Question

Topic: E-Marketing

Repurpose Blog Content In Enewsletters

Posted by melissa.paulik on 7/3/2008 at 4:51 PM ET 125 Points
This question is for those of you with blogs as well as monthly newsletters. Do you find yourself repurposing blog content in the newsletter? If so, to what extent do the two overlap?
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  • Posted by arthursc on 7/3/2008 at 5:38 PM Accepted
    I've done in lots of eNewsletters. We created a dynamic module in the eNewsletter so that abstracts--generally the first 2 or 3 lines of the blog post--of website blog entries were automatically generated when building the eNewsletter, with a Read More link. We never posted an entire blog entry, since one of our main goals was to drive traffic to the site via the eNewsletter.

    Regardless, the blog abstracts almost always got the highest CTR. Very popular.

    I think, though, you'd have to be careful that the repurposing--of any content--didn't devalue the eNewsletter. For instance, what is the overlap of eNewsletter subscribers as website visitors? If it's very high, repurposing existing web content may be counterproductive.

    Unlike regular content, you can't put a blog post in the eNewsletter before it's posted on the website--that is, even if you functionally could, it would seem stupid.

    So, guess what? Test it!

  • Posted by Neil on 7/5/2008 at 7:41 PM Accepted
    What would be wrong with just a short description and a *link* back to your blog post in the newsletter? That way, for those who read both, they know you are referencing back to the blog.

    That makes it explicit so your blog/newsletter readers do not get annoyed by having the same content presented twice in slightly different form.

    I can imagine myself unsubscribing to a newsletter if it I had already read something in the blog but, if it is just a link and there is other fresh content I would be pretty satisfied with that.
  • Posted by melissa.paulik on 7/7/2008 at 11:38 AM Author
    You guys both bring up very good points. The purpose of the newsletter is important to consider. If I am trying to drive traffic back to my blog or website, repurposed content or at least supporting content is critically important.

    Which actually leads me to another thought. I can't imagine posting anything that didn't have a link back to my blog. I would probably never write about something in my newsletter that I hadn't written about before. (never say never!) So, it's logical that I would always have more thoughts on the subject that could support the newsletter articles.

    Good food for thought. Thanks!

    Melissa
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