So, what am I actually supposed to do here?
I’m not really a fan of social media. I’ve been cutting it out of my life for years now. Facebook, then Reddit, slowly YouTube. I’m tired of it sucking up all my time. Though, I actually work at a social media startup but that’s a separate bit of irony.
Why am I here and what’s the problem?
I feel the need to have some kind of online presence and I like writing more than editing videos. Looks like I’m not alone in this hate-need relationship.
To get started I made myself write on here every day for a month. I’m nearing the end of that but noticed that no one reads my Posts. All things considered, I don’t find that particularly shocking. So with that point of view, I brushed it off for a while.
Then, out of curiosity, I started looking at Substack a little more closely. At first I was just treating it like a blogging platform. I came into it knowing it’s for newsletters but I saw there are other social features and basically treated it like Medium expecting people would be able to stumble upon my posts without me doing anything. Turns out it doesn’t quite work like that.
At some point Substack seemed to notice that I was confused. I never asked but The Algorithm started sprinkling my feed with “how to use Substack” type posts alongside wonderful pictures of trees and art. So, I bookmarked a bunch of them and started reading.
I’ll leave a list of posts at the bottom.
Without further ado, here’s what I learned about growing on Substack.
Do you want to grow? Why?
The thing you need to decide up front is what you’re trying to accomplish here. I came into it unsure and just started writing. That’s probably fine too.
But, depending on your goal you may need to approach Substack in different ways. Some people are trying to grow free subs and some people want paid subs. Some people are trying to build a funnel and some a community. There are many possible goals. All of them require different strategies because there are different audiences.
Know who you’re writing for and what you’re writing about.
There are a lot of different types of audiences you could be trying to reach. You need to know who those people are. Perhaps more importantly, you need to know how you’re trying to help them.
This interacts with the types of growth you’re chasing. Are you trying to give them strategies that make them more money? You should probably get paid subscriptions. Are you trying to offer something off Substack? You might want to use free subscriptions for that. Are you just wanting to write on an interesting topic? That could go either way. Maybe you should fall in the middle and add a “Buy me a Coffee” button.
You should have a niche but not one that’s overly narrow. You need to have enough people that you can find them. The niche should probably be around the problem you solve or how you help people. But, that’s for you to figure out. No one can tell you what this should be.
The most important thing is that you figure out who you’re writing for - because you need to know that to give them value and correctly position yourself.
Make your position clear.
At some point you’ll know who you’re writing for, why, and what you’re writing about. With that, you need to make this clear and easy to navigate. Substack has a lot of possibilities for customization. You should use these to clarify your brand and make your content easier to navigate.
Your position should be clear in your bio, footers, Notes, or wherever people try to figure out who you are.
For example, after you get going you could write Posts specifically used to orient people to your writing and its value. These can be placed on your home page or included in your footers.
Find a cadence.
As you start writing on Substack, you’ll need a cadence. Some people recommend daily, some a few times a week, others once a week. This is really a personal decision but you should pick something that won’t burn you out because consistency is critical.
If people subscribe to you, especially if they pay, they expect regular publications. And the cadence of these publications should be part of what you’re making clear to them.
You can pre-write and schedule Posts, if needed. This can help you work and bursts but still maintain a steady cadence.
Posts don’t share themselves.
This is the thing that I didn’t know about. When I started my Substack I assumed that Posts are automatically shared somehow and could be discovered. This isn’t strictly untrue but skips the primary method of discovery.
If you want people on Substack to find your Posts, you should be promoting them through Notes. This won’t guarantee anything though, it just makes it possible.
On top of that, you can share links to your Posts on other platforms like LinkedIn and Instagram to share with audiences you might already have. You can also set up your Substack so that Google can find it.
Notes also are a general path to discover you which will lead people to your Posts indirectly.
There’s also a lot of discussion around Note recipes and patterns. Some may be more engaging than others. I personally don’t love these kinds of tactics but you may find the information valuable. Generally though, the more engaging, valuable, and sharable your notes are the more likely they’ll help you grow.
You need to actively engage with the platform.
Posting and creating Notes isn’t enough. You should spend some time engaging with other writers, liking and leaving thoughtful comments, Restacking things that you find valuable (or your audience might).
Basically, you should be acting as a member of your community. You don’t need to spend too much time on this but a little time throughout the week can help you in several ways. The Algorithm may favor you a little more. People may reciprocate and share your content or recommend you.
Just like Note patterns, it’s important to do this genuinely and not solely as a growth hack. People can tell.
Don’t worry too much.
It’s tempting to overthink all of this. You could spend ages coming up with the perfect positioning and planning out content. Forget all that and just start.
I decided to just write for a month on here so I could get a feel for it. I haven’t done most of this yet. I’m using these Posts to help me figure out exactly what I want to write about and for who. I needed to feel it so I could figure out what I enjoy writing about and what value I can provide.
You can do this too but you don’t have to publish. You could keep them private and bank the ones that fit your audience and niche for later.
You also don’t need to figure out monetization too early. Figuring out what value you provide is more important. With that, you can start thinking about what monetization looks like. If anything.
Don’t get sucked into all the growth hacking. Be careful trusting anyone that tells you exactly step-by-step how to grow. That could work in some situations and not others. Paid growth is a lot different than free growth, for example. Plus, that kind of optimization is for later, when you have something to optimize.
Just write what you think is good and share it.
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