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Brittany Vermeer's avatar

An excellent complication of notes strategy. As journalist I always appreciate the research you do to support the suggestions you provide.

The thing I'm curious about is if notes actually work for people who don't write newsletters about how to write (or market/brand/sell yourself). Essentially, Substack is a platform for writers, but if you're not writing for writers, but (in my case) triathletes, or history buffs, fashion mavens, photographers, or fiction lovers, can the notes strategy be that useful?

I'm not sure. I have gained new followers from notes, but it doesn't seem like it's where the majority of what I would consider to be (my core readers) hang out.

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Catania Larson's avatar

This is exactly what I was wondering.

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Camille's avatar

great article so easy to digest!

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Chris Noble: "Until Tomorrow"'s avatar

VERY helpful! Thanks for sharing.

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Naveen's avatar

It took me 1 hour to read but it is highly useful for anyone wants to:

1. Figure out the algorithm.

2. Focus on the 20% that drives results.

3. Take the effective marketing approach.

4. Know the type of content thrives on Substack

5. Write on internet for full time.

Which thing you like most about Substack? Tell me.

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Brodee Myers-Cooke's avatar

Excellent article Wes! What you say here definitely rings true for me. I typically receive more subs from Notes than from my Posts which is kinda crazy given the latter typically take an entire week of research.

One of my first notes I ever wrote, which I wrote on a whim -- not related to my publication -- just a light hearted view of Substack-- received 2.7k likes and gave me over 150 subscribers. After I read this post of yours, I banged out a comment on a comment and it received over 300 likes, and even my reply on a comment on my comment had over 100 likes. Again, lots of new subs as a result. :-)

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Melissa Scala's avatar

You are killing it!

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Matt Giaro ⚙️'s avatar

Great breakdown, as always my friend!

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Jacqueline Penny's avatar

Brilliant

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Emma Brooks's avatar

Great insights Wes thanks for sharing.

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Anbask Revolt's avatar

As always, you rock Wes! Can't believe notes play such an important role here.

Request - Could you please write how Substack is different from other similar platforms like Quora or Medium? It would help newbies like me to learn more!

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Chloé Valdary's avatar

How did you do this? I downloaded data and put it through ai and it says the csv doesn’t contain the info you include in your post, aka

Views-to-likes ratio

Likes-to-comments ratio

Comments-to-followers conversion

Followers-to-subscribers conversion

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Sam Illingworth's avatar

Thanks Wes - still trying to work out of Notes is ‘right’ for me and Slow AI, and this was a big help. 🙏

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Matthew Bennett's avatar

Good post. Do we know how to do this for whatever your actual niche is and readers are? Learn what works for the Notes algo AND make that genuinely interesting and conversation building for your crowd (vs all the generic drop your substack, how to win on substack type notes).

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Juan Salas-Romer's avatar

Excellent tips Wes. Great value add. Aside from posting notes. Do you also engage with other people’s note? If so, how often and is there a strategy you also follow on this one? Thank you

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Christie Adams's avatar

Great post thanks - I did a test on notes - posted daily - crickets - not giving up though. I refuse (so far - don't quote me) to copy and paste the 'drop your link and lets grow together' post I see 100 times a day. Medium went that way and it saddened me. I think Notes is great but I'm not sure now the platform is so full that it is what works as effectively as it did. I think interaction maybe is the real draw which is never a bad thing.

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Bri Hosack's avatar

How do you find notes stats? How do you know how many came from which note?

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