An Update on Social Media and E-mail Subscriber Growth – May 2018

All views expressed here are my own. No affiliate links exist within this post. Please refer to the disclosure for additional information.

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There’s something about analyzing and interpreting data that I thoroughly enjoy.

As such, I’m planning to take advantage of data that’s already right in front of me. I’ve decided to start publishing monthly blog traffic reports to go along with dividend income updates.

Why publish more repetitive monthly reports? In short, publishing social media and e-mail subscriber growth updates leads to growth of the channels. It just creates more awareness. Since the blog is not currently being used to generate income, the main focus has shifted towards dividend investing and towards growing followers and subscribers. Based on personal experience, journaling the various social media outlets on a monthly basis leads to more followers.

In addition, I’m beginning to view all blog posts as writing opportunities. It’s another opportunity to improve my poor vocabulary, and it helps me improve at presenting information in a more clear and concise manner.

Thirdly, I enjoy writing reports like this, perhaps because I wrote many business plans during school. I also tend to seek out report type of blog posts when reading other blogs. I’m just enamoured by the idea of creative analytics. I mean, I appreciate writing in general but it’s almost more enjoyable to write about and interpret data. The writing is just so honest and precise when you’re covering a specific topic.

In the interest of shorter, easier-to-read posts, I have decided to separate the social media and subscriber report from the blog traffic report. Below is the social media and e-mail subscriber numbers for May 2018.

[bctt tweet=”An Update on Social Media and E-mail Subscriber Growth – May 2018″ username=”reversethecrush”]

Social Media Growth

**As of May 29, 2018**

Twitter —  2,160 followers (Up 182 | compared to October 29, 2017 report)

Pinterest — 563 followers (Up 151 | compared to October 29, 2017 report)

Google+ — 17 followers (Up 2 | compared to October 29, 2017 report)

Total social media followers —2,740

E-Mail Subscriber Growth – May 2018

Email subscribers — 52 (Up 12 compared to October 29, 2017 report)

Total social media followers and subscribers — 2,792

Analysis of Social Media & E-Mail Subscription Growth – May 2018

Pinterest has been experiencing a consistent growth rate. However, Twitter growth has slowed and 52 e-mail subscribers is not exactly a huge number for a blog that’s been around for more than 2 years. On a more positive note, dividend income updates are becoming a core piece of content and seem to be driving additional e-mail subscriptions. Month after month there are new subscribers shortly after new dividend income updates are published.

To keep in line with the business natured theme of the blog, I wanted to briefly examine the progress of the blogging goals that were set for 2018. More specifically, the goal to reach 500 Pinterest followers (completed), the goal to reach 100 e-mail subscribers, and the goal of 3,000 Twitter followers. As you can see from the numbers above, Twitter and e-mail subscription targets still have a long way to go. If you’re on Twitter, Pinterest or Google+, please follow RTC by clicking any of the hyperlinks included in this post.

To achieve these targets by the end of the year, the plan is to focus on consistency. I’ve realized that most readers just want to see progress. They want to be able to come back and see that dividend income is higher than the prior month. In turn, the RTC portfolio manager is going to continue to publish income updates and projections.

In addition, the chief editor is back and is seemingly motivated after an extended absence. He is planning to publish blog reports and goal-setting posts on a consistent basis. Overall, the plan is to be more cognizant of the type of content being published. I am really focussing on writing content that fits in line with the main 4 categories—dividend investing, blogging, personal finance and personal development.

Concluding Thoughts

Of course, the main reason this blog exists is to document the pursuit of financial independence through dividend investing. 

But through blogging about dividends, I’ve been able to learn about blogging. There’s data accumulating and it can be used to fulfill my insatiable need to analyze data. It can be used to improve at my interests in writing and blogging.

In addition, I’ve always tried to maintain some level of transparency even though this is an anonymous blog. Publishing blog reports allows for honest writing because it enables the writer to focus on facts. It’s quite easy for an unskilled, inexperienced writer to go over the top in an attempt at producing meaningful writing. Publishing transparent blog reports ensures that the writer stays on topic, and it provides a self-created level of responsibility that ultimately leads to more writing.