If you’re feeling overwhelmed by all the Substack gurus who are telling you how to harness the power of Substack NOTES, you’re not alone. But making friends with Notes is definitely in your best interest as a Substack writer.
Here’s what Substack says about the purpose of NOTES:
Notes are public and can appear on the web, Substack app, and on a Substack profile. To interact on Notes such as posting, liking, or commenting, one must have a Substack account and be signed in.
If you have a Substack publication, your subscribers can see your activity in one view: your notes, restacks, and engagement in their Home feed.
~ from “Getting Started on Substack Notes”
Notes is Substack’s version of a social media platform, and according to Sarah Fay on “Substack Writers at Work,” a Note here has more staying power than posts on most other platforms:
Tweets last ~30 seconds
Instagram posts last ~48 hours
Facebook posts last ~4 hours
Notes can gain traction for months
Without a "team" behind me, I find it easy to get overwhelmed with all the recommended "strategies." What has worked for me is showing up in Notes regularly (most days), sharing real content that's either interesting or potentially valuable, and responding to other people's notes with a "like" and/or a reply. If we keep the big goals in mind: connection, communication and visibility—it helps keep everything in perspective.
But it’s interesting to know what others are finding helpful, and here are a few tips I’ve gleaned from authorities I respect:
Readers gravitate towards topics with broad appeal that still connect to your niche.
It can help your visibility to use keywords in your Notes.
Video isn’t as popular in Notes as elsewhere — most people don’t want to take the time to watch a video when they’re scrolling through their notes.
Patience is critical — engagement with Notes takes time.
“Going viral” is fun but not necessary. Slow and steady can win this race.
It’s not my cup of tea, but if you want to “play to the crowd,” you can pay attention to the categories that are the most popular in Substack and try to steer your Note content to that. Check out Substack Explore.
As more and more people pour into Substack, it will be impossible to keep up with all the great Notes from other people, so it will help to identify those writers you want to cultivate or support. Did you know:
You can Follow without Subscribing: This means their Notes will show up in your feed, but you won’t get any emails when they publish.
You can “train” Substack as to your reading preferences: If you see a note you don’t care to see more of, click the three dots to the right and select “Hide,” “Mute,” or “Block.” I’m told that as you do this regularly, Substack will learn to give you more of what you leave in your feed and less of what you’ve indicated you don’t want.
Essentially, hiding is a one-time removal of a post from your view, muting is an ongoing filter against a user's content in your feed, and blocking completely cuts off interaction between you and the blocked user.
For truly offensive content, you can also choose “Report” as well as “Block.” Use this carefully so you don’t get a reputation for being difficult.
Here’s a comprehensive list of topics relating to Substack Notes if you have a specific question.
One of the many reasons I appreciate our Inkspired community is because when we follow each other, we can support and boost each other’s Notes by liking, commenting, restacking, and sharing them. See you in Notes!
About our author: Elizabeth H. Cottrell is a founding member of the Inspired Community and award-winning author. She teaches us how to write heartspoken notes that connect, comfort, encourage, and inspire…notes that nourish our most important personal and professional relationships.
It’s such a treat to get unique points-of-view from our guest writers. If you have a story idea for the Inkspired Community newsletter, direct message
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Any time we can help other writers figure out how to best use Substack, we're right on the money. That's one of the reasons this Inkspired community was founded. Thanks for taking the time to figure this out and share, Elizabeth.
I'm glad to know I'm not alone in feeling a bit overwhelmed by all of the Notes. I especially liked the tip on how to train Substack. Very handy and one I'll try. Thanks!