If newspapers and newsletters got together and made a baby, that baby would be an e-letter. In this wondrous creation, you get the latest news updates from your social feeds. It arrives in your inbox or social media feed in a friendly format similar to The New York Times digital edition.
Oh, the joy!
As a marketing writer, the creation of e-letters increases your productivity and output, not to mention the marketing opportunities associated with this format. So where to get started with your next e-letter….
Wait! Stop the bus; first things first. When you are searching out a site that offers e-letters, a key point to note for the marketer that you are is whether or not you can actually send out your e-letters. The following websites will compile an e-letter, as well as allow you to share them via email, your blog, or social media. Without the ability to share your e-letter, you are left with nothing more than a glorified Google Reader.
Paper.li
Signing up for Paper.li is free, and you can begin compiling content for your e-letter instantly. Once you register for the site, you get to choose the name of your e-letter. Plan on having some fun with this part. Next up is the selection process for sourcing the content to be generated. Choose your content to be pulled from sources by:
- Hashtags or lists pulled from Twitter feeds
- Names or user names of people on Google+ or Twitter
- Keyword search that utilizes Facebook, Twitter or Google+
- RSS feeds using keywords
- Full feed URLs
To make it easy, simply enter a word or phrase into the search box. From there you’ll get a list of sources from:
- Google+
- RSS Feeds
- YouTube
Select which sources you want to use by clicking the green + symbol turning it into a red –, and in a flash you’ll have an e-letter. According to Paper.li, “Bookmark this page! It’s the permanent link for this newspaper. We’ll update it automatically for you every new edition.”
Now you can maintain an up-to-date e-letter that is instantly sent out to Facebook, LinkedIn and Twitter. Additionally for free, you get email alerts whenever a new e-letter is updated, along with your choice of daily or weekly updates. If you want to go a step further, for $9 a month as of May 2014, you get a lot more perks including Google analytics, complete customization, personalized ads, and the ability to post directly to your blog or website.
Other E-letter Providers
Paper.li isn’t alone in the world of e-letter creation. Additionally, the process has little variation from one site to the next, other than the formatting and design of the actual e-letter. Other sites offering free content compilation and sharing include:
As mentioned already, there are lots of websites, like Feedstripes, Pulse and News360, that will also compile the latest news based on search terms. However, you aren’t able to share it with anyone. You’ve been warned.
Now, what kind of e-letter are you itching to create?
Miranda B writes wherever she goes and about whatever she does, which makes for some highly entertaining and often surprising content.
