"This is why I have no patience for the Substack experts who crow about their supersonic notes strategies. A huge proportion of Substack users are interested in their topic (writing and publishing on Substack). Therefore, they have a ready-made audience of hundreds of thousands of potential notes viewers."
Thiiiis! That is what also bugs me about the advice to go 'all in' on Substack. I mean, if your newsletter content is all about how to make more money on Substack, then sure!!
Yeah and all I feel like I'm doing is willingly being trained into a marketing mechanism. The moment a platform ties visibility to behavior, it stops being about the content and all about numbers and "badges" for activity. I didn't start writing to optimize myself or perform engagement rituals. I understand community and connection and where substack is going is right down the pipes with IG, X, and TikTok.
This is great, i have just re-stacked it! 😂 but i still find posting any note really hard, I spend ages writing it! Its still too on the “social” side for me!
I write random thoughts I have about poetry or writing, and post them. Or something interesting that inspired me. Or share a quote from one of my older posts with a note. Now I'm sharing a series of cards about the poems in my book that I made for Instagram and FB. But the first week's I didn't know what to write about on Notes.
This is great thanks for the ideas, I suppose I'll get into it and it will become more natural as I go. A bit like my newsletter writing actually, I am finding my voice. Thanks again for the advice.
Agreed! I also struggle with notes... it feels forced. I’ve never been one to post too much on any social platform so, if feels very unnatural. Not to mention, when you spend too much time worrying about notes, it takes time away from the longer form content you actually Wan to be sharing! A d im a mkm of 2 — time is like precious stones to me! 😆...
The overarching theme here these days is that everyone is sick of Substack gurus and growth hacks. Im glad the word is getting out about this.
One thing I'd like to add here though, is that there are the odd unicorns...Notes posted by small pubs will small followings that somehow explode and go viral. So not all of Mike's info is 100% accurate. I still say just be friggin human and treat those on the platform the way you want to be treated. The golden rule lol. It's timeless! 😊
I appreciate the five steps you provided and saved them in case I decide to start regularly posting my own notes again. In my own experience and from what I observe, the notes that get traction are often inflammatory, angry, sensational, and dramatic - far more than something beautiful. For example, only one note I have posted since June has gotten traction. It began with OMG! and continued with me venting about an experience. But posting a photo of a rare Italian fresco depicting a three headed Christ - not one single person thought it was interesting enough to even give it a like. Seriously? Is that the algorithm or is that a sad statement about what humans find interesting? I refuse to feed into the negative simply for engagement, so I mainly read and comment on other notes now because having tried all kinds of things for my own notes (4 of the 5 steps you identified), there is very little reward for the effort, so I have basically given up posting my own notes. I think I did one note for the entire month of October. To end on a positive note, I am pleased with connections I've made with other writers on Substack and I appreciate that the notes platform is part of making that happen.
Personally my note about to shut off Gmail Smart feature got an insane traction, but I truly deliver valuable advice there. But in all seriousness it's weird to see some banana notes that get thousands of views not delivering something significant.
Really liked this because instead of spoonfeeding "hacks" like postinv chatgpt-generated posts, giving favours to people, or telling us to write self-help posts, this actually allow us room for staying authentic and sticking to our niche. This will just help us do it in a more practical way.
The generic advice of people writing about writing all over my feed is really getting a bit tooo much. This makes a lot of sense. I really would feel silly trying to post notes about health in the same manner.
Thank you. I am generally time-poor with my full-time job and trying to get my writing out. But you have inspired me to invest time wisely to do both discovery and writing, and this will improve me writing in the long run, I think. Thank you again!
Wow! Great write up and I hadn’t even thought about clipping parts of longer content for a note, that’s brilliant! Thank you so much and you earned my sub no doubt.
"This is why I have no patience for the Substack experts who crow about their supersonic notes strategies. A huge proportion of Substack users are interested in their topic (writing and publishing on Substack). Therefore, they have a ready-made audience of hundreds of thousands of potential notes viewers."
Thiiiis! That is what also bugs me about the advice to go 'all in' on Substack. I mean, if your newsletter content is all about how to make more money on Substack, then sure!!
If not, then not so much.
Exactly. It's an "epidemic" of Substack growth experts that are flooding the gates.
Yeah and all I feel like I'm doing is willingly being trained into a marketing mechanism. The moment a platform ties visibility to behavior, it stops being about the content and all about numbers and "badges" for activity. I didn't start writing to optimize myself or perform engagement rituals. I understand community and connection and where substack is going is right down the pipes with IG, X, and TikTok.
:(
This is great, i have just re-stacked it! 😂 but i still find posting any note really hard, I spend ages writing it! Its still too on the “social” side for me!
Emma, try just being yourself and posting something friendly like you would on Facebook. Take the stress out of it and have some fun!
I don’t do any posting on facebook nowadays either 😂😂 but thank you Kristi I’ll try
I write random thoughts I have about poetry or writing, and post them. Or something interesting that inspired me. Or share a quote from one of my older posts with a note. Now I'm sharing a series of cards about the poems in my book that I made for Instagram and FB. But the first week's I didn't know what to write about on Notes.
This is great thanks for the ideas, I suppose I'll get into it and it will become more natural as I go. A bit like my newsletter writing actually, I am finding my voice. Thanks again for the advice.
Glad to help.
That's the best way, but sadly many fall into this trap.
Agreed! I also struggle with notes... it feels forced. I’ve never been one to post too much on any social platform so, if feels very unnatural. Not to mention, when you spend too much time worrying about notes, it takes time away from the longer form content you actually Wan to be sharing! A d im a mkm of 2 — time is like precious stones to me! 😆...
The overarching theme here these days is that everyone is sick of Substack gurus and growth hacks. Im glad the word is getting out about this.
One thing I'd like to add here though, is that there are the odd unicorns...Notes posted by small pubs will small followings that somehow explode and go viral. So not all of Mike's info is 100% accurate. I still say just be friggin human and treat those on the platform the way you want to be treated. The golden rule lol. It's timeless! 😊
One of your best-ever posts, and a real revelation for me-- thank you!! That bit about audience overlap was a stunner. I had no idea.
And I love reading your stuff because your style is so much fun, with just the right touch of exasperation and wiseguy-ism!! OK, wisegal-ism!!
I appreciate the five steps you provided and saved them in case I decide to start regularly posting my own notes again. In my own experience and from what I observe, the notes that get traction are often inflammatory, angry, sensational, and dramatic - far more than something beautiful. For example, only one note I have posted since June has gotten traction. It began with OMG! and continued with me venting about an experience. But posting a photo of a rare Italian fresco depicting a three headed Christ - not one single person thought it was interesting enough to even give it a like. Seriously? Is that the algorithm or is that a sad statement about what humans find interesting? I refuse to feed into the negative simply for engagement, so I mainly read and comment on other notes now because having tried all kinds of things for my own notes (4 of the 5 steps you identified), there is very little reward for the effort, so I have basically given up posting my own notes. I think I did one note for the entire month of October. To end on a positive note, I am pleased with connections I've made with other writers on Substack and I appreciate that the notes platform is part of making that happen.
Personally my note about to shut off Gmail Smart feature got an insane traction, but I truly deliver valuable advice there. But in all seriousness it's weird to see some banana notes that get thousands of views not delivering something significant.
Thank you for this information. I’m excited about this platform.
Excellent advice, thank you. I def see an uptick in visibility if I engage in notes… still new here, still figuring it out!! 😅
Really liked this because instead of spoonfeeding "hacks" like postinv chatgpt-generated posts, giving favours to people, or telling us to write self-help posts, this actually allow us room for staying authentic and sticking to our niche. This will just help us do it in a more practical way.
Thank you! Finally, a practical, realistic one!
Thanks for this!! A much better explanation of how this all works than I’ve seen so far!
Thank you.
The generic advice of people writing about writing all over my feed is really getting a bit tooo much. This makes a lot of sense. I really would feel silly trying to post notes about health in the same manner.
Thanks - most helpful thing I’ve read on using Notes since joining Substack.
Thank you. I am generally time-poor with my full-time job and trying to get my writing out. But you have inspired me to invest time wisely to do both discovery and writing, and this will improve me writing in the long run, I think. Thank you again!
Wow! Great write up and I hadn’t even thought about clipping parts of longer content for a note, that’s brilliant! Thank you so much and you earned my sub no doubt.
This is seriously the clearest explanation about how to do Notes well and why. Thank you, Karen!
Thank you. I needed this advice. Let’s get cracking!