{"id":16903,"date":"2021-01-30T12:39:20","date_gmt":"2021-01-30T07:09:20","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.instamojo.com\/blog\/?p=16903"},"modified":"2021-10-04T21:20:35","modified_gmt":"2021-10-04T15:50:35","slug":"how-alipore-post-grew-to-40k-online-community-members-with-a-newsletter","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.instamojo.com\/blog\/how-alipore-post-grew-to-40k-online-community-members-with-a-newsletter\/","title":{"rendered":"How Alipore Post Grew to 40k Online Community Members With a Newsletter"},"content":{"rendered":"

\u201c On an impulse, I decided to start my own newsletter. Here, I would share the poems, artworks, music and articles I was reading and enjoying. To help streamline the Internet, and create my own little corner of the universe within it.\u201d – Rohini Kejriwal\u00a0<\/strong><\/p>\n

Rohini Kejriwal is a writer, poet, and the founder of the Alipore Post – an online community that brings great content from all over the world, via a weekly newsletter.<\/p>\n

It all began in 2015 when she quit her job as a journalist and moved to Alipore, her hometown.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

This is the story of how The Alipore Post came alive and how Rohini organically grew an online community, with the right engagement strategy and a whole lot of love.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

\"The<\/a>
Rohini Kejriwal – The Alipore Post<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

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Setting up the Alipore post – news on creativity\u00a0<\/span><\/h2>\n

Rohini is an avid reader and writer. Before setting up the Alipore Post, she found inspiration in top newsletters by Oddity&Light and Austin Kleon’s weekly email.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

Soon, restlessness led to inspiration and the Alipore Post got a name, social media platform and website.\u00a0<\/span><\/strong><\/p>\n

A community needs to be close-knit, personal, and feel like home. Which is everything\u00a0 <\/span>Alipore was to Rohini – a sense of home and nurturing that she associated with the room in which this project began. The ‘Post’ is inspired by ‘The Washington Post’; a hope to see the community as an outlet for news on creativity.<\/p>\n

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\u201c I love writing letters, which was the other reason I set up the community. I kept in touch with my folks during my boarding school days only through letters. There is something so pure about a handwritten letter, and the tangibility to it, the fact that every letter becomes a part of a personal archive of sorts. I like the idea of each newsletter feeling like a letter to the reader. \u201c – Rohini Kejriwal\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n

Growing a community with a weekly newsletter\u00a0 <\/span>– 3 Tips from The Alipore Post\u00a0<\/span><\/h3>\n

1.Rohini\u2019s most important tip to writing a newsletter for your community – let it come from a personal place.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

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\u201c Our newsletter is a labour of love, one that comes quite effortlessly because I am now tuned in to the person I am, and what I like to read and look at. \u201c – Rohini\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n

Rohini\u2019s newsletters did not immediately hit the jackpot. It took its time, and soon, she saw her community growing. And this is where her next tip comes in.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

2. Analyse the patterns and see what your community likes to read<\/strong>. Rohini states that the newsletter was initially generic in terms of content, but over time, Rohini started looking for patterns and themes. She started pairing poems with art that complements them and took a more editorial stance to her approach.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

3. Keep it weekly, do not overwhelm your readers.\u00a0<\/span><\/strong><\/p>\n

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\u201c For the first three years, it was a daily newsletter, after which I decided to make it weekly. This was so as to not overwhelm myself or the readers, who had slowly grown into a community of their own right. I was beginning to form opinions about what, to me, was a good poem or artwork, what didn’t work for the readers, whose works to boycott because of a misdemeanour. I started feeling a sense of responsibility towards myself and the community.\u201d – Rohini\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n

How to get to know your community\u00a0<\/span><\/h2>\n

The Alipore Post saw people from all over the country come together to discuss language, poetry, and even events. Therefore, Rohini decided it was time for a little community engagement!<\/p>\n

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” I also wanted to go beyond the digital realm and know who my people were, so I started hosting workshops and mini-festivals for the community. I started a journal<\/span><\/a> which was separate from the curated newsletters and allowed readers to submit their work, and established a presence on Instagram<\/span><\/a>, where a lot of people found meaning in the work I was doing.<\/p>\n

A lot of the community building happened on Instagram, which is the most popular space for people to consume The Alipore Post.” – Rohini<\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n

SIGN UP TO THE ALIPORE POST NEWSLETTER HERE <\/a><\/p>\n

Beyond the Alipore Post – how to expand and grow your community\u00a0<\/span><\/h2>\n

Rohini’s keenness on community engagement and helping people lead creative, curious, and inspired lives led her to start new offsets of The Alipore Post online. These were –<\/p>\n