Substack Notes Are The Most Powerful Tool On Social Media

Tom Kuegler

Jun 25, 2024

Substack changed blogging forever in 2023.

Do you know what they did?

They released ‘Notes’ to the public.

This one feature would eventually blossom into the greatest email subscription generator on the internet.

At least, that’s my humble opinion.

In just 3 months, I grew my following by 6,000 subscribers with daily Note writing.

I had a few Notes go viral which led to some moments where I got hundreds of subscribers in a single day. For example, this one Note drove hundreds of subscribers for me:

I wanted to impress upon you the sheer power of Notes right now, because I think it’s lost on a lot of people…

Allow me to write a love letter to Notes.

Notes Are Fantastic For Beginners

If you’re new to blogging, Notes are like training wheels.

They’re:

Short
Dynamic
Low-pressure

You can write one up and send it out in 10 minutes. If it doesn’t do well, don’t worry! At least you didn’t spend five hours writing an article for it to go nowhere.

The Timing Is Right For Notes

Notes is only one year old. It’s basically just a social media platform that’s still in diapers.

This is fantastic news for you.

You might’ve tried to grow a following on LinkedIn or Twitter in the past. How’d that go for you? It was probably impossible, right? Well, that’s because there’s already about a billion people on these platforms.

Listen. Timing is everything on social media.

I got on Medium in 2016 and I grew a following of 60,000 people because I was so darn early. I got there before everybody else did! Notes and Substack in general give me major ‘2016 Medium’ vibes.

Ever read someone’s work and wonder to yourself ‘How did they grow such a big following?’ Well, they might’ve been early to the party. And it’s easier to grow when you’re early.

The way I see it, Notes has at least one more year of being a relatively uncrowded place to post Notes. You don’t want to miss this window.

Notes Are Amazing For Experimentation

Blogging is lot like Edison making the lightbulb. Didn’t he fail 1,000 times or something? When you’re new and don’t know what gets people’s attention, you have to test ideas out.

It’s pure trial and error.

And after getting 0 views on your new blog post five times in a row, it’s deflating.

In the past you had to write articles to test ideas, and typically one article takes about three hours to write.

Notes cut experimentation time significantly.

I can write a Note in 15 minutes.

So, to test 20 ideas on Notes, I only have to spend 5 hours in total. To test 20 ideas with blog posts, you have to spend 60 hours writing! Crazy stuff.

It’s Not Crowded At All (Yet)

Twitter and LinkedIn feels like being trapped in a swirling sea storm.

Substack Notes feels like a tiny gathering at the beach with a picnic.

It’s very easy to get “seen” here and to become a recognized member of the community.

Hamish McKenzie, Co-founder of Substack, restacked a few Notes of mine recently. I see the same people on my Notes feed all the time.

Heck! Most Notes I publish get a few hundred likes pretty easily.

This leads me to believe that Substack Notes really isn’t that crowded yet.

This. Is. Rare. Social media platforms are like a farm. It takes time to plow the ground, plant seeds, water your crops, and watch them grow.

Then there’s a short golden period where you get to harvest everything. We are in that golden period right now with Substack Notes. And you best believe that word is going to get out about this eventually.

This is like investing in Apple stock in the 80’s. You are not going to get this same opportunity twice. It would be smart if you took advantage of it.

How To Take Advantage Of Notes In 2024

Joining Substack’s first ever 4-week Note Writing cohort is the best way to get a head start on Notes in 2024. We start writing together on July 8th, and to join all you have to do is become a paid subscriber to Substack Campfire 🪵🔥 ⛺

Included are 10 live trainings—which is 10+ hours of material—daily Note threads to share your Notes with the community, 30 prompts, and endless support from my partner Michael Simmons and I.

We’re running a second early bird special until June 28, too.

Annual membership: ~~$595~~ $495
Monthly membership: ~~$299~~ $249

Click here to get that discount.

42 people have already joined us for this cohort!!

Sign Up For Just One Cohort

You can sign up for just one cohort by signing up for the monthly option on the subscription page:

Once you sign up for the monthly option, you will receive access to the cohort until it ends on Monday, August 5. To prevent being charged again, you will need to cancel your monthly subscription before 30 days. Then, we will manually extend your subscription to August 5.