📧 Turn social followers into subscribers!

👋 Hey!

This week's packed with proven growth tactics you can steal, platform power moves that change the game, and that one newsletter tool everyone's been asking about. From converting social followers at 20%+ to launching year-end campaigns that boost opens by 30%, we've got actionable wins ready to roll.

Let's dive in! 👇

Buttondown launches Managed DNS for seamless sender setup. Newsletter creators can now delegate subdomain DNS to Buttondown, enabling hassle-free platform swaps and improved deliverability, with no manual DNS editing needed.

Shopify launches Substack newsletter, joining brand content wave. Major brands are betting on long-form newsletters to build community, opening new B2B growth and partnership opportunities for indie creators.

Buffer curates 18 "best newsletters" for 2025. Major platforms like Buffer are positioning newsletters as essential content channels, not email blasts, validating newsletter-first strategies and signaling where smart creators should double down for sustainable audience growth.

a16z launches new media fellowship for creators. This signals major VC backing for newsletter operators and could accelerate innovation and resources in our space.

The Daily Aus breaks even by prioritizing newsletters. Pivoting from social to newsletter-driven revenue can fuel real financial sustainability, even for younger media brands.

MAGIC Formula: Turn social followers into email subscribers

How: Implement the MAGIC acronym: Magnets (offer quick lead magnets like playbooks in your bio or posts), Asks (tease content with FOMO CTAs and DM links after comments), Giveaways (run comment-to-win contests), Inbox (send warm DMs to new followers with signup links), Complete profile (optimize bio as a conversion machine with one direct link and clear value prop). Start with one tactic, like DMs, and scale to all five monthly.

Why: Social platforms bury newsletters unless you create urgency, incentives, and direct paths, tapping FOMO and personalization boosts engagement where algorithms fail.

Expected Result: 20-50% of social followers converted to subscribers, with 25-50% from comment CTAs alone, supercharging your monetizable list.

Spotlight: Industry Dive

What Works:

Creator Quote:
"Our obsessive focus on each audience's needs made sponsors line up—and allowed us to scale to 20+ newsletters profitably."

Want the full breakdown? Dive into Growth In Reverse's deep dive for actionable scaling insights.

NewsletterStack

Why You'll Love It: Instantly see which platforms and tools successful newsletters are actually using, plus compare platform costs and check your email authentication.

Best For: Anyone choosing a newsletter platform, planning a tech stack, or optimizing deliverability.

Test: Emoji vs. No Emoji in Subject Lines

Result: Research from Experian found that emails with emojis had 56% higher open rates in 2012, but more recent testing shows mixed results; some audiences respond with 25% higher opens, while others see 2% decreases. The key factor? Industry and audience demographics matter more than the emoji itself.

Takeaway: Don't assume emojis work for everyone. Test one emoji placement against a plain subject line with your specific audience. What works for B2C lifestyle brands often flops for B2B professional services.

Before: Manually searching for articles, copying links, formatting content, and populating your newsletter editor = hours of weekly drudgery.

After: Use Zapier to auto-collect content from RSS feeds (Feedly, blogs), social bookmarks (Pocket, Twitter saves), and auto-populate your newsletter platform (Beehiiv, Substack, Kit) with pre-formatted content blocks. Set filters for keywords, dates, and sources to ensure quality.

Result: Creators report saving 3-5 hours per week on content curation alone, allowing more time for writing unique commentary and analysis that subscribers actually value.

Pro Tip: Start with one RSS feed + Pocket integration, then add complexity as you master the workflow.

Newsletter creator Monday morning: "This week I'm getting ahead of my content calendar!"

Newsletter creator Friday night: "If I can just find three more articles and write 800 words by midnight, I can still send on schedule…"

Thanks for reading,

Eren Daskesen

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