downloads and listens can help you in the Apple Podcasts algorithm.
As you build your email list, you can also include ads in your footer and send other announcements. Expand your podcast’s impact on your business.
How to get more blog traffic with an automatic newsletter
By far the most common use for Auto Newsletter is an automatic blog notification.
Are you sending out regular newsletters with your newest blog content? Skip the weekly project and automate new notifications instead.
Shortly after you publish your new post, a notification can go out to your audience or customer base.
Or, if you are more likely to send a weekly or monthly newsletter, offer a Friday digest instead. Send out your newest posts automatically, letting people know what you’ve published.
Here’s what it could look like:
An automatic newsletter is useful for journalists, bloggers, and business owners. No need to write an email on top of your blog post — let your original piece do the talking.
Show off your newest Etsy products with an automatic newsletter
Got an Etsy store? You can let people know about new products in your store automatically or weekly, with no extra work.
Set up an email to send automatically when you add new products to your store.
This powerful email-on-publish can allow you to:
- Sell new products faster
- Alert your biggest fans to products with limited inventory
- Get more clicks on your store (hack the algorithm)
- Save time by promoting new products without extra work
Check out this example of a simple promotion for a new product from The Next Gen Artist who makes wooden cat figurines.
Just think — a new notification to your biggest fans and previous customers every time you add a new product. The sales potential is huge!
Three ways you can use Auto Newsletter today
New YouTube video notification
…or blog post / podcast. This is the best way to get eyes on your content as fast as possible. Here’s how to set it up.
Step 1: Set up a page where your YouTube followers can sign up to receive the notifications. Use this template or any from our landing page template gallery. Make sure you include a sign up form on the page and tag it with something like “youtube-newsletter.” Then publish the page.
Step 2: Set up an automatic newsletter campaign by clicking Campaigns -> Create a campaign -> YouTube newsletter. Set the campaign to trigger from your form tag (e.g. auto-newsletter). Add your YouTube channel in the Check Feed to “hourly.”
Note: “Hourly” is just how often we check the feed — your emails will just send if there’s a new video, not hourly.
Step 3: Click in the email to design it. Add your YouTube channel to the feed element in the email and update the copy with anything you’d like it to say.
It can be as simple as the below design, or you can add your own logo, colors, social handles, and other design elements:
Once you have your email set up how you like it, activate the campaign.
Step 4: Start promoting your YouTube newsletter on your video, in your channel’s description, and on your About page. Include a link to your sign up landing page and get fans signed up.
That’s it! With the campaign active, everybody with this tag will receive an email whenever you publish a new video to YouTube. No extra work from you.
Weekly content digest
Do you have a blog, YouTube channel, and a podcast but just want to send out one weekly newsletter? You should create a weekly digest.
A digest has tons of benefits: You’ll be sending regular emails to your subscribers with new content, you’ll get more page views, downloads, and YouTube views, and it completely takes a task off your plate (writing a weekly newsletter).
Here’s how to set it up:
Step 1: Set up an automatic newsletter campaign by clicking Campaigns -> Create a campaign -> Blog Newsletter. Choose a new tag (like weekly-digest) then set the campaign to trigger from it. Note: Don’t choose a tag you currently use.
Add your blog, YouTube channel, or podcast RSS in the Check Feed. Set it to “Weekly” and choose a time and date.
Step 2: Design your email to include any new content you put out. Drag the RSS element in to the email for each feed — blogs, YouTube channel, etc.
Here’s an example using the email template “Amelia.”
When the design is set, activate the campaign.
Step 3: Add the weekly-digest tag to any subscribers who you want to start receiving this campaign. That could include a list or segment of your current subscribers and/or adding the tag to a current form.
That’s it! Your weekly digest will now be sent with the new content you published that week.
Send monthly blog post updates after your welcome emails
Do you have an awesome 5-10 step (or more) welcome campaign set up? Worried you don’t check in with subscribers often enough after that?
You can set up your Auto Newsletter to send forever after your welcome emails. Plus, you don’t even need to build a new automation. Simply drag the feed element into the existing campaign.
Step 2: Design your email to include any new content you put out. Drag the RSS element in to the email for each feed — blogs, YouTube channel, etc.
Once you have your email design how you like it, re-activate the campaign. Then, you’ll be sending regular emails to your subscribers forever, after welcoming them!
How to set up your Auto Newsletter
Ready to send automatic emails for your YouTube channel, podcast, blog, and/or Etsy store? Great! Let’s get started.
We want your success stories
Auto Newsletter is included in all AWeber accounts, so set yours up today. Need an account? You can get started for free.
Tell us how you used Auto Newsletter for your business! We will be choosing a few lucky customers to feature in our YouTube channel, talking about their success. If you’ve had success, let us know in the comments. 👇
