Did you know personalization is one of the most powerful tools in marketing? Companies that excel at it generate 40% more revenue compared to average players.1

Netflix reorders its homepage around what you watch,2 Spotify builds you a new playlist every Monday,3 Amazon recommends products based on what you've already bought,4 and your TikTok For You feed is unlike anyone else's.5 All of these companies are using information they already have about each customer to personalize their experience.

You have the same kind of information about your subscribers. A first-time visitor, a longtime free subscriber, and a founding member each want something different from you, and when each one gets it, your publication grows.

For a long time, Substack didn’t support personalization. You could set a post to free or paid, and that was about it. One post and one email for everyone. But over the last year, Substack has shipped a ton of new features that have really leveled up personalization.

Today I'll go over all the personalization features Substack offers publishers. One of these features has never been documented anywhere by Substack, and it may have already greeted you by name at the top of this post. 🤫

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I’m not an expert when it comes to professional design software like Adobe Illustrator and Figma, but I do have strong opinions about design. I typically know the aesthetic I want, and years of conversion optimization and product development work have shaped how I think about UX.

Still, it’s never made sense for me to prioritize mastering design tools, so for years, my ideas stayed limited to whatever I could pull off in Canva or Google Slides (iykyk).

This has worked fine because simple designs are good enough for my personal business, and when working with bigger companies, I typically partner with professional designers.

Now, working with Claude for design, I’m still able to drive the creative direction the same way I always have, but the quality of the work is no longer limited by my technical design skills or access to professional designers. The reason Claude works so well for me is that I’ve treated it like a professional designer I’m working with. The results come out higher quality and much closer to what I picture than anything I made before. And in a fraction of the time!

The way I work with Claude for design has grown into a repeatable system I use for every project, and this article documents every part of it. This system is not an argument against professional designers, and a good designer could even build and run a system like.

Why Most People Struggle to Design With AI

People struggle to design with Claude because it starts every conversation knowing little to nothing about your brand. That missing context leads to five common issues.

• Graphics look generic. AI designs from the average of everything it has ever seen, so without a strong brand point of view, the results look like everyone else’s.

• Graphics lack consistency. Even with your hex codes and logo pasted in, AI makes every other decision fresh each time: The layout, the type sizes, the spacing, the decoration. Each graphic can look fine on its own, but side-by-side they look like they came from different brands.

• You keep having to repeat the same instructions. Every new chat needs the brand, the dimensions, and the specs explained. When all of that knowledge only lives inside your head, you are the one carrying it from session to session.

• Corrections get forgotten. Feedback lives only in the chat where you gave it. Once that conversation ends, the LLM goes back to making the same mistake.

• There’s no quality control. A human designer checkS contrast, text size, and how the image will look on each platform before handing it over. Without a system in place, quality control falls to you, and you may not always be aware of the issues.

These problems don't come from a lack of ability. AI can build almost anything you describe. Sharing your hex codes, fonts, and logo isn't enough, because colors and fonts are a small piece of what a designer knows about a brand. Your agent still has to guess at everything else like whether the brand should feel playful or serious, how you prefer to lay things out, what sizes work on each platform, and which ideas you would hate.

A human designer doesn't have any of these problems, because a human designer gets onboarded. They refer to design guidelines and examples of past work to develop a sense of what good looks like for the brand, and as they start to produce work, they incorporate past stakeholder feedback into future work. Conversely, AI typically only gets a short prompt.

My AI design system does that onboarding for me. When a new session starts, Claude has already read my brand materials and my saved feedback, and it checks its own work before showing it to me.

How My Claude Design System Is Organized

My Claude design system has five parts: A design folder, a design guidelines document, a feedback loop, skills, and verification checks. Each part does one job. For example, my infographic skill contains the LinkedIn dimensions and my guidelines document contains my brand colors, so I can change my palette without touching the skill, and update an infographic treatment without any chance of messing up the brand everywhere else.

The components work together. When I correct something, the feedback gets saved as a rule that same day, and rules that generalize get folded into the guidelines document. When getting a new format right takes a lot of back-and-forth, everything we figured out gets packaged as a skill, so the next one takes a fraction of the time to produce at the same quality. The folder collects every finished asset along the way, so each new project starts with more reference material than the last.

• 📁 The folder structure that turns your past work into Claude’s reference library.

• 📄 How to build brand guidelines Claude reads before every design task, and why HTML beats a brand PDF or a brand.json.

• 🔁 The feedback loop that turns your feedback into permanent rules, plus the sync protocol that keeps everything current.

• ✅ How to make quality control automatic, with Claude checking every design against your standards before you see it.

• ✍️ The CLAUDE.md rule that makes Claude save every correction automatically.

• 🛠️ Access to my Claude tools that build the system for you, including a design guidelines creator and a LinkedIn infographic creator.

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What you could never do is directly connect Substack to outside tools. There was no official API or developer tooling, so publishers were stuck with messy workarounds to integrate their publication with other platforms. In practice, each of these fixes comes with a catch:

• To analyze your own data, you needed to export a CSV and rebuild your charts every time you wanted an update, because whatever analysis tool you set up could not refresh on its own.

• To integrate new subscribers with an email automation tool like Kit, you still need to create a Zap that watches your Gmail for Substack’s subscription notifications and adds each new address to Kit, with no way to sync back to Substack when someone unsubscribes through a Kit email.

• To manage Notes, you needed to rely on unofficial tools that ran inside your own logged-in browser session, so they only fired while your browser stayed open, and were likely against Substack’s terms of use.

• To embed content from another website (Substack only natively supports a few), you still have to upload a screenshot, which can go against other platforms' terms and give readers who use a screen reader, or who want to interact with the content, a worse experience.

Two things changed that recently.

1. Substack released an MCP server, the first official way to connect your publication’s data to an AI assistant like Claude or ChatGPT.

2. Substack integrated with Typefully, the first outside social media management tool it has officially supported. (Maybe Buffer will be next!)

I’m surprised neither of these updates has received much attention. For a company that had never opened its platform to outside tools before, doing so twice within a couple of months is a big shift in strategy.

What Is a Walled Garden in Technology?

A walled garden is a closed platform where the company restricts which outside tools can connect to it. The phrase started in cable television, where John Malone of Tele-Communications Inc. is generally credited with it, describing a system where the operator, not the customer, decides which channels reach you.1 In the internet era, the term was first used to describe AOL, which curated the set of services and content its subscribers could access.

Apple runs the best-known walled garden today with the App Store, where it decides which apps are allowed to run on your phone. (Android is more open, since it lets users install apps from outside its store). The opposite approach is a platform that invites outside tools in. WordPress runs on a huge ecosystem of third-party plugins, and Shopify has an entire app store and API that other developers build on.

Walled gardens exist for a reason. They protect the company’s business, and the control makes the experience smoother and safer for users, since everything inside is vetted to work together. The App Store’s tight control is a big part of why iPhones are so hard to infect with malware, and you cannot easily break your Substack the way a WordPress site can break after a plugin update.

You own your subscribers and can leave and take them with you anytime you want, but until now nothing on the outside could connect in.

Let’s take a closer look at what has changed.

Substack’s MCP Server

Substack’s MCP server lets an AI assistant like Claude or ChatGPT read your publication data, but only Bestseller (paid) publications can use it.

What Is an MCP Server?

An MCP server is a connector that lets an AI assistant read data from an outside service in real time. MCP stands for Model Context Protocol, an open standard for linking AI tools to sources of data. When a company builds an MCP server, it gives assistants like Claude and ChatGPT a defined, permission-based way to see specific information and interact with it.

Substack built an MCP server for publications, and once you connect it, your assistant can read your data while you chat, without exporting anything or leaving the conversation.

Really Good Business Ideas runs one too. Premium subscribers can connect it to Claude and access tools and datasets like 200 proven hook templates, a database of what other Substacks offer their paid subscribers, an audience persona builder, and a content style guide creator.

How Substack’s MCP Server Works

Substack’s MCP server lets you give an AI assistant read-only access to your publication data. Once connected, your agent can pull your dashboard metrics, subscriber counts, revenue, retention, traffic sources, and post performance, and it can read your publication settings. It cannot publish a post, send a Note, or change your account, and it has no access to your profile or Notes activity.

The benefit of that access is analysis. Substack’s built-in analytics are limited to a fixed set of dashboard views, and any CSV you export is a static snapshot that goes stale quickly. That makes it difficult to assess your performance in depth or refine your strategy with confidence. With the server connected, your assistant works from live data you can question in plain language, so investigating a growth slowdown becomes a natural part of how you already work rather than a daunting major project. I'll share more about how I use the MCP server in an upcoming post.

MCP server access is limited to admins of paid publications with a Bestseller badge, using an AI client that supports MCP connectors like Claude, ChatGPT, and Cursor. Plenty of software products limit their MCP servers to higher-tier plans, so it is no surprise Substack restricts this one to Bestsellers, given the cost of serving data this way. It’s also probably a strong play, since Bestsellers are more likely to run their publications like businesses and expect a higher level of service. Tools that help them operate more effectively give them a reason to stay.

Substack’s Typefully Integration

Typefully is a social media management tool creators can use to schedule and publish content across platforms from one place. Substack announced Typefully’s integration in August,2 making it the first outside tool of its kind Substack has officially supported. With it connected, you can schedule your Substack Notes ahead of time and cross-post them to X, Threads, LinkedIn, Mastodon, and Bluesky.

In one way, Typefully is the bigger crack in the wall of the two. The MCP server only reads your data, while Typefully acts on your account by scheduling and posting your Notes. Officially letting an outside tool do that is a bigger step for Substack than letting one read your numbers. Personally, I think publishers should be free to choose the tools that work best for them, so I hope we'll see more tools like Buffer get access soon. Plenty of publishers have also built their own Substack-specific tools out of the workarounds available today, so hopefully those get officially supported too.

Will Substack’s Walled Garden Keep Cracking Open?

Substack likely opened the MCP server to Bestsellers because they drive most of its revenue, and their success is essential to Substack’s own. The Typefully integration supports the growth of Substack Notes, which has become a notable social platform in its own right. Both support Substack’s growth and hint at what might come next.

I expect Substack will keep opening up to tools that drive platform growth and help creators become more invested in the platform. An MCP server that can write, not just read, is the obvious next step, since it helps publishers scale and some competitors, like Ghost, already support it.

Conversely, Substack will likely keep its walls up around anything that helps a competitor or encourages readers and revenue to move off the platform. For example, I don’t think we’ll see a Kit integration anytime soon. Substack has spent the past year building deeper segmentation and email automation features that can start to replace Kit, so it’s clear it has decided to solve this limitation internally rather than through external partnerships.

So far, Substack has opened up on tightly controlled terms. The MCP server is limited to read-only access to your own data, and only through an AI tool. Typefully is the only outside social media management partner that can connect to Substack Notes. We still don’t have an open API that anyone can build on, and I don’t expect that to change anytime soon, even as more official integrations arrive. A truly open API would be a much bigger change, since it would let publishers connect any tool they wanted, including a competitor like Kit.

Substack is increasingly building solutions for larger publishers that treat their publications like a business, because they bring in the most revenue and are also the ones most likely to outgrow it and move off the platform. But publishers of all sizes can benefit from most of these features. In fact, these features can make it much easier for a smaller publication to grow into a larger one. Those who start taking advantage of these tools now will benefit most as the platform continues to open up.

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To endless possibilities,

Casandra

🔒 Premium Members: Scroll to the bottom to access the Instagram optimization checklist, and an Instagram content optimizer Claude skill.

Most of the hashtag advice on the internet describes an Instagram that no longer exists.

Hashtag tools still sell competition scores and reach estimates. Growth gurus still promise that the right tags will put your post in front of thousands of strangers. Meanwhile, Instagram caps hashtags at five per post, removed the ability to follow them, and the head of Instagram has said plainly that hashtags don’t increase reach.

Hashtags still do one useful thing: They tell Instagram what your content is about. Everything else they were supposed to do is gone, so you can stop spending hours on hashtag research. The rest of this guide covers what hashtags still do, the mistakes to watch out for, and where reach comes from instead.

What Are Instagram Hashtags?

A hashtag is a single word or phrase preceded by a # that gets included in the caption of a post or reel.

This is a hashtag: #hashtag. So is this: #alsoahashtag.

What Do Hashtags Do on Instagram Now?

Hashtags help Instagram categorize your content. They tell the algorithm what your post is about so it can show your content in search results and match it to the topics users have chosen to see. Hashtags no longer amplify your reach.

Hashtags can still be searched. For example, when I’m refreshing my balcony for the summer, I search #balconydecor and look at the top photos for ideas. Search is where hashtags retain some usefulness: Instagram matches what people type against captions, hashtags, bios, and places when it ranks search results.1

Categorization also feeds recommendations. Instagram’s Your Algorithm feature lets users pick the topics shaping their Feed, Reels, and Explore, and your content can only match a topic a user has chosen if Instagram can tell what your content is about.2 Relevant hashtags are one signal that makes your topic legible.

Do Hashtags Increase Reach on Instagram?

No. Adam Mosseri, head of Instagram, has said directly that hashtags don’t increase reach, and he has been saying versions of the same thing since 2022.3

Hashtags help Instagram understand what a post is about, but understanding is where their influence ends.

The data agrees with him. A 2026 analysis of more than 24 million posts found posts with hashtags averaged 32% fewer views and 34% fewer interactions than posts without them.4 That gap is probably explained by the fact that smaller accounts lean on hashtags more, but even if they don’t hinder performance, they certainly don’t seem to help.

Hashtag research is still expensive, though. An hour comparing competition scores doesn’t drive reach, while the same hour spent perfecting your hook can dramatically change how far a post travels.

What Hashtag Features Has Instagram Removed?

Instagram has spent the past few years dismantling hashtags as a discovery channel.

In December 2024, Instagram removed the ability to follow a hashtag, which was the main way hashtagged posts landed in the feeds of people who didn’t follow the poster.5 The Recent tab on hashtag pages disappeared before that, so hashtag pages no longer reward fresh posts with a burst of visibility.

Then in December 2025, Instagram dropped the hashtag limit from 30 to five because it believed fewer, targeted hashtags improve both content performance and the experience of the people scrolling.6

Hashtag pages and hashtag search still exist: You can tap any hashtag and browse the top posts using it. What changed is the value of appearing there. With follows gone, landing on a hashtag page doesn’t place your post in anyone’s feed. The only people who see it are the few who go looking, so “ranking” for a hashtag no longer sends the same reach.

How Many Hashtags Should You Use on Instagram?

You can use up to five hashtags as long as they are relevant to your post. If a hashtag doesn’t describe what your post is about, it doesn’t belong in your five.

Irrelevant or generic hashtags can limit your reach. Instagram warns that tags like #reels or #explore don’t help your content appear anywhere and can drag down its performance. The same goes for aspirational tags like #viral, which don’t tell Instagram anything useful about your content.7

How to Choose Instagram Hashtags

Choose hashtags the way you’d label a folder: specific and accurate. #homewoodworking tells Instagram more about your content than #woodworking, and both beat #satisfying.

I used to recommend researching each hashtag’s competition and engagement to find ones you could rank for, and the original version of this article taught exactly that. It made sense when ranking on a hashtag page could put your post in front of thousands of people. But with hashtag follows gone and discovery driven by keywords, ranking on a hashtag page doesn’t drive a lot of reach. Today you just need hashtags that describe your post, and choosing them only takes a couple of minutes.

You do still need to check for banned hashtags. Instagram occasionally bans hashtags associated with too much spam, and posts under a restricted hashtag get hidden. Instagram doesn’t publish a list of banned hashtags, and the lists you’ll find on the internet go stale quickly, so the only reliable way to know is to check in the app. To check a hashtag, search it on Instagram. If Instagram returns no results for the hashtag and only suggests alternatives instead, it’s probably banned.

What Drives Reach on Instagram Instead of Hashtags?

Keywords and watch signals drive reach now. Instagram’s search ranks results by matching the words people type against captions, bios, and places, and its recommendation systems read your caption, your on-screen text, and the words you say out loud to figure out what your content is about.8

Adam Mosseri’s advice for showing up in search is to put keywords and hashtags in the caption, not the comments, and to use a handle, name, and bio that describe what you post. Writing captions with the phrases your audience would type is the closest thing Instagram has to SEO.

The other half of reach is how people respond once they see your content: watch time, likes, and sends. My guide to the Instagram algorithm covers all 20 recommendations for earning those signals.

Instagram Hashtag Do’s and Don’ts

Here’s a quick cheat sheet of do’s and don’ts to help you remember how to use hashtags effectively.

Do use hashtags.

Hashtags help Instagram categorize your content, which supports search results and topic matching. Skipping them leaves a (small) growth tool on the table.

Don’t expect hashtags to meaningfully grow your account.

Hashtags label your content, which indirectly helps growth, but meaningful reach comes from watch time, likes, sends, and keywords, so put your optimization effort there.

Do put hashtags in the caption, not the comments.

Instagram matches search queries against captions. Hashtags hidden in comments won't show up in search and won't help you grow.

Don’t put hashtags in your bio.

Bio hashtags are clickable links, but your profile doesn’t get added to the hashtag’s page, so they don’t make you easier to find. They also give profile visitors something to tap that takes them away from you. Fill your bio with keywords that describe what you post, because bio text is what Instagram’s search reads. The exception is a branded hashtag you want your own audience to use.

Do use up to five relevant hashtags.

Instagram still allows up to five hashtags per post. Using them helps you tell Instagram what your content is about so it can categorize it effectively.

Don’t use generic or aspirational hashtags.

Hashtags like #reels, #explore, and #viral don’t tell Instagram anything about your content and can even hurt its performance.

Do match your hashtags to each post.

Your five tags should describe the specific post, not your account in general. For example, a woodworking account’s shop-tour reel and finished-table photo need different tags.

Don’t use banned hashtags.

Instagram still restricts hashtags associated with spam and policy violations, and posts under a restricted hashtag get hidden. A banned tag can’t help you, so check before you post.

If Instagram doesn’t return any data for a hashtag and only suggests alternatives instead, it’s probably banned.

🔒 Premium Member Resources

Premium members get the tools to put this advice into practice: A Claude skill that checks your content and hashtags before you post, plus a pre-publish checklist.

To endless possibilities,

Casandra

🔒 Premium Members: Scroll to the bottom to access the Instagram optimization checklist, an Instagram content optimizer Claude skill, and a hooks library and hooks writer Claude skill.

If you’re having trouble growing your Instagram account, you’ll want to read this.

There are only two ways to grow your Instagram account:

1. You can pay for followers through ads or shoutouts. (Please don’t pay for followers directly; it’s always a scam).

2. You can grow organically…if the Instagram algorithm lets you.

Whether you choose to invest money in Instagram growth or not, you need to grow organically for Instagram to be a sustainable marketing channel.

The Instagram algorithm is the arbiter of organic growth. It decides how many people will see your content and who those people will be. Even among your own followers!

Today, I’ll share key insights into how the Instagram algorithm works and recommendations for optimizing your content accordingly.

Instagram’s ad business is massive. Instagram generated an estimated $86.3 billion in revenue in 2025.1 That’s more than YouTube. And more than TikTok, Twitter, Snapchat, and Pinterest…combined.

Instagram is a lucrative ecosystem governed by an algorithm. If you want to tap into it, read on to learn what works.

As usual, we’ll start with the recommendations before taking a more detailed look at how the Instagram Algorithm functions.

What are the Different Types of Instagram Content?

Instagram has three content formats: feed posts, stories, and reels.

• Feed posts: Instagram feed posts are permanent images or videos displayed on a user's profile grid, typically showcasing curated content or highlights.

• Reels: Instagram reels are short, entertaining videos offering a platform for users to create and discover engaging content in a TikTok-like format. Reels can also be shared as feed posts.

• Stories: Instagram stories are short-lived posts that disappear after 24 hours, often used for sharing ephemeral moments or updates. You can also share your feed posts and reels to stories.

Only feed posts and reels are eligible to be recommended to people who don’t follow you.2 Stories reach your existing followers only, so feed posts and reels are the formats that grow your account. Reels are the biggest opportunity of the three: They already accounted for half of all time spent on Instagram by 2024.3

20 Content Recommendations Based on the Instagram Algorithm Ranking Factors

People spend a lot of time on Instagram. That’s how it generates so much ad revenue.

Given that Instagram makes money from selling advertising impressions, it’s not hard to guess what Instagram’s number one goal is: maximize how much time users spend on the platform. The more time users spend on the platform, the more ads they see, the more money Instagram makes.

Keep this in mind as you review the recommendations. Everything adds up to keeping users on the platform longer. In fact, this is why so much attention is focused on Reels. Reels take longer to consume because they are videos and are typically more entertaining.

If you can help Instagram keep people around with your content, you will be rewarded with engagement and followers, which you can monetize, too.

1. Don’t waste time creating content for stories until you have at least 1,000 followers.

Stories are only shown to your followers and are difficult for followers to share. Posting stories is great for engaging your current follower base but it won’t help you reach new followers. Your time is better spent elsewhere until you have followers to engage with.

Once you have a few hundred followers, you can share your feed posts and reels to stories to ensure they see them, but don’t bother creating content just for stories until you reach 1,000 followers.

2. If you run a giveaway, ensure entrants are required to tag other users in the post.

Instagram giveaways grow your account through tagging, not through the algorithm. Instagram’s recommendation guidelines used to list contests and giveaways as content it avoided recommending to new users. The current guidelines have dropped that language, but a giveaway post still rarely earns the watch time and shares that recommendations are built on. Require entrants to tag a friend on the post (in addition to following you, of course). This will expose your post to the tagged users, creating a viral effect that can help with account growth.

3. Recreate content rather than reposting.

The algorithm disincentivizes content that is repurposed from another source without adding value. The Instagram algorithm will not recommend content that is reposted without any material change. You’ll always get better results by recreating content you want to repost instead. Take the parts you like about it and make it your own. For example, you could add additional context to your post or adapt the design to appeal to your audience.

Instagram tightened this rule in 2026. The originality policy now covers photos and carousels, not just reels: If you mostly share content from others that you didn’t make or meaningfully edit, your account won’t be recommended to people who don’t follow you.4 Instagram’s examples of edits that aren’t enough include borders, watermarks, purely descriptive captions, and simply crediting the original creator.5 Instagram also offers a test you can apply yourself: If someone removed your contribution from your post, would the content basically be the same? If so, it needs more of you in it.

4. Avoid creating content about ineligible topics.

Some topics are never eligible to be recommended to new users, including content that discusses self-harm, suicide, or eating disorders, trivializes death or depression, depicts violence, is sexually explicit or suggestive, promotes regulated products, or promotes weight loss products and cosmetic surgeries.

If your niche is adjacent to any of the ineligible topics, make sure to read the detailed section on how recommendations work so you can stay compliant. This doesn’t mean you can’t post about these topics, but only your followers will be eligible to see them if you do.

5. Include hashtags to help the algorithm categorize your content properly.

Instagram uses hashtags to understand what your content is about, not to decide how far it travels. Adam Mosseri, the head of Instagram, has said directly that hashtags don’t increase reach, and Instagram now limits posts to five hashtags.6 Choose a few that describe your topic accurately and skip the rest. My guide to Instagram hashtags covers how to pick ones with engagement potential.

Topic categorization has never been more important. Instagram’s Your Algorithm feature lets users see and adjust the topics shaping their recommendations across Feed, Reels, and Explore, and recommended posts now carry labels like “From Running” or “From Street Style.” Your content can only match a topic a user has chosen if the algorithm can tell what your content is about. Use clear keywords in your captions, your on-screen text, and the words you say out loud in your reels.

6. Encourage comments to improve engagement.

How much and how quickly users engage with your post will affect its ranking and recommendation. Encourage commenting to drive this engagement.

You can encourage commenting directly by asking your audience a question, but you can also do it indirectly by baiting people into commenting. For example, if you’re speaking to the camera but your cat is being cute in the background, people might jump in to comment on the cat. Or if you are walking and talking but actually you are walking backward without mentioning why, people might jump in to point out the strange behavior.

7. Hook viewers in the first three seconds of your reel.

Instagram has stated that consistently posting reels is the best way to grow an account. But the algorithm is ruthless about the opening seconds. One of the predictions Instagram’s ranking system makes about every reel is how likely a viewer is to watch less than three seconds of it, and skips within the first two seconds count against you.7 Completion is graded on a curve, too: The system tracks whether viewers watch more of your reel than 95% of people who watched reels of the same length.

The old 90-second ceiling is gone: Instagram extended reels to three minutes in January 2025 after feedback that 90 seconds was too short.8 The length of a reel is still one of the input signals the ranking system weighs, so make your reel as long as you can hold attention, and not a second longer.

8. Add something new when you remix reels.

Reels can be “remixed” by reposting them with fresh content at the end or during the reel. Some “gurus” recommend remixing reels by adding a few seconds of blank screen at the end, but the algorithm does not recommend reposted content unless there is a significant change. Make sure you actually add something new for the best results.

9. Always include audio in your reels.

The algorithm deprioritizes muted reels without audio,9 and the reels ranking system tracks how often a reel is viewed with the sound on.10 Make sure your reel has audio, even if it’s just some simple background music.

10. Use trending audio in reels to get users to visit the audio page.

The algorithm favors reels that drive visitors to visit the audio page because those visitors are more likely to make their own reels. And Instagram wants that. The more reels there are, the more time people spend watching them (and the ads in between). When audio is trending, it means a lot of people like it and want to use it. By using trending audio yourself, you can increase the likelihood that viewers of your reel will visit the audio page.

11. Use unique audio in reels to get users to visit the audio page.

Audio page visits are a direct ranking signal. The reels ranking system predicts how likely a viewer is to use your reel’s audio in a reel of their own, tracking who clicks the audio link and who taps “Use audio” after that.11 If you can create a really interesting and unique audio effect for your reels, that may entice viewers to click through and use it as well. For example, maybe you’re one of the first people to start using a funny quote from a new episode of a popular TV show.

12. Add audio to carousel posts.

Photos and carousels with music are eligible to appear in the Reels tab.12 This means they’re more likely to be seen by people who don’t follow you. Carousels also get multiple chances to rank: Slides your followers didn’t swipe through are treated as new content and may be resurfaced to them later, picking up where they left off.

13. Make reels highly relatable to encourage sharing.

Reels that are shared are more likely to be recommended. Send rate, meaning sends per person reached, is one of the three metrics Adam Mosseri says to watch when optimizing for reach, alongside average watch time and like rate.13 To increase the likelihood that your reels are shared, make them highly relatable to a specific audience.

Informative content earns sends, too. One of the signals Instagram uses to predict DM shares is whether a post is informative, like news, product reviews, tutorials, and how-tos.14

14. Make your reels controversial to increase watch time.

People are far more likely to comment on and react to posts that contradict their beliefs, especially when their core values feel challenged.15 Reels watched all the way through are likelier to get engagement in the comments. While people read or write comments, your reel still plays in the background, increasing watch time.

15. Make sure your reel fills the screen.

Reels with borders are less likely to be recommended because they don’t provide a great viewing experience for users.16 Make sure you film vertically and fill up the entire screen to optimize for both the algorithm and engagement.

16. Make sure your reel isn’t pixelated or blurry.

Footage in reels shouldn’t be blurry or pixelated because the algorithm is less likely to recommend low-resolution reels.17 This doesn’t mean you need an expensive camera. Smartphones will work for most things, but make sure you’re shooting close enough, with enough light, and in the right mode to make it a pleasant viewing experience.

17. Skip watermarks and avoid heavy text on reels.

If the reel has a watermark or too much text, the Instagram algorithm will assume it does not offer a great viewing experience. Both are negative ranking factors and may reduce the likelihood of your reel getting seen.18

18. Test new content ideas with trial reels.

Trial reels are shared with non-followers only, so you can see how a reel performs before your audience ever sees it. Instagram shows the trial to people who don’t follow you and reports back on views, likes, comments, and shares. A trial that performs well can be shared with everyone, and a flop disappears without cluttering your grid or dragging down your engagement. Trial reels are the lowest-risk way to experiment with new hooks and formats.

19. Balance experimenting with doubling down on what works.

Recommendation algorithms constantly test new content against proven performers, and the creators who grow treat their own accounts the same way. Spend part of your posting schedule experimenting with new hooks, topics, formats, and tone, measure which ones earn saves, shares, and watch time, and repeat your winning patterns while you keep testing. My guide to explore-exploit algorithms covers how to run this system on your own content.

20. Create serial content to turn viewers into followers.

Serial content splits a story or challenge into parts, like “day one of turning my garden shed into a studio.” A series gives viewers a reason to follow you so they don’t lose the thread. It also compounds through recommendations: Watching a reel all the way through is one of the strongest ranking signals, and the reels system feeds viewers more content similar to what they’ve recently engaged with.19 People who finished part one keep getting served part two and part three, even before they follow you.

Demystifying the Instagram Algorithm

If you want Instagram to promote your content, you need to understand how the content ranking algorithm works.

Each section or content type on Instagram has its own algorithm, which optimizes for different things based on user expectations:20

• Feed: “Feed is your personalized home base within Instagram to help you catch up with friends, family, and interests.”

  • Feed content includes:

    • Content from the accounts you’ve chosen to follow.

    • Recommended content from accounts Instagram thinks you’ll enjoy.

    • Ads.

• Stories: “Stories are a way to share everyday moments and grow closer to the people and interests you care about.”

  • Stories content includes:

    • Stories you see are from people you’ve chosen to follow.

    • Ads.

• Explore: “Explore was designed to help you discover new things.”

  • Explore content includes:

    • Recommendations from accounts you don’t yet follow while considering the recommendation guidelines.21

• Reels: “Reels are also designed to help you discover new things, with an emphasis on entertainment.”

  • Reels content includes:

    • Recommendations from accounts you don’t yet follow while considering the recommendation guidelines.22

How Instagram Ranks Recommended Content

Both feed posts and reels are subject to the same recommendation guidelines. While posts from people you follow may break some of these rules (you have chosen to follow them and can choose to unfollow them), recommended content is held to a higher standard.

Meta explains how the AI system behind each surface selects and ranks content, including the input signals it weighs and the predictions it makes about each viewer.23 For the feed, ranking works in four steps:

1. Gather available posts: The system collects the potential posts it could show you, starting with accounts you follow, and removes anything that goes against the Community Guidelines.

2. Weigh the signals: The system considers input signals about each post, such as who created it and what type of content it is. A lightweight model narrows the pool to roughly 700 of the most relevant posts, and integrity processes that limit problematic content trim the pool further.

3. Make predictions: Prediction models estimate what you’ll find most valuable, including how much time you’ll spend on a post, whether you’ll share it in a DM, whether you’ll swipe through a whole carousel, and whether you’ll turn the sound on for a video.

4. Rank posts by score: The system calculates a relevance score for the roughly 500 posts that remain and orders your feed by it, while balancing the mix of content types.

The reels feed runs on the same architecture with a pool of about 100 of the most relevant reels at a time.24

Adam Mosseri has named the three metrics to watch if you’re optimizing for reach: Average watch time for reels, like rate (likes per person reached), and send rate (sends per person reached).25 Look for patterns in your own insights so you can repeat what works.

Three categories of content may not be eligible for recommendations:26

• Content that impedes Instagram’s ability to foster a safe community:

  • Topics like self-harm, suicide, eating disorders, violence, sexually explicit or suggestive content, and regulated products.

  • Content that trivializes death or depression.

  • Content that promotes weight loss products or cosmetic surgeries.

• Content that is low-quality or associated with low-quality publishing:

  • Unoriginal content that is largely repurposed from another source without adding any material value.

  • Long captions unrelated to the underlying content.

  • Coordinated comment networks intended to artificially drive engagement.

• False or misleading content:

  • Claims rated false by independent third-party fact-checkers, in countries where Meta supports fact-checking.

Instagram also avoids recommending entire accounts, not just individual posts. An account that recently violated the Community Guidelines, repeatedly posted non-recommendable content, built its following through misleading practices like purchasing likes, or has been banned from running ads won’t be suggested to new users.

Reels also have some additional considerations:

• Reels are prioritized when the reels system predicts users will:27

  • Reshare the reel or share it off Instagram.

  • Watch past the first three seconds and keep watching longer than most viewers of same-length reels.

  • Comment on the reel.

  • Use the reel’s audio in a reel of their own.

  • Follow the reel’s author.

• Reels de-prioritization factors:28

  • Low-resolution

  • Watermarked

  • Muted

  • Contain borders

  • Majority text

  • Have already been posted to Instagram

🔒 Premium Member Resources

Premium members get the tools to put this article into practice: A pre-publish checklist plus Claude skills that check and improve your Instagram content for you.

You’re now an Instagram algorithm expert! Remember social media algorithms get updated over time to account for new variables. I’ll continue to update this article when things change.

To endless possibilities,

Casandra

Are you a content creator? Did you know most online content never gets seen?

Hey, I’m Casandra. In the next few minutes, I’ll tell you the secret to making sure readers and viewers stop scrolling past your content and start engaging with it instead.

Here’s the problem: Every day, hundreds of millions of new pieces of content are created online, including articles, videos, and social media posts. In fact, 65K Instagram posts, 350K tweets, and 1.7 million Facebook posts are shared every minute!1

There’s more competition for attention than ever, and it’s nearly impossible to stand out. This means all the time you spend creating something genuinely helpful, entertaining, or inspiring is wasted.

Luckily, there’s one simple tactic you can use to make sure your content stands out and gets the attention it deserves: add a compelling hook. Most people have no idea how to do this, or even that they should do it.

Let me introduce you to the 200 Proven Hooks Cheat Sheet.

• 200 hook templates you can steal to hook readers so they stop scrolling and actually look at your content.

• These hooks leverage behavioral psychology and are taken from viral real-world content, so they’re proven to work.

• Every hook can be modified for any niche or topic.

• Each hook has an example so you can see how to modify it.

• Every template is tagged by archetype (10 in total), emotional trigger, and tone, so you can find the right hook for any situation fast.

• These hooks can be used anywhere you want to grab attention, including:

  • As headlines and titles.

  • At the beginning of articles, emails, and sales letters.

  • In memes, infographics, and advertisements.

  • On social media and in videos.

I spent the past 17 years creating online content for brands of all sizes, including for huge brands like Shopify. After creating thousands of pieces of content to drive millions of pageviews, I’ve figured out what works and what doesn’t.

The most successful content has one thing in common: a strong hook.

A hook is a single sentence you can use to capture attention and create curiosity. The point of a hook is not to sell or convert. It’s to draw people in.

A strong hook is:

• Intriguing: It should spark curiosity and make the reader want to know more.

• Relevant: It should be directly related to the topic of your content.

• Clear: It should be easy to understand and straight to the point.

• Compelling: It should make the reader want to stay with you so they can learn more.

Writing compelling hooks is crucial for success, and many content creators will tell you they spend more time on the hook than anything else.

I created this cheat sheet so you can start writing strong hooks in minutes instead of hours.

Whenever you create a new piece of content, all you have to do is skim the cheat sheet and find the hook that works best. The more you do this, the more you’ll start coming up with great hooks on your own.

The cheat sheet also comes with two Claude skills that put it to work for you.

Premium subscribers get access to the RGBI MCP server, which turns the full 200-hook catalog into two skills you can use right inside Claude:

Hook Writer writes finished hooks for your content. Share your topic or a rough draft, and it diagnoses what the piece needs to earn the click, selects the best templates from the catalog, and delivers several finished hooks, each tied to a named pattern. You can also paste a hook that already performed well, and it will break down the pattern underneath so you can repeat it.

Hook Library is the queryable version of the cheat sheet. Filter by archetype, emotional trigger, tone, or style, or search across all 200 templates and their examples when you want inspiration or need to study a format.

Every hook the Writer produces is anchored to a named pattern with a worked example in the Library. When a hook performcs, you’ll know exactly why, and you can reproduce it again and again. Generic AI hook generators give you disconnected ideas. My Claude skills give you a repeatable system.

Here’s exactly what you’ll get:

• Access to the RGBI Claude Connector, including the Hook Writer and Hook Library skills.

• PDF download so you can access the full cheat sheet anytime, anywhere.

• Bonus spreadsheet version so you can add your own hooks, too.

• Everything is available immediately, so you can start using it right away.

• Plus full access to the Really Good Business Ideas archive and Premium perks.

  Become a Really Good Business Ideas Premium Member with a a monthly or annual subscription and get instant access to the 200 Proven Hooks swipe file.

Premium Subscribers: Access the 200 Proven Hooks Cheat Sheet Here

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A complete Notion workspace for running and growing your Substack like a pro.

• Publish more consistently with a streamlined content pipeline that eliminates chaos and guesswork.

• Grow faster by turning your ideas, posts, and outreach into a clear, trackable growth system.

• Increase your revenue with built-in tools for managing sponsors, products, and your paid subscriber strategy.

Right now, it’s free for Premium subscribers.

Starting a business on Substack is one of the most approachable ways to build something meaningful on the internet today. You don’t need a fancy funnel, paid ads, or a huge following to start earning real income from your ideas.

But it still helps to have a shortcut.

Substack Shortcut exists to make building a business on Substack simpler, faster, and more profitable.

Subscribe now

Whether you’re just getting started or you’re ready to scale, Substack Shortcut is packed with clear strategies, tested frameworks, and behind-the-scenes insights from someone who’s done it.

I’m Casandra Campbell. I’ve spent years turning ideas into income online and even helped scale Shopify to record growth. During my tenure as Managing Editor of the Shopify Blog, my data-driven approach helped increase email subscribers by 417% and customers acquired through the Shopify Blog by 278%.

Now I’m sharing everything I know about building a sustainable business on Substack.

Playbooks, guides, templates, research and analysis, and one-on-one support to help you start and grow a business on Substack.

Really Good Business Ideas is here to cut through the noise and share straightforward, research-backed, actionable advice you can’t find anywhere else.

Inside the Substack Shortcut section, you’ll find:

• Actionable strategies to grow your audience and revenue on Substack.

• Real examples and breakdowns from successful Substack creators.

• Deep dives into features like Recommendations, Notes, and custom domains.

• Templates, checklists, and monetization playbooks for Substack.

• Bonus content on staying consistent, avoiding burnout, and building a long-term writing habit.

• Unique insights from original Substack research and analysis you won’t find anywhere else.

  Subscribe now

Table of Contents

Here’s every Substack Shortcut article, organized so you can find what you need quickly.

🎁 Premium Subscribers: Scroll to the end to access bonuses like Substack datasets packed with insights, and Substack resources to help you be more effective and grow faster!

📝 General

• My introduction post on why I started Really Good Business and what to expect as a subscriber. Includes a voiceover :)

• Details on all the Really Good Business Ideas Premium perks and how to access them.

• Manage your subscription and control what emails you receive here.

🧭 Substack Strategy: Building Your Brand on Substack

Welcome to your primer for winning on Substack. Everything you need to shape your brand, sharpen your strategy, and build a sustainable publication that actually stands out.

• Why Substack publications are a great opportunity and why 2025 is the perfect time to start one.

• How to determine the best publishing schedule for your publication.

• How to write a Substack author bio that attracts followers and subscribers.

• How to write the perfect Substack short description for your publication with examples to inspire you.

• Why your about page is an important conversion tool and how to write a great one quickly.

• How to write Substack welcome emails that drive retention and engagement.

• Top Substack tips for new publishers from Substack bestsellers.

• A list of specific new Substack publication opportunities.

• A detailed comparison of Substack vs Medium and my recommendation for which to use.

• A behind-the-scenes look at my brand vault and why I recommend them.

• How and why brands are using Substack.

• How brands are using thought leadership as a Substack backdoor.

💻 Using Substack: Substack Setup and Beyond

Need help figuring out the nuts and bolts of Substack? This section is packed with tutorials and tips to help you get more out of the platform without feeling overwhelmed.

• A complete guide to customizing your Substack profile.

• All the Substack visuals you can customize with recommended specs and supported file types.

• How to create a Substack publication wordmark.

• How and why to use a custom domain with Substack.

• How to set up Google Analytics with your Substack.

• A Substack posts stats explainer.

• A Substack publication stats explainer.

• Every Substack metric explained.

• How to use Substack categories and tags to organize your publication.

• All about Substack sections and when to create a new section rather than a new publication.

• How to filter your subscribers based on which sections they subscribe to.

• How to email a segment of your subscribers and why you should.

• Specific Substack segments you should email and how to find them.

• Why “cleaning” your Substack email list might do more harm than good.

• Tactics and strategies for brainstorming content ideas your audience will love.

• How to save time and keep your content consistent with post templates.

• How to add a table of contents to your posts and why it’s a good idea.

• 12 Substack rich content features you can use to make your publication look professional.

• How to use Substack buttons for high-impact calls to action.

• How to add tables to your Substack posts (without screenshots).

• How to personalize your publication for every subscriber.

• 10 ways to use Substack’s audience-specific content blocks to personalize your publication.

• How to use Substack’s secret first name variable to greet readers by name.

• My four-layer system for backing up my Substack.

🚀 Substack Growth: Traffic, Follows, and Subscribers

Ready to grow your Substack without burning out? I’m sharing everything I know about growing a Substack. No fluff, just smart, sustainable growth.

• How you can double your Substack’s distribution by republishing on Medium.

• Six ways you can increase traffic using already published evergreen content.

• How to use your network to launch your Substack with a bang.

• A deep dive on Substack Notes.

• How the Substack Notes algorithm works.

• 10 Substack projects that will set you up for a great year ahead.

• How to use Substack’s headline a/b testing effectively, especially if you have a smaller or mid-sized publication.

• All the different ways you can collaborate on Substack and an assessment of how effective each one is.

• The exact GEO content strategy I use to get my publication recommended by LLMS, like ChatGPT.

• How the Substack leaderboards work and why they matter less than you think.

• How to use lead magnets to grow your free subscribers on Substack.

💰 Substack Monetization: Publication-Driven Revenue

Let’s talk money. If you’re wondering how much to charge, or what makes people actually upgrade to paid, or how to monetize your publication without paid subscriptions, this section is for you.

• How Substack’s pricing works and how you should think about pricing your own publication.

• How to monetize with Substack’s paid subscriber perks feature.

• The 11 different types of Substack paid subscriber perks (with examples of each).

• Everything you need to know to start monetizing your publication with affiliate marketing.

• How to monetize your Substack with course sales.

• My US-based financial tech stack that works seamlessly with Substack.

📈 Substack Research & Analysis

I used to do this work for execs; now I do it for creators. In this section, you’ll find deep dives, data-backed insights, and original research to help you make smarter moves on Substack and beyond

• A compilation of Substatic statistics and trends, including revenue, users, benchmarks, and more.

• An analysis of the average paid subscriber conversion rate on Substack.

• An analysis of 45 Substack publications likely earning more than $1M in ARR.

• An analysis of which Substack categories have the highest revenue potential and how much the top ten publications in each make.

• An analysis of the 34 publications with more than 500K subscribers.

• An analysis of the 11 types of paid subscriber perks and how often each one is used.

• Why a platform-wide Substack subscription fee is unlikely.

• What the new paid subscriptions badges mean for Substack’s future.

• Why I think Substack’s walled garden is starting to open up and what it means for publishers.

🧰 Substack Tools & Resources

For my fellow gear nerds and optimizer types: This is a living list of the Substack tools I actually use, recommend, or just think are worth knowing about.

• A big list of the best tools and resources for Substack publishers.

• All the directories you can list your newsletter in for discovery, backlinks, and to find partners and sponsors.

• The step-by-step process to create logos in Canva quickly and easily.

• How to use Ahrefs for keyword research.

• How I use Google Search Console with my Substack publication.

• A guide to optimizing your content with Search Console.

• A list of publications that pull back the curtain and share expert Substack advice.

• A big list of websites that offer free stock photography.

• A detailed comparison of which AI image generation tools create the most realistic images.

• A cheat sheet with 135 proven hooks that work for any content.

• A guide to unlocking better insights using Google Analytics with Substack.

• How to make sophisticated photo edits in seconds using natural language prompts with Nano Banana.

🎁 Premium Resources

Really Good Business Ideas Premium members can access these resources after the paywall at the bottom of this post.

The Substack Creator OS

A complete Notion workspace for running and growing your Substack like a pro.

• Publish more consistently with a streamlined content pipeline that eliminates chaos and guesswork.

• Grow faster by turning your ideas, posts, and outreach into a clear, trackable growth system.

• Increase your revenue with built-in tools for managing sponsors, products, and your paid subscriber strategy.

Right now, it’s free for Premium subscribers.

Substack Datasets

• 8K+ paid Substack publications with category information and subscriber and revenue estimates.

• 75+ reports of paid subscriber conversions, with total subscribers and paid subscribers details.

• Revenue estimates and publication data for the top 10 publications in every substack category.

• Details about the 34 most popular Substack publications, each with more than 500K subscribers.

• A database of 100+ subscription offers across categories, including price, benefits, and screenshots.

• A database of 100+ strong Substack author bios across categories.

• A database of 100+ strong Substack publication short descriptions across categories.

• A database of 500+ real examples of paid perks, organized by Substack category, paid tier, and perk type.

Substack Toolkit: Templates, Frameworks, and More

• A model for estimating Substack revenue based on different inputs.

• A checklist of everything you need to do before launching your Substack.

• A set of testimonial request templates that you can modify as needed.

• 135 hook templates that can be used in any content.

• A prompt swipe file to uncover fresh content ideas by exploring new angles, uncovering insights, so you can get unstuck without letting AI take over your voice.

• A 30-day action plan to build your audience using the Friend-of-a-Friend Framework.

• A swipe file of 100+ ready-to-use phrases to increase conversions using default opt-in psychology.

• Proven headline patterns you can test on your own audience, with examples of how to test them.

• A step-by-step worksheet to help you define your newsletter niche and positioning so you can stand out and accelerate your growth.

🎰 And That’s Not All!

I’m just getting started. Be sure to subscribe to receive access to all new Subsack playbooks, guides, analyses, and research-backed ideas as soon as they are released.

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To endless possibilities,

Casandra

PS. If you found this guide helpful, please tap the ❤️ below. It helps me out a lot! And if you know someone who could use help getting started on Substack, please share this article with them. It will help them out a lot :)

Really Good Business Ideas Premium Substack Resources

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Yup, that’s right. Many people don’t realize that you can draft and send an email to any segment of your subscribers at any time using Substack.

Emailing individual segments is crucial for building a relationship with your audience because it enables you to tailor your communications. Instead of only emailing one thing to everyone, you can contact different parts of your list for different reasons.

Tailored email will also help you maximize publication growth. Email marketing is the most important digital channel for any business because it’s the only channel where you’re not at the whim of an algorithm. It’s even more important for a newsletter business!

Substack recently made segments much more powerful, too. You used to have to rebuild your filters from scratch every time you wanted to email the same group, but now you can save a segment once and reuse it whenever you want.

How to Build a New Segment In Substack

Segments live in their own tab on the Audience page of your publication dashboard. A segment is a saved set of filters, built from criteria like paid status, activity level, signup date, or subscriber tags.

From the Segments tab, you can start with one of Substack’s templates, such as longtime free subscribers, or click “Start from scratch” to build your own.

Substack offers more than 50 different filters, and filters can be combined to build even more specific segments. Remember to scroll down to see all the options!

Each filter has its own settings. For the Subscription type filter, you can choose a modifier and a plan type.

Here are the filter settings to see only your subscribers currently in a free trial.

Once your filters are set, click Save segment and name it. Congratulations, you’ve created your first segment!

Saved segments update themselves automatically. For example, if you build a segment of paid subscribers, anyone who upgrades next week joins the segment without you needing to do anything, and anyone who cancels drops out.

You can also change a segment later. Click on a segment to open it, adjust the filters, rename it, and click Save segment to lock in your changes.

There are so many ways to segment your audience. For example, if your publication has multiple sections, you could filter your subscribers by section and again by activity to save a segment of your most engaged subscribers around a specific topic.

How to Email a Segment in Substack

Once you’ve saved your segment, it’s time to email them. Open the segment from the Segments tab, and click the checkbox next to Subscriber at the top of the list.

This will only select all the subscribers on the first page, so if your segment has more than 50 subscribers, click the Select all X link that pops up to capture the entire segment.

Once you’ve done that, it’s time to draft your email. Click the email button on the right to open up the editor.

You’ll likely notice that it looks similar to the post editor but has fewer settings. One setting you can still use is tags. While your emails will not be displayed on your publication, tags can still help organize emails so you can find them later. Tags will be especially useful for reusing email content in the future.

Once you’ve written and sent your email, you’ll see it (and its stats) in the Published tab of your posts dashboard.

How to Send a Post to a Segment on Substack

Saved segments also work with regular posts, so you can publish an article and email it to only part of your list. When you’re ready to publish, click Continue and expand the Advanced settings at the bottom of the page, check Only send to a specific audience segment, and choose your segment from the dropdown.

A post sent to a segment is still published publicly on your website and in the Substack app. Only the email and push notification are limited to the segment you choose, so segment sending makes a post targeted, not private.

What Is the Difference Between Segments and Sections on Substack?

Segments and sections both narrow down who receives an email, but the control sits in different hands. A segment is a filtered slice of your audience that you define based on subscriber data like paid status, activity, or signup date. A Substack section is a content stream within your publication that readers can opt in or out of themselves.

A section is the right tool when you regularly publish a specific type of content that only some readers want, like a podcast or a weekly link roundup, because it lets each reader manage their own inbox. A segment is the right tool when you want to send a targeted message based on what you know about your subscribers, like a win-back email to readers who stopped opening or an upgrade pitch to your most engaged free subscribers.

Congratulations! You’ve expanded your skills from being just a newsletter publisher to an email marketer, too.

Next, check out four Substack segments you should email, along with how to find them.

To endless possibilities,

Casandra

Become a Premium subscriber to access the full Substack archive and Premium Perks like my direct support.

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Did you know you can email any part of your Substack list without publishing a post?

Yet hardly any publishers are doing this!

Email marketing is the most powerful digital marketing tool available. It’s the only digital channel where you can “own your audience” and have more control over your ability to reach them. That’s why every marketer recommends building an email list, and so many of us join Substack to do just that.

So stop limiting yourself to only emailing out generic newsletter posts to your entire list.

Here are four segments you should be emailing if you want to maximize your publication’s growth. Even better, Substack now lets you save any of these as a reusable segment, so you only have to build the filters once.

Segment 1: Section Subscribers

If you use Substack Sections to structure your publication, you have a built-in way to segment subscribers by specific interests. Segmenting your subscribers by section lets you send highly relevant content only to people who have opted in to that specific category.

For example, you may want to send a promotional offer that’s only relevant to one section, or you may want to survey subscribers of a specific section to deepen your understanding of that audience.

How to Find Your Section Subscribers Segments

Read more about the different section segments you can build and how to do so in the guide below.

Segment 2: Substack Bestsellers

A Substack bestseller is an author with at least 100 paid subscribers who has opted to display their bestseller badge on their profile. The badges are colored differently depending on the author's number of paid subscribers.

Bestsellers are a useful segment to look at because any of your subscribers with bestseller badges are also Publishers! It’s always useful to learn more about the types of people who subscribe to your publication, and checking out your subscribers' publications is a great way to do so.

Unless you have a huge list, you can probably check out all your bestseller subscribers’ publications in an hour or so. But it’s not just about seeing what you can learn. It’s also to look for growth opportunities. As you go through them, make note of the following:

• Who has a publication in a niche similar to yours?

  • Who would be a good fit to swap Recommendations?

  • Who would be a good fit to guest post with?

• Who is an example of a success story for your topic?

  • Who could you interview or write about?

  • Whose post could you link to and share?

• What else can you learn about the type of people interested in your writing?

  • What trends stand out from your followers’ publications?

  • Do they have anything in common with your topic?

If you find an opportunity to collaborate with someone in this segment, send them an email (or better yet, DM them on Substack since you know they’re active).

But remember, bestsellers usually run big publications and are likely very busy, so don’t waste their time. Only reach out if there’s a strong fit, and you can assure them they’ll get value from the collaboration, too.

How to Find Your Substack Bestsellers Segment

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• They let you publish different kinds of content without trying to grow multiple publications at the same time.

• They give readers control over what shows up in their inbox.

• They let paid subscribers pay only once, even as you expand what you publish, rather than asking your most loyal readers to subscribe (and pay) again.

Less obviously, sections also segment your audience in the background.

Every time a reader opts into (or out of) a section, they’re telling you what they want and what they don’t. You’re not tagging or filtering people manually, but over time, those choices organize your subscriber base by interest on their own.

The question is how to actually see that segmentation and what to do with it.

In this guide, I’ll show how to filter your subscribers by section inside Substack, what those filters reveal, and when it makes sense to email a specific section outside of publishing a new post.

Why Filtering Your Subscribers By Substack Section Is Useful

Filtering your subscribers by section lets you:

• See how interest actually breaks down across your publication.

• Identify overlap (and separation) between different topics.

• Understand which sections attract your most engaged or committed readers.

• Understand which sections your paid subscribers are most interested in.

• Email all or a subset of subscribers of a specific section.

This is especially useful once your publication grows beyond a single, tightly focused topic. The more you expand, the more important relevance becomes, and filtering by section lets you act on that relevance right here on Substack.

How to Filter Your Substack Subscribers By Section (Step by Step)

To filter your Substack subscribers by section, start visiting your Subscribers page from the sidebar of your publication’s dashboard.

In the top right of your Subscribers page, you’ll see a “Filter” button. Click on it to expand the filter menu.

Using the “Type” dropdown on the left, scroll down and select “Section". Now you can use the remaining two dropdowns to choose which sections to filter your subscribers by.

The second dropdown lets you choose how you want to filter your section subscribers.

• Includes any of: Shows subscribers who are subscribed to at least one of the selected sections.

• Includes all of: Shows subscribers who are subscribed to every selected section.

• Includes none of: Shows subscribers who are not subscribed to any of the selected sections

The third dropdown lets you choose which sections to apply the filters to. You may select one or as many of your sections as you want.

After you’ve made your selections, click “Save changes” on the right side to update your subscriber list. The number of subscribers that meet your criteria will populate in the top left and your list will update to only show the subscribers that meet the criteria.

Here are some quick views to explore:

• By selecting each section one at a time, using the “Includes any of” or “Includes all of” filters, you can see how many people are subscribed to each individual section.

• By selecting all your sections and using the “Includes all of” filter, you can see how people are subscribed to all your sections.

When I look at how many readers are subscribed to all my sections, I can see that 97% are. Although sections are often a better choice than creating different multiple publications, if you see that the number of people who subscribe to all your sections is low, that might be a sign that your content is too diverse and multiple publications may actually make more sense for you.

You can also combine filters to get more specific. Here are three examples to get you started.

1. Compare Overlap Between Sections

To see subscribers who are only subscribed to a single section, use two filters together:

• First, using the “Section” filter type, select “Includes all of” and select the section you want to analyze.

• Then, add a second filter using the Section type and select “Includes none of” and select all your remaining sections.

After you save your changes, your subscriber list will be updated to show only subscribers who are opted into that one section and are not opted into any others. In other words, you’re looking at readers who have clearly said: this is the only content I want from you.

You can repeat this for each section to understand how big their unique, nonoverlapping audiences are.

2. Compare Paid Subscribers Between Sections

To see how many paid subscribers are subscribed to each individual section, use two filters together:

• First, using the “Section” filter type, select “Includes all of” and then select the specific section you’re analyzing first.

• Next, select the “Can see paid content” for your filter type, and then select “Is” and “True” from the remaining dropdowns.

After you save your changes, your subscriber list will update to show you how many paid subscribers are subscribed to that section, which you can compare to your total number of paid subscribers.

You can then repeat this for each section to compare and see if your paid subscribers are disproportionately interested in a specific section.

3. Compare Activity Levels Between Sections

To see which sections have the most highly engaged subscribers, use two filters together:

• First, using the “Sections” type, select “Includes all of” and the section you want to analyze.

• Next, choose the “Activity” filter type, select “Is,” and select five stars to target your most engaged subscribers.

After you save your changes, your subscriber list will update to show you only your most engaged subscribers for that section.

You can repeat this for each section and compare to see if one section has more highly engaged subscribers than the others.

The Sky’s the Limit (Almost)

There are many more options for filtering your section subscribers depending on your research goals, so don’t be afraid to play around. For example, if you have different sections targeted to different regions, you might want to filter your subscribers by region for analysis. Knowing that most of your Canadian news section subscribers live in the US might inform your content strategy, for example.

How to Email Subscribers in a Specific Section

The simplest way to email all the subscribers of a specific section is to publish a post to that section just as you normally would. You can also narrow any post’s email at publish time by expanding the Advanced settings and choosing a saved audience segment.

But what if you don’t want your email to appear on your publication as a post? For example, if you were sending a reminder email about a special offer. Or what if you only want to email a subset of a section’s subscribers? For example, to run an audience survey on your most engaged subscribers of a specific section.

Substack has a feature many writers overlook: you email a segment of Substack subscribers without publishing a post!

Emailing a specific segment of subscribers, including those from a specific section, starts by filtering your subscribers for only those you want to email.

For example, if I wanted to run an audience survey to get input on what topics the most engaged subscribers to my Substack Shortcut are interested in, I would filter my subscribers in this way:

• Sections filter type + Includes all of + The Substack Shortcut (my section for Substack content).

• Activity filter type + Is + five stars.

• Save changes.

Note: You can also save a filter combination like that one as a segment. From the Segments tab on your Subscribers page, build the same filters and click Save segment, and you can reuse the segment every time you want to reach that group. Saved segments also update automatically as subscribers’ activity and section choices change.

Now, in order to email this audience, I need to click three things:

1. Select the Subscribers checkbox at the top of your filtered list on the left side. Note that this will only select the subscribers on your first page of results.

2. Next, above your filter, you should see a message showing how many subscribers were selected (this will be your first page of subscribers only). If you have more than one page of matching results (more than 50 subscribers), you will see an option next to that message to select all the subscribers that match your filters.

   

   Once you have selected all your matching subscribers, the message will update to confirm it.

   

3. Finally, once all your matching subscribers are selected, click the Send email button in the top-right corner. You will then be taken to the email editor to draft and send (or schedule) your email.

   

   The email editor looks remarkably similar to the post editor. If you save a draft to come back to later, you’ll find it in your Posts’ Drafts folder along with an Email tag.

A Final Note on Using Section Filters Thoughtfully

Filtering subscribers by section isn’t about sending more emails. It’s about sending fewer, better ones.

Sections already ask readers to raise their hands for what they want. Filtering by section simply lets you see (and respect) those choices. Used well, it helps you understand where interests overlap, where they don’t, and where engagement and paid support are actually concentrated.

It’s a simple tool, but it supports thoughtful growth by helping you better understand and meet your readers’ needs. From there, you can personalize what each subscriber receives.

To endless possibilities,

Casandra

P.S. If you’re thinking more intentionally about your publication’s structure, the Substack Creator OS is where I keep all of this organized in one place. The content calendar makes it easy to plan by section, and connects your publishing schedule directly to growth tactics (like keyword research and promotion) and monetization strategies (like products and sponsorships).

Right now, the Substack Creator OS is free for Really Good Business Ideas Premium subscribers, so sign up today to get your copy.

Upgrade now and get instant access to the Substack Creator OS.

Subscribe now

You have a new idea, a different format, or a side thread you want to explore. And suddenly you’re wondering whether it belongs under your existing publication, or whether you need to start something entirely new.

In many cases, there’s a better option: Substack sections.

Sections exist for exactly this moment. They let you publish distinct streams of content without splitting your audience, fragmenting your brand, or forcing readers into another subscription decision they didn’t ask for.

This guide explains how sections actually work on Substack, how they differ from publications, and when using a section makes sense, so you can expand what you publish without overcomplicating your setup.

What Is a Substack Section?

A Substack section is a distinct content stream within a publication that readers can subscribe to independently. It allows them to receive only specific types of posts while remaining part of the same publication and paid subscription, rather than a separate newsletter with its own paywall.

Sections work best when you have clearly different streams of content that:

• Serve different reader needs.

• Have different formats or cadences.

• Or could make sense as standalone newsletters.

This is what makes sections so powerful: you can expand what you publish and experiment with new ideas without fragmenting your audience or asking loyal readers to subscribe (and pay) again.

However, sections should not be used for:

• Creating a stream for every topic you write about.

• Micromanaging organization.

• Fixing uncertainty about your publication’s focus.

A helpful rule: If a reader might reasonably want only this type of content, it may deserve its own section. If not, it probably doesn’t. Most Substacks work best with no more than a handful of sections. More than that is almost always a signal that tags would do the job better.

How I Use Sections with Really Good Business Ideas

I use sections for broad topics I write about frequently. That way, if I have readers who are not interested in that topic, they can easily opt out and still get the rest of my content.

Really Good Business Ideas currently has three sections.

• The Substack Shortcut, where all my Substack business content lives.

  • Why a section? Substack is one of many business topics I write about, but after noticing strong demand for my Substack articles, I started covering it more often and in more depth. I know many of my subscribers are not particularly interested in Substack, so I created a section that lets readers opt out while still receiving the rest of my business content.

• Building With AI, where content about using AI for business lives.

  • Why a section? I spend a lot of time exploring how AI can be used to help businesses succeed. Not because I’m an AI fanatic, but because it’s my job to stay on top of trends and technology. As generative AI became more useful in business, I started writing it more often. I know AI can be a polarizing topic, so I created a section that lets readers decide whether to receive these articles or not.

• Businesses to Start, where my researched business idea breakdowns live.

  • Why a section? I love to analyze and share research-based business ideas, but not every subscriber is actively looking for their next venture at any given moment. A section gives readers control over how many new opportunity breakdowns land in their inbox while they keep receiving the rest of my content.

• Really Good Business Ideas, my main section, is for everything else, including general growth and entrepreneurship content.

Sections vs Publications: How to Choose

When you’re deciding between creating a section or starting a new publication, you’re usually stuck at the same crossroads: you have a new idea, but you don’t know whether it belongs under what you’ve already built or needs to stand on its own.

This decision isn’t about how different the content feels to you. It’s about how much separation it creates for the reader: in their inbox, in their subscription list, and at checkout.

When to Create a Publication Section

• The content fits under the same overall brand or point of view.

• You want readers to pay once, not multiple times.

• Many subscribers may want this content, but not all of them.

• You’re experimenting with a new format or idea.

• You want the flexibility to grow or wind it down without major disruption.

Sections let you expand sideways without breaking trust or fragmenting your audience.

When to Create a New Publication

• The audience is meaningfully different.

• The value proposition is distinct enough to stand on its own.

• You’d feel comfortable charging for it separately and feel confident you’ll be able to maintain a decent publishing frequency.

• You want completely independent branding, positioning, and growth.

A helpful gut check: If someone happily pays for your main publication, would it feel reasonable to charge them again for this?

If yes, it may deserve its own publication. If no, it probably belongs as a section.

Click here to open the table in a new tab.

Most creators reach for a new newsletter too early.

Sections give you room to test, refine, and learn without committing to a second product. You can always spin a successful section out into its own publication later, but it’s much harder to merge things back together.

How to Manage Substack Publication Sections

Once you understand when sections make sense, the mechanics are straightforward. Substack makes it very easy to create, edit, and manage sections. Below is a step-by-step walkthrough of how to manage sections, along with the key settings that matter most.

How to Create or Edit Sections

In your Substack dashboard, click Settings, then Sections. You’ll find it listed under Content.

Click Add to create a new section, or modify an existing section by clicking Edit.

For each section you can:

• Upload a logo.

• Name the section.

• Write a description.

• Customize your email sender name.

• Choose if you want your section to appear as a menu item on your homepage.

• Choose your default subscription settings:

  • Copy your current email list to this section (yes or no).

  • Add new subscribers by default (yes or no).

How to Publish to a Section

Each post can be assigned to a section on the post’s settings page. A post can only belong to one section, and that choice determines who receives it. Note that you can always change the section assignment later, which means you can add already published posts to a new section after creating it.

Saved subscriber segments give you a second way to control who receives a post. When you publish, you can expand the Advanced settings and check Only send to a specific audience segment to limit the post’s email to a saved segment. The post is still published publicly in its section on your website and in the app, but the email and push notification are only sent to the saved segment.

How to Customize a Section’s Layout

From your Substack dashboard, click Settings, Website, and Edit theme.

Once there, click on Sections on the left, and choose any section from the dropdown on the right to customize its layout.

Right now, I have two different layouts in use for my sections. The Substack Shortcut, which has been around longer and has more content, uses the grid layout with a featured article where I have pinned a table of contents post that helps readers navigate the section archive.

Building With AI and Businesses to Start don’t have as much content or a table of contents post, so they use the list layout.

How to Segment Your Subscribers By Section

Once you’ve been using sections for a while, they start to automatically segment your audience by interest. You can filter your subscribers by section to better understand your audience’s interests and do more targeted email marketing.

Learn more about how to filter and email your subscribers by section in the guide below.

Sections also pair well with Substack’s saved segments. Section is one of the filter types you can build a segment with, so you can combine it with other filters and save the result, like readers of a specific section who have opened an email in the last 30 days. Saved segments update automatically as subscribers join or leave a section.

Segments and sections sound similar, but they solve different problems, and the two work well together. I break down the difference, along with how to email a segment directly in this article.

Sections are a way to expand what you publish without splitting your audience or your subscription.

Before starting a new newsletter, ask whether the content truly needs a separate brand, inbox, and payment, or whether a section would give readers the choice they need with far less friction.

Start simple and add sections only when they improve clarity for the reader. You can always turn a successful section into its own publication later, but it’s much harder to merge two separate things back together.

Good structure should make your Substack easier to understand, easier to manage, and easier to grow.

To endless possibilities,

Casandra

P.S. If you’re thinking more intentionally about your publication’s structure, the Substack Creator OS is where I keep all of this organized in one place. The content calendar makes it easy to plan by section, and connects your publishing schedule directly to growth tactics (like keyword research and promotion) and monetization strategies (like products and sponsorships).

Right now, the Substack Creator OS is free for annual Really Good Business Ideas Premium subscribers, so sign up today to get your copy.

✨ New: The Substack Creator OS is here!

A complete Notion workspace for running and growing your Substack like a pro.

• Publish more consistently with a streamlined content pipeline that eliminates chaos and guesswork.

• Grow faster by turning your ideas, posts, and outreach into a clear, trackable growth system.

• Increase your revenue with built-in tools for managing sponsors, products, and your paid subscriber strategy.

Right now, it’s free for annual Premium subscribers.

Have you ever wondered how many paid subscribers other publications are converting?

Substack claims that 5–10% of total subscribers is normal.1

I find this hard to believe.

So far, I have only seen two reports of a 10% paid subscriber conversion rate; both were from small publications.23

I suspect there are publications with very high paid conversion rates, but they are likely outliers with unique circumstances.

Why? Substack keeps making it easier for publications to grow free subscribers with new growth features and net

work effects. But the easier they come, the lower their intent.

What is Reader Intent?

Intent describes how motivated or engaged a reader is. If I am highly interested in what you create and it’s timely for me, I will have a very high intent. I will be very engaged, likely reading all your articles, commenting, and telling others about it. And I will be motivated to upgrade my subscription to get behind the paywall.

But if I’m only somewhat interested in your content, or it’s not timely for me, I’ll have a lower intent. I might only occasionally read articles, I might not like or comment very often, and I may not see enough value in paying for gated content.

Substack’s growth features are more likely to grow your low-intent readers than high-intent readers.

Let’s look at three features that drive network effects on Substack to understand this.

1. Substack Accounts

Once a reader has subscribed to a publication and created their account on Substack, it’s much easier for them to subscribe to new publications. If they’re logged into their account, their email address will already populate the form and all they have to do is click “Subscribe.”

But someone who only subscribed to your Substack because they already have an account has lower intent than someone who took the time to find you and write out their email address.

2. Recommendations

Many authors on Substack use the Recommendations feature to share other publications they love or as part of a collaboration between them. When readers subscribe to a publication on Substack, they will see a list of recommended publications that they can also subscribe to with one click.

But someone who only subscribed because they clicked yes to the recommendations that surfaced after subscribing to another newsletter has lower intent than someone who searched Google and found that your publication provided the answer they were looking for.

3. Notes

Substack has its own social media network called Notes. When a user sees a Note they like, instead of following the person who wrote it, they can easily click “Subscribe” directly in the feed without even looking at that person’s publication(s).

Someone who subscribes from the Notes feed has less intent than someone who reads something you posted on Reddit, navigates to your Reddit profile, clicks the link to your publication, and then subscribes.

All these growth features on Substack can help publications grow by removing friction from subscribing, but they also lower average reader intent over time.

These growth features are still useful; we wouldn’t acquire many of our subscribers without them. While they are less likely to become paid subscribers, some will, just at a lower rate than high-intent readers.

These features don’t decrease the motivation of high-intent subscribers; they just add more lower-intent subscribers to the pool. So, your average paid subscriber conversion rate will go down, but your total paid subscribers keep growing.

What Is The Typical Paid Subscriber Conversion Rate?

For the past while, every time I have found a report that shares a publication’s total and paid subscribers, I have added it to a spreadsheet.

Here’s an example from who is always very generous about sharing a behind-the-scenes look at her publication.

Using Notes, articles, Reddit posts, and more, I’ve found hundreds of reports covering the past five years from publications with less than 100 total subscribers to publications with tens of thousands of total subscribers.

This data shows that the median paid subscriber conversion rate is 3%.

My findings also match those of a writer at Journalists Pay Themselves, who said the journalists they spoke to claimed to have paid subscriber conversion rates between 2–5%.4

In my data, only 20% of publications have a conversion rate higher than 5%, which makes Substack’s claim of a 5–10% average very unlikely.

Can You Help Grow This Dataset?

The more reports we have, the more reliable this data becomes. It also allows for more detailed analysis, such as by category or publication size.

If you’re willing to share your total subscribers and paid subscribers, I’d love to include them. We can keep your publication anonymous if you prefer. In exchange, I’ll share the dataset with anyone who submits their data (even if you’re not a Really Good Business Ideas Premium subscriber).

To add your data to the set, simply send me a direct message with a screenshot from your dashboard and let me know if you want to keep your publication anonymous.

To endless possibilities,

Casandra

Paid Subscriber Conversion Dataset

As always, the dataset I created is available to Premium subscribers who want to use it for their own analysis. I’ll continue to update it with new submissions as they come in. Anonymous submissions will obviously not include the publication name.

Read more

📌 The first name variable is an unofficial feature, so it could disappear at any time. If you’re logged into Substack and you see your name after the word “Hey” below, then it’s still working.

Hey

You might be wondering why your name is showing up in my post.

It turns out Substack has a secret name variable! If you type % % first_name % % (without spaces) into the body of a post, each of your readers sees their own first name in its place.

I haven’t found this documented by Substack anywhere. They have never announced it, and there’s nothing about it in the help center, so it’s likely an accident. I’ve been testing the variable on Really Good Business Ideas, and today I’m sharing everything I know about it in this post.

What Is Substack’s First Name Variable?

The first name variable is a text placeholder that displays each reader’s first name inside the body of a Substack post, both on Substack and in the email version, using the name Substack has on file for that reader. Substack has never documented the feature, so it’s likely an accident, and it could stop working at any time without notice.

How to Add a Personalized Greeting to a Substack Post

Type the variable directly into the body of the post, exactly as written but without any spaces: % % first_name % %. I’ve only added spaces here to prevent it from rendering!

When Substack has no name to show, the variable renders as a blank space. For example, a logged-out visitor reading on the web sees nothing where the first name variable sits.

This means you might want to avoid using punctuation right after the variable so it doesn’t look like a typo to logged-out visitors. (Remember I’ve added the spaces to prevent it from rendering).

• “Hey % % first_name % %” degrades to “Hey”

• “Hey % % first_name % %,” degrades to “Hey ,”

Where Does the First Name Variable Work?

The first name variable only works in the body of a Substack post. Readers see their name (or a blank space) whether they’re viewing the post on the website, in the app, or in an email.

Everywhere else on Substack shows the raw variable text instead:

• Post titles and subtitles.

• Email subject lines.

• Notes.

• Chat.

Test emails of unpublished posts also won’t render the first name variable. A test send isn’t attached to a real subscriber, so Substack has no name to fill in. If you ever want to confirm the variable is still working before you send it, you can always come back and look for your name at the top of this post!

Accidental or not, this variable is one small piece of a much bigger personalization toolkit that Substack has been building out. I cover the whole collection of personalization features in my complete guide.

To endless possibilities,

Casandra

In reality, categories and tags sit somewhere in the middle. They don’t determine whether your writing resonates or whether your publication succeeds. But they do shape how your work is described, grouped, and understood by readers and by Substack itself.

This article is a straightforward explanation of what categories and tags actually are, how to use them without overengineering, and where people tend to misunderstand their role.

Table of Contents

• What Are Substack Categories

• What Are Substack Tags

• Categories Vs Tags At a Glance

• How to Use Categories and Tags Effectively

• Common Misconceptions About Categories and Tags

What Are Substack Categories

A Substack category is a broad label that describes your publication as a whole.

When you choose a category, you’re answering a simple question: What is this publication primarily about?

• Categories apply at the publication level, not the post level.

• They are intentionally broad.

• They are usually set once and rarely changed.

Substack has 33 categories as of September 2026. The list grows every so often, with Games being the most recent addition. You can choose two categories for your publication, but the second one is typically ignored.

Categories aren’t meant to capture every nuance of what you do. They’re meant to place your publication in the right general neighborhood.

Categories are not very visible on the platform, and readers rarely interact with them directly, but they influence how Substack organizes publications behind the scenes.

• On Leaderboards, where publications are grouped by their first category (unless Substack determines there is a more appropriate category).1

• In browsing and discovery contexts, where Substack may organize or curate publications by category.

Beyond that, categories function as internal classification metadata. They help Substack understand what kind of publication you run and how it relates to others on the platform, even when that information isn’t visibly displayed.

In other words, categories help determine where your publication belongs, not how individual posts are presented. They’re meant to be stable and descriptive, not something that changes frequently or responds to each new piece you publish.

What Are Substack Tags?

Substack tags are post-level labels used to describe, group, and organize individual pieces within a publication, without affecting subscriptions or delivery.

Think of Substack tags as the connective tissue of your publication. Tags are lightweight, flexible, and incredibly useful, especially as your archive grows.

Tags are ideal for:

• Grouping posts by topic or theme.

• Connecting related ideas across sections.

• Helping readers explore your thinking over time.

One underrated detail about tags is that each tag creates its own page.

Every time you apply a tag, Substack automatically generates an archive of all posts with that label. Over time, these tag pages become incredibly useful building blocks, especially once your archive grows beyond a few dozen posts. For example, here’s my Growth tag page.

That means tags aren’t just for organization. They’re also for navigation and internal linking, which is crucial for SEO and GEO! Every tag page effectively links related posts together without any manual effort.

• Direct readers to a tag page as a curated resource hub.

• Group related essays, tutorials, or case studies together.

• Tie paid articles into a single page without creating a separate section.

• Create an informal “series” without committing to a permanent structural change.

Instead of creating a new section for something like monetization, you might tag every relevant post with monetization and link to that tag whenever you reference related work. This intentionally connects your related content together without forcing readers into another subscription decision. For example, posts from all three of my sections are included in my Growth tag page.

This is where tags really shine: they let you build paths through your content. You’re giving readers ways to go deeper, revisit ideas, and explore everything you’ve written on a topic, whether those posts are free, paid, brand new, or years old.

Used well, tags turn your archive into an asset instead of a backlog.

Categories Vs Tags At a Glance

A simple way to think about the distinction:

• Category = what your publication is broadly about.

• Tags = what a specific post is about.

Categories are broad and stable. Tags are specific and flexible.

How to Use Categories and Tags Effectively (Without Overthinking It)

Once you understand what they’re for, categories and tags become simple to use effectively. Let’s walk through the best ways to manage them in Substack.

Choosing a Publication Category

• Pick the category that best reflects your core focus, not every topic you might touch on.

• If your work spans multiple areas, choose the one that most clearly anchors your publication.

• If you’re having trouble deciding, look at the other publications in each category's leaderboard and choose the category with the most publications you would want to collaborate with.

• Avoid switching categories frequently; it’s more likely to signal spam to Substack than help anything.

• Remember that categories are not a big growth lever. Don’t spend too much time on this or worry about getting it exactly perfect.

How to Set Your Publication Category

To set your publication category, navigate to your publication’s dashboard and select “Settings,” “Basics,” and then look for the “Categories” section.

Select the category that best matches your publication from the first dropdown, and then select the second-best category in the second dropdown. If you’re still not sure what to select, you can use Substack’s category checker to see which categories they think are a good match.

Using Post Tags Thoughtfully

• Reuse tags instead of inventing new ones every time.

• Use consistent naming (avoid near-duplicates like “art” and “arts”).

• Link to tag pages as:

  • Resource hubs.

  • Informal series.

  • Collections of paid posts.

  • Topic roundups you reference often.

Consistency matters more than completeness. A few well-used tags are more useful than dozens of one-offs.

How to Add Tags to a Post

To add tags to a post, start editing the post, click “Settings” in the bottom-right corner, then scroll down to “Add tags.” Click the down arrow to see all your existing tags or start typing to add a new one.

How to Manage Your Publication’s Tags

To manage your publication’s tags, navigate to your publication’s dashboard and select “Settings,” “Website,” and look for the “Custom tags” section. There, you’ll be able to rename, add, and delete tags, and view the URLs for your tags.

Common Misconceptions About Categories and Tags

Myth: Changing my category will improve growth.
Reality: Categories describe your publication; they don’t fix positioning or demand.

Myth: More tags mean more reach.
Reality: Tags aren’t keywords in the SEO sense. Adding more doesn’t automatically do anything.

Myth: Tags work like SEO keywords.
Reality: They don’t. Their primary job is organization and structure.

Myth: Categories and tags determine success.
Reality: They don’t. They support structure and do not replace good writing, distribution, or reader trust.

Categories and tags aren’t something to overoptimize or obsess over. They’re simple tools meant to describe what you publish and help keep things organized over time.

Choose an appropriate category, use tags consistently, then move on to the work that actually matters: publishing things worth reading and making sure people know about it.

To endless possibilities,

Casandra

P.S. If you’re thinking more intentionally about your publication’s structure, the Substack Creator OS is for you The content calendar makes it easy to map out post tags and connects your publishing schedule directly to growth tactics (like keyword research and promotion) and monetization strategies (like products and sponsorships).

Right now, the Substack Creator OS is free for Really Good Business Ideas Premium subscribers, so sign up today to get your copy!

Subscribe now

Anyone who's spent a day at the beach knows how much of a schlep it can be. Chairs, umbrellas, tents, towels, coolers, snacks, sunscreen, boogie boards. There's a lot of stuff you might need to set yourself up comfortably in the sun all day!

Now if you live at the beach like I do, you'll probably own a lot of this gear. Given the amount of time I spend there, it makes sense for me to have a lot of things that make the day more comfortable and fun, including a beach wagon to lug it all around!

But if you only go a few times a summer, you're coming on public transit, or you're hosting an event that calls for more gear than you own, the schlep stops making sense.

Over the last few years, savvy entrepreneurs have started taking note, and developing done-for-you solutions that take care of all the lugging, setup, and teardown for beach and beyond.

• In Rockaway Beach, a company called Cabana Boy will set up a tent, chairs, a cooler full of cold drinks, and even beach games like Spikeball before you arrive.

• In Montauk, Bontauk will build you a legal beach bonfire and return at the end of the night to make sure it’s safely put out and properly cleaned up.

• In NYC, Perfect Picnic’s signature Central Park picnic runs $2,800 for two, and the crew will have the linens, real glassware, fresh flowers, and a custom menu styled on the grass waiting for you.

• In Scottsdale, Valley Christmas Lights will deck out your whole house for the holidays, then come back in January to take every strand back down.

In every example, the customer is buying the same two things: access to the equipment, and the behind-the-scenes logistics. A cabana appears as if a fairy godmother arranged it, and by midnight it's gone. I call it the setup-and-teardown economy.

What Is the Setup-and-Teardown Economy?

The setup-and-teardown economy is the growing category of service businesses that deliver a fully built physical experience, then remove every trace of it once the customer is done. Operators handle the hauling, the assembly, the local permits, and the cleanup for beach days, bonfires, luxury picnics, sleepover tent parties, holiday light displays, and more.

Setup-and-teardown operators are part of the broader party rental industry, which is projected to more than double, from $19.2 billion in 2025 to $50.6 billion by 2034.

On paper, the category sounds like equipment rental, but spend a few minutes on any of these companies' booking pages, and the difference becomes obvious. A rental company rents you gear and leaves the rest to you. Setup-and-teardown companies sell the whole done-for-you experience.

Samuel Ancona ran enterprise sales at IBM before founding Santa Monica Picnic Co in 2020. As he puts it, "Getting stuff down to the beach sucks. You lose half the fun before you even start."

Why Is the Setup-and-Teardown Economy Booming Now?

Setup-and-teardown businesses are part of a bigger shift I wrote about earlier this year. Screen fatigue has hit a breaking point and people are reclaiming their time and attention through intentional offline experiences. While people crave physical experiences like a birthday party at the beach, or a game day in the park, they don’t crave all the setup and logistics required to make those days special. Paying someone to remove the friction is the fastest way to be offline and fully present.

The COVID-19 pandemic was the catalyst for this shift. In many places, outdoor gatherings were the only kind allowed in 2020, and the operators who already existed got swamped. One San Diego picnic company grew more than tenfold in a few months.

When doing this research, I expected to see this trend deflate once life went back to normal but the search data says otherwise. Take the keyword "luxury picnic." It averaged 113 US searches a month before 2020 and peaked at 5,808 in May 2021, a 50x spike. But that spike never fully receded, and the term has since settled between 1,450 and 2,700 monthly searches, which is 15–20x its old baseline!1

This category is also quite AI-proof because an LLM can’t carry a cooler across hot sand or dig a legal fire pit. The work that makes these businesses valuable happens in the physical world.

Who Pays for Setup-and-Teardown Services?

88% of consumers say they prioritize experiences over material things,2 but millennials and Gen Z are the likeliest customers for setup-and-teardown services because they spend the most on those experiences and post about the ones they attend. 79% of 18-to-35-year-olds plan to attend more live events this year,3 and 74% say in-person experiences matter more than digital ones. Millennials rent much of what previous generations owned,4 from apartments to handbags, and Gen Z leans hardest into experiences, with 86% admitting they overspend on live events, often because of FOMO.5 For customers who plan to post on social media, the setup is a crucial part of the experience. A professionally styled picnic photographs a lot better than a beach towel and a bag of chips, and unless you’re particularly talented, neighbors are much more likely to photograph a professional Christmas light display than your DIY lights.

How Big Is the Setup-and-Teardown Business Opportunity?

Santa Monica Picnic Co. has staged more than 1,500 picnics since 2020, runs a summer team of seven or eight, and is planning beach clubs ahead of the 2028 Olympics.6

One market research firm now sizes the luxury picnic segment alone at $1.8 billion in 2025, headed to $4.1 billion by 2034, with average spend per event rising from $350 to $620 between 2021 and 2025.7

The same report puts corporate bookings at 3.2x the value of consumer ones. "Company picnic planner" gets 500 searches a month at zero keyword difficulty,8 so corporate customers are also looking for this service and almost no one is competing for them.

Picnics are only one example. “Christmas light installation” gets 21K US monthly searches. Its November 2025 volume hit an all-time high, and summer 2025 volume was 4–5X that of previous summers.

How Much Money Do Setup-and-Teardown Businesses Make? (With Real Examples)

Setup-and-teardown businesses scale from seasonal side gig to full company: One Christmas light installer on Reddit reported earning $16K profit in a single two-month season,9 while the biggest light installation company I found grosses more than $800K per season.10 The difference between those two results is scale, since the biggest operators run multiple crews and fit far more jobs into the same season.

• Luxury picnics: Up to $15K a month for top founders,11 on events billing $20012 to $2,800.13

• Bonfires: $18914 to $1,30015 per fire depending on the market and package.

• Beach setups: $70–750 per booking.16

• Sleepover parties and backyard movies: $250–72517 and $449+18 per party.

• Holiday lights: $35K in one company’s first season, growing to $800K+ per season within three years.19

And believe it or not, startup costs don’t need to be high. One picnic founder started with just $300.20

Let’s let at each one in more detail before I share my step-by-step guide to starting a setup-and-teardown business.

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I disagree.

These 10 habits have made me more productive than 99% of people I know, not because I work harder, but because I’ve cut ruthlessly. Each one helps me make fewer decisions and remove noise so I can stay focused on the things that matter most.

If you want more time back, with more output and less mental clutter, this list is for you. We each have different priorities and different ways of working, so your personal list may be different, but this should give you some ideas for where to start.

1. Turn Off (Almost) All Notifications

In 2026, the average American checked their phone 186 times a day. That’s nearly every five minutes while awake.1

All that checking adds up to five hours a day on our phones, which is equivalent to 83 DAYS PER YEAR. And that’s not even counting the productivity cost of constant context switching.

Image what you could do with an extra 83 days per year.

Most people’s phones and computers are in constant alert mode. Every ping, buzz, or banner is a mini interruption, and it destroys your focus.

Here’s my rule: Only phone calls and texts are allowed to interrupt me, and usually only from people I know.

• No Slack.

• No Instagram DMs.

• No emails.

• No app notifications.

I still check those things…just when I’m ready. Usually once or twice a day, on my own schedule.

You’ll be amazed at how calm you feel when your devices aren’t constantly demanding your attention. You’ll save some time sure, but more importantly, you’ll create space to actually pause and think.

2. Get Rid of Voicemail (Or Anything You Dread Checking)

Voicemail is a productivity black hole. It’s slow, inconvenient, and usually irrelevant, but it still steals your time and mental energy.

So I got rid of it.

I disabled voicemail years ago, and guess what? Nothing bad happened. The people who really need to reach me either text, email, or call again. The rest wasn’t urgent anyway.

This same principle applies to anything you avoid checking like overflowing inbox or a random project management tool that creates more work than it saves.

If something drains your attention and adds no real value, delete it or, at the very least, auto-forward it to a system you actually use.

Most of the “obligations” we have are just default expectations we’ve never questioned.

3. Put a Timer on Social Media (Until You Break the Habit)

Social media has literally been engineered to hijack your attention.2 This is why it can easily steal hours of your day without you realizing.

When I was trying to break my social media habit, I set time limits on my phone to cap how much time I could spend on apps like Instagram. Adding a little bit of friction made a huge difference. Sure I could I also go change the timer, but what I really needed was something to interrupt the mindless scrolling.

Now? I rarely need the timer. My impulse to scroll is pretty much gone because I retrained my brain to stop opening social media automatically every time I was between tasks.

Some people choose to quit social media cold turkey and if you’re feeling drawn to doing that, I’m certainly not going to talk you out of it. But if you’re just looking to renegotiate your relationship with social media rather than eliminate it entirely, focus on interrupting your default behavior. Adding a little structure in the form of limits help you break bad habits. Once you have, you’ll be in a better position to so social media more consciously.

On Android, you’ll find this feature in your settings under “Digital Wellbeing,” and on iPhone, you’ll find it in your settings under “Screen Time.”

Note: If you do need to use social media for work, try posting through a third-party tool that acts as a buffer… like, say, Buffer. It keeps you out of the doomscroll so you can stay focused on the work.

4. Forget About Inbox Zero

Inbox zero is one of those productivity myths that feels virtuous but often turns into a giant time suck.

I don’t bother because the truth is, most emails don’t need a reply. And definitely not a fast one.

I check my email a few times a week. I respond if it’s necessary, and let the rest pile up. If something’s really important, the sender can either follow up or find another way to reach me.

Your inbox is not your to-do list. It’s a stream of other people’s priorities, and it’s making you stressed and less effective.

In a UC Irvine study, workers with constant access to email switched screens twice as often and had consistently elevated heart rates, both signs of increased stress. When email was removed, they focused longer and felt significantly calmer.34

Let go of the idea that a clean inbox means you’re on top of things. It usually just means you’re busy reacting rather than actually doing the work that matters.

In Gmail, you’ll find this feature in your settings under “Filters and Blocked Addresses.”

Note: If there are emails you absolutely don’t want to miss, set up filters so they land somewhere you’ll actually notice them, like a VIP inbox or a folder with a special label.

5. Automatically Filter Your Emails

If you’re manually sorting your inbox, you’re wasting time.

I set up filters to handle everything that doesn’t need my attention right away: newsletters, receipts, system alerts, random updates, etc. They skip my main inbox and land in folders I review if and when I want to. I even have some receipts automatically forwarded to my bank for automatic transaction matching.

With filtering set up, the stuff that does hit my primary inbox is more likely to be real messages from real people, and things that actually require a decision or action.

Let the robots sort the noise so your brain doesn’t have to.

It’s not perfect; some unimportant things will still slip through the cracks. But it’s not worth trying to sort through everything manually in the off-chance that you miss something. It fill find you eventually.

6. Batch Similar Tasks

Repeat after me: multitasking is not efficient! Although it can feel like you’re doing more, every time you switch contexts, you pay a mental tax that directly impacts you’re focus and effectiveness.

A UC Irvine study found it takes over 23 minutes to fully refocus after an interruption. Not only that, but people rarely return straight to their original task. They often bounce to two or three unrelated things first, or worse, forget to go back entirely.5

So instead of bouncing between unrelated tasks all day, I group similar ones together:

• Email: I check email intentionally throughout the day rather than receive constant notifications every time a new email comes.

• Admin work: Admin work is sometimes the most tedious so it often piles up but I I find it’s easier to sit down and bang it out in one go while listening to a good playlist and maybe rewarding myself with little treat for motivation.

• Content creation: I set aside dedicated time for content rather than working in short bursts because I need to need enough time to get into flow state to really be effective.

• Errands: Errands can be a big time suck when you keep having to leave the house or office to do something. Combining errands into a single outing means like time wasted on travel and other asks get interrupted as often.

Put simple, batched work enables you find deeper focus which leads to better work in less time.

Life happens and you won’t always be perfect, but even starting to batch a few tasks can make a huge difference.

If your days feels scattered or you struggle to focus, try picking one type of task and dedicating a specific block of time to it.

7. Declare Tab Bankruptcy Every Morning

If you start your day by reopening yesterday’s tabs, you’re starting with yesterday’s priorities when you should be starting with today’s.

So I don’t start my day this way.

Every morning, I close all my browser tabs without any guilt. If something was really that important, I’ll most likely remember it. And if I forget, it’ll probably pop up in some other way.

This small ritual helps me reset my mental slate and get focused right away. Instead of playing catch-up, I’m spending my time on today’s priorities.

Tab clutter = brain clutter. Get rid of both.

8. Choose One Important Thing Every Day

Before I check email, messages, or anything reactive, I decide on one high-leverage task I want to move forward that day.

Not five things or a full to-do list.

One thing.

That thing becomes the anchor for my day. It’s the thing that, if I finish it, I’ll feel like I actually made progress.

In modern life, most of are days are full of noise, obligations, and distractions. Choosing one important thing is how I make sure the day doesn’t get away from me.

9. Delegate, Delay, Delete

Every Sunday, I review my calendar for the week, not to admire how busy I am, but to create space.

I look at every meeting, call, or commitment and ask:

• Can I delegate this?

• Can I delay it?

• Can I delete it altogether?

This isn’t about avoiding work! It’s about protecting time for the most important stuff: deep work, creative focus, rest and recovery.

Because every “yes” you leave on your calendar comes with a hidden cost: It’s time you can’t spend on real priorities. Time you won’t get back.

Calendars have a way of filling up on their own so this habit is a great way to fight back.

Time is your most limited resource. Value it accordingly!

10. Stick to Just-In-Time Learning

If you’re an ambitious person with a growth mindset, you probably love to learn.

Guilty. ✋

But it’s easy to drink from the firehose of information, and if you’re not careful, you’ll drown in stuff you don’t actually need.

When you come across an amazing resource, ask yourself: Is this useful right now? If not, bookmark it or let it go.

If you’re anything like me, this is hard because you’re worried about missing out on knowledge, but the learning and development happens from doing.

Stick to learning what you need to know as you need to know it.

For example, if you’re about to set up a new Instagram account, now is the time to learn how to create content that the Instagram algorithm will love. Not before.

Which Habits Will You Dare to Try? 😏

Most productivity advice is about squeezing more into your day.

My advice is the opposite: focus on clearing space to think, build, rest, and actually live.

You don’t need to be perfect. These 10 habits are about being intentional and adjusting as you go to find better focuses so you can 10X your progress.

If you feel overwhelmed, pick just one to try this week. You’ll be surprised how much time you can reclaim when you stop letting default settings run your day.

To endless possibilities,

Casandra

Substack doesn’t. 😒

If you’ve ever tried to include a table in your Substack post, you’ve probably run into the same frustrating options:

• Upload a blurry screenshot.

• Try to hack something together with spacing (that breaks on mobile).

• Just skip the table entirely.

But tables are too useful to give up on entirely. Whether you’re comparing prices, summarizing research, or laying out pros and cons, a good table makes your post clearer, more professional, and easier to read.

Luckily, there’s a better way…and it’s free.

Why Use Tables in Your Substack Posts

Tables are one of the simplest ways to organize any structured information, not just numbers.

Whether you’re writing about business trends, wellness routines, or research insights, tables can help you:

• Compare pricing plans or product features.

• Summarize pros and cons.

• Lay out a publishing schedule or project roadmap.

• List tools, resources, or reading recommendations.

• Highlight before-and-after results or milestones.

Unlike plain text or long paragraphs, tables make it easy for readers to scan, compare, and understand key points at a glance. They add structure to your writing and boost credibility, especially when you’re sharing data-backed ideas or helping readers make informed decisions.

If you’re writing posts that include options, rankings, or breakdowns, chances are a table will make your content clearer and more impactful.

The Problem: Substack Doesn’t Support Tables

Despite being a go-to platform for writers, Substack still doesn’t offer a native table block in its editor. That means you can’t just insert a table the way you would in Google Docs, Notion, or WordPress.

That leaves you with three main options, none of them great:

• Skip the table entirely → Your post lacks structure.

• Use spacing to fake a table → Breaks on mobile and is difficult to read.

• Paste a screenshot → Loses accessibility, readability, and SEO value.

If you want to present your data in a way that’s readable, responsive, and searchable, you need something better.

Why Screenshots Don’t Cut It

Screenshots might feel like the easiest fix. Just snap your table and upload it as an image, right? But they come with serious trade-offs.

• They’re not accessible: Screen readers can’t interpret images of text, so your table becomes invisible to anyone using assistive tech.

• They’re not mobile-friendly: What looks fine on your desktop might shrink down to an unreadable blur on a phone.

• They’re bad for SEO (and AI readability): Search engines, Substack’s discovery tools, and AI assistants typically can’t read the text inside images. If your key data is in a screenshot, it likely won’t show up in search results or summaries.

• They’re hard to update: If you make a typo or want to update the numbers later, you’ll need to recreate and re-upload the image.

Screenshots are static, limited, and outdated. Fortunately, there’s a better (and free) way, and it only takes a few minutes to set up.

The Better Way: Use Datawrapper to Embed Responsive Tables

Instead of screenshots, use Datawrapper, a free tool that lets you create beautiful, responsive tables you can embed right into your Substack post.

It takes just a few minutes and works seamlessly on both desktop and mobile. Best of all, you can update the data anytime without editing your post; the embed stays live and up to date.

1. Start using Datawrapper for free.

Go to datawrapper.de and click Start creating.

2. Upload your data.

If you’ve already created your data in a spreadsheet, you can upload or link it now, but you can also add your data directly to Datawrapper.

To add your data manually, write each row of your table on a new line, with a semicolon between each cell. The first row will be used as your column headers.

3. Check your data.

Next, Datawrapper will show you your data in table format so you can confirm everything looks as it should. It you see any issues, navigate back to the “Upload Data” tab to fix them before moving on.

4. Select table as your chart type.

Next, select your chart type, in this case: Table.

5. Customize your table.

This is where Datawrapper excels. There are many features you can use to customize Datawrapper charts, but these are the most important ones to look at for your tables.

Refine Table: Since I’m not using any numerical data, I turned off “Make sortable” for each column so users can’t change the row order of my table.

Annotate Table: In the Annotate tab, fill in your table’s Title and Byline.

Layout Settings: Finally, I turned off the download and share buttons on my table since I don’t want people using it without my permission.

6. Publish and get your embed link

Once everything looks good, click Proceed to publish your chart. You’ll be prompted to create an account, but since I already have an account, I simply logged in.

After you’ve created your account, click Publish now. You’ll receive a simple URL that you can paste directly into the Substack editor to embed your table.

6. Paste the embed link in Substack

Now all you have to do is navigate to where you want your table to appear and paste the link! Substack will take care of the rest.

Your table will look professional on both web and mobile, and will give your readers the ability to sort and interact with the data, all without breaking your post layout.

Here’s the live version of the table we just built!

Better Tables Make Better Posts

Substack might not support tables out of the box, but that doesn’t mean your content has to suffer.

With Datawrapper, you can:

• Share clean, readable tables.

• Let readers sort, scan, and explore your data.

• Keep your content accessible, mobile-friendly, and SEO-friendly.

So next time you’re tempted to upload another table screenshot…don’t, and use Datawrapper instead.

To endless possibilities,

Casandra

Still, managing content access has historically had a lot of limitations on Substack. Yes, you could set a whole post to free, paid, or founding-only, or start a post free and add a paywall partway through, but that was the extent of the control. The mid-post paywall, where everything above it stays public, and everything below it locks, is crude. Everything below the paywall locks with it, including signoffs and footnotes that should be accessible by all readers.

Substack has finally made it possible to show each subscriber tier something different inside the same post. A new feature called audience-specific content opens up a world of possibilities for content personalization, from converting first-time visitors to rewarding your most loyal subscribers.

What Is Audience-Specific Content?

Audience-specific content is a set of blocks publishers can use to show different content to different subscriber tiers within a single post.

Substack splits your readers into four groups: Not subscribed, Free subscribers, Paid subscribers, and Founding subscribers, and each one can see unique content. The blocks handle the same content as the rest of the editor, so text, images, embeds, and anything else you’d normally add all work. You can add these blocks to any post type, so even a podcast or video post can carry tier-specific notes or links alongside the media. You can also add a For everyone else block as a fallback for anyone outside the group you picked. RSS feeds and search engines only see the Not subscribed version, so whatever you put there is what shows up in search and in the feed.

How to Add Audience-Specific Content

Setting up your first block takes less than a minute.

Open a draft, click More in the editor, choose Audience-specific content, and select Custom.

Use the audience drop-down to choose a tier, and add your content to the block. Add a For everyone else message for readers outside that group.

Finally, click Preview to confirm what each tier sees before you publish.

You can also save any audience-specific block you build as a reusable template, so you can add the same personalized content to future posts with just a couple of clicks.

10 Ways to Use Audience-Specific Content

There are many ways you can use these content blocks to convert new readers, serve your existing subscribers, reward and grow your base, or sell your products, but these are some of my favorites.

1. Build a Native Lead Magnet

A lead magnet is a free resource, like a checklist or an ebook, that readers get in exchange for subscribing. With audience-specific content, you can deliver a lead magnet directly within the post. Non-subscribers see a description of the resource and a subscribe button, while free subscribers see the actual file instead. As soon as non-subscribers click the subscribe button, they’ll see the lead magnet, too, meaning they can get instant access without leaving Substack or waiting for a confirmation email.

Need lead magnet ideas? Subscribe to get instant access to my free swipe file of really good lead magnets from 25 different niches!

Subscribe now

2. Warm Readers Up Before Your Paywall

When a new reader who just discovered your publication hits a hard paywall, they’re unlikely to pay. At this stage they barely know who you are and they haven’t built enough trust in your publication yet. You can soften that ask by adding a step in between. Show non-subscribers a preview with a call to action to subscribe for free to keep reading, while free subscribers see the rest of the post. Now you’re giving new readers a reason to subscribe without overreaching. Once they’re already on your list, you can make the case for a paid upgrade later.

3. Give Every Tier Its Own Call to Action

Each reader is at a different stage of awareness and interest in your publication, and the best next call to action depends on where they are right now. A non-subscriber can't upgrade to paid yet, and a paying member has no reason to see a subscribe button. With audience-specific content, you put a different call to action in the same spot for each tier. For example, non-subscribers see a subscribe button, free readers see an upgrade nudge, paid members get a referral ask, and founding members get a bonus. Everyone sees the best next step for them, with no wasted attention on asks meant for someone else.

4. Show Social Proof to Cold Readers Only

Testimonials and other forms of social proof do their best work on people who haven't subscribed yet. Add that content to a block that's only visible to the Not subscribed group. Your subscribers have already bought in, so there's no reason to keep selling them.

5. Add a “Who I Am” Intro for Cold Traffic

When a post takes off and gets shared a lot, most of the new readers landing on it have no clue who you are. A short block for non-subscribers can introduce you while your subscribers (who already know you) skip right past it. A post that starts off with an introduction is much better positioned to convert that increased traffic into subscribers. A post that skips the intro risks leaving thousands of strangers confused about where they are and why they should care.

6. Personalize Your Welcome or Table of Contents Post

Plenty of creators pin a "start here" post to help new readers get their bearings, and longtime readers access their archive more easily. Show non-subscribers the full pitch for who you are and why they should subscribe, and show existing subscribers a warmer note that points them toward your best work. The same pinned post works as a sales page for strangers and a signpost for the people who already follow you.

7. Help Existing Subscribers Manage Their Subscription

Breaking your publication into Sections lets readers manage their subscriptions based on interests. They can receive emails for the Sections they’re interested in and skip others. But plenty of subscribers never realize this is an option. To highlight this feature, create a Not subscribed block with your subscribe call to action, and then use the For everyone else block to show current subscribers how to manage their section subscriptions. This typically makes the most sense at the top or bottom of your posts.

8. Reward Your Founding Subscribers

Your founding subscribers pay you the most, but they rarely get acknowledged for it. Share an early-access link or write a quick thank-you that only your founding subscribers see. A couple sentences can go a long way toward making sure your highest-value subscribers feel appreciated and want to stick around.

9. Ask Your Most Engaged Readers for Referrals

Your paid and founding subscribers are the ones most likely to recommend you, so put your referral ask in front of them and skip everyone else. A non-subscriber barely knows who you are and has no reason to recommend your publication yet so use the same space to to tell them why they should subscribe instead.

10. Run Personalized Promos and Product Offers

When you launch a product or run a sale, you can tailor your offer to each tier using the same post. Give your paid and founding subscribers early access or a discount that only they see, and show everyone else the standard offer with a reason to subscribe. Your whole audience hears about the launch, and your paying readers get a perk for sticking around, but you don’t need to write separate emails for each group.

Audience-specific content is a huge upgrade for Substack publishers. For the first time, a single Substack post can be personalized to each type of reader, which means it can convert newcomers and reward your most loyal subscribers at the same time.

💬 The ideas above are just a few possibilities to get you started and I’d love to hear what’s worked for you, too. If you’ve tried out audience-specific content, or seen someone do it well, share it in the comments!

To endless possibilities,

Casandra

And yet, Substack never supported them natively.

That finally changed. With a new feature called audience-specific content, you can now build a lead magnet inside a single Substack post. Non-subscribers see a pitch for your freebie, and the moment they subscribe, the lead magnet takes its place.

What Is a Lead Magnet?

A lead magnet is a free resource you provide in exchange for an email address. It could be a template, a checklist, a swipe file, or even a short guide that solves one specific problem. And since most lead magnets are digital products, once you’ve created one, there’s usually no added cost to give a copy to each new subscriber.

If you’ve ever subscribed to a list just to get the free resource it offered, you’ve experienced firsthand how effective lead magnets can be.

A good lead magnet gives readers who were about to keep scrolling a reason to stop and subscribe. The best ones are tightly aligned with what you write about, so they attract the same people who’d want your newsletter anyway, and those readers tend to stick around after they get their free download.

Why Lead Magnets Used to Be Hard on Substack

Despite how effective lead magnets are for list building, Substack never really supported them, so publishers used workarounds instead.

1. Welcome emails: Every time someone subscribes to your publication, they receive a welcome email. Some publishers offer lead magnets and deliver them by including a link in their welcome email. The problem is that the same welcome email is sent to every new subscriber. This means that if you used multiple lead magnets, you would need to include all of them in the same email. This quickly gets out of hand, and current subscribers have no way to access new lead magnets.

2. Third-party tools: The other route is a third-party tool like Kit or Gumroad. You add a custom button to your Substack post that links to a landing page where readers can enter their email to get the freebie. It works, but it pushes readers off Substack onto a separate form and a separate list, so you are managing two databases and paying for a second tool to do something you should be able to do inside your publication. The emails you collect also reside on the third-party list, not on your Substack, so you have to export and import them manually for those readers to become Substack subscribers. Since the lists are not connected, anyone who unsubscribes on Kit stays subscribed on Substack, with no way to automatically remove them, so they keep receiving your emails even after they've opted out.

Let’s look at how Substack’s new audience-specific content feature solves this!

How Substack’s Lead Magnet Feature Works

Audience-specific content is a single block you add to a post, and it shows different content depending on who’s reading. For a lead magnet, you give it two states.

• The IF Audience version, with Free, Paid, and Founding selected, shows your subscribers the resource: a download button, a link, or the file embedded right there.

• The For everyone else version shows every non-subscriber the pitch: what the resource is, and a button to subscribe for free.

From the reader’s side, it happens in one motion. Someone lands on your post and sees the offer and a subscribe button. They subscribe, the page updates, and the block that showed a pitch a second ago now shows the download. The subscription is the opt-in. The whole thing happens on your post, with no redirect to another site, and no third-party tool or secondary list to manage.

How to Set Up Your First Lead Magnet on Substack

Adding a lead magnet to one of your Substack posts takes only a few minutes. Here's the full process, step by step.

1. Make the resource and decide where to host it. It can be a file you upload directly to your post, or a link to somewhere else, like a Google Doc or a Notion page.

2. Open your post and place your cursor where the lead magnet should go. In the editor toolbar, select More, then Audience-specific content.

   

3. Choose a template, or pick Custom. Set the first block's audience to Free, Paid, and Founding.

4. Drag your file into the block. A download button will load and you can click Edit from the hamburger menu right side of the file to add a thumbnail. If your lead magnet is a URL, you can add your URL to the block instead.

5. Write your pitch in the For everyone else block. Share what readers will get when they subscribe and add a subscribe button. This is what logged-out visitors and non-subscribers will see.

   

6. Hit Preview and check both views. Non-subscribers and logged-out visitors will see your offer, while subscriber will see the free download. Once a non-subscriber clicks the subscribe button, the lead magnet will take its place.

7. If you plan to reuse the same lead magnet in the future, save the setup as a template so you can add it to future posts in two clicks.

What Makes a Lead Magnet Worth Subscribing For?

For most people, creating a lead magnet is the easy part. Identifying a lead magnet that people actually want is harder. The best lead magnets are focused on a specific problem and immediately valuable to your audience. For example, a home-cooking newsletter might offer a week of quick, healthy dinners with simple recipes and a prepared grocery list for busy readers who are trying to eat out less.

Since the lead magnet can live inside a normal post, it will also have a URL you can share in Substack Notes, your welcome emails, or anywhere else you want to promote it. No need to maintain a separate landing page outside your publication!

The best lead magnets are built to get them into as many hands as possible and help you grow your list. Having a one-click subscribe button that automates delivery can help them reach even more people, so higher-value offers that have a cost associated with them, should be added to your paid tier as perks instead.

25 Lead Magnet Examples for Inspiration

Here’s where I share my lead magnet so you can see how the feature works firsthand :)

I put together a swipe file of 25 lead magnets you can explore for inspiration. These examples come from creators and brands across a range of niches, each with a short note on why it works. It’s free and it’s one click away.

If you’re not subscribed to Really Good Business Ideas yet, click the subscribe button below, and you’ll get instant access to the swipe file. I set this up using the same audience-specific content block this post just walked you through.

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Build Your First Lead Magnet This Week

Building your first lead magnet doesn't require a redesign or a new tool. Pick one resource you can make this week. Remember it doesn’t need to be fancy as long as it solves a specific problem for the readers you want to reach. Once you have a lead magnet ready, build your blocks in your next post, preview both subscriber and non-subscriber views to make sure everything is working properly, and hit publish. You'll have a lead magnet running automatically inside your publication, turning readers into subscribers while you write the next post.

To endless possibilities,

Casandra

Until now, the hard part has been delivering your perks to subscribers. Substack didn’t natively support perks, so getting them to the right people often required a lot of MacGyvering as publishers made do with janky workarounds. There was also no native way to give annual subscribers a reward that monthly subscribers couldn’t also claim.

Substack's new subscriber perks feature closes that gap. It's available to all publishers with payments enabled, so you can set up perks for your publication today.

What Are Substack Subscriber Perks?

Substack Subscriber Perks are rewards for paid subscribers that live on a dedicated Perks tab on your publication, separate from your paywalled posts.

Perks unlock automatically based on a reader’s plan. You lock each perk to a tier, eligible subscribers can open it, and everyone else sees it locked with a prompt to upgrade.

Substack has three paid plan types: monthly, annual, and founding. You can target a perk to a specific plan, so you can give annual or founding subscribers a reward that monthly subscribers don't get.

Before subscriber perks, you couldn’t differentiate perks by tier natively. Rewarding annual or founding subscribers with something monthly subscribers didn’t get meant delivering and tracking it by hand. Now you attach a perk to a specific tier, and Substack handles access automatically.

How Subscriber Perks Work With Substack Paid Subscriptions

Monthly and annual subscribers usually get the same perks, and the main difference is the price discount the annual plan offers. Some publishers also reserve higher-value perks for annual subscribers, so a reader can’t subscribe for a single month, claim a one-time perk, and cancel. Founding members typically get everything, plus an extra reward.

Until now, you couldn’t differentiate perks by tier natively, so an annual-only or founding-only reward had to be delivered manually. The new Subscriber perks feature solves this by letting you attach a reward to a specific plan and have Substack automatically handle access.

How to Set Up Subscriber Perks

Subscriber perks are available to all publishers with payments enabled. They work on your web publication only, not the Substack app.

To set up your subscriber perks, navigate to your publication’s dashboard, click on Settings, then Payments, and scroll to the bottom of the Benefits section, where you will see Subscriber perks.

Once there, click Manage, followed by Create Perk.

On the Create New Perk page, you’ll be able to name your perk, write a short description, upload a perk cover image (1200 × 800 px), choose which tier can access the perk, and set up a perk delivery method.

You can also limit a perk to new paying subscribers by turning on the New subscribers only toggle and setting a start date and time.

Substack offers five perk types: a discount or promo code, a digital download, a community invite, a link (like a Zoom session), or a Substack Live video.

• A discount or promo code. Share a code for an external site, such as a discount with a SaaS partner. You can give every eligible subscriber the same code, or issue a unique, one-time-use code to each person (handy for something like a course).

• A digital download. Upload a file for subscribers to download directly, such as a PDF, ebook, or zip file, up to 700 MB.

• A community invite. Link subscribers to a private space, such as a Discord server.

• A link. Point subscribers to an online resource, such as a Zoom session.

• A Substack Live video. Give paying subscribers access to an upcoming live video.

The first time you publish a perk, a Perks tab is added to your publication’s navigation, where all your active perks appear. You can also find your perks page by adding /perks to the end of your homepage URL. For example, my perks page lives at reallygoodbusinessideas.com/perks.

You can rename or hide the Perks tab in the Website > Navigation bar section of your Settings. Click Edit next to "Perks" to rename it, or toggle it off to hide it.

When a subscriber visits your perks page, they will see all your perks listed with an option to “unlock” each one.

When a subscriber unlocks a perk, Substack warns them that doing so makes them ineligible for a refund for the rest of their current billing period. It's a smart safeguard that protects publishers from readers who claim a high-value perk and then ask for their money back.

Subscribers who are not yet eligible will be guided through an upgrade process to access the perk, making the perks page a powerful paid conversion tool.

How to Design Perks That Drive Subscription Upgrades

A perks tab won’t make people pay for a perk they don’t want. The new feature handles delivery, but you still have to choose rewards worth paying for and decide which subscription level each one belongs to.

My recommendation is to keep your everyday perks, like community access or your content archive, on the base paid tier so every paying subscriber feels the value right away. Reserve your high-effort or high-cost perks, like physical products or one-on-one services, for annual and founding subscribers, where the increased price makes the work involved worth it for you.

See my analysis for the full menu of the types of subscriber perks you can offer, and how often top creators use each type.

Explore What 145 Top Publications Actually Offer

Now that you can deliver tiered perks natively, the next question is what to put on your Perks tab. The Paid Offers Database will help you find the answer. It has 520 real benefits from 145 top publications, organized by publication category, tier, perk type, and price, with screenshots of each upgrade page.

Ready, Set Your Perks!

The subscriber perks feature gives you a native way to deliver rewards to specific subscription plans.

If you don’t offer perks yet, they’re a great way to expand your offer and increase your monetization potential. Consider what you could give your subscribers to add more value to your paid tiers, then set up your first perk.

If you already offer perks, you can move them onto your perks tab and let Substack handle delivery, whether that’s a link, a code, a digital download, or a live video. Get your cover images ready and set them up.

To endless possibilities,

Casandra