Hi Ladies,
This is long, and it’s a big whinge (and possibly too long for people to read 
) but I wanted to let you know that the future of the newsletters is up to you, and why I’m at the point I am at.
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Why do we have the newsletters
My goal is to help Hatters network, communicate and share experiences.
Facebook is a useful tool, but unfortunately it seems that most things are posted only there these days, ignoring the fact that not all Hatters have (or want) facebook, or check it regularly – so they miss out.
The newsletters were supposed to be a way to help overcome that.
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My vision for the newsletters & website
I wanted the newsletters to include:
- Event notices – to let Hatters know about events they might like to go to
- Outing Pics – sharing pics of Hatters out having fun
- Fun stuff – games, recipes and other interesting things
- Sharing of ideas – a way to help share tips, craft ideas and things like that.
When I first became a Hatter, I was on the official Red Hat Society forum, where ladies would share their adventures, share Hatting/crafty tips, recipes, activity ideas etc. – it was such a wealth of information and a truly wonderful space to be in. There was even a lady who would email you a whole folder of stuff she had collected over the years, to spread knowledge and help Hatters.
That’s why I made this website – to help share information and for networking.
The newsletters were also intended to be another way to help connect us. A lot of Hatters don’t regularly think to check the website, and while we have the facebook groups for sharing event photos, not all Hatters are on facebook, or check it regularly. It’s also easy for things to become buried and difficult to find on facebook.
I even provide printable newsletter versions to download so that Queens can print a copy to share with those who don’t have Internet access. Trying to make it as accessible as I can for all Hatters.
So ultimately I had hoped the newsletters would be like a Hatter Magazine of sorts, a place to get information, some fun ideas, read about other Hatting adventures and maybe even a new recipe to try.
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Why 2 newsletters
I’m in Victoria, so I naturally wanted to provide Victorians with a newsletter to benefit the ladies in my State, but to my knowledge the other states don’t have Hatting newsletters, nor is there an Australia-wide one… so I thought I’d be nice to all my Aussie Hatting sisters too, and I made both.
Having both let me tailor content to both types of audience:
- Victorian Newsletter – This is so that Hatters in Victoria could advertise local events that are too small to bother advertising to Australian-wide Hatters. I had hoped that ALL Victorian events would be listed, but sadly very few are.
- Australian Newsletter – This is for Hatters in other states to advertise their events (since I believe there is no other newsletter for them), for sharing Australia-wide news, sharing larger events that Hatters might travel to, and for sharing of photos and experiences. However, very few events are advertised here – which is understandable, since like with Victoria, there’s not much point advertising smaller events to the entire Australian Hatting community.
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Confusion between the two.
The problem I am finding with having 2 newsletters is that it creates confusion and sometimes disappointment when something is posted in one newsletter and not the other.
When I started them, I included recipes, games and things like that – each newsletter having different ones so that Hatters reading both didn’t see duplicate content. But that was double the time/effort each month, so I had to stop putting those extras in the Victorian newsletter to focus them on the Australian one.
However while I had hoped that Victorian Hatters would be subscribed to both, not all are, so they then miss out on seeing what’s in the other one.
Each month I have to try and balance what few articles I get sent in so that both newsletters have something interesting for people to read, without duplicating too many articles between the two, so that Victorians aren’t just getting 2 copies of the same thing.
Which sometimes means I post a Victorian event photo/writeup only on the Victorian newsletter, and that can sometimes lead to the Hatter who submitted it thinking it wasn’t included at all (since they looked for it in the Aussie one and didn’t see it there). I’ve also had it the other way around where I’ve posted it in the Aussie one and then had the Hatter thinking it wasn’t included because they weren’t subscribed to the Aussie one.
So having two adds more complication.
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Struggling for Content
“It takes a village”
I’m happy to collect information and put it out there for all Hatters to share, but it’s a lot of work to also create content to put in them too.
I wanted the newsletters to be filled with fun things, not just be only for sharing an event calendar and outing photos. I’d hoped that Queens would share ideas that their chapter does to help inspire other chapters. I’d hoped that we’d have some “getting to know you” articles where prominent Hatters would introduce themselves and share some tidbits about themselves. I love hearing about how ladies found Hatting, funny Hatting stories and things like that – I’d really hoped we’d get some of those types of things sent in.
For a while I even tried bribery! I was offering to put everyone who submitted content into a draw to win a prize – where I bought and paid for posting the prizes to the winners from my own pocket.
If everyone who is subscribed to the newsletters sent in only 1 interesting article (other than an event writeup), we’d have enough content to fill the newsletters for months. But when we don’t get things like that sent in, it’s up to me to come up with it, and I get burned out.
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How many are actually getting/reading the newsletters
Even though we have about 70 chapters in Victoria, most with around 20-30 members (so we likely have 1000+ Victorian Hatters), and we have 970 people on our facebook group – we have a total of 50 Hatters subscribed to the Victorian newsletter, with only about 30-40 of those actually opening the email.
I have no idea how many chapters we have Australia-wide, but I presume it must be well over 200, so we should have at least 4,000+ Hatters Australia-wide, but only 150 are subscribed to the Aussie Hatting newsletter. Of those around 115-130 are opening the email.
Admittedly, since I do make them available to download from this website, and I post the links on facebook directing people to them after I’ve sent the emails out, I don’t know how many Hatters read them this way who aren’t subscribed, but even if it was double what the email subscribers are (which it won’t be), it’s still comparatively not a lot.
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Future of the newsletters?
Basically… to be completely frank, I’m tired of putting the effort in to make 2 newsletters every month, when very few people submit content to put in them, and very few people (considering the number of Hatters we have) are reading them.
To be honest, it’s disheartening to me that there is such little support for the idea of a newsletter – from those running events to promote them, from chapters wanting to share their fun with others, and from regular Hatters subscribing to read it all.
Ultimately it doesn’t seem that Hatters are finding them useful.
They might not look like it, but it takes me several hours to make them, several more if I have to create games, look up recipes and fun things to post. I’m left wondering if the effort is appreciated enough to continue to do it.
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So, I’m Downscaling…
Since the smaller Victorian events are very seldom advertised in the newsletter (and are mostly only advertised on facebook), there seems to be no point in continuing to have a Victorian specific newsletter – so that newsletter will be discontinued, and I’ll just add the Victorian events to the Australia-wide calendar.
I still really want to keep the newsletter running for its intended purpose – keeping all Hatters informed and connected – so I will keep running the Aussie Hatting newsletter for now…
However, email providers like gmail can only accept emails of a certain size before they become too big and you are directed to open the email in a browser to view it. So I may have to limit the number of photos I post if we have a lot of photos submitted. Since many photos are posted to facebook anyway, if I have to limit pictures, I’ll prioritize event flyers, perhaps limit it to 1 photo per event writeup, and publish only photos that best show the spirit of Hatting the best.
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What you can do to help
Send in content!!!!! Particularly fun and interesting articles (rather than just outing photos writeups)!
Let me know if you’re passing the newsletter on to your chapter or others, so I know if the readership is wider than it appears to be.
Some suggestions for things you could send in:
- Hatter themed recipes – eg red/purple foods or recipes for dishes you take along to Hatting events that have been popular.
- Hatter themed craft ideas – If you’ve had a craft day, we’d love to see pics!
- Hatter themed outing/game ideas – Been to an outing you enjoyed or played a fun game? Share it.
- Funny Hatting story – had something funny happen? Tell us about it!
- Hatter interview – Of yourself or interview someone in your chapter – Please include a photo, and tell us:
- About yourself – any interesting hobbies?
- How you found Hatting and how long you’ve been a Hatter.
- Your favourite memories of Hatting.
- What Hatting has meant to you.
- Are there any interesting traditions in your chapter?
