Small businesses are increasingly finding that Substack is an affordable and effective way to stay connected with customers. Its key differentiator is that Substack does not rely on algorithms; one of the platform’s fundamental principles is community moderation, in which publishers set their own terms of engagement and readers choose which communities suit them.
If you’re looking for another way to connect more directly with your audience, here’s how to get started.
Refresher: How does Substack work?
Substack is a newsletter publishing platform. Writers can use Substack to send original content via email to their subscribers. The platform offers tools to publish posts, manage subscribers, and create exclusive paid content.
It’s worth noting that Substack is a publishing tool, not an email marketing tool. It isn’t built to help promote or sell products. Rather, Substack is all about content. TikTok content creators who focus on views and engagement are a better fit for Substack than advertisers or product marketers.
That said, email newsletter subscribers have greater purchasing intent and engagement ratings than other marketing audiences. Building an audience on Substack can be a smart way to solidify brand loyalty and foster a community that you have some degree of autonomy to manage.
[Read more: Should You Write a Substack for Your Business?]
How to set up Substack
Substack offers tons of resources to help writers get the most out of the platform. It’s relatively easy to set up your Substack and start writing.
Substack offers four types of posts: text-based posts, discussion threads, podcasts, and videos. These formats can be combined to create more engaging content. For instance, this post from Life School includes a video, a written blog post, and a discussion section. Include a subscribe button somewhere in your post and on your page to help other Substack users find your content.
Once you have everything set up and your first post published, it’s time to promote your Substack to your email audience and start creating content to support your business.
Building an audience on Substack can be a smart way to solidify brand loyalty and foster a community that you have some degree of autonomy to manage.
Grow your business with Substack
Substack can serve two purposes: growing a brand community and creating a new revenue stream.
Substack is an important tool in growing your brand community, a group of loyal customers willing to evangelize your brand. It offers space for sharing updates, hosting discussions, and connecting those with an interest in your niche. The platform is equipped with tools to moderate conversations and retain full editorial control over your content. “Author Elizabeth Gilbert has readers pay a very small subscription fee if they want to comment on posts to keep out internet trolls,” said Carol Roth, a business and marketing expert.
Fostering a community on Substack takes time, but it’s an investment that can pay off exponentially. “A strong brand community increases customer loyalty, lowers marketing costs, authenticates brand meanings, and yields an influx of ideas to grow the business,” wrote Susan Fournier and Lara Lee in Harvard Business Review.
It’s also possible to boost your revenue on Substack by creating paid content. “Readers can choose to pay a monthly or annual fee to access the content that you’ve gated,” wrote Forbes. “The platform itself is free for you to use, though there is a required 10% commission paid to Substack on each membership fee paid to you.”
You can also increase revenue using affiliate links or sponsored posts in your newsletters. Some creators use their Substack to advertise their podcasts, online courses, or other gated content hosted on a third-party platform. Of course, you’ll need to build up your audience before those revenue streams start to trickle in, but Substack makes it easy to get started.
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