ONLINE: Social Media Breakfast Madison

https://www.facebook.com/smbmad

press release: Madison Minutes, a local audience-first news startup, started publishing in April 2021.

Since the beginning, they’ve been all-in on email newsletters as their primary method of communicating with audiences.

They’ll share their successes (and failures) to date and share why they think you should be investing in newsletters in 2022.

Come with your calculators! The team will share specifics, including their costs of acquiring email subscribers from different sources and the strategies they used to grow their list to 7,000 highly-engaged subscribers in six months.

KEY TAKEAWAYS

• Why email is a key area to invest in
• Cheap, creative ways to grow an email list
• Where to start and how to grow

ABOUT OUR SPEAKERS:

Sam Hoisington is the co-founder and business lead of Madison Minutes, a newsletter-first news organization in Madison, Wisconsin that is rethinking how newsrooms approach audience engagement. Sam also works as a strategist at Indiegraf, a Canadian startup supporting independent news organizations. His past work includes time at the News Revenue Hub, NPR, and the Chronicle of Higher Education.

Hayley Sperling is co-founder and editorial lead of Madison Minutes. She studied journalism and Russian at the University of Wisconsin and is currently still working on perfecting her Twitter brand.

In the first six months of operations, Madison Minutes was accepted into the prestigious Google News Initiative Startups Lab and named a featured creator on Facebook Bulletin.

TIME: 8:00 AM - 9:15AM LIVE on the Social Media Breakfast Facebook Page

SPONSORS:

• DreamBank 
• Powderkeg
• Suttle-Straus
• Melissa Carlson Creative
• Minuteman Press
• Talent CPA

NONPROFIT SPOTLIGHT:

The Wisconsin Academy for Graduate Service Dogs (WAGS) improves the quality of life for people with physical disabilities through partnerships with highly-skilled service dogs. Since beginning in 1987 it has paired more than 200 service dogs for people living with multiple sclerosis, spinal cord injury, cerebral palsy, neuromuscular disease and injured combat veterans. WAGS is recruiting for volunteer trainers. Learn more on their Website wags.net, contact the organization at info@wags.net 608/250-9247 and find them on Facebook @WAGS.Inc Instagram @wagsincmadison/ and Twitter @wagsinwi.