🗣️💬Comments - Who Knew?? · Learn Substack🔥

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🗣️💬Comments - Who Knew??

Publishing helps people find you. Genuine conversations give them a reason to remember you. ✨

You’re publishing on Substack.

Maybe you’re writing articles, posting Notes and sharing your ideas consistently. You’re doing what you thought you were supposed to do.

But your reach still isn’t growing as quickly as you hoped.

Here’s the piece many people miss:

Substack isn’t simply a publishing platform. It’s a relationship platform. 🤝

Publishing gives people something to discover. Commenting helps you become part of the conversation.

And that conversation is often where growth begins. 🌱

📝 Posting Notes is only half the strategy

I recommend posting Notes every day. If you can post three times a day without making it feel like a full-time job, even better.

You don’t have to sit in front of Substack all day to do that.

Use the Notes Creation Engine #🤖 Create Better Notes w/the Notes Creation Engine to turn your existing ideas, articles, podcast episodes and stories into several Notes. Then schedule them so they appear throughout the day. ⏰

Your three Notes might include:

💡 A short idea, observation or belief
📖 A story or lesson from your own experience
❓ A question or invitation that encourages conversation

This keeps you visible without requiring you to create everything in real time.

Substack has reported that writers and creators who published at least three thoughtful Notes during the week they launched gained 50 percent more total subscribers than those who didn’t. That doesn’t mean three Notes a week or three Notes a day is a magic formula. It does show that participating in Notes can contribute to discovery and subscriber growth.

But publishing your Notes and disappearing is not enough.

The part that makes this work is what happens next.

💬 Comments are where visibility becomes relationship

Think about how you would respond if someone shared an interesting statement or personal story while you were having coffee together. ☕

You probably wouldn’t say:

“Great post!”

You might say:

“That reminds me of something I experienced last year.”

Or:

“I hadn’t thought about it that way. What you said about starting before you feel ready really landed with me.”

Or even:

“I see this a little differently. In my experience…”

That is what a real comment feels like.

It doesn’t need to be long. It doesn’t need to sound impressive. It needs to show that you heard the person and had a genuine response.

Comments like these create several opportunities:

👀 The writer notices you
💭 Other readers see your name and perspective
🔍 Someone becomes curious and visits your profile
💬 A conversation begins
🌎 You discover people with overlapping interests
🤝 Those relationships can lead to subscriptions, recommendations, collaborations and clients

The goal is not to manufacture engagement. The goal is to participate in conversations you actually care about.

📈 How the Notes feed expands your reach

Substack does not publish the exact formula controlling every recommendation in the Notes feed. We do know the feed is designed to help readers discover creators, subscribe to publications and ultimately become paying subscribers.

Here is the practical version of how your reach can expand:

📝 You publish a Note.
👀 Some of your followers and subscribers may see it.
❤️ People like, reply to or restack it.
🌊 Those interactions create additional opportunities for the Note, your name or the surrounding conversation to be seen.
🔍 New people discover your profile.
➕ Some of them follow you.
📬 The right people visit your publication and subscribe.

Restacks have the clearest documented distribution effect. Substack says that when someone restacks your post, Note or comment, it can appear in the Home feeds of that person’s subscribers and followers.

Yes, even a thoughtful comment can be restacked. 🔄

That is one reason comments matter. A strong comment is not merely something sitting underneath another person’s Note. It can become a small piece of discoverable content in its own right.

You are showing people how you think before asking them to read a full article or join your email list.

🚫 Don’t comment like you’re checking off a task

There is a big difference between relationship-building and engagement farming.

Avoid dropping the same generic response under dozens of Notes:

Great post!
So true!
Love this!
Thanks for sharing!
This really resonates!

There is nothing wrong with those sentiments, but by themselves they don’t create much of a conversation.

Try one of these approaches instead:

🎯 Reflect something specific

What you said about visibility without direction really stood out to me. So many people are creating more content without deciding where they want it to lead.

📖 Add a related experience

I went through something similar when I first started podcasting. The conversations became far more valuable when I stopped treating every interview as a transaction.

❓ Ask a natural question

Was there a particular moment when you realized your original approach wasn’t working?

➕ Add another layer

I agree, and I think this becomes even more important for coaches. People are often deciding whether they feel safe with us before they ever consider the offer.

You don’t need a formula for every comment. Respond the way you would respond to a real person standing in front of you.

Because there is a real person on the other side of that Note. 💜

📰 What about comments on articles?

Comments on articles are especially useful for deepening relationships.

When you leave a thoughtful comment on an article, the writer receives a notification. Other readers may see your contribution, respond to you or visit your profile.

Article comments don’t have a confirmed magical ability to push every article into a wider recommendation pool. Their strength is relational.

They can:

🔔 Bring the writer back into conversation
🤝 Help readers connect with one another
🔁 Encourage repeat visits
💡 Create material worth restacking into Notes
🗣️ Turn a one-way article into an active community space

If you publish an article, don’t abandon its comment section. Reply to the people who took the time to respond. Ask a follow-up question when it feels natural.

Your article may have started the conversation, but your replies help keep it alive.

💬 What about Chat?

Chat is primarily a relationship and community tool.

Participating in Chat helps your existing subscribers and community members get to know you. It can improve connection, belonging and retention.

What Chat does not appear to offer is the same broad discovery mechanism as Notes. Substack has not documented that commenting in a Chat automatically distributes your profile or publication to large numbers of new people.

So think of the distinction this way:

🔍 Notes help new people discover you
🤝 Chat helps the people already connected to you feel closer and connect with each other
📰 Articles build depth, trust and authority

All three are valuable. They simply have different jobs.

🔴 Do comments on Lives increase your reach?

Lives can absolutely help you build engagement and relationships, but there is no documented evidence that typing more comments during a Live automatically gives your publication a direct algorithmic boost.

The reach opportunity happens around the Live.

When a Live is scheduled, Substack can generate an RSVP link, send reminders and provide promotional assets to share through Notes and other channels. Afterward, Substack can generate short clips that can be shared on Notes, where they may reach new people. 🎥

Comments and questions during a Live still matter because they:

👋 Help the host notice and remember you
💬 Make the event feel like a conversation
👀 Allow other attendees to discover your perspective
🤝 Create connection with people sharing your interests
💡 Give the host useful signals about what the audience wants

So participate naturally. Ask a thoughtful question. Respond when something genuinely moves you.

Just don’t treat Live comments as an algorithm hack.

⏰ A simple daily Substack rhythm

You do not need to spend hours scrolling through Notes.

Try this:

💡 Prepare

Use the Notes Creation Engine to create several Notes from your existing content.

📅 Schedule

Schedule up to three Notes throughout the day:

🌅 Morning: An observation or belief
☀️ Midday: A story, lesson or excerpt
🌙 Evening: A question or conversation starter

🤝 Engage

Spend 10 to 15 minutes once or twice a day:

Read Notes that genuinely interest you
Leave three to five meaningful comments
Reply to comments on your own Notes
Restack something valuable with your own perspective
Follow people you genuinely want to hear from again

This is enough to become an active participant without letting Substack consume your day.

🏆 Your comment challenge

For the next seven days:

📝 Publish or schedule at least one Note each day.
💬 Leave five genuine comments each day.
🤝 Reply to the people who comment on your Notes.
🔄 Restack one useful post, Note or comment with your perspective.
🔍 Notice which conversations lead to profile visits, followers, subscribers or new relationships.

Don’t approach this as a trick to make the algorithm like you.

Approach it as an opportunity to find your people. 💜

Substack works best when we stop shouting into the feed and start talking with the humans already gathered there.

Publishing opens the door. 🚪

Comments walk you into the room. 💬

Who knew? ✨

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🗣️💬Comments - Who Knew??