You know those big name yoga teachers who have massive social media followings… and maybe you’re thinking that’s what you want too. There’s nothing wrong with working towards that, but the reality is…
On average, only 1-5% of social media followers will see your posts organically. If you have a following of let’s say 100,000 people, only 1000 to 5000 of them will regularly see your posts.
Why yoga teachers need an email list
Better reach with an email list
The bigger and more engaged your following, the more organic traffic you will see. Social media companies like Facebook and Instagram make money through advertising, so it’s in their interest to not show your content to everyone who follows you. That way they can make you pay for ads to show your content to your followers.
On the other hand, you only need an email list of 1000 people for 1000 people to be able to see your content! There’s no algorithm deciding whether to show your content to a subscriber or not. Your email 100% gets delivered to your subscriber’s inbox.
It’s safe to say you’ll spend less time getting the same reach working on building your email list, as you would growing your social media following.
And I’m guessing you’re a yoga teacher because you want to teach yoga, and not spend all your time on social networks…
You don’t own your social media following
Blocked/suspended accounts
What’s more, if Facebook or Instagram or whichever social media you’re on decide to block you, it may take a while to get back up and running. If you’ve ever had your account suspended, you know it can be frustrating to deal with the helpdesk (if you even get a response at all).
Algorithm changes
And when you think you’ve fiiiiinally got the algorithm down and you’re gaining some traction, they change it again, forcing you to spend yet again more time on the platform to get more eyeballs on your content (and force feeding you ads while you’re at it).
In contrast, no one can take your email list away from you. You can download your subscriber list. You can send emails whenever you want, and they’ll 99% of the time be delivered to the inbox of your subscriber where they can read it.
Most people open their inbox at least once a day. And your email will be waiting there for them to see it. (Most social media algorithms push your content away if you don’t immediately get a lot of engagement on it, or if you don’t pay for people to see your content.)
OK, good. You’re convinced you need an email list as a yoga teacher and building your email list is a better use of your time than social media. But what the heck do you send to your email list?
What to send to your email list?
You’ll want to use your email list to connect with people, inform them, educate and inspire them (provide value) and promote to your list. Getting the mix right can be tricky at first, but it gets easier with practice. The thrill of the first person you don’t know responding to one of your emails is indescribable!
Write as if you’re talking to a friend
Think of it as if you’re talking to a friend. Any given conversation you have with a friend can be about what’s going on in your life, and what you’re currently working on. Treat your email list exactly the same. You wouldn’t only talk about work with a friend, would you? But there’s also no reason you would withhold from your friend that you’re doing a new workshop, amiright?
Connect with people
You can talk about what’s going on in your life so people connect with you personally. It doesn’t mean you have to share all about your relationship status or other subjects that belong to your private life. Whether you want to share about that is entirely up to you. The most important is that you are comfortable with people you’ve never met reading what you shared.
Examples of personal things you could share about are adopting a new puppy or where you get your favourite yoga pants.
The online space can sometimes be a bit impersonal. Many people are presenting a perfect picture of their world. But if people get to know you and like you – the *real* you – , they’ll be much more ready to join your classes, workshops or retreats. And the best way to do that is to be authentically you.
Your offerings
You can email about your new yoga offerings like classes, workshops, events, retreats, studio opening and new products in your online yoga shop.
There’s absolutely no reason why you should feel icky about informing people about or promoting your offers to your list. If you’re not excited about what you’re offering, how can you expect anyone else to be? And if you are truly excited about something, don’t you just want to talk about it all the time?
Remember that your offers are helping your clients and students, and they need you in their life. If they don’t know about your offering, you can’t help them!
There are many different ways of promoting, from whisper selling to sleazy car salesman tactics, and the spectrum between those two is very wide. How you approach it is all about what you’re comfortable with, though many yoga teachers can use a little push to be more clear about their offerings.
People signed up to your list because they want to know about the things you do. If an offer is not right for them (yet), they’ll just scroll past. And if they don’t resonate at all with your offerings or the value you provide, you don’t want to have them on your list anyway!
Providing value
You’ll also want to provide valuable information from time to time, so that people keep opening your emails. That doesn’t mean you have to give away a ton of content for free. Giving short and actionable snippets of information regularly will help your peeps make small changes in their lives, making a real impact.
Some examples of valuable information you can provide could be educating your peeps about yoga class etiquette, what you’re eating before yoga class, give tips about a certain posture based on what you saw in your classes, or a quote you read that inspired you. It may be just the thing someone needed to hear that day!
When you provide support and serve your audience through your email list, you’ll create the kind of relationships that will turn your readers into customers.
I hope it’s clear to you now why you absolutely need an email list as a yoga teacher, and what to write to your subscribers.
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