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September’s experiment is officially over, so this is the results issue. The goal was to post on Notes every day for the whole month, which I kicked off in the first issue of this series.
I didn’t quuuiiite hit it, as I posted 35 times in September, though I did double up some days and skip others (more on that below), but I came out of the exercise with a much clearer idea of what works for me on Notes and what gets in my way. And I’m turning it into something you can try too, starting October 26 in Buffer’s Discord. Details below!
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How the challenge went
I posted on 21 of September’s 30 days, not all 30. On many of those days, I posted more than once, so it came to 35 Notes.
Here’s how those 35 Notes did:
4,840 impressions in total, or 127 per Note on average (the median was 91, so a handful of Notes pulled the average up)
118 reactions, 14 comments, and 12 restacks
10 new free subscribers that Substack credits to Notes
WHAT DID WELL
Surprisingly, my best Note of the month (450 impressions) wasn’t about Substack, Buffer, or anything I’d been researching. It was a five-line list of what I do to fill my cup creatively, posted on September 21 with no link at all. It’s a good indication that the right infusion of personality, even on a brand Substack, can resonate.
The next two were closer to what I expected. My recap of Kevin Indig’s Open Tabs got 340 impressions and brought in two of the ten subscribers, and my list of brand Substacks from part 3 got 326 impressions and one subscriber.
So the most reach came from the personal Note, and three of the ten subscribers came from Notes that pointed to an issue.
WHAT DIDN’T DO AS WELL
The days I missed (nine in total) all followed a similar pattern. Six of the nine were weekends, and I didn’t post on a single Sunday all month. One of the nine is September 1, and I didn’t start until the 2nd, so that one’s a bit of a technicality.
I had a backlog of ideas saved in Buffer the whole time, so it wasn’t that I’d run out of things to say. I think on weekends, posting meant opening Substack on a day I wasn’t working, and most weekends I just didn’t.
What helped was getting early access to Substack in Buffer. Once I had access, I spent about 25 minutes scheduling Notes in Buffer for the week, and that week became my most consistent: I posted on six of the seven days, and seven of those 11 Notes went out through Buffer.
The second half of the month was better overall, too (12 days posted versus 10, and 149 average impressions per Note versus 105), and scheduling played a huge part in that.
MY TAKEAWAYS
Here’s what I’m taking from the challenge:
Scheduling a few days at a time worked better for me than remembering to post on the day, and weekends are where I need it most.
I’ll need more than a month of consistent posting to understand the platform and grow even more, which is why I’m excited for the next step in this Notes challenge: we’re running a Substack Notes Sprint!
Come get better at Notes with me
A lot of creators think of Substack only as a place to publish a newsletter. After a month of this challenge, I know now that Notes definitely is more like a social feed, which means the things you already do on LinkedIn, Instagram, or Threads can carry over (but also the same stumbling blocks, like inconsistency, might get you).
So from October 26 to November 9, we’re running a free two-week sprint on Substack Notes in Buffer’s Discord. It’s a shorter version of what I did in September, with more structure and a host of existing and aspiring Substackers doing it together.
A different kind of Note every weekday. Week one (October 26 to 30) is about sharing what you know and week two (November 2 to 6) is about testing things and reading your results.
Every prompt is a template in Buffer. You can reference the Template Library the Sunday before, so you can schedule the whole week in one sitting.
You share each Note in that day’s Discord thread, where you can see what everyone else posted and swap replies and restacks.
We wrap up on November 9 by looking at which kind of Note worked best for you, going by your replies, restacks, and new followers.
You don’t need a newsletter to join. And if you’ve been meaning to start one, two weeks of Notes is a low-pressure way to see which topics people respond to before you commit.
I’ll be doing every prompt too and posting each one as a Note, so you can follow along even if Discord isn’t your thing. Can’t wait to have you!
Sign up here to get the setup guide by email on October 22, plus a short email at the start of each week. The form is only for emails, so if you find this later, you can still join Buffer’s Discord anytime during the sprint.
BUILD WITH BUFFER COMMIT
Our Discord is about to get real busy, because the sprint isn’t the only thing happening there.
Buffer Commit, our first build contest for apps and integrations built on the Buffer API, is now open for registration, with the build window running from October 28 to November 13. Builders 18 and over with a Buffer account can take part, solo or as a team, where eligible. Up to 16 winners will share a $25,600 cash prize pool equally, so each receives $1,600 or more. Come say hi in our Discord here!
That’s all for now!
Until next week,
Tami
Sr. Content Creator
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