Blog vs. Email vs. Social Media

You’re a health and wellness professional doing all. the. things. You’re running a practice and helping your clients and patients reach their health goals.

In order to reach enough ideal clients for a thriving practice, you may have a content strategy that includes regularly:

• sharing your expertise online with your blog
• building your subscriber and client lists with your email newsletter
• getting in front of new people with your social media presence

It can be overwhelming if you don’t always know what to focus on first and how to make them all work together. How can you ensure consistent messaging on all three of these platforms without spending one (or more) days on this every week?

Here’s the thing, your blog, email newsletter, and social media work together for a comprehensive process for your online health content. It’s like biological symbiosis, where different things live and work together because they all benefit more than when they’re apart and individualistic.

So, how do you make the different pieces of your content process work together symbiotically? What I’m going to share today is a process that covers all three of these bases and is as smooth and painless as possible.

Here’s how to make a simple content process that flows.

 

What’s the most important – Blog? Email newsletter? Social media?

Ideally, you want to attract ideal clients from all over the internet, right? So, you need all three. But, once your processes are in place (which you’re going to learn right here), you DON’T need to make content for all three from scratch! They can all have the same foundational content while being slightly tweaked for the audiences they’re meant for.

You’ve heard of the “know, like, and trust” factors, right? Well, that’s how these three work together:

• Social media attracts new people and gets your followers to check you out—it lets more people get to know you.
• Your blog impresses them and helps them to like you enough to give you their email address.
• Your regular newsletter nurtures your relationship with them to build their trust. Some will eventually purchase your products, programs, and services to help them reach their health goals.

KNOW = Social media

LIKE = Blog

TRUST = Email newsletter

Here’s the thing—even though social media is often the first place people find you, it’s not the first place you should create your content.

All three arms of content marketing are important; and if you do one first, the other two are so simple to complete afterwards.

Which one should you do first?

 

Step 1: Start with your blog

Your blog is like your online business card. It’s the “home” for your intellectual property (don’t build your business on a social media or funnel platform!). Your blog showcases your niche and expertise to the online world. It helps people find you and see you as someone who knows what they’re talking about and can help them. Plus, the time and effort you put into your blog is a generous gift you’re giving to whoever comes across it online.

The main objective of your blog is to help people like and trust you enough to give you their email address and sign up for your email newsletter.

And here’s where the brilliance comes in…

Start your content creation with a blog post and use it as a basis for your newsletter and social media!

Once you have a great blog post published you automatically have foundational content for your newsletter and social media!

Once you have a great blog post published you automatically have content for your newsletter and social media! #Blog #Newsletter #SocialMedia Click To Tweet

Here’s how:

1. Publish an excellent blog post on your website—one you are so proud to share far and wide,
2. Begin each email newsletter by introducing your new amazing blog post and include a link to read it, and
3. Pull images, excerpts, and quotes from your blog post to use in your long-term social media campaigns.

Yes, that’s my three-step process for having a regular supply of content that gets me found, grows my email list, and invites people to purchase my products and services.

Let me ask you a few questions. How many times have you found an answer to your question online? Have you looked someone or something up before making a purchase? How do you know that they know what they’re talking about and whether they can even help you?

Yep! By reading a blog post or two. 🙂

PRO TIP: Not sure what to blog about? Here are dozens of wellness blog ideas, and if you have a few too many, here’s how to choose the one to publish next.

Once you have a great blog post, your email newsletter and social media flow so. much. easier!

Once you have a great blog post, the newsletter and social media flow so. much. easier! #Blog #EmailMarketing #SocialMedia Click To Tweet

 

Step 2: Draft your newsletter

“The money’s in the list!” “Build your list!”

That’s been the online marketing mantra for years now, right?

Once you have people on your email list, your newsletter is uber-important! As Sol Orwell said at an entrepreneur panel here in Toronto a couple of years ago:

Social media is incredibly overrated. Use your email to build a sense of community. Don’t let a $100 billion company get between you and your customers.

What does this mean? Don’t build your business on someone else’s property. Not on a social media page/profile. Nor on an online funnel. Be sure to always ask your ideal clients for permission to market to them by inviting them to join your email list.

People who opt into your email newsletter already know and like you. They’re no longer random people on the internet consuming your generous expertise and clicking away. Your email subscribers are your inner circle. They’re your community. Give them a more personal touch and extra bonuses that your blog readers and social media followers simply don’t get.

People on your email list already know and like you. They are your inner circle. Give them a more personal touch and extra bonuses that your blog readers and social media followers simply don't get. #EmailMarketing Click To Tweet

Your email subscribers should definitely get a link to your latest and greatest blog post in your newsletters. But to be more personal with them include a more personal introduction. Give your subscribers exclusive bonuses like the opt-in freebie they requested, maybe some tips, or a personal story you didn’t share on your blog. Let your email subscribers know about announcements and special offers before they’re public for the world to see.

If you need help with what to talk about in your regular emails, here’s my email newsletter template that I re-use and customize every week:

1. Personal intro to this week’s blog post (not just the blog intro, but something more personal).
2. Link to read the blog post on my blog.
3. Invitation to reply to the email and contact me personally.
4. Subscriber-only tips and resources.
5. Subscriber-first info when something new is coming (e.g. offers, announcements, etc.).
6. P.S. with links to a few ways I can help them.
7. Thanks for being a subscriber and a tad bit about me.
8. The ability to unsubscribe if I’m not resonating with them anymore.

I make sure my email newsletter is filled with value from my blog post, but as you can see above, I include a few subscriber-only bonuses. I show my subscribers how much I appreciate them because they are my community and inner circle.

Another email tip is that your email newsletter shouldn’t be a one-way street. For example, in #3 above you see that I encourage subscribers to contact me if they need help with anything related to health research, blogging, or content strategy.

But the idea here is that once you have a blog post published, you can simply update a few of the elements in your newsletter and you have a whole entirely new newsletter that’s not created from scratch.

I send these value-packed emails weekly to continue to nurture my relationship with subscribers. On top of these, I also send a few additional emails throughout the month. This usually includes an update on the newest pre-written “done for you” health article and pro tips on either health research or blogging like a great new reference to share with their clients or use for their business.

The software I’ve been using (and loving) for several years now is ConvertKit. You can check them out here:

• ConvertKit (affiliate link—I may make a small commission at no extra cost to you)
• ConvertKit (non-affiliate link)

And, don’t forget, use your newsletter to build community—make sure you invite subscribers to reply . . . and make sure you respond too!

Make sure to give newsletter subscribers extra value over your blog readers and social media followers (subscriber-only benefits). #EmailMarketing #Blog #SocialMedia Click To Tweet
[convertkit form=5065751]

 

Step 3: Create your social media campaigns

While social media may be the first way people get to know you, it’s really the last thing to do in your content marketing process. I think of social media as the promotion of the already awesome stuff you published on your blog. It’s a way to draw people to your website and content and build traffic.

Once you have a blog post published and an email newsletter to go out to your subscribers, you can use social media to be more visible and have more people find you.

This means you need to share your blog posts with your followers many times on social media (please, please, don’t stop at one!). Use several different catchy headlines, quotes, images, and excerpts. Make you social media posts interesting and get people’s attention. The purpose here is to stand out and pique people’s interest so they want to pop over to your blog and check you out (and maybe sign up as an email subscriber, too).

Here’s what I do after I’ve published an awesome blog post and sent out a newsletter to my email subscribers.

First, I use social media post creation/scheduling software to schedule social media posts for every blog post I publish. (Yes, this software pulls excerpts, quotes, and images and creates posts for you to edit/approve!)

• Missinglettr (affiliate link—I may make a small commission at no extra cost to you)
• Missinglettr (non-affiliate)

This means that right after I create and publish a blog post, I edit nine unique pre-created FB and Twitter posts and schedule them to go out to my followers over a full year. Yes, a full year (with the exception of the rare blog post that will be redundant in less than a year). Unique social media posts are scheduled three times in the first week after publication. Then two more times later that month. Then every other month until the end of the year.

When it comes to social media posts, I prefer to “set it and forget it.” You don’t need to manually share your blog posts all the time.

And don’t forget to share on platforms where your ideal clients hang out and you have (or are building) a following. When it comes to sharing beyond those who follow your social media pages, join FB and LinkedIn groups where your ideal clients hang out. If there is a weekly promo thread, use that. And, don’t just drop your link and run. Be sure to check out others’ posts, add value, and be part of the conversation.

As always, be sure to reply to comments on your posts and engage when people reach out. The “social” part of social media means inviting others to be part of the conversation as well.

And don’t forget to reach out to colleagues or influencers to try to get your amazing new post out even farther. If you have something that you think their audience will love (and obviously doesn’t compete with what they do). Just make sure you follow my advice on how to do this the right way. 🙂

In a nutshell, from one great blog post you can create dozens of unique social media posts to share it with your audience for a full year.

From one great blog post, you can create dozens of unique social media posts to share it with your audience for a full year. #Blog #SocialMedia #Missinglettr Click To Tweet

 

Conclusion

Once you have a great blog post published, strategically use that as the foundation for your newsletter and your social media. Get people to know, like, and trust you with this three-pronged approach:

1. Blog = Boosts your “like” factor = It’s the place to generously display your expertise. It’s what encourages people to join your newsletter. Once you have a great blog post published, it naturally becomes part of your email newsletter and social media channels.
2. Email newsletter = Boosts your “trust” factor = Use it to build a relationship with your subscribers. Give your blog posts a personal introduction and give special subscriber-only benefits like tips and links to resources.
3. Social media = Boosts your “know” factor = Get more people to find you by sharing the headline, image, and excerpts of your blog posts so they go to your blog and sign up for your newsletter. Share other people’s stuff too.

 

Signing off and toasting: To streamlining your content strategy to be consistent and save time.

 

Over to you

How do you ensure consistent messaging between your blog, email newsletter, and social media content? How much time do you have to create and publish content? What tips and strategies am I missing?

Let me know in the comments below! 🙂

*Originally published August 2019; updated with even more awesomeness March 2021.

P.S. If this was helpful, and built my “like” factor with you, I invite you to join my newsletter (and special subscriber-only benefits) right here: