From SOS to RSS 🛟

Published: Thu, 05/30/24

Updated: Sat, 06/01/24

Image of an RSS Triggered Email Campaign in AWeber leading to 15k YouTube views in 2 days. There is also a picture of spaghetti and meatballs.

Hi there friend,

I was against meal kit services for the longest time. Lavish reviews from friends, family, and influencers could not sway me, and I dismissed the promise of several free boxes as mere marketing gimmicks.

So, why did I cave and try my first meal service? I was EXHAUSTED. Modern life is so hectic; it really does feel like there are not enough hours in the day. The idea of taking meal planning and grocery shopping off of my plate (pun intended 😁) and getting that time back, especially on the weekend, convinced me to sign up.

GIF from 30 Rock of a character saying, "There's not enough hours in the day."

We’re all looking to find ways to save time and make our to-do list a little shorter. The good news? Just like my meal service, there are other services out there that can make life just that much easier.

How can you save time sharing new content with your audience?

Say hello to RSS Triggered Automated Email Campaigns—the secret sauce to effortless, timely, and oh-so-effective email marketing! Automating using RSS feeds saves you tons of time. You set it up once, and it continues to send your newest stuff forever, with no extra work on your part. Not only that, these regular emails help drive traffic to your website and increase early engagement and views.

But hold up, what exactly are RSS feeds, and how do they work? Let's break it down:

RSS Feeds 101 🍎

RSS may be one of my favorite Internet acronyms, because it stands for Really Simple Syndication. It’s a web feed that allows users and applications to access updates to online content using XML text files created by a website, blog, or podcast publisher.

In a way, your RSS feed is kind of like my meal service, only instead of delivering new dinners every week, it provides a constantly updating stream of your latest and greatest content, ready to be consumed by your audience.

Each new entry on an RSS feed can include things like the title, image, description, link, and audio link—as well as other relevant information.

Now that we know what RSS feeds are, we need to figure out how to find them!

YouTube: Grab your channel ID and put it after the equal sign in this URL: https://www.youtube.com/feeds/videos.xml?channel_id=UCSfx_lXaIO6CRC7-uADM65w

Most blogs: Many blogging platforms automatically generate an RSS feed for your blog. The feed URL is often something like, https://blog.aweber.com/feed

Etsy: Did you know that your Etsy store has an RSS feed too? You can find it by plugging your store’s user name into this URL: https://www.etsy.com/shop/GoodFairyArt/rss (Maryna is one of our incredible customers! ✨)

Still not sure what your RSS feed is? We’ve got you. When using the Feed Element in the AWeber Message Editor or the Check Feed action in the Campaign Builder, you can simply add your website URL, and we’ll help you find it.

Setting Up an RSS Triggered Campaign ⚡

Now for the fun part: how to use RSS feeds in your automated email campaigns!

AWeber already comes with templates for YouTube and blog campaigns, and you can create your own using the “Check Feed” action in the AWeber drag-and-drop campaign editor. This action monitors your feed for new content, and automatically sends a message to your subscribers when it finds new content.

You get to set the frequency of these emails as well–you can send updates every hour, or space them out with daily or weekly updates. You can tailor your message to notify subscribers to check out your new content, or you can add the "Feed" element in your message to display links to your latest posts.

Using the "Check Feed" action and "Feed" element together allows you to design messages with the latest posts from your blog, videos from your YouTube channel, or products from your eCommerce store to drive more subscribers to your site.

Not creating content that utilizes an RSS Feed? Wondering if you should? Creating content like YouTube videos or blog posts enhances your online presence and engages your audience. Additionally, it is cost-effective and humanizes your brand, driving long-term business growth.

P.S. Need a hand setting up your RSS Triggered Campaigns or have questions about how it all works? Our team of email experts is here to help! Reach out to us anytime, and let's turn your email marketing dreams into reality.

What did you think of this email?

❤️❤️❤️ Loved it. Can't wait to get the next one.

💔 I didn't really care for it.

Campaign templates ✏️

Our team has created multiple Email Marketing Workflow Templates that can help you automate your emails.These pre-written automated email campaigns will save time and market your business 24/7. Pick your favorites and upload them into your AWeber account in seconds. Just personalize them, and hit activate.

Image of AWeber YouTube automation template on blue background with wavy lines

Our campaign templates can be used in any AWeber account at no additional cost, and are created on the Campaigns page for the list you want the campaign to be saved in. Send the right message to the right person at the right time. Happy emailing!