I went viral on Substack, and I hated it.
I tried to make myself go viral on Substack... it worked... but it wasn't what I thought it would be like.
In my current job, I spend a lot of time trying to understand how social media algorithms work in order to help content creators. At this point, I feel I could grow a social media account from 0 to 100,000 if I wanted to but I choose not to, finding that pursuit to be more about business and community management than creation itself. After all, I write on Substack for fun.
Of course, I get curious to see if the strategies I’m developing for growth will work. Recently, I decided to put some lessons to the test to see if I could make myself go viral. And I actually did.
While social media algorithms are intentionally a black box (if they were easy to crack and static, they would be highly susceptible to bot-spamming), there are two key things I’ve come to understand about them.
1. Algorithms reward consistency.
The only strategy all creators can agree works is posting often. Not only does posting often increase chances for engagement, but it also signals to the algorithm that you are trying to grow online… which leads me to my second point.
2. Algorithms like small, hard-working creators.
As I discussed in my recent post about Substack, social media platforms are ultimately businesses that measure their success using their number of active users. The best way to get the most active users on social media is to build small communities for all hard-working creators, rather than large communities for a few. As of algorithm updates in April 2024, small creators on Instagram have an easier chance of popping up on your reel than larger ones.
And so to see if I could go viral in a low-stakes, low-effort way, I crafted a Substack note signaling to the algorithm that I was a small, hard-working creator hoping to grow. This is the note:
This note got ~815 more likes than I typically receive, 15 more restacks, and 94 more comments than I’m used to. Although it took me two years to get to 200 subscribers, because of this note, it took me less than a week to gain 100 more.
I had achieved every creator’s dream. I had been lifted by the algorithmic gods and taken to the front of the feed of thousands. I had expanded my community rapidly. But I also felt, for the first time, unmotivated to write. Finding virality had never made me so uninterested in continuing.
I have always thought about this blog as my little corner of the internet. It’s like a curated room for my brain. It looks the way I want. It says the things I want. It starts conversations I want to have. It brings me opportunities I’ve hoped for.
Going “viral” reminded me that although I twist and tweak this blog into something that feels so entirely mine, it is ultimately accessible to all. This might be my corner of the internet, but there are no gates. And although I welcome and get excited by each new subscriber, it was certainly uncomfortable to watch my corner of the internet expand in directions I did not necessarily intend.
I am excited to have new members of my community, and it felt great to feel “noticed” by Substack after years of writing. After all, I put the same time and energy into my posts regardless if one person reads it or 1,000; obviously, I’d prefer 1,000. But my experiment and the surprising unease I felt at its success served as a humbling reminder of why I log on in the first place: to share thoughts and commit continuously to the craft of writing. It was never about the numbers.
Write on, Kiera! As a painter and writer, I want to share my work with people I know and also reach out to new colleagues, viewers, readers. I like seeing what others are exploring and accomplishing, but hopping on social media daily to view posts and to post interrupts my deeper thinking, work flow, and comfort. I haven't had to deal with a surge of followers because I don't know how to play with the algorithms as you did and my posts on Instagram aren't going viral, but I'm struggling to find a way to participate that suits me (an introvert who likes people). I would like the process of engagement to be enjoyable, productive, and stimulating rather than distracting. It's a question of getting the right balance, I'm sure, because social media algorithms are part of the creative landscape and here to stay until whatever is next for being in touch in the progression from pre-telephone, telegraph, party line/operators, phone booth, home landline, internet, cell phone, social media apps.... mental telepathy? You and I are on the same wave length. It takes time to truly engage and not just "like" something or post a picture of one's breakfast. I appreciate creators who originate thoughtful content.
Kiera I find this interesting because I often find myself wanting more readers but I have anxiety about what kind of readers I attract and what they will say! Those things are out of my control though, the one thing I control is what I share and write. In that way I share your perspective!