Manufacturers on Substack | Sprout Social

When Substack launched in 2017, it was supposed to be a haven for writers constructing an viewers independently with out the backing of a writer. The platform enabled writers to ship long-form newsletters on to subscribers’ inboxes. Spurred on by the COVID pandemic and fewer conventional media alternatives, Substack amassed a big community of writers with 1 million paid subscribers in 2021. By 2025, Substack CEO Chris Finest reported 5 million paid subscribers and 20 million month-to-month energetic customers.

Shoppers’ urge for food for area of interest, community-based experiences on social media is behind the regular development. Individuals are hungry for intentional, slower-paced feeds. Sprout’s Q2 2025 Pulse Survey discovered that 41% of worldwide social customers plan to spend extra time on Substack. That rises to 52% for Gen Z and 53% for Millennials.

As Substack turns into a powerhouse platform for constructing hyper-engaged audiences, manufacturers from all sectors are getting in on the motion. Learn on for a step-by-step information to launching a model Substack, with ideas we discovered from launching Sprout’s Substack, Social Futures.

What’s Substack (and why ought to manufacturers care)?

Substack is a hybrid e-newsletter, microblog and social platform the place creators (primarily writers, journalists, and—more and more—manufacturers) publish editorial content material and immediately join with their audiences. On Substack, you’ve each subscribers and followers. Subscribers are individuals who have shared their e mail tackle and opt-ed in to obtain your posts. Followers are a broader viewers who’ve chosen to comply with your profile to see your exercise, like Notes, inside the app.

On Substack, manufacturers share unique content material their followers received’t discover on their weblog or social, and that content material is commonly long-form and personality-driven.

Substack has a definite, writer-driven tradition. Creating a content material technique that feels native to the platform is essential for achievement. Which is why it’s essential to make clear what Substack is not. For instance, Substack just isn’t a alternative in your present weblog, a car for marketing campaign belongings, product releases and occasion promotion, a competitor to your current e-newsletter, or an e mail record builder for different channels.

Sorts of content material Substack helps

To create a Substack content material technique, it’s essential to keep in mind that the platform revolves round posts. Posts are the foundational constructing blocks of the Substack ecosystem.

Substack presents two core submit sorts:

• Customary posts: A typical article or essay format that options long-form writing. Whereas the submit is predominately text-based, it might embrace multimedia content material like pictures, movies and audio recordings.
• Video posts: A submit the place video is the principle focus. A video submit sometimes features a transcript or textual content abstract, and may be reside or pre-recorded.

To advertise their posts and presences, Substack customers can faucet into a wide range of in-platform options, which embrace:

• Newsletters: Authors can host, publish and ship their posts on to subscribers’ inboxes from the Substack platform.
• Notes: Quick-form content material, together with textual content, pictures, quotes, movies and hyperlinks, that seems within the Substack feed. Notes are essential for in-platform discoverability.
• Chats: A gaggle chat function inside the Substack platform that permits customers to host reside, interactive conversations with subscribers.

The advantages of Substack for manufacturers

Whilst Substack’s person base continues to develop, groups and leaders are uncertain if their model has a spot on the platform. It’s distinct from different social networks, and requires ample effort and resourcing. Will these investments repay on a platform that’s nonetheless comparatively uncharted territory for manufacturers?

When balancing the Substack scales, contemplate these advantages.

Construct a direct, owned viewers

When our content material staff pitched launching a Substack presence to our CMO, we positioned it as a salve to the sting of conventional search developments. As natural search behaviors more and more lead to zero-click outcomes,  manufacturers have to diversify their distribution and discoverability channels to interact future clients and cement their authority. Substack presents the right alternative.

On Substack, you’ll be able to faucet right into a direct, owned and extremely engaged viewers—one thing that’s getting tougher to seek out through search engines like google or social platforms.

Differentiate your model persona & voice

Substack provides manufacturers a uncommon alternative to talk with out the constraints of conventional social algorithms or character limits. Lengthy-form content material permits groups to undertake a extra human tone, whether or not that’s analytical, witty, instructional, editorial or deeply narrative. By publishing in an area the place readers opt-in, manufacturers can experiment with a extra nuanced voice and construct a particular persona.

Foster neighborhood & model loyalty

As a result of Substack facilities round subscription fashions, readers select to be a part of your model’s world. That energetic selection results in deeper engagement, stronger relationships and recurring interplay. Subscriber-only dialogue threads and direct messaging options assist domesticate a way of belonging, making followers really feel extra like members of a neighborhood somewhat than passive content material customers. Over time, this dynamic builds sturdy loyalty and advocates who keep related.

Create a brand new channel for thought management & creativity

Substack shouldn’t be a 1:1 alternative in your common e-newsletter. The platform serves a totally completely different function, giving manufacturers permission to decelerate and provide richer, extra substantive concepts. It’s a great channel for sharing founder-led POVs, behind-the-scenes views, authentic analysis, inventive explorations or unique visitor editorials that don’t match neatly into different platforms. By publishing considerate, prime quality content material, manufacturers can place themselves as class leaders whereas additionally fueling creativity inside their groups. The result’s a channel that strengthens fame, expands attain and showcases the model’s most compelling concepts.

How manufacturers are utilizing Substack

To see these advantages in motion, take a better take a look at some notable manufacturers already discovering their house on Substack.

Hinge: No Strange Love

Hinge, the courting app designed to be deleted, hasn’t posted from their model’s conventional community social accounts since 2020. Within the 5 years since, they’ve as an alternative invested in rising their creator program and experimenting on rising platforms.

On their Substack, No Strange Love, Hinge shared 5 posts that includes love tales of {couples} who met utilizing their app, written by actual authors. The model contains brief chapters in every of their posts, evaluating key milestones in a pair’s relationship to a storybook romance. The restricted sequence additionally included a foreword written by Roxanne Homosexual.

Given Substack’s origins as a platform made for writers, the sequence felt genuine and extremely intentional. The branding additionally made it distinct from Hinge’s typical feel and appear, juxtaposing the fairytale aesthetic with relaxed images.

Because the Hinge staff advised Forbes, your entire No Strange Love universe was created with Gen Z as a muse: the images fashion, the writers, the relatable love tales.

Restack this technique: Substack is a playground for inventive, long-form content material, and Hinge’s technique was really out-of-the-box. What’s equally admirable is how they constructed their presence with members of their target market, making their model extra human and in sync with their person’s wants.

Blackbird: The Supersonic

Blackbird is a loyalty firm that rewards individuals who love eating places. On their “secret Substack,” the Supersonic, Blackbird creates an area that appears like studying the meals and tradition part of your favourite newspaper.

Of their posts, they function their favourite meals takes (“There isn’t a such factor as a nasty Caesar salad”), and editorial interviews with legendary cooks and leaders within the meals trade. In addition they publish private essays the place writers share their favourite childhood meals reminiscences, and a e-newsletter stuffed with top-of-mind information tales readers can take to encourage small discuss throughout meals.

On their Substack web site, the model organizes their content material with tabs for each sequence.

The Supersonic has grown their subscriber base to 11,000 subscribers, and incessantly will get feedback on their posts like, “Simply my favourite learn of the week.”

Restack this technique: For manufacturers contemplating Substack, you must be certain you’ve the sources to gasoline constant content material manufacturing. The Supersonic is a good instance of what that appears like in actuality, with content material revealed weekly (or extra usually). The model has additionally mastered writing people-driven content material (v. brand-driven), with distinct writer voices and personality-driven editorials.

Loftie: Little E book of Sleep

Loftie is a wellness firm serving to folks create tech-life stability by way of superbly designed, deceptively easy merchandise for the house. On their Substack, Little E book of Sleep, the model tackles a subject everybody can relate to: getting a superb night time of sleep.

Their posts cowl all the pieces from find out how to create a sustainable sleep routine, to the historical past of mattresses and pillows, to how caffeine, naps and screentime impression our sleep habits. In addition they touch upon rising sleep developments—together with consuming kiwis earlier than mattress and the science behind the “morning shed” pattern.

Restack this technique: Substack newsletters are organized by classes (e.g., Expertise, Well being & Wellness), and plenty of high authors discover their niches inside them. Whereas it may be tempting to speak about all the pieces that issues to your viewers, take a cue from Loftie and slim your focus. It may well make it easier to emerge as an professional and stand out because the platform continues to develop.

Sprout Social: Social Futures

Our staff was elated to launch our Substack, Social Futures, earlier this 12 months (extra on how we constructed it within the subsequent part). We love experimenting with well timed and editorial content material on the platform, like which model received the movie star denim showdown or vacation advertising developments (and horoscopes) for social entrepreneurs.

In our posts, we additionally share our proprietary information and My Social Media Food regimen interviews with our favourite social media material specialists. We just lately invited a visitor writer, creator Coco Mocoe, to share her perspective on the way forward for the creator financial system.

After simply three months, we hit 7,300 views and a mean e-newsletter open price of 61%. Whereas we nonetheless have room to develop, we’re immensely pleased with how a lot we’ve achieved in a short while, and can proceed sharing our largest classes with our subscribers.

Restack this technique: Distribution is crucial to driving views and subscribers. Utilizing our different social channels and Worker Advocacy platform helped get the phrase out about our presence. Partnering with creators (by way of interviews and visitor essays), who in flip amplify hyperlinks with their networks, is one other dependable technique to gasoline development.

The best way to construct a model Substack technique (with ideas from Sprout’s personal expertise)

We’ve outlined an actionable, step-by-step course of manufacturers throughout industries can comply with to launch their very own Substack, primarily based on what we discovered launching Social Futures.

Step 1: Outline your content material technique and focus

Step one is to replicate on what you wish to create and the distinct function it serves. Ask your self:

• How will your Substack content material be completely different from what you publish on social or your weblog?
• How will it stand out from different creators and types publishing in the identical class?

At Sprout, we noticed gaps in our present editorial content material that Substack could be the perfect house for. Informal, personality-driven interviews, deep dives into our information because it pertains to well timed developments, fast how-tos and frameworks, and an recommendation column.

Step 2: Decide who will write in your e-newsletter

As you develop your Substack beats, you additionally have to construct your roster of Substack writers. Will you depend on an in-house staff? Or outsource to creators, like when American Eagle tapped Casey Lewis for Off the Cuff?

For a lot of manufacturers, it’d make sense to take a hybrid method. That might embrace working with visitor authors and producing editorial interviews, which is the method we’ve taken at Sprout. Doing so required securing finances for creator partnerships upfront, and assessing how our content material staff would stability writing for Substack with manufacturing for our different channels.

You may also ask whether or not you propose to publish primarily text-based content material or experiment with video. If on-camera expertise and video modifying abilities are required, that would inform the way you workers your Substack.

Step 3: Set (practical) objectives and metrics

Substack isn’t a conventional social channel, and you’ll’t use a community like Instagram or LinkedIn as a benchmark when setting Substack objectives. As an alternative, look to different manufacturers on the platform (ideally in your trade) to set objectives for subscribers, views and open price.

Although you shouldn’t count on huge subscriber numbers such as you is likely to be accustomed to on different channels, you must intention in your subscribers to be extremely engaged—notably along with your newsletters.

When you set objectives, assign the position of “Substack analyst” to a member of your staff. They need to run the numbers on a month-to-month foundation to tell your content material and distribution methods.

Step 4: Define your distribution and subscriber acquisition plans for launch and past

As talked about, distribution on different networks performed an important position in rising our Substack. Make a plan for sharing the information about your launch throughout platforms and internally. We extremely advocate reaching out to your leaders, inside communications staff and social staff to construct an all-encompassing plan.

Our launch plan included posting on Sprout’s LinkedIn and Instagram pages, including our Substack web site hyperlink to our Worker Advocacy platform, and posting in our advertising staff’s Slack channel.

On this planning part, you also needs to take inventory of the entire inventive belongings you’ll want for launch and ongoing distribution (assume Instagram carousel templates).

Step 5: Develop inventive belongings

When establishing our Substack, we have been stunned what number of new inventive belongings have been wanted to construct our web site. Right here’s a complete record of all the pieces you’ll have to have designed or written simply to arrange your Substack presence:

• Brand: Not less than 256 x 256 px (or 1:1 side ratio) with a clear background
• Electronic mail banners: Really helpful 1100 x 220 px with a clear background, however may very well be taller
• Cowl picture: Not less than 600 x 600 px
• Social preview pictures (will want one for every submit): Not less than 1456 x 1048 px, however 420 x 300 px is the minimal
• About tab copy: From just a few sentences to a couple paragraphs explaining the aim of your Substack e-newsletter.
• Welcome web page copy: A sentence or two of textual content that can populate on the web page that asks readers to subscribe.
• E-newsletter header copy: A line of textual content that summarizes your Substack presence, and can seem within the header of each e-newsletter you ship.
• E-newsletter footer copy: A line of textual content that encourages readers to share your e-newsletter with their community that can seem on the footer of each e-newsletter you ship.
• Welcome e mail copy: From just a few sentences to a couple paragraphs thanking somebody for subscribing to your e-newsletter. These emails will likely be despatched to your entire new subscribers.

To assist us craft a cohesive and distinct model for Social Futures, we labored with our Model Inventive staff. They created our wordmark, coloration palette and imagery, and set the tone for our visible identification primarily based on course from our inventive transient.

Step 6: Plan your neighborhood engagement technique

As an alternative of posting and ghosting on Substack, the platform presents manufacturers the chance to interact through Subscriber chats, Notes and remark part engagement. Construct out a plan for the way you’ll weave these viewers touchpoints into your workflow.

A tip we’re experimenting with: Whereas Substack posts needs to be authentic, you’ll be able to strive repurposing short-form content material, together with movies, pictures and textual content posts, from different networks into your Notes technique.

Step 7: Depart room for experimentation

As we’ve skilled first-hand, you don’t should have all the pieces found out from the beginning. Stay versatile in terms of setting a cadence, assigning content material themes and even constructing distribution methods. There is likely to be pictures you forgot to create or copy you forgot to draft (we’re responsible of this) whenever you arrange your web site. That’s okay. What’s most essential is that you just present up, able to pivot and shift as you go.

Why Substack belongs in your model’s playbook

Substack has developed from a writer-first platform right into a vacation spot the place manufacturers can construct deeper, extra intentional relationships with their audiences. Its long-form, personality-first format provides groups a uncommon alternative to decelerate, share significant concepts and domesticate an engaged, opt-in neighborhood.

As extra manufacturers experiment (and succeed) on the platform, Substack is proving to be a strong channel for inventive expression and owned viewers development. By approaching it with readability, focus and a willingness to iterate, your model can carve out its personal distinctive nook of this quickly rising ecosystem.

For extra on all the pieces Sprout’s content material staff is attempting, studying and publishing on Substack, you should definitely subscribe to Social Futures.