Get Latest Internet Marketing News, Views and Methods All in One Place: How Creating a Community for Moms Helped This Media Company Build a Highly Engaged Email List

Life changed quickly for 24/7 MOMS — a media company that creates content to simplify motherhood — when COVID-19 shut down most of the USA.

Founder Trisha Novotny knew she needed to change her business strategy. Her audience was in crisis, overwhelmed, and scared. And it left her wondering how best to help them get through the pandemic.

So she stopped working on her new product and told her writers to drop their current projects. Instead, they would focus all their efforts on helping moms facing the new challenges of parenting with social distancing and shelter in place orders.

She launched a daily live streaming show for moms, and a new Facebook group focused on helping moms survive school closures during COVID-19.

The new show and Facebook community are helping Novotny grow an engaged email list of subscribers who know, like, and trust her.

Here's how Novotny did it.

The 4 steps Novotny took to change her strategy, help moms, and grow her email list

Step 1: Reevaluate your business goals and strategy.

COVID-19 had an immediate effect on 24/7 Mom's business strategy. Their audience of moms now face new challenges, like educating their kids at home and practicing social distancing.

Novotny met with her team and changed every team members’ priorities and created a new content plan.

“I had to completely start changing our editorial. I met with my writers. Everything they had written and scheduled is sitting on hold right now. They had to write new stuff,” says Novotny.

Novotny also had to shift priorities for a new product she had already launched and was in the midst of promoting. On March, 16, 2020, 24/7 Moms began promoting “30 Bags in 30 Days” a declutter challenge with the goal of removing 30 bags worth of household clutter within a 30–day time frame from your home.

"As people were signing up that first day, we got the big announcement in our state that schools were shutting down. Nobody is going to do ‘30 Bags in 30 Days’ with their kids home with no money, losing their jobs, having to work at home,” say Novotny.

Step 2: Find a way to give your audience immense value.

The very next morning, rather than working on created news products, Novotny went back to streaming live on social platforms. She knew her audience needed help. “I told my audience, 'Hey, we're going to survive this together. These are my tips for you to survive,’” says Novotny.

Now was not the time to sell products her audience couldn’t afford to buy. Instead, Novotny focused on growing her list of subscribers.

24/7 Moms launched two free initiatives to support moms during COVID-19 — a new live stream show Mommin it Daily, and a Facebook group called School Closure Survival for Moms.

Moms could not get enough of the new content. Within days, the Facebook group School Closure Survival for Moms had over 1,900 active moms and the Facebook live show Mommin it Daily had over 2000 views of their first episode.

Step 3: Grow your email list with free lead magnets that give even more value.

Novotny has always focused on providing Moms with the tools they need to be equipped, inspired, and connected. So each daily live stream, post on the Facebook group, or page on her website also includes a link to a landing page to sign up for a free printable lead magnet. The free printables are related to the topic of the day and provide additional tips, fun activities, and easy to follow steps. These free lead magnets give moms a reason to subscribe to her list, builds trust with her audience, and can even help increase email engagement.

Social Media Platforms

For 24/7 Moms, a big push is migrating their social followers to sign up for their email content.

"We don't own the followers on Facebook, Twitter, and Pinterest. We're trying to convert those over to AWeber because we own our email lists. It's getting harder and harder to build those social media platforms because they want your money. So our goal right now is to push people over to our email list. We made a mistake years ago of not building our email list," says Novotry.

On all social media platforms, 24/7 Moms now have signup forms that link to a landing page to collect contact information.

When someone clicks on the "Sign up" button, they visit this landing page that Novotny created with the AWeber Landing Page Builder.

Live Streaming Shows

24/7 Moms is always giving value to their audience. During her live streaming show, Novotny would reference a free printable that's relevant and related to the topic of the day. She would include a link to an AWeber landing page for moms to enter their email to get the free printable.

"On my Mommin it Daily show, if I'm talking about menu planning, I would give them free menu planners and free recipes of meals that they can create. Or if I were talking about chores, I'll give them chore charts and lists of age-appropriate chores. When it was Easter, I was giving them Easter egg hunt ideas and scavenger hunt printables. I use AWeber to deliver all of the free printables," says Novotny.

Here is the Easter printable landing page that 24/7 Moms used to grow their list and provide value to their audience.

Product Giveaways

One of 24/7 Moms' biggest regrets was not collecting emails for all the past years they have been doing product giveaways.

They recently connected their Rafflecopter integration with AWeber. Rafflecopter is a tool that makes it super easy to run giveaway promotions on your website or social media.

"When the mom enters their name in a giveaway, Rafflecopter dumps that email over into AWeber. AWeber sends them an automated 'welcome to my tribe' email. And now you're in my email loop and also entered into the giveaway. When the giveaway ends, Rafflecopter automatically chooses the winner. My giveaway department people reach out to the winner and have the product prize shipped out," says Novotny.

Here's the automated "welcome to my tribe" email a subscriber receives when they enter a giveaway or signs up to join the 24/7 Moms list.

Step 4: Deliver your lead magnets and share even more value with your audience in your emails.

Lead magnets are an awesome way to interact with your audience. 24/7 Moms makes sure every lead magnet over-delivers and delights her audience.

In each email, Novotry connects with her audience to reinforce the mission of 24/7 Moms, to explain how they can access more free content, and to explain what to expect in her weekly newsletter.

Then Novotry makes it super easy to make sure her audience receives the printable they requested. They can easily access by just clicking on the image in the email.

Moms are automatically added to Novotny's weekly newsletter list when they sign up for a free printable. Every newsletter that 24/7 Moms sends provides inspiration and value.

Novotny's strategy shift is helping her audience and also building an email list of followers who like and trust her.

"I'm looking for the future and building my list,” says Novotny.

AWeber makes it super easy to create your own lead magnet.

AWeber offers a free course to help you create your own lead magnet and kick start your list growth. By the end of the course, you'll have launched the two most important list growth tools — your lead magnet and sign up form.