6 Ways To Move Your LinkedIn & X Followers To Your New Substack Publication
The 6-Step Framework To Siphon Your LinkedIn & X Followers To Your Substack Publication For Fast Audience Growth.
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.The mass exit has begun.
The messages are getting louder as growth is almost non-existent on LinkedIn, X, and Instagram. The old social sanctuaries we used to grow our businesses organically are now reserved for the lucky few, everyone else…
They’re moving to Substack.
The writing is on the wall, it’s time to read it.
I’m flooded with messages like…
“I have a big following on other platforms so how do I get people here.” (Substack)
People leaving LinkedIn, X, and IG for Substack’s new opportunity for growth.
I received this email from a well-known business coach who teaches email marketing and audience growth on Instagram…
“Harsh Truth: Right now it's harder than ever to stand out on social media and grow an audience.”
Some creators are seeing as much as 2-3x as much growth on Substack compared to LinkedIn/X while having a fraction of the followers.
And in a recent survey, 20% of my audience said they want to move their audiences from LinkedIn and X to their Substack publications.
The pain of growth finally outweighs the pain of change.
Content ain’t easy.
Most of us aren’t full-time content creators.
It’s a medium used to build an audience and monetize our businesses. We don’t have 6-figures/Month to invest in growth like Gary Vaynerchuk, Alex Hormozi, and Neil Patel.
During my attempts to grow on LinkedIn, I invested money into various courses, coaches, and ghostwriters, and here’s what I learned:
People are teaching what helped them grow 3-5 years ago — It no longer works.
The gurus are now telling people to join engagement groups to grow — These aren’t cheap.
The ghostwriters selling “guaranteed growth” are putting your content into engagement groups to show growth and engagement.
I think my most important lesson?
As an experiment, I paid for engagement like they taught. While I gained followers and my posts got 500+ likes and dozens of shares… It didn’t translate into email list growth or increased revenue.
When I fired them and stopped posting on LinkedIn altogether my growth didn’t stop even though my LinkedIn growth came to a halt.
What did make a difference? Writing on Substack.
Here are 6 ways to siphon your LinkedIn and X followers to your Substack publication.
Starting from zero is never easy.
Except if you’re moving from LinkedIn, X, or anywhere, you don’t have to. With a little strategically placed effort you can siphon your followers over to Substack and begin growing once again.
Here are 6 ways to get started.
#1: Announcement post(s).
Make it official.
A formal announcement to your followers letting them know you’re moving to Substack is a good place to start. Include why and let them know what you’ll be sharing there.
Knowing that including links can throttle reach it might make sense to post this more than once and alternate between including a direct link and giving them a ‘reason’ or ‘incentive’ (something we will touch on later).
Announcements can (should) be made on your social platforms and your email list.
#2: All signs should point to Substack.
Make yourself easy to find.
Update your links in your bio, pinned posts, website, email signatures, automations, etc. Every opportunity and interaction should direct people to your Substack publication. These links can be swapped in for your old platform, or at least become a higher importance/priority.
#3: Strategic promotion of your Substack content.
Promote your publication.
No one cares that you are posting on Substack. And only a percentage of your audience will see your announcement post, that’s why you’re leaving, remember.
We need to promote your Substack content on your primary platforms to move people to interact with you there.
Use micro-content.
For every long-form post or newsletter create 5-10 pieces of micro-content that lead back to the full-length piece. Schedule and share these to siphon your followers to Substack.
Include CTAs.
At the bottom of every post on LinkedIn/X include a casual CTA to move your audience to Substack.
Example: “If you enjoyed this? You can subscribe to my newsletter here.”
This should be implemented during your transition to Substack but can also be done indefinitely if you keep this platform as part of your overall content strategy.
#4: Create high-value ungated content only available on Substack.
We need to give them reasons.
If you share the same content on Substack as you share on LinkedIn/X you decrease the chances of them following you on Substack. There’s no reason to.
What high-value (ungated) content can you make available on Substack?
Maybe you have an ebook, training, workshop, etc. that you can post publically on Substack. Then promote this on LinkedIn/X giving them a reason to follow you on Substack.
They get access for free, all they need to do is subscribe.
#5: Deplatform your followers to your email list.
Email is a gold mine for pushing people to Substack.
If you haven’t already, begin deplatforming your followers to your email list. This means you’re pushing people to lead magnets and opt-ins that get them onto your email list.
From here, you can use your email list to drive people to Substack, start here.
Super signature.
Links in your delivery email.
Links in your welcome sequence.
Promote your latest posts/newsletters.
Note: You can import your entire email list into Substack. This has pros and cons and depends on the context of your business and how you plan to pair your use of Substack and email marketing.
#6: (Advanced) Run ads to your followers.
This isn’t for everyone.
But, if you have a large following and the cash flow to do so paid advertising may be a consideration.
You can run ads on LinkedIn, X, and IG to ONLY your followers promoting your Substack or your Substack content.
The transition timeline.
The further we plan, the better. The longer we wait, the worse.
My minimum recommendations:
3 Months in advance deplatforming and building your email list.
3 Months after promoting your Substack content.
Use this as a general guideline.
If you’re already building your list awesome, if you haven’t, start today. If you want to move to Substack tomorrow you don’t need to wait 3 Months.
Once you make Substack your primary platform you can still post to LinkedIn/X. This can be done for a transition period to siphon your followers, or, it can be done indefinitely cross-promoting your content.
Give people a reason.
Even trivial reasons increase response.
This was proven by social psychologist Ellen Lange and described in Robert Cialdini’s book, Influence.
Providing a reason when making a request, even when that reason was weak, almost doubled the likelihood of compliance (someone responding as desired).
Want people to follow you? Give them a reason why.
Why are you moving to Substack? Is there value to them…
What can you give them in exchange for following you on Substack…
Will the content be different than what you post on the platform they already use…
If you can craft an offer around it, do so. Giving people something of value, or something that is exclusive to Substack, will increase your likelihood of them following you.
Remember, the stronger and bigger your brand the easier it will be to siphon your followers. Except not all of us are Gary Vaynerchuk where people will follow him on every platform imaginable…
…Instead, we leverage psychology to tip the scales in our favor.
Wrapping up.
There you have it, friend.
A 6-step framework for siphoning your LinkedIn and X followers to Substack.
Here’s a quick summary.
Announcement posts.
All signs should point to Substack.
Strategic promotion of your Substack content.
Create high-value ungated content only available on Substack.
Deplatform your followers to your email list.
(Advanced) Run ads to your followers.
And increase your chances by giving them a reason ;-)
I truly hope this can become a playbook you can use, save, and leverage to build your Substack publication.
~
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 | A guest post by
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Definitely agree the connection between LinkedIn to Substack is a smart one. Growth on Substack has been great lately.
Growth for me on LinkedIn through is also significant. Once you figure out the quirks, it gets easier. Most everything I post there goes viral. Sometimes I have to stop posting for a few days to catch up.
A smart connection is LinkedIn newsletters pointing to your Substack. 👌🏼
Moved to Substack a little over 3 months back now. While I built most of my business on LinkedIn for the entire last year and this one, things started to look a little gloomy without entering engagement groups or "right" connections. It didn't feel right.
On Substack people still read what you put out there, most of my notes go "viral" and that virality actually translates into subscriptions and more. I reached bestseller status in 1 week since starting my paid subscriptions here. Thin gs that don#t happen anymore on other social platforms.
Of course, this flood of creators moving to Substack will have its toll soon, but until then, it's a great place to build upon.