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It’s World Pulses Day, Reader! We wouldn’t have split pea 🥣 soup without them.

In today’s edition:

• Today's 👉 Tip of the Day is for video

• 3 steps for ✉️ email subscriber retention

• New LinkedIn features for 💬 comms and agencies

• 🧵 Meta explains its Threads feed

• 📣 Additional industry news from TikTok, YouTube, and more

Do you produce video content with your phone? Wondering how to set your video apart from amateur clips? 

Lock Your Focus

Most smartphone cameras have an autofocus setting that is useful in specific filming situations. For example, if you’re walking along outside in changing light levels, then autofocus will help you maintain your focal point and adjust instantly to the light level. 

In almost every other situation, it’s best to lock the focus so you get a consistent image. 

This means telling your smartphone camera what the focal point of the video is, whether it’s the face of an interviewee or a product you want to showcase. Simply tap the focal point on your screen and hold it. 

Now, even if the camera moves around, it will keep that point in focus.

Today's tip is inspired by Steve Wright.

Last Chance: Social Media Marketing World 

In just 9 days marketers from large and small companies around the world will descend on San Diego to learn new strategies, connect with their peers, and walk away inspired with fresh ideas.

Imagine all the ways you'll be equipped to improve your marketing results.

"This conference gave me a new vision for my work and opened my eyes to where I could take my career. It was very successful, and I can’t wait to reflect and put what I learned into action," said Stacey Brown.

Save $100 on your All-Access ticket.

Looking for a guaranteed way to reach prospects and customers with your messages? Wondering how email could help you attract and retain more customers?

There’s no getting around it: social media, with all its challenges, is still one of the most powerful ways to increase your email subscribers.

The key is to never leave money on the table. In other words, never write a post, upload a video, share a photo, or send a DM without reminding people of all the value they could be getting from your email newsletter.

This doesn’t just mean nagging viewers to subscribe. It means giving people something valuable to motivate them. That could be gated content, email-only exclusives, a sense of community, or all of the above!

A 3-Step Onboarding Sequence for New Subscribers

The real work starts once someone takes the plunge and signs up for your email list. You want to welcome and reward them so they’ll never unsubscribe. This is your chance to make or break the relationship with new subscribers by sending three emails over three days.

Day 1: Acknowledge

Let's be clear: the first onboarding email is not about you. It couldn't be less about you. It's about your new subscriber!

So, make the copy all about them. First, thank them for signing up, and welcome them to an awesome community. Congratulate them on making a great choice. Then, acknowledge the problems that led them to your content or services. Finally, let them know what to expect next. 

This welcome email focuses on how readers will benefit from joining the community.

If you want to, you can include a call to action (CTA) in this first email. For example, you might have an exciting content exclusive or you might want to gather more information about new subscribers.

However, if you choose to include a CTA, make it subtle and optional. Remember, it's not about you!

Day 2: Include

In your second onboarding email, reinforce the new subscriber's decision. Yes, they did the right thing! Yes, this newsletter is going to change their life!

How do you do that? Well, this email can be a little bit more focused on your brand. Talk about your mission and community, rather than going for the hard sell just yet. You can talk about your brand values, promises to your customers, commitments in the wider world, or your unique sales proposition.

This email expands on the company's values of accessibility and inclusion. 

The goal here is to make readers feel like they're a part of your mission. They might have joined the email list because they were looking for a solution to a specific problem. But now they're also going to discover an exclusive community and meaningful purpose. That's what keeps people reading. 

Day 3: Mobilize

At the end of your onboarding sequence, your new subscribers should already feel some engagement with your content. But you want them to go a step further: take action toward your brand.

Offer them options. For example, this could be a lead magnet such as a free download or even an introductory offer. Focus on how these options will benefit them by solving problems, providing a unique benefit, or reaching toward an aspiration. 

This email focuses on the real benefits to users, even offering them an interactive calculator to see how much they could save.

You can personalize this by making the offer interactive or drawing on information that you've learned about your subscribers. 

The third onboarding email is also a great moment to bring in some social proof. Testimonials, reviews, and stories from other customers will help build your case.

Now, you've got a host of new subscribers who are eager for more messages.

Today's advice is provided with insights from Alex Cattoni, a featured speaker at Social Media Marketing World.

Is Imposter Syndrome Holding You Back?

Is there something you don't feel confident enough to do? Maybe it's creating videos or positioning yourself as a thought leader. You can do it! 💪

The first step on your new journey is to surround yourself with people who believe their work is making a difference. You'll find these people at Social Media Marketing World—taking place February 18–20, 2024. If you attend, there’s a very good chance you’ll walk away inspired to do the thing you've always wanted to do. 

Secure your ticket and start your adventure.

🗞 Write With AI for Media on Facebook: Users can now utilize Facebook's "Write with AI" feature to generate captions when posting photos. Source: Jonah Manzano via Threads

🗞 LinkedIn’s Media Planning API: LinkedIn is launching a new Media Planning API for agencies. The API provides forecasted reach and frequency insights to inform campaign strategies and media mix decisions before spending ad budget. This empowers agencies to optimize plans for targeting B2B audiences on LinkedIn more precisely based on audience demographics, roles, industries, and behaviors. With forecasted performance metrics, agencies can demonstrate the value of choosing LinkedIn to secure increased investment while efficiently allocating budgets. The API integrates with agencies' existing tools for more cohesive strategies. Source: LinkedIn

🗞 LinkedIn Catch Up, Grow Tab, and AI Messaging Starters: LinkedIn is introducing a new "Catch Up" tab in the redesigned My Network section to encourage more engagement between connections. The Catch Up tab will highlight updates from connections like new jobs, work anniversaries, or if they are hiring. Users can easily like or start a conversation with prompts like congratulating them on a work milestone. LinkedIn is also moving connection requests, newsletter/event invites, and recommendations to a separate "Grow" tab. Additionally, LinkedIn launched an AI-powered messaging feature for premium users to assist with drafting an initial outreach message to connections they aren't already connected with. The feature uses profile data to customize prompts for introducing oneself or asking for career advice. Users can edit the message before sending it. Source: TechCrunch

🗞 Meta AI Media Labeling: Meta is working with industry partners to establish common technical standards for detecting AI-generated content across mediums like video and audio. In the next few months, Meta will start labeling images posted to Facebook, Instagram, and Threads when indicators show they are AI-created. By working collaboratively on detection standards and properly attributing AI content across image, video, and audio, Meta aims to help educate users on what is organically created by other people versus synthesized by AI. Source: Meta

🗞 Bluesky Enrollment Opens: The platform announced enrollment is no longer reliant on invite codes, and it is open to the public at large. Source: Bluesky

🗞 Snapchat User Base: Snap announced that its platform has surpassed 800 million monthly active users. Sources: Snap

🗞 Threads Feed AI System Explained: The content you see in your Threads feed is selected and ranked by an AI system that aims to show you relevant content you're likely to engage with. It gathers public Threads content and posts from accounts you follow, then considers signals like your past engagement to score and rank content. You have options to customize your feed, like unfollowing accounts, muting, hiding posts, and reporting content. The AI prediction models look at signals such as how often you've liked an author's content or viewed their profile to estimate engagement. Other signals used include post view time, content quality, and whether the post follows community guidelines. Source: Meta

🗞 TikTok Sub Space: TikTok is testing a new live engagement feature exclusively for subscribers called "Sub Space." Sub Space allows creators to set up a private chat room for paying members during live broadcasts. Creators can either respond to subscriber chats on camera to give them dedicated engagement time or participate via text chat with subscribers separately from regular viewers. Source: Social Media Today

🗞 X Articles: X/Twitter is testing a new "X articles" feature that will provide a dedicated blogging system and custom link preview cards in the feed leading to more traditional article formats. The preview cards will include an image, headline, and summary, similar to Twitter's old link preview format. The hosted articles will be tagged as "X article" to indicate they are natively hosted. Source: Radu Oncescu via Threads

🗞 Audio-First Podcasts on YouTube: Audio-first podcast creators can now upload their podcast episodes to YouTube automatically by submitting their podcast RSS feed if they are in a supported country. When submitting an RSS feed, YouTube will create static image videos using the podcast artwork for each episode and upload them to the creator's YouTube channel. New episodes added to the RSS feed will also be automatically uploaded as unlisted videos. To comply with the Terms of Service, podcasts cannot contain paid promotions unless creators declare them appropriately. Source: YouTube

Did You Know?

Before the alarm clock, people relied on a Knocker-up—a person who rose early and used a long pole to rap on customers’ walls or windows and wake them in the morning.