How do I plan my mass messages for the week?

If you decide what to send each morning, you'll send whatever is easiest to find, and some days you'll send nothing. A weekly plan takes about half an hour and fixes both.

Step 1: List what you can send

Open your content list and look at every piece marked live. For each one, check how many times it has gone out and when it last did.

Step 2: Pick this week's pieces

Mix new and old:

• New pieces go to everyone.
• Older pieces that sold well go again to fans who haven't bought them.
• Pieces that went out recently wait. How often to resend.

Step 3: Give each one a day and a time

Write each send on its own line: the date, the piece's code and who it goes to. Spread them across the week so no day is crammed and no day is empty.

Step 4: Schedule them ahead

Build each mass message ahead of time and schedule it for its day. If the tool you send with can't schedule, keep it ready and set yourself a reminder. Keep the next 3 to 7 days always full, so a busy day or a day off doesn't leave your page silent.

Step 5: Check every send before it goes

Run through the six checks on each one. The two that matter most: fans who own the piece are excluded, and fans who asked for no mass messages are excluded.

Step 6: Mark each one sent

After a mass message goes out, mark it sent in your plan. That's your record of what went out and when, and it's what tells you when a piece is ready to go again.

What a good week looks like

• Every day has something planned.
• No piece appears twice.
• New content and older content are both in the mix.
• Every send has its exclusions set before it's scheduled.