I ended up reading this.. I started.. liked what I read.. and kept going.
I agree with a lot of what you said.
The DM thing. Hmm. Yes.. I could tell you stories. . . .. .
=) The subscriber chat is something I been wanting to do.. I think being on the love side of it vs being fearful is the way to go.
I want to activate my subscriber chat.. That to me would be a more public form of the DM system and less likely to require more heavy monitoring. And I wonder about the details.. I need to dive in.
I enjoy listening to this article. Self-promoting can indeed kill your growth on this platform. Nowadays, I try to use notes and DM messages to engage with people.
Sorry for all of the ?s, but I just noticed something when attempting to DM all of my newest subscribers. Some of them have accounts to which a message cannot be sent as a DM via the Substack app. While I could email such people, that might be a bit obtrusive. In any case, what's the deal with this?
The idea of the subscriber chat is to connect with the ones specifically that are active on Substack, and to use this feature ālike a whatsapp group chatā which wouldnāt be really possible in any way over mail.
Per some of my correspondence from yesterday, perhaps a primer on picking keywords to optimize SEO, etc. For example, what's the difference between discovery keywords, distribution keywords, and topic consistency in terms of keywords. Also, how many keywords are enough for a particular article. Finally, how come keywords are not used for notes.
Regarding Jenny Ouyang's approach to using the subscriber chat, which is something that I plan to emulate beginning now, I noticed that there is a little checkbox to "Send as email." If I include a short message in the subscriber chat to provide a "behind the scenes" take on why I wrote a particular article that I just posted yesterday, wouldn't checking this box and sending yet another email about the new post be overkill? For today's chat I am choosing not to check that box, but what is your recommendation?
DM new subscribers+ Utilize the community chat functionality to showcase a "behind the scenes" fact about a recent post. BTW, I have a question for you. I have been listing hashtags at the bottom of every Substack post for quite a while. I also upload a separate list of keywords and phrases before publishing each piece. Are the hashtags at the bottom of each post of any value within Substack? Of course, I also use them to introduce each new post on other social media platforms like LinkedIn, X, and FB. Also, for the longest time I did not understand how hashtags are different from keywords (e.g., #NaturalDisaster vs. "natural disaster" as a keyword).
Im 95% sure that hashtags on Substack donāt help with anything, because otherwise this wouldnāt be the first time im hearing about this Substack feature. :)
Timo, I agree with your core warning: bot engagement becomes corrosive the moment it pretends to be a person. Thatās not automation, thatās deception.
But Iām going to push back on the blanket ānever.ā If a creator is upfront that a bot is handling first touch or triage, I think it can be fine, even helpful. A clearly labeled assistant that says āIām an AI helper, hereās what I do, and Iāll escalate to the humanā is a boundary, not a betrayal.
And honestly, it can even be fun if the bot has an intentional personality that matches the brand. Imagine a clearly labeled concierge bot that talks like Peter Lorre in Casablanca. If your newsletter vibe can carry it, that kind of playful transparency could make engagement faster and more memorable. The key is alignment plus disclosure. Never cosplay. Always receipts.
True. Iāve a single link in my menu bar that goes to an entirely different website (CollaborateBetter.us). There you can interact with an AI š¤ agent but you are no longer on Substack
Timo.
I ended up reading this.. I started.. liked what I read.. and kept going.
I agree with a lot of what you said.
The DM thing. Hmm. Yes.. I could tell you stories. . . .. .
=) The subscriber chat is something I been wanting to do.. I think being on the love side of it vs being fearful is the way to go.
I want to activate my subscriber chat.. That to me would be a more public form of the DM system and less likely to require more heavy monitoring. And I wonder about the details.. I need to dive in.
āØš«āļø
Thanks!
MM
Sounds like you have a lot of good thoughts, now it is important to take action on them Mica! :D
I enjoy listening to this article. Self-promoting can indeed kill your growth on this platform. Nowadays, I try to use notes and DM messages to engage with people.
Thatās the way to go. :D
How is the strategy working for you so far? :)
I been spending time dm people about their work. Replying to their comments as well
thatās the way to go. :D
Sorry for all of the ?s, but I just noticed something when attempting to DM all of my newest subscribers. Some of them have accounts to which a message cannot be sent as a DM via the Substack app. While I could email such people, that might be a bit obtrusive. In any case, what's the deal with this?
The idea of the subscriber chat is to connect with the ones specifically that are active on Substack, and to use this feature ālike a whatsapp group chatā which wouldnāt be really possible in any way over mail.
Got it. That's what I thought, too. I wonder why that checkbox is there. In any case, I'll ignore it.
Sounds good, Mark, thank you a lot for these great questions. :D
Likewise. Thanks for the great suggestions -- including tips on how to leverage ChatGPT to analyze KPIs and suggest tactics.
Sure, a lot more great suggestions to come in the future. :)
While im here, any wishes on what topic you want to hear my suggestions on for future articles. :)
Per some of my correspondence from yesterday, perhaps a primer on picking keywords to optimize SEO, etc. For example, what's the difference between discovery keywords, distribution keywords, and topic consistency in terms of keywords. Also, how many keywords are enough for a particular article. Finally, how come keywords are not used for notes.
Regarding Jenny Ouyang's approach to using the subscriber chat, which is something that I plan to emulate beginning now, I noticed that there is a little checkbox to "Send as email." If I include a short message in the subscriber chat to provide a "behind the scenes" take on why I wrote a particular article that I just posted yesterday, wouldn't checking this box and sending yet another email about the new post be overkill? For today's chat I am choosing not to check that box, but what is your recommendation?
Yes I agree thatās overkill, only for a big announcement it makes sense. :)
Thanks for sharing these practical tips. While I'm already doing some of them, going to give the rest a try!
Nice. :D
Which ones are you planning to try out? :)
DM new subscribers+ Utilize the community chat functionality to showcase a "behind the scenes" fact about a recent post. BTW, I have a question for you. I have been listing hashtags at the bottom of every Substack post for quite a while. I also upload a separate list of keywords and phrases before publishing each piece. Are the hashtags at the bottom of each post of any value within Substack? Of course, I also use them to introduce each new post on other social media platforms like LinkedIn, X, and FB. Also, for the longest time I did not understand how hashtags are different from keywords (e.g., #NaturalDisaster vs. "natural disaster" as a keyword).
Im 95% sure that hashtags on Substack donāt help with anything, because otherwise this wouldnāt be the first time im hearing about this Substack feature. :)
Thank you for this piece Timo!
I'm still in the phase feeling intimidated to dm every one subscribe to me.
And that list of don'ts are gold.
Thank you for reading! :D
What intimidates you about it, do you think you are annoying them?
Timo, I agree with your core warning: bot engagement becomes corrosive the moment it pretends to be a person. Thatās not automation, thatās deception.
But Iām going to push back on the blanket ānever.ā If a creator is upfront that a bot is handling first touch or triage, I think it can be fine, even helpful. A clearly labeled assistant that says āIām an AI helper, hereās what I do, and Iāll escalate to the humanā is a boundary, not a betrayal.
And honestly, it can even be fun if the bot has an intentional personality that matches the brand. Imagine a clearly labeled concierge bot that talks like Peter Lorre in Casablanca. If your newsletter vibe can carry it, that kind of playful transparency could make engagement faster and more memorable. The key is alignment plus disclosure. Never cosplay. Always receipts.
You know any examples?
Naw. Really thinking more hypothetically but youād probably need two whole separate profiles to do it right
Yeah I thought so to, and I guess a full AI profile, would probably go against Substack's guidelines.
True. Iāve a single link in my menu bar that goes to an entirely different website (CollaborateBetter.us). There you can interact with an AI š¤ agent but you are no longer on Substack
Good tips. I added a few to my To Do list.
Thanks!
Nice, which ones you added? :)
The chat-per-article idea and the DM new subscribers.
Hey! š Just wanted to share my latest post with you, I think youāll enjoy it:
Read my latest post š
https://subshacks.substack.com/p/free-vs-paid-substack-subscribers?utm_source=share&utm_medium=android&r=3e3djw