I've been dipping my toe in and out of Notes--I like it a lot, but I haven't seen a lot of engagement, so I'm feeling a little unsure of how to best connect and engage with my audience and potential readers. I'm not sure if the posting more route is the way to go or not...I guess I'm going to try to keep being authentic and seeing what happens!
I love your strategy. But I noticed for myself, I am much less on IG since I joined Substack. I enjoy the content much more especially because I am less overwhelmed here. I can take everything in at my own pace which I enjoy very much!
This is so wise and considered and yes please can I come sit on your couch :) I am already finding instagram disturbingly shallow compared to the content here. And is a strange feeling because people here on Substack are craving considered content, nuanced discussions and of course the platform makes it easy to have this. But I wonder with Instagram, why aren’t we or weren’t we doing that though? Surely people there want that too? What is it about that platform that made us all flip to creating and sharing content of so much less depth? I suppose one of the main reasons could be the visual nature and, if like me, you really want to share your words and your voice, there was always a disjoint there. And I agree, it is disheartening to post something out about yourself on Instagram and have people either ignore it or just tell you how much they liked the photo that you chose to go with it. Anyway! Onwards and upwards. I absolutely love your boundaries around when and how you will use the platforms and actually scribbled some notes to myself about that this morning before I headed up to the allotment so I’m going to set myself an agenda for the next 30 days and see where it takes me. And thank you for sharing my post :-)
If you remember Patsy from Ab Fab, I just made a most-Patsy-like noise at the audacity of deleting Insta each week. Imagine an outburst of air whilst shouting 'Gah' followed by a fist pump of admiration!!!! My love hate relationship with Instagram and how I 'ought' to be there has long been a thorn in my side. You are so cool 😎
I agree it's encouraging how quickly the Substack team are taking on feedback and doing something about it. I want to show up more on Notes than I'm able to right now but that's okay, I know it's there :)
Apr 21, 2023·edited Apr 21, 2023Liked by Claire Venus
Thanks Claire for this very helpful post. I am still finding my way around Substack and working out what I want to use it for. I noticed the Your Subscribers tab on Notes this morning and thought that was a lovely touch as the important thing for me, as always, is building relationships with people. 🌻
Social media as wonderful for that in the early days. I started this business in 2009 and Twitter was brilliant for that and so many of my clients came from there. I'm not even on it now, I can't stand it. Linked In is where a lot of my clients are (freelance trainers) but it does my head in, I've never felt comfortable there and the algorithms at the moment are just pants, so hard to get anything seen. FB, always liked it, my membership community is on there and believe me I've tried other platforms but this seems to work the best for a group. But I don't use it for much else. Instagram, I only joined it years ago to keep track of my kids. I go on and off with it. People don't comment much there though do they, it's all about the likes which to me is a bit meaningless.
You've inspired me this morning to look yet again at my social media and to do even more of a declutter. I'm going to rid myself of all groups on FB other than my membership one completely. Accept Linked In for what it is and only do the minimum on there on certain days. Loving Substack so far and may even write something this weekend. It certainly feels like a kinder, comfier place where people actually engage and take the time to read. 🌺
Thank you for sharing your knowledge. I love how they've added "My Subscribers" tab. Slowly finding my way around Notes, and the various tabs make it less overwhelming. In terms of boundaries, I've found I'm less jittery on Notes than I was on Instagram. The conversations are more meaningful, more thought-provoking. But also, I find it easier to step away and just get on with living, without the constant need to check in. So I'm actually excited about Notes and using it to not only share from a personal place but also to amplify the voices I resonate with. ❤️
I am SO down with having weekends off, aside from my scheduled Sunday newsletter going out. I joined Substack back in February and was completely won over by the slow, gentle vibe. The opportunity to work on longform content and put it out in the world with fewer distractions and less noise was so appealing after becoming completely disillusioned with other platforms but then... Notes.
I have found myself on my phone a lot more this past fortnight and though I've loved connecting with new Substacks and gaining more subscriptions to mine, I have questioned the value of writers subbing to writers. The readers (as in the ones who are only on Substack to read!) are coming, I'm sure of it!
I sat and created a sort of plan of what I want to do on notes each day, just to sort of experiment with what my readers want from me, but after reading that you’re having weekends off I think I’m going to do the same!
It’s so important to have boundaries, even here on Substack as wonderful as it is.
Out of interest, do you know if you can kind of DM someone here on Substack if you wanted to chat to them privately? Thanks 🤍
YES. This is super helpful. I think I need to do something similar with the set days thing. Looking forward to seeing some stuff from your archives. Very interested in reading about your journey. Happy Friday 🎉
As a Substack newbie this is incredibly helpful, thank you. I've definitely noticed that I'm here a lot more than Instagram this past week or two. Instagram DMs/comments seem very one dimensional now in comparison to the more in depth chats I'm having here.
Really enjoying reading about your experience on Substack 😊. Your course sounds awesome!
I've been dipping my toe in and out of Notes--I like it a lot, but I haven't seen a lot of engagement, so I'm feeling a little unsure of how to best connect and engage with my audience and potential readers. I'm not sure if the posting more route is the way to go or not...I guess I'm going to try to keep being authentic and seeing what happens!
I love your strategy. But I noticed for myself, I am much less on IG since I joined Substack. I enjoy the content much more especially because I am less overwhelmed here. I can take everything in at my own pace which I enjoy very much!
This is so wise and considered and yes please can I come sit on your couch :) I am already finding instagram disturbingly shallow compared to the content here. And is a strange feeling because people here on Substack are craving considered content, nuanced discussions and of course the platform makes it easy to have this. But I wonder with Instagram, why aren’t we or weren’t we doing that though? Surely people there want that too? What is it about that platform that made us all flip to creating and sharing content of so much less depth? I suppose one of the main reasons could be the visual nature and, if like me, you really want to share your words and your voice, there was always a disjoint there. And I agree, it is disheartening to post something out about yourself on Instagram and have people either ignore it or just tell you how much they liked the photo that you chose to go with it. Anyway! Onwards and upwards. I absolutely love your boundaries around when and how you will use the platforms and actually scribbled some notes to myself about that this morning before I headed up to the allotment so I’m going to set myself an agenda for the next 30 days and see where it takes me. And thank you for sharing my post :-)
If you remember Patsy from Ab Fab, I just made a most-Patsy-like noise at the audacity of deleting Insta each week. Imagine an outburst of air whilst shouting 'Gah' followed by a fist pump of admiration!!!! My love hate relationship with Instagram and how I 'ought' to be there has long been a thorn in my side. You are so cool 😎
I agree it's encouraging how quickly the Substack team are taking on feedback and doing something about it. I want to show up more on Notes than I'm able to right now but that's okay, I know it's there :)
Thanks Claire for this very helpful post. I am still finding my way around Substack and working out what I want to use it for. I noticed the Your Subscribers tab on Notes this morning and thought that was a lovely touch as the important thing for me, as always, is building relationships with people. 🌻
Social media as wonderful for that in the early days. I started this business in 2009 and Twitter was brilliant for that and so many of my clients came from there. I'm not even on it now, I can't stand it. Linked In is where a lot of my clients are (freelance trainers) but it does my head in, I've never felt comfortable there and the algorithms at the moment are just pants, so hard to get anything seen. FB, always liked it, my membership community is on there and believe me I've tried other platforms but this seems to work the best for a group. But I don't use it for much else. Instagram, I only joined it years ago to keep track of my kids. I go on and off with it. People don't comment much there though do they, it's all about the likes which to me is a bit meaningless.
You've inspired me this morning to look yet again at my social media and to do even more of a declutter. I'm going to rid myself of all groups on FB other than my membership one completely. Accept Linked In for what it is and only do the minimum on there on certain days. Loving Substack so far and may even write something this weekend. It certainly feels like a kinder, comfier place where people actually engage and take the time to read. 🌺
Definitely a useful post, so thoughtful, you can tell you are really thinking about it!
I also see you pop up on Notes and it's lovely to see how people are using it! :)
Thank you for sharing your knowledge. I love how they've added "My Subscribers" tab. Slowly finding my way around Notes, and the various tabs make it less overwhelming. In terms of boundaries, I've found I'm less jittery on Notes than I was on Instagram. The conversations are more meaningful, more thought-provoking. But also, I find it easier to step away and just get on with living, without the constant need to check in. So I'm actually excited about Notes and using it to not only share from a personal place but also to amplify the voices I resonate with. ❤️
I am SO down with having weekends off, aside from my scheduled Sunday newsletter going out. I joined Substack back in February and was completely won over by the slow, gentle vibe. The opportunity to work on longform content and put it out in the world with fewer distractions and less noise was so appealing after becoming completely disillusioned with other platforms but then... Notes.
I have found myself on my phone a lot more this past fortnight and though I've loved connecting with new Substacks and gaining more subscriptions to mine, I have questioned the value of writers subbing to writers. The readers (as in the ones who are only on Substack to read!) are coming, I'm sure of it!
I agree one of the best things about Substack is that they listen to users. It makes a lot of difference
I sat and created a sort of plan of what I want to do on notes each day, just to sort of experiment with what my readers want from me, but after reading that you’re having weekends off I think I’m going to do the same!
It’s so important to have boundaries, even here on Substack as wonderful as it is.
Out of interest, do you know if you can kind of DM someone here on Substack if you wanted to chat to them privately? Thanks 🤍
I loved really this Claire. So helpful to think about how we WANT to use substack vs how we CAN.
YES. This is super helpful. I think I need to do something similar with the set days thing. Looking forward to seeing some stuff from your archives. Very interested in reading about your journey. Happy Friday 🎉
As a Substack newbie this is incredibly helpful, thank you. I've definitely noticed that I'm here a lot more than Instagram this past week or two. Instagram DMs/comments seem very one dimensional now in comparison to the more in depth chats I'm having here.