How I Doubled My Subscribers Last Month
I've been writing on Substack for 90 days. Here's the content that's helped me grow the most
Anyone reading this has found a breath of fresh air with Substack. A nice break from the brain rot you experience on TikTok or Instagram. I’ve been studying the platform diligently over the last 3 months testing what works and what doesn’t.
I don’t worry much about time of day or day of the week. Although in terms of comments there is less competition on the weekend so I’m a little more active then.
For subscriber growth there are 3 types of notes that work best.
Praising Substack
This note got me 34 subs.
The Substack algorithm is unlike any other social media platform. This algo is designed to push content that gets you subscribers.
Most other sites want content that gets engagement, that’s why you see so much rage bait on their feeds. The Substack engineers have explicitly stated their goal is to build your audience.
Why would they do that?
The answer is simple. Substack is the only site that wins when you win. Their only source of revenue is the percentage they take from your paid subscribers.
I’ll happily give 10% of my revenue if I have a site that has a vested interest in my growth. Other sites pander to advertisers and corporate sponsors but not on this platform.
The other reason I love promoting Substack is the audience is much higher quality than competitors.
There are countless articles you can read for free to the point where you can learn anything. Curate your feed to learn about stoic philosophy or marketing psychology. But certain niches need to be careful with how they present their content.
Social Proof
These notes are highly important for some newsletters and not as important for others based on the content you’re producing.
Important:
Finance
Fitness
Ghost writing
Not as important:
History
Travel
Politics
Under the first three categories, readers want to know you’ve produced results. Under the second set of categories readers crave high volume of content seen through a unique angle.
Being in the finance realm, there are a few ways I show social proof.
Since I’ve been giving investment advice for over 11 years I have a library of client stories of both successes and mistakes to avoid. Below is a note showing how trust is the currency of business.
The client explicitly trusts me and as a result left their current financial institution to continue working with me.
Another note that gained me 15 subscribers was when I posted about my portfolio performance. I know what my historical returns are, 18.19% annually over the last 5 years, but I never compared them to the S&P 500.
Turns out I’m beating the index over the last 5 years which is pretty good because only 8% of professional managers beat the S&P 500.
Let’s up others grow on this platform. Share this article with your readers because the more your audience grows, the more valuable your Substack becomes.
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Personal Stories
Ultimately if you can make a personal connection you will have a much more engaged subscriber.
Think of it this way: if you’re walking down the street and you see two people, one you know and the other you don’t know. Who are you going to say hi to?
I share my wins and my losses even though many “growth gurus” tell you to never share a loss. You can share a loss but there has to be a lesson for the reader, otherwise it’s a waste.
When I read about people’s struggles it makes them more relatable. Struggle is where personal growth happens. Any meaningful success was preceded by failure so I figure I’ll share the whole journey
I also like to share behind the scenes of me building my wealth advisory business. I shared a note a few days ago showing my business valuation after less than six months of operations.
This note gives people a journey to follow. It says I’m building something bigger than myself and I invite anyone else to support the purpose. This note gained me 12 subs.
So after 90 days those are my 3 growth takeaways. I’m looking forward to studying for another 90 days are sharing what I’ve learned. In the mean time let’s continue to support each other.
Have as great day
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Thanks for sharing this Colton! It's great to see what knid of Notes resonate with your people. There is a lot of noise out there and you articles clarifies what's actually important.