Creating consistent, high-quality content is the best way to keep your email subscribers happy and engaged. But not everyone is bursting at the seams with new content ideas, much less has the time to create neatly packaged emails to share those ideas.
Now there’s a faster, easier way to keep in touch and share news with your subscribers: AWeber’s new mobile app, Curate.
What is Curate?
Curate is the email newsletter app that lets anyone send beautiful, curated newsletters.
How does it work? Just save any content you want to share – articles, videos, links and more – to the app. Curate will automatically format your content into a newsletter that you can edit and personalize for your subscribers.
Why should I send curated email newsletters?
Content curation isn’t some fleeting industry trend. According to 74 percent of marketers, curation is an important part their content strategy, and 85 percent say they use curated content to establish themselves as thought leaders.
And it works! For every dollar invested in content curation (versus content creation), small to medium-sized businesses see 5.2 times more volume and 2.2 times more traffic. That means you get a lot more out of content curation than you put into it.
So not only does content curation save you time and money, it makes you a go-to resource for your audience. It helps position you as a thought leader and lets you educate your subscribers on the topics they care about the most. And if you don’t yet have an audience, curating content can also be a great way to attract and build a subscriber list
That’s how curated email newsletters help you build lasting relationships with your subscribers.
To learn more about getting started with curated content, check out this post about content curation best practices.
Who can use Curate?
Curate is for everyone. Really! Even if you’re just starting to build your audience, Curate can help you build brand awareness. That’s why 80 percent of marketers use content curation to improve their own visibility.
It’s a fun and easy way to stay in touch with your subscribers that also happens to drive big results.
You’ll love Curate if you’re:
- Trying to drive more traffic: Yes, content curation can get you more traffic and more leads. Make sure people can find you by linking back to your website in every curated newsletter you send.
- Eager to grow your audience: Marketers who curate content say it helps them increase their contributions to brand awareness objectives and drives more audience engagement.
- Struggling to create content (or just don’t have time): Creating new content on a consistent basis isn’t easy. Curated email newsletters are a great solution for anyone who wants to keep their subscribers engaged, even when you’re not sure what to write.
- Using AWeber’s blog broadcast: If you’re familiar with AWeber’s blog broadcast, Curate gives you a new way to share your content when you’re away from your desktop. Just save your own blog posts to the Curate app, edit them if needed and hit send.
What do I need to get started with Curate?
- Download the app.
If you don’t already have a subscriber list with AWeber, click here to start your 30-day free trial so you can create one. Anyone can save content into Curate, but you’ll need an AWeber account to send your curated newsletter. - If this is your first time using email marketing, congrats! Make it easy for people to sign up for your curated newsletter by creating a sign up form. Want a mobile sign up form? We have an app for that too.
- Set up a welcome email to welcome your new subscribers. Here are some ideas for what to write.
- Pat yourself on the back, because you’re about to send your first curated newsletter!
How do I create an awesome-looking curated newsletter?
You’re in luck: Curate does most of the work for you. But there are a few tricks you can use to create on-brand newsletters for your subscribers.
You can use something called markdown to add your logo, image, hyperlinks and change the styles on your text. You can only do this in the very first header section of your curated newsletter – not in the content that you save into Curate.
First, we’ll look at how you can add your logo or image to the header section of your newsletter.
For this to work, your logo or image needs to be hosted on its own URL. Make sure your image is less than 600px wide – anything more than that won’t render properly on your newsletter.
Next, I’ll show you how to style your text and create hyperlinks.
*yourtext* = Italics
**yourtext** = Bold
***yourtext*** = Bold italics (Use these to ensure your subscribers that you’re not messing around.)
# = Heading 1
## = Heading 2
### = Heading 3
[yourhyperlink](www.hyperlink.com) = Hyperlinked text
Here’s what a rendered version of markdown elements look like in the final email newsletter.
While we’re on the subject of great-looking newsletters, you should know that you can share YouTube videos from the YouTube app into Curate too. Considering people spend 100 percent more time on pages that contain video, you might want to add one to your next newsletter.
Android tricks
Have an Android device? I have a few fun tricks for you.
On Android devices, you can share text content into Curate from almost anywhere. To share, long press the text to adjust the handles and select text you want to share into Curate. Then choose Curate from the floating menu. You can do this from any app or browser on an Android device.
You can also save an entire photo album from your Android device into Curate. When you update your album, your updates will be reflected in your Curated email. So if you want to share photo updates at a live event, you can tell your subscribers to keep checking that link in your curated email to see new photos as you add them.
Finally, on Android you can add a section of text to your newsletter. Just save your rich text as a note in Google Keep, then share it into Curate. You can add links (like your Twitter handle or website) by manually copying and pasting them into your text after you’ve shared it into Curate.
You can use this to create a closing section of your newsletter where you can include your contact information and ask for feedback. Here’s an example:
Is there a desktop version of Curate?
Not yet, but it is possible to curate content from your desktop. To do that, use a service that lets you edit text files across your mobile device and desktop computer – for example, Notes on OS X can be synced to your iOS device with iCloud, and you can manage your Google Keep notes from your desktop before sharing them to your Android. Add your content link to the shared note, open the link in a browser and share into Curate.
I need some ideas for my curated email newsletter!
Not to worry, there are a lot of different ways you can collect and arrange your curated content. Here are a few ideas to get you started.
- News round-up: Share relevant industry news with your subscribers in daily, weekly or monthly news round-ups.
- Content that relates to a common theme: Choose a new topic each week (or however often you plan on sending) and curate content that relates to your theme.
- Collection of valuable resources: Point your subscribers to your go-to websites and apps so they can benefit from them too. People love that stuff.
- Curate your own content: Create a “best-of” newsletter that showcases your best or most popular content. Or simply curate your most recent blog posts.
- Grab more ideas here.
Do you have any examples of great-looking curated newsletters?
Plenty! Hit the links below to see some of our favorite curated email newsletters.
So what are you waiting for? Download the Curate app for iOS or Android now. And if you’re not an AWeber customer yet, sign up for your 30-day free trial today.
The post Send Beautiful, Curated Email Newsletters with the Curate App appeared first on Email Marketing Tips.
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