Editor’s Note: This article is the companion piece to Episode 027 of Unstuck to Finding Your Edge, my weekly Live series with Robyn Levin and in this episode we talk about using Substack Notes to promote your articles and lives the ways we do it. Robyn and I demonstrate these sharing methods using real Notes from our publications.
Robyn Levin and I spend a LOT of time on Substack.
We publish articles, host Lives, collaborate with other creators, and use Notes pretty much every day.
And somehow, we’re STILL discovering new ways to share our work. 😂
During Episode 027 of Unstuck to Finding Your Edge, we pulled up our actual Substack Notes and showed how we’ve been promoting articles, videos, and Lives.
Some of these methods are already part of our routines. Others? We’re experimenting to see what’s worth repeating.
Here are a few things we’ve been trying.
1. Teasing An Article Before It Goes Live
Robyn recently published an African safari story featuring a prerecorded interview with her guest Greta Meschke.
Before publishing, Robyn shared two Notes.
One featured a safari photograph and a short teaser.
The other included a video clip from the interview.
Same upcoming story. Two different ways to introduce it.
Robyn also shared a useful tip: Substack’s recording studio can generate short video clips with captions from prerecorded conversations. 🐐
So instead of creating another promotional video, she used a moment from the interview she’d already recorded.
A little preview can give readers a reason to come back for the full story.
2. Promoting A Substack Live With Countdown Notes
This is something I’ve been testing with our Lives.
Instead of relying only on Substack’s event announcement, I’ve been posting reminders at different times.
Three hours before: A Note with the topic, guest tag, time, and Live link.
One hour before: Another reminder, sometimes with the link in the comments instead of the Note itself.
Going live now: A short invitation with a direct link to join.
Do all three reminders make a difference?
We don’t know yet. 😂
We’re also testing whether putting links directly in Notes or in the comments changes anything and that’s the point.
We’re experimenting, not claiming we’ve discovered some secret Substack formula.
Robyn and I also discussed starting promotion a day or two before a Live, since readers don’t always see Notes immediately.
The schedule can change depending on how often we’re hosting.
3. Letting Collaborators Help Spread The Word
Before my recent Live with Substack Bestseller David McIlroy, I posted an announcement and tagged him.
David restacked the Note and added a comment saying he was looking forward to our conversation.
One announcement was now being shared by both of us.
Robyn and I do similar things when we collaborate.
We tag each other, leave comments, and restack announcements when they’re relevant to our readers and sometimes a restack with a personal comment is more interesting than simply sharing the original announcement.
A collaboration doesn’t have to end at the microphone. The promotion can also be collaborative.
4. Sharing Published Articles Without Writing Another Note From Scratch
During our Live, I opened one of our older collaborative articles and demonstrated two ways to share it again.
The first: Highlight a passage from the article and restack it.
The second: Copy a short excerpt into a new Note and share it alongside the article.
Both give readers a way to discover the original piece and because the article was published months ago, some of our newer subscribers may have never seen it.
We cover the bigger article-promotion strategy in next week’s piece, Your Article Deserves More Than One Day in the Substack Feed.
This time, we showed the actual sharing features because sometimes it’s easier to understand something when we can see exactly where to click.
5. Giving A Live Replay Another Chance To Be Seen
The promotion doesn’t have to end when the Live does.
Robyn showed some of the sharing assets Substack provides for videos and Lives, including different image options.
We also discussed using short video clips and interesting moments from recorded conversations.
Instead of simply posting “Here’s the replay,” we can share one useful takeaway from the discussion and invite readers to watch the rest.
A replay Note might say:
We demonstrated TWO different ways to share a published article in Substack Notes today. 👀
One uses a highlighted passage and the other uses an excerpt with the article.
We walked through both on screen. Catch the replay above! Same Live. A fresh reason to watch.
Our Substack Notes Cheat Sheet
We’re not using every option every time and we’re definitely not pretending every experiment works, but the more we explore these features, the more ways we find to share the content we’re already creating.
Episode 027 Takeaway 👑
→ Substack Notes can help us promote articles, Lives, videos, and older content in different ways.
We don’t need to use every feature. We just need to find the ones that make sense for our publishing routines.
Which of these Substack Notes features have you tried and is there one Robyn and I missed? Because apparently we’re still discovering buttons.
Resources From This Conversation
Jess’s & Robyn’s live replay Part 1 about how to use Substack Notes to promote your articles before & after publishing →
Jess’s & Robyn’s article with 7 different types of Substack Notes formats →
Jess’s & Robyn’s article about how to finds Notes ideas from your articles →
How To Find Substack Notes Ideas Without Starting From Scratch
You open Substack and you decide you should probably post a Note today.
Follow Jess at Unstuck to Published →
Follow Jess at NP Fellow Become The CEO of Your Health →
Follow Jess at Nurse in the Market →
Follow Robyn at Finding Your Edge →
Follow Robyn at Rare Finds - Luxury Travel →
Scan Robyn’s QR code to access her Youtube channel →
Thank You
Thank you so much for everyone who tuned into this live, your presence is truly appreciated, and to the people who are watching the replay, thank you!
See you next Friday at 12pm ET for our weekly show, stay tuned!
-Jess, The Creator & Robyn Levin
