Bringing your Twitter (X) followers to Substack
Tips from writers who are turning Twitter followers into Substack subscribers, taking back both their minds and control of their audience
Twitter (X) is changing, and it's tough to predict what might be next. If you've been lucky enough to build a follower base on Twitter, and you've ever thought about forging a direct link with them that you control via email, now might be a good time to start a Substack.
We made this guide to support the writers, podcasters, thinkers and videographers who are moving their relationships from Twitter to Substack. Read on for learnings from successful publishers on Substack, and share your own tips in the comments.
Make your Substack discoverable on Twitter
Here’s how to make it easy for Twitter followers to join you on Substack.
Update the link in your Twitter bio. Stating you have a Substack and adding an link to your bio makes subscribing extra clear for your followers. Taylor Lorenz updated her bio, and took it to the next level, changing her Twitter name to a call-to-action you can’t miss: “Subscribe to my Substack.”
Link your Substack in a pinned tweet. Pinning a tweet that links to and pitches your Substack ensures that visitors to your Twitter profile can quickly learn more. BowTiedBull keeps an enticing tweet introducing their publication pinned to the top of their Twitter profile.
Change your profile banner. Adding your Substack branding and URL to your Twitter profile banner makes sure visitors won’t miss it. Glenn Loury prominently promotes his Substack in his Twitter banner.
Direct followers to your Substack through your content
Tweet weekly about your Substack. Lots of tweets get lost in the algorithm, making it hard to reach even your most devoted fans. Make sure your followers see your Substack by tweeting consistently about your publication. This includes reminders, big milestones, and new post announcements like the examples below.
Just a reminder that you can foil the algorithms to find out what I'm up to by subscribing to my newsletter. …rowanotherbearinthecanoe.substack.com There's a paid level, but the basic level is free; just quit when it asks you for money.
Architect an effective thread. A great series of tweets can go viral, leading to millions of impressions from potential readers. Transforming those viewers into subscribers takes some intentionality.
Here are some tips from Substack writer Adam Mastroianni about how to craft an effective Twitter thread:The hook: Text (and image if possible). Omit your Substack link from this first tweet, and get to what’s most interesting right away.
Link to the related Substack post in subsequent tweets so readers know where to go to get the full download of your ideas and insights on this topic.
Finish with a link to your publication homepage and an explanation that you write regularly on these topics on Substack—and they should sign up with their email so they don’t miss anything new. Otherwise, readers won’t know that there’s a place where they can stay up to date on your work.
Send a direct message to new followers with your Substack. Photographer and writer Andy Adams manually sends a message to every new follower on Twitter about his Substack. Other writers who receive lots of direct messages tell followers that they only answer questions on Substack, not Twitter. (There are third party tools that help automate this.)
Need help with designs for Twitter? Download a graphic from our starter pack here.
Why Substack?
Haven’t started a Substack yet? Visit our comprehensive guide to getting started.
Got suggestions for items missing from our Twitter migration guide? Tell us and your fellow writers in the comments.
I can't believe people are seriously thinking they can no longer use Twitter, simply because the new owner is threatening to actually allow some free speech to occur. I'm a (recovering) Democrat, but it just seems totally crazy to me. If you're not comfortable being on a platform where other people may have different ideas from your own, you won't be any more comfortable on Substack than you are on Twitter.
Yeah, but that is not what this is.
I’m shocked how many seemingly intelligent people are falling for the flimsy narrative that his purchase of Twitter is a fight for ‘freedom of speech.’
One of the world’s largest social media platforms has been purchased by one person who has complete control, also known as totalitarianism. Fascism. Dictatorship. The last time I checked, that’s the opposite of freedom.
Elon Musk acquiring Twitter, if anything, makes the platform more vulnerable to censorship than ever. Regardless, Twitter is now, and always has been, a PRIVATE, for-profit company. They have never kept anyone from 'free speech.'
If you walk into a grocery store and start yelling racial slurs at people, you're going to be forcibly removed. It doesn't mean you can't go elsewhere and yell racial slurs if you'd like. Why is this so hard to grasp?
Technocracy family lineage
People with Borderline Personality Disorder have such poor self-worth, they defy ANYONE to contradict them or point out their errors or mistakes. Nobody emotionally healthy, whole and SANE acts like this. Beware of people who say, "I'm never wrong," or "Im always right!" They have BPD traits, and they're not gonna get rid of those in standard models of "therapy."
That's because you are not hyper-partisan. They are, and its actually the best thing that the Dems could do right now, build their own. It's one of the reasons why R's will win so big, they are decentralized all over the net and have their own places they dominate (TS, Gettr, Gab, Parler, Telegram). Democrats, meanwhile, feel like they are getting kicked out of a place they have squated for a decade without paying the rent (twitter). Little wonder its so lopsided on the internet chat.
I started using Twitter in 2007. I worked as a journalist and it was central to connection and promotion for years. But in the age of Trump, I have found it a place of little value, and now that Elon has bought it, it is not a service I have any interest in supporting. I deleted my account this week. It isn’t that I fear or dislike free speech - I’ve dedicated years of my career to local journalism. I just hate having my head in an echo chamber of stupid opinions and flat out falsehoods. This post served only one purpose for me: it reminded me to go into my Substack settings and disconnect from my now nonexistent Twitter profile.
Business is business apparently.
They need their own safe space. No doubt the DC grifters have some Blue Social Special place for them soon tba.
Thanks! I mostly left twitter years ago for mental health reasons, but I do still have an account and followers there, and I’d love to get those eyes on my SS newsletter! 💖
Meeee Toooo!
Good post! I don’t rely much on twitter to grow my audience. But when I do make a personal connection on twitter, I usually invite them to check out my newsletter. That’s probably brought me about 20 subs over two years. Not great, but if I’m spending time on Twitter I might as well see if I can convert some readers.
Hey Michael, I get nothin' from Twitter...
When i factor in how much time I spend there, the juice probably isn't worth the squeeze for me.
So Twitter moves to reinstate free speech and people react with horror; the same people who throw the label 'fascist' around with gay abandon...let that sink in.
Holy Christ, Freedom of Speech does not mean Freedom from Consequences. It's really not rocket science. If you actually believe Elon Musk cares about anyone other than himself, let alone anyone's 'freedom of speech,' you're delusional.
I’ve been quite successful gaining subscribers to my Substack from Twitter. I’ve done most of the things you suggested except for putting the address on my header. I used to have my website as the profile link (you can only have one) but I changed that to my Substack address and immediately got some more subscribers.
I receive 0 engagement from Twitter that produces meaningful results. I do not have a large following (around 300 followers), but the average clickthrough rate to a linked Substack post is about 1 per 1000 impressions. These are typically users that are already subscribed to my Substack. I understand, that as a fiction writer, the audience is quite different. It's near impossible to find new readers, and it's unlikely I'll post much there over the long term. If you're into politics or sports, and have a Substack, then Twitter can be a goldmine. Everything else, not so much.
Thanks for the info Brian. I was wondering about how much Twitter is worth it for engagement to Substack. I post about my stack there, but I don't think it's doing anything, or maybe a few clicks into Substack, not much.
I wonder why it's hard to find new readers for fiction. I've been on Substack just a short while and I get new subscribers, but it's pretty slow going. Still, for me, one of my main motives is to get my work out there on my terms. I did years of waiting for responses. Sometimes yes, sometimes no. Either way a lot of waiting. I like this better.
Most of my readers have come from various other Substacks. It's come from recommendations, guest posting on Fictionistas, commenting on Thursday's community Substack posts and other Substacks. I've got 2 subscribers that came from Twitter. I also had some subscribers come from The Sample newsletter service, but when I stopped writing essays, that dropped to 0. My only other source will be if I ever get paid to publish, which might bring in a couple. I would say to continue to build up a solid archive, and subscribers will follow - it's the long game for sure 😁
Can barely wait to be reinstated on Twitter, after having been banned for a re-tweet a couple of years or more ago. I started a Facebook account shortly thereafter, and have found a marvelous community of people there, who appreciate my wisdom and guidance. I hope Elon lifts the permanent suspensions off all of us who weren't "politically correct" enough for the old Twitter Regime. Fingers crossed... and in the meantime, keep an eye out for PsychSavant@Twitter.
Years after opening and using a Twitter account, I have yet to understand the value of the platform to my business and community interests. The latest circus was the event I needed to finally close the account.
News feeds such as Ground.News do just fine to aggregate news and provide some analysis.
If I want a discussion with customers and those interested in my work, Substack is a much better model. I would like to see a better integration with my websites and Substack but that is a minor issue for now.
Rather than attempting to convert Twitter followers, I would rather see Substack helping us with organic SEO so we can gain followers that way. It actually does work a bit as I have seen my recent SEO efforts produce a few more subs to my newsletters.
My problem is I only have a presence on LinkedIn and I have a hard time converting my audience there to Substack, I assume some of this is the same.
Hate speech is not free speech. It actually IMPRISONS us all!
Substack links are shadow-banned. Its been that way for quite a while.
These are all great tips and some I learned from engaging with content creators on the platform, though we had different audiences. The important thing I learned was to show up, like, retweet, tweet content with some value to your followers.
I try to curate who I respond to and what I consume to make the experience so I can concentrate on building relationships, promotion, or just low-test entertainment. So far, Twitter has been good. But I also frequently delete draft responses to things. 🙂
Stop by! Sometimes I say amusing or insightful things. 👉🏾 https://twitter.com/theone_chiv
Very nice
I created a new twitter account this weekend to promote my Substack posts just to find out that Twitter's newsletter feature only works with Revue due to its partnership. Hopefully, I found a way to make new subscribers flow thru Twitter -> Revue -> Zapier -> Substack.
It was fun learning this, let's see how this process works on the following weeks!
Revue was never the right platform for the work I do with customers. It was Twitter's response to Substack and Medium and not a very good effort. Yield has been a metric I have used on platforms and is why I dropped Twitter totally. Youtube and Google Adsense are better approaches but not free.
I did the same. I’ve only had one subscriber from Twitter so far, though.
I noticed recently that Twitter has built in "Newsletter" functionality. Built in meaning they are partnering with another tool called "Revue". I wish they'd offer options for existing newsletters like Substack. Because, it looks like they pin a nice subscription box to the top of your profile page.
I quit Twitter. Musk is living proof that being smart and rich does not guarantee being able to behave like a responsible adult. I've no need to support this misadventure.
Well done.
I joined Substack a short time ago but had difficulty signing into the site. I also have seen very little in the way of instructions as to how to use the site. I would appreciate some help because I need to know the right way to do it.
There’s an event that happens every Thursday called writer office hours: https://on.substack.com/s/office-hours
You can ask any question and either a substack representative will answer or other writers will. It’s been a huge help for me.
There’s a bunch of resources here as well: https://on.substack.com/
Good luck with your newletter!
The app is great - I recommend downloading
Love it too, but from what I read at https://chi-nese.com/ substack links are shadow banned on Twitter (X)! I have 3700 followers but whenever I share something from substack, it gets literally 0 impression.
I have around 2600 followers on Twitter, and I do the occasional thread, and link to my new posts multiple times per week, and it's still hard to get people to click over at subscribe. Mostly I think it's about impressions - most Tweets don't get seen by the bulk of your audience, so even if you're not seeing a lot of conversions, it's not your fault. Boo algorithims!
Taylor Lorenz being on Substack rather defines irony, given her overt hostility to unfettered speech. It makes you wonder just how strong her commitment to top-down censorship really is ...
She can make it closed and insular. Not worth much in terms of reach, but that's the world they live in.
But she has written before that people criticizing her work puts her in actual physical danger. ALL of us on Substack get criticized! Seems an odd fit is all ... then again, she writes about her "brand" quite a bit. Maybe her brand needs to be here .... perhaps she'll gain a newfound appreciation for the value of open discourse ...
Don’t want to bring my twitter to Substack. Especially when I suspect military involvement.
Twitter has not always been the most welcoming to anyone who dissents against prescribed thought or who even tiptoes to the right.
If you can't see or empathize with this, it's probably because you happen to agree with said prescribed thought (which is fine if you do agree with it). But try walking in the shoes of someone who's banned for "wrongthink" and you'll then understand how unpleasant it can feel.
That said, my hope is that with the "new" Twitter, both those on the left and right will feel free to engage in discourse, as this is what America is founded on. We should all be able to think and speak freely (provide such speech is lawful), don't you think?
I'm grateful to Substack for creating a platform that gives everyone a voice.
I hope Musk is successful in taming Twitter, but until he gets it through beta on his project, and we see the reaction from the EU authorities to it, I suspect Substack will be the best place to be. Having witnessed years of NYT and WSJ partisan, algorithmic comment censorship, finding Substack has been a breath of fresh air.
I haven't seen any real arguments or disrespect. People speak their mind and that's fine. If someone makes a vigorous response to an opinion, that's fine.
Once in a while, an individual may seem intent on provocation -- in which no response is the best and likely the most appropriate response. It's just a matter of sharing and exchanging ideas respectfully, kind of an old-fashioned concept that doesn't sell any Adderall.
I didn’t get a “get off Twitter” vibe at all from this article. I have a small audience of 4000+ and I like moving them to Substack where they can consume my longer form content and subscribe if they like it. This gets my nearly all my subscribers. Most of my other subs are from recommendations or when a larger account (on Twitter) shares my work.
Twitter brings some subscribers but I mostly use it for SEO/park my substack name there. I will try a thread though, feel free to follow @youtopianj and I will follow back.
Thank you, Substack, for this supportive guidance. It’s unlocked a real bind I’ve been in for 2 years.
I peaked at 27k Twitter followers, then quit. Just couldn’t bear the bubble I’d assembled and how it policed me whenever I questioned doctrine. Since summer 2021 I’ve been going back to post an article but engagement has slumped, with followers down to under 18k. Sometimes there’s zero reaction and my account used to be HOT.
After reading this I’ve decided to rebrand from MikeH_PR to Rarely Certain. I’ll go on daily, to engage with and boost all the great Substackers in my reading list and work harder to promote my own. It seemed ridiculous to be stalled at 400ish sign-ups when my Twitter account still notionally has 18k followers.
This work begins tomorrow and I thank you again for this timely advice.
I started my Substack four weeks ago. I have two posts out. At the same time I started using Twitter.
I have 32 free subscribers. None of them are family or friends, as I decided not to cold email anyone (for now).
Around 70% have come from my Twitter replies to tweets relevant to one of my Substack posts. In there I put a link to the post.
As I have only 77 followers, my own tweets cannot claim many impressions. But, replies to tweets of well followed Twitteratis can get thousands of impressions.
My second post has been seen by 650 people in two weeks. Post views to subscription conversion is approximately 20:1.
Make Twitter replies relevant and enticing.
Freedom of speech means exactly that - the freedom to speak. You have tacked on the 'consequences' element (which is, of course, completely unknowable) because you, personally, are irked by what others might say and want to repress them - either through fear or through spite. However, you have no right to impose your feelings and your prognostications on others. Incidentally, no-one should trust Musk, who is entirely self-serving, but his motivations are irrelevant. Our loyalty should be to a principle, not the man, and fortunately most of us are intelligent enough to make that distinction. Sadly, I fully expect Musk to betray that principle when it is expedient for him. By the way, I am personally offended by your blasphemy, which also shows an extreme lack of concern for consequences, but have no desire to prevent your freedom of speech in that regard. I only point this out to demonstrate your hypocrisy.
I’m not on socials. I rely on substack interactions to increase my engagement. Couple things I’d love:
1. Better search tools (search by post, order by following/newest/trending)
2. Activity section: see the posts that people you follow like and comment on.
3. Public followers on substacks: if it’s public on your profile then the fact you follow the substack is public on the substack too.
Thanks all!
I'm sorry if I ever doubted Brasil: Lulas won, the Brazilian Congress announced his victory; end of story
No convoluted claims about stolen ballots, the 'wrong' electors, etc., ad nauseam.
Them Latin hillbillies are making us look like fools. And I'll bet that if Bolsanaro refuses to leave, some folks from the favelas will be happy to escort him off the property. They don't tolerate much from Lieutenant Colonel Banana on the plantation anymore.
We should take notes.
All good ideas BUT most of my followers are leaving Twitter. As am I very soon.
Neither my Twitter followers nor I can stomach what it is becoming. I am more interested in getting them to check me out before they go. My timeframe is about one week.
Do you think this will also work for FB followers if we have a FB page? I'm trying to migrate away from using FB so much for a lot of reasons, but want people to follow me to here. Thoughts about that?
just wonder, have no twitter, no twitter followers, just a tiny, little substack, so it would be nice if substack could take over part of twitter, let's call it sub-twitt, so that I can spread some news on twitter without being officially on twitter. Let's just hope google won't take over everything one day and erase all entries like they did with google+.... Just dreaming.
Could Substack add new ways to offer more flexible access to below the pay fold for articles?
For example granting access ...
* to those who subscribe to another author?
* authors created circle like for one subscription to many authors?
* one off payments for one or more articles refundable on subscribing?
* a micropayment system where you buy Substack credit and pay per article what you read?
Any of the above would be a great way of matching readers with authors & gaining subscribers, as long as is an opt-in option for the author to choose.
Some great suggestions! I’ve implemented many but will try others. I do enjoy the community I’ve built on Twitter and some of my connections here meeting me there, and vice versa. But connect with me there because I don’t plan on leaving. At least not anytime soon. Thanks, Substack!
The fact that Twitter has a "Newsletter" section caught me off guard (https://coreball.co). They've implemented Revue for pinpoint accuracy. I'd like to see an alternative to Substack for already established newsletters. Because it seems like a subscription box has been glued to the very top of your user profile.
Twitter could end up better than it is today. It has been struggling for a while and let's hope it can improve. Often it's Twitter's own failure at showing people the good stuff it offers.
You would think with all of the uproar surrounding Twitter it was the death of something important. It’s not. In fact many of us got along just fine without out it long before Jack Dorsey came along. Still do as a matter of fact.
Personally I feel Twitter, in particular, was the death of true journalism. Any written piece that has “tweets” imbedded, and then the words in the tweet rewritten as part of the story is ridiculous. I skip reading those stories and eventually the author.
There are a vast amount of humans on earth who don’t use Twitter, mainly because it’s mostly a cesspool(an underground reservoir for liquid waste (such as household sewage)).
That’s what Musk sees, a way of onboarding more customers and collecting more $ from people who see it as a sacred cow of modern society. That’s what business is, that’s what capitalism is. Twitter has always been a capitalist venture, well until Dorsey left.
That said, my cat has a big following on Instagram, any tips on how to convert them? I usually don’t write about cats.
Would be great to see a post like this about Reddit !
We just got our first paid subscriber from posting the draft link to our paid newsletter. Cool hack for sharing posts w paywall to friends or communities such as hacker news that don’t like paywalled articles
The Reddit community we posted in doesn’t like blogs you have to pay to view. And yet it resulted in a paid subscription. Woot!
Would be really curious to hear if anyone has a/b tested these different techniques and seen which is most effective ?
Would also LOVE if substack could give us a little love when we mention them favorable in a tweet .
Other companies are super on top of that...which makes us want to talk them up even more!
Getting really tired of all forms of social media. Fingers crossed substack will be a great alternative
Substack is founded on the belief that writers and their work deserve respect. In the comments of this publication, we ask that you keep conversations civil. Respect one other’s perspectives and life experiences in your conversations, and refrain from cruel or derogatory language.
You can learn more here: https://on.substack.com/p/community-guidelines
I'd like to know how my comment was uncivil or conceived as disrespectful. I accurately observed that several comments here echo my view of Ms Lorenz as a possibly poor choice for inclusion in the post from On Substack, and accurately pointed out that she has engaged in the practice of doxxing, as proven on several occasions by Tim Pool and his organization. It did not warrant removal on those grounds.
Substack is founded on the belief that writers and their work deserve respect. In the comments of this publication, we ask that you keep conversations civil. Respect one other’s perspectives and life experiences in your conversations, and refrain from cruel or derogatory language.
You can learn more here: https://on.substack.com/p/community-guidelines