Chat is a new way for Substack writers to start conversations with their subscribers. Writers and creators are hosting conversations to get to know their community, react to live events, brainstorm posts, and more.
As you spark conversation in Chat, it’s important to remind your readers to download the app to participate. Here are a few ideas for how to promote your chat to existing subscribers and curious followers who haven’t yet joined you on Substack.
If you haven’t sent your first chat yet, visit our getting-started guide.
Share a link to your latest chat
You can get a link to any chat thread by long-pressing the chat bubble or tapping the 3-dot menu.
Writers use this unique URL to promote the chat on social media or embed it within their Substack posts. Embed a chat in a post simply by pasting the link directly into the post.
Novelist and essayist
embedded her chat link in a post, where she continued to expand on the topic discussed.
Political writer
included a screenshot of his first chat in a tweet with his chat URL, inviting more people to join the conversation.Culture writer
lets her Twitter followers know a live conversation is taking place by sharing the unique URL.
Send a dedicated announcement post to subscribers
Substack will send a one-time email notification to your readers when you start your first chat.
It’s best for them to also hear directly from you, in your voice, about the conversations you plan to host in this space. We’ve added a Chat announcement template that you can access and edit in the Chat section of your Settings page.
We encourage writers to personalize this post. Here are a few of our favorites so far:
Food writers Michelle Davis and Matt Holloway from
describe Chat as “a group chat or message board if you’re old enough to remember those golden days of the internet.”Faith writer
explains that her Chat will be a space to share short updates, workshop ideas, and host more intimate conversations with paying subscribers.Sports writer
introduced his Chat as the place to “rant, rave, fire off any and all thoughts” about Sunday football games each week.In his announcement post, music writer
credits the reader who suggested that subscribers would like a thread to jam on music recommendations as inspiration for his Chat.Culture writer
notes she is “excited to have even more opportunities to hang out in the wonderful conversation pit we’ve built here” and expand on the community forming in her comments section.Climate change writer
introduces a weekly shared activity in a chat: a Thursday discussion with people who give a damn about the climate crisis.
Read more: How to find and engage your readers
Remind subscribers about Chat in your posts
Your subscribers may not have downloaded the Substack app. Now that Chat is available on both iOS and Android, nudging subscribers to join will ensure that they don’t miss out.
Including customized “Get the app” or “Join my subscriber chat” buttons, which you can find in the Buttons dropdown in the Substack editor, in posts will increase the chance of your readers joining you in Chat.
of started including the “Join chat” button at the bottom of every post.
Read more: How to use Buttons
Just as no two communities are the same, there are endless creative ways to use Chat. Here are some exciting conversation-starter ideas from your fellow writers.
- and are rounding up wacky, delicious holiday romantic comedies with subscribers.
“Salad CEO”
invites subscribers to share their favorite kitchen gadgets.Political scientist
is inviting the subscribers of to ask him anything for the course of an hour.Astronomer, science communicator, and writer
invites paid subscribers of to introduce themselves in his first chat.
Read more: How to spark conversation in Substack Chat
How have you spread the word about your Substack Chat?