Generating newsletter campaign ideas can be challenging if you want to do it regularly—especially when marketers already have their hands full with numerous other tasks.
With visual communication being a key component of content marketing strategies, creating impactful newsletters has to be a priority for brands—running out of ideas isn’t an option.
So, where do you go when you can’t think of what to include in your next email newsletter?
Why not try going back to the content you have already created? They’re a goldmine for generating ideas and creating more marketing material.
In this article, we share ten ways you can repurpose existing content for your company’s newsletters.
Generate newsletter campaign ideas from social media
Social media has a wealth of material from which you can generate newsletter ideas.
We share four methods for reusing social media posts and visuals to increase email clicks and engagement.
Use social visuals as newsletter content headers
Visuals created for social media can serve multiple purposes—they can be used as headers for newsletters, or to section off segments of an email.
While emailers can be text-based, images are a great way to increase clicks. They also give recipients an idea of what to expect within the email.
Which is why headers are so important.
But marketers don’t want to design a new header for every email—so, why not make life easier and repurpose a visual that has already been designed?
An image like the one below can be used on social media to thank donors. It can also be repurposed as a header for your newsletter templates.
Source: Venngage
There’s another advantage to using the same image across multiple platforms.
You create synchronicity in your marketing by using visuals, which makes your brand instantly recognizable.
Generate newsletter content ideas from top social media posts
When you post on social media, your content doesn’t have to live solely on that platform. What works on social media could translate to clicks to emails.
Analyze your best posts on visual platforms like Instagram, Pinterest, Snapchat, and TikTok to mine content for your emails. These will make for engaging stories in your newsletter.
However, don’t ignore the traditional, more text-focused channels like Facebook, Twitter, and LinkedIn.
The posts on these channels could make for compelling content in newsletters—and you can link back to the original post to drive views and engagement across platforms.
Another method for repurposing social posts is to curate the top posts of the week and send them as a newsletter of top brand stories.
Social media is a busy arena—there are so many posts populating users’ timelines that it is easy to miss out on updates.
By compiling the best posts of the week, you ensure that your users don’t miss out on important brand stories while generating newsletter content with ease.
Use social poll results for newsletter content ideas
Most social platforms give users the option to create polls—this is a type of content that has become increasingly more popular among users.
For example, take a look at this poll from Evernote that got 380 votes—it can be repurposed for email campaigns.
Marketers can run the same poll via email—micro surveys help you understand your audience better and find ways to generate more relevant newsletter content for them.
Comparing the results from social media vs email would make for good supplementary content—and it will give companies insight into their users.
Brands also have the option of sharing the poll results in an email—for Evernote, this would be a great opportunity to plug their app since it is designed for taking down notes on the go.
Additionally, sharing poll results in emails informs recipients that the brand creates such content.
This gives users added incentive to engage with polls on social media in the future.
Improve newsletter copy with user-generated content
User-generated content is one of the most authentic kinds of content from brands.
User-generated content acts similarly to word-of-mouth marketing but is more visual.
Showcasing real people adds value to brand platforms. It also gives a sense of authenticity and realism to their online presence.
And that is why user-generated content should be incorporated into email marketing campaigns.
Marketers often associate user-generated content with social media, but it can be used to boost email engagement as well.
User images and videos can be sourced directly from users’ accounts. You should always ask them for permission to use their posts in your emails, of course.
Contests are another source of user-generated content. They can be used to promote email signups on social media or to boost social followings via email campaigns.
When created UGC-powered newsletters, adopt a theme to make the campaign more cohesive—that will help create more interest and engagement for recipients.
Use infographics as newsletter content
Gated content includes anything that requires users to fill out forms, sign up for access, or make a payment.
The reason why gated content works to increase engagement is because of the value it offers users.
This type of lead-generating content is usually longer and very thorough—it offers readers more in-depth knowledge of a subject matter.
While gated content can garner attention on its own, using this material in email marketing can improve views and clicks.
Infographics are a visual resource that cannot be discounted for email marketing.
Combining imagery, icons, text, and charts, infographics pack a lot of punch for a single piece of content.
While infographics are largely used for brand websites and blogs, they also make for great email content.
Take a look at the below infographic on stocks and shares, for example.
It distills information into an easy-to-absorb and simple graphic that looks great on a blog.
And the vertical nature of the graphic also makes it perfect to send out as an email.
When you design infographics for blogs, or to share with partners for link-building purposes, consider how the graphic can be repurposed for emails.
You can also look at existing blog posts to mine content to be converted into infographics. These can be shared with audiences via newsletters.
Use video content to generate newsletter campaign ideas
Video content has steadily been becoming more popular—and marketers are aiming for this market more than ever before.
If your company is creating videos in any form, then they should be a great resource for your newsletter content ideas.
Following are three ways to use videos in your newsletters to boost email clicks.
Use Instagram Stories for newsletters
Let’s start with an unusual option—Instagram Stories. This kind of ephemeral content has become a mainstay of social media—but it can be used in newsletters, as well.
Instagram Stories are available for only 24 hours—while that makes for great short-term engagement, not all your followers can check their social media every day.
For those followers, seeing the highlights from your Stories in their inbox can motivate them to continue associating with your brand.
Followers are invested in a brand’s Instagram Stories—they put a face to the brand name and give people an inside look at a corporation.
Instagram Stories are also great for covering events, conducting Q&As, influencer marketing, and creating social polls.
Marketers can take screenshots of the Stories—including the text captions, emojis, and stickers—or create a video of the raw files to incorporate in a newsletter.
Incorporate YouTube videos in newsletters
YouTube content is a great way to mine newsletter content ideas—you can embed videos in the email, like in this example.
Source: Campaign Monitor
Native videos that play directly in inboxes make content more engaging—it keeps users focused on the email content, increasing the chances of them clicking through to your website.
But video embeds can be tricky if HTML coding isn’t something your team is familiar with.
However, there are other ways to add videos to your newsletters:
- Screenshot a frame from your video to add to the email and link it to the video
- Add a GIF of the video and link it to give the user a sense of motion
- Create an animated play button to encourage people to click through to the video
- Use CSS and HTML to create a short video effect on a series of static frames
Videos increase interactivity and engagement but they can be challenging to embed in a newsletter.
But if you have the wherewithal to do include videos, they will make for excellent newsletter content.
Create how-to guides from video tutorials
Explainer videos have become quite popular among the denizens of the internet, primarily because of how many people use YouTube as a search engine.
But while video tutorials are engaging, people don’t always have the time to watch an entire video—they want the highlights in a neat package that they can refer to whenever necessary.
That is where you can tie your YouTube marketing with your newsletter content. Add YouTube tutorials in your newsletter using the aforementioned methods.
But if it’s a long piece of content, you could risk subscribers leaving the video part way, or worse, unsubscribing.
Instead, put together highlights from the video and build content stories for your newsletter.
You can create a campaign where you regularly share video highlights on specific topics for your audience to keep them engaged with your brand.
Wrap up
Marketing teams design a lot of content—but so much of it is used once or for a short campaign.
Reuse the content you already have to generate newsletter content ideas and increase email views and clicks.
These 10 ideas for creating newsletters from existing content will make marketers’ lives easier and increase subscriber engagement.
Ronita Mohan is a content marketer at Venngage, the online infographic maker and design platform. Ronita regularly writes about marketing, sales, and small businesses.
Twitter: @Venngag