Why push social media followers to a newsletter instead of a story link?

When a newsroom posts a story link on social, they get one read. When they post a newsletter signup, they get the inbox every day after that. I push publishers to the signup every time.

"Newsletters should be the thing you always want to push people to, because you get permission once and you can hit them up over and over. A link is just, oh, they're going to read something once. You didn't capture it."

What's wrong with building on social?

You don't own it. On social, even YouTube, there's an algorithm in the middle. If it doesn't want to show your post to your people, it doesn't have to.

A newsletter is a direct connection. I told a YouTube-first realtor that a weekly email works like a digital billboard he controls. When it's time for someone to buy a house, why would they Google "realtor"? They already know the guy.

Aren't inboxes too crowded?

In the tech and entrepreneur world, yes. For most people, no. Most people don't sign up for newsletters, so a good local one can be the only newsletter a normal person gets, or one of two. Good local newsletters open around 50%.

Where do donation asks and stories go then?

Inside the newsletter. Don't try to collect a donation from a social post. Get the subscriber first, then put the donation ask, the story links and the offers in front of them in every issue.

Why do big online businesses say this too?

This is the reason so many of the top eight- and nine-figure online entrepreneurs say newsletters are their number one strategy. Permission once, reach forever.

How do you move followers over?

• Post the signup link instead of story links when you're growing.
• Use an Instagram auto-DM to invite every new follower.
• Run the reverse too: send new newsletter subscribers to your Instagram after the survey. About a third follow.